43rd PARLIAMENT, 2nd SESSION Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs EVIDENCE NUMBER 022 Thursday, March 11, 2021 Chair: Mr. Bob Bratina 1 Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs Thursday, March 11, 2021 ● (1110) both international and constitutional law, including the application [English] of international human rights law in Canada, for almost 20 years now. I've developed a handbook on implementing the UN declara‐ The Chair (Mr. Bob Bratina (Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, tion and I've done many presentations on the UN declaration and Lib.)): Having a quorum now with proper technical connection, I how to begin implementing it domestically. accordingly will call this meeting of the indigenous and northern affairs committee to order. I'll start by acknowledging that, in Ot‐ tawa, we meet on the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Today, I am speaking from Treaty 1 territory and the homeland people. of the Métis nation, my home territory. I want to acknowledge also the Algonquin people, as the House of Commons is located on un‐ Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2) and the motion adopted on ceded Algonquin territory. February 25, 2021, the committee is continuing its study on the subject matter of Bill C-15, an act respecting the United Nations Thank you for the invitation to be here today. I am very grateful Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. to be here and I want to acknowledge my co-panellist as well. The artwork that you see behind me is a photo of a remarkable group of sculptures located near my office at the site of the 1813 I will start by saying that on March 22, 2018, I sat before this Battle of Stoney Creek, four “nine-foot-high granite eagle figures committee, invited to present on Bill C-262. As I prepared for my inscribed with symbols and text arranged on a circular plaza.” The presentation today, I was wondering what I should say, thinking artist, David General, is Oneida, a member of the Six Nations of the about what has changed and evolved over the past three years. I Grand River who works in “a distinctive style” using “interpreta‐ kept returning to the same thought: it is devastating that we have tions of the cultural traditions of the Haudenosaunee and Anishin‐ lost these three years, three years that could have been spent devel‐ abek communities to address the theme of healing and reconcilia‐ oping a national action plan building on the work of the Truth and tion.” I am sure that it will be in that spirit that we conduct the busi‐ Reconciliation Commission and the national inquiry, three years ness before us. where indigenous peoples have continued to have lower socio-eco‐ Members of the committee and witnesses, please speak in the nomic and health outcomes than other Canadians. Three years is a language of your choice. You can select the language at the bottom long time. In fact, it's a lifetime to my daughter. centre of your screen, in the globe, where you will find “English” or “French”. When speaking, ensure that your video is turned on, I support this legislation because I think it is an important step and please speak slowly and clearly. When you are not speaking, toward reconciliation, toward recognizing inherent human rights, your microphone should be on mute. toward a fairer and more just Canada for all. We have our witnesses ready. We have Professor Brenda Gunn, a professor from the Faculty of Law at the University of Manitoba. When speaking about the UN declaration, and why I believe it to From the Indigenous Resource Network, we have Arnie Bellis, be the framework for reconciliation, I often highlight four key chair; and Heather Exner-Pirot, research adviser. I believe we've preambular paragraphs that I'm going to read out to all of you now. agreed that Thierry Rodon, as an individual, will be the third mem‐ ber of the opening panel. The first is, “Affirming that indigenous peoples are equal to all other peoples, while recognizing the right of all peoples to be dif‐ Professor Gunn, please go ahead for six minutes. ferent, to consider themselves different, and to be respected as Professor Brenda Gunn (Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, such”. University of Manitoba, As an Individual): [Witness spoke in Northern Michif] The second is the UN is “Concerned that indigenous peoples Hello, my name is Brenda Gunn. I live in Winnipeg and my fam‐ have suffered from historic injustices as a result of, inter alia, their ily is from the Red River. colonization and dispossession of their lands, territories and re‐ sources, thus preventing them from exercising, in particular, their I am Métis, and, as noted by the chair, I am an associate profes‐ right to development in accordance with their own needs and inter‐ sor at the University of Manitoba Faculty of Law. I have worked in ests”. 2 INAN-22 March 11, 2021 The third is the UN is “Convinced that the recognition of the The Chair: Thank you very much, Professor Gunn. rights of indigenous peoples in this Declaration will enhance har‐ monious and cooperative relations between the State and indige‐ Next we have Chair Arnie Bellis and research adviser Heather nous peoples, based on principles of justice, democracy, respect for Exner-Pirot of the Indigenous Resource Network. human rights, non-discrimination and good faith”. Finally, the fourth is that the UN “Solemnly proclaims the fol‐ You have six minutes. Please, go ahead. lowing United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as a standard of achievement to be pursued in a spirit of Mr. Arnie Bellis (Chair, Indigenous Resource Network): partnership and mutual respect”. Thanks for allowing us to present to the standing committee. What these four preambular paragraphs tell me is that in Canada we need to stop believing in mythologies that recognizing the rights My name is Arnie Bellis. My Haida name is Gwaii Gwanglan. of indigenous peoples is going to somehow tear Canada apart. We I'm a member of the Staa’stas Eagle Clan in the Haida Nation. have to accept that we are broken, that indigenous peoples have paid too high a price for the development of Canada for too long. There's a lot to speak to. The young lady before me did a very We have to accept that the only way to reconcile is to recognize the good job of summarizing the history of Canada and its relationship rights of indigenous peoples and shift from a colonial relationship with first nations. to a relationship based on justice, democracy, respect for human rights, non-discrimination and good faith. I tend to look towards the Canadian Constitution that we fought With this understanding of why we have a UN declaration, and for in the world wars. It talks about multiculturalism, rights and all its significance in Canada, I want to just highlight one key aspect to those wonderful things that we live under. the substantive rights included within the UN declaration. Specifi‐ cally, I want to note that the UN declaration includes economic, so‐ cial and cultural rights in areas such as language rights, education, I find it interesting that first nations people had to go to the health care, housing and economic development, all of which are Supreme Court numerous times to have those rights upheld and critical to the exercise of civil and political rights. worked on. Under the international human rights system, there is no hierar‐ I'll let the statistics of the land speak for themselves in terms of chy of rights. the employment and all the incarceration, and so on. They speak for ● (1115) themselves. Under Bill C-15, a national action plan that can be developed is critical to ensure that economic, social and cultural rights receive We used the resources for 10,000-plus years, and from there we the same level of attention and consideration as political and civil developed a very sophisticated society. We found ourselves under rights. the Indian Act, and people were working hard to move us to their line of thinking, in terms of their religion, and move us off our During the prolonged debate over Bill C-262 there was unfortu‐ mythology. nate fearmongering that claimed that it introduced uncertainty, highlighted concerns around indigenous peoples' right to free, prior and informed consent, and implied that indigenous peoples might In saying that, to a certain extent our intellect was stunted. Now try to stop all resource development projects from proceeding. we're back on track, and we're looking to use our resources to en‐ hance those things, such as culture and mythology. Under the Con‐ From my perspective, these so-called concerns highlight the need stitution of Canada, we're allowed to do that. for a better grasp of the UN declaration in Canada and the need for a coordinated effort to implement the UN declaration into Canadian As one thing, the Haida people went down to 580 people from law in a way that builds upon the over 20 years of international hu‐ 12,000 plus because of smallpox. Yet we're still trying to define our man rights jurisprudence on which the UN declaration is based. relationship with Canada, where all could benefit—and it works Canada was very slow in turning its support toward the UN decla‐ both ways. ration. There is a lot of work to do. We've lost a lot of time and now is the time for action. We developed the IRN to speak for the working people of first While Bill C-15 is not going to resolve all problem and tensions nations.