The review will focus on the ‘future acts’ provisions, and whether they are fair to traditional owners.
British Columbia Premier David Eby shares a laugh with Hereditary Chief Gitkun, centre, and others following an event to recognize the Haida Nation’s Aboriginal title throughout Haida Gwaii during a ceremony at the provincial legislature in Victoria in April 2024.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito
The recent title lands agreement between British Columbia and the Haida Nation is historic and inspiring, but also long overdue in light of decades of rulings by international human rights bodies.
While the New Zealand government removes reference to the Treaty in the Oranga Tamariki Act, Canada and even Australia are taking steps in the opposite direction on Indigenous children’s rights.
Australia’s road to net zero must pass through Indigenous-held land, which is likely to host many clean energy projects. First Nations people want partnerships that help them protect their Country.
The Saskatchewan Legislative Building in Regina. Indigenous leaders have criticized the province’s updated consultation framework saying it excludes Indigenous nations.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Mark Taylor
Saskatchewan’s provincial government must work with Indigenous nations on a shared vision for the future that is more likely to withstand the tests of time and litigation.
A young protester in India makes a statement about dangerous levels of air pollution.
Prakash Singh/AFP via Getty Images
It’s more than moral posturing. Resolutions like this have a history of laying the foundation for effective treaties and national laws.
‘Stories Are In Our Bones’ sees filmmaker Janine Windolph take her young sons fishing with their kokum, a residential school survivor who retains a deep knowledge and memory of the land.
(Stories Are In Our Bones/National Film Board)
Indigenous filmmakers are changing the world by telling their own stories in their own ways.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison listens to senior advisor Pat Turner speak of the design of the Indigenous Voice to Parliament.
Lukas Coch/AAP Image
Last month, the government published the Indigenous Voice co-design final report. However, ways to ensure First Nations self-determination remain lacking in the strategy.
New immigrants to Canada, including Syrian-born Tareq Hadhad (centre) who founded the company Peace by Chocolate in Antigonish, N.S., swear allegiance at an Oath of Citizenship ceremony in Halifax in January 2020.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Riley Smith
Following the Sept. 20 federal election, an important question must be asked: How is the Canadian electoral process accommodating the country’s increasing linguistic diversity?
The Tino Rangatiratanga flag symbolises Māori self-determination as expressed in the Treaty of Waitangi.
GettyImages
Contrary to some claims, He Puapua is not a ‘plan’ and it doesn’t advocate for ‘separatism’. Rather, it invites us to imagine more inclusive political and constitutional arrangements.
The impact of colonialism can’t be reversed, but as New Zealand implements the UN declaration new ideas emerge of a state that represents first peoples more fairly.
Decolonisation is restorative justice through cultural, psychological and economic freedom.
British Columbia’s law should see First Nations’ people included in public decisions and economic development, especially in relation to natural resources.
from www.shutterstock.com
British Columbia’s new law requires its parliament to align all laws with the UN declaration on indigenous rights. New Zealand and Australia should watch closely to see what it could mean for them.
Apologies without clear policy shift are typically rejected as ‘empty gestures.’ Here, more than 100 Indigenous people march on Parliament Hill in 1981 to protest the elimination of Aboriginal rights in the proposed Canadian Constitution.
The Canadian Press/Carl Bigras
It’s the 12th anniversary of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Canada has yet to implement this declaration even though the TRC says the road to reconciliation needs to start here.
The Treaty of Waitangi obliges the state to ensure that public policy is as effective for Māori as it is for everybody else.
from www.shutterstock.com
A report on primary health care found New Zealand fails to deliver good outcomes for Māori because the state does not stand aside to allow Māori to take charge of their own affairs.
A young Indigenous boy waits to dance after the Walk for Reconciliation in Vancouver in September 2017. The election of the Justin Trudeau government in 2015 seems to have fuelled a shift in how Indigenous people are described in the media.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
The election of Justin Trudeau in 2015 has coincided with a shift in language in the media – the term ‘Aboriginal’ has been increasingly replaced by the term ‘Indigenous.’ Here’s why.
The Saami have a history of colonisation and discrimination, and tend not to have easy relationships with the four modern states they inhabit.
Reuters/William Webster
Although the Saami have made political and legal gains in the past decades, progress is precarious. And recognition of their rights cannot be taken for granted.
The relationship between Canada’s Aboriginal peoples and non-indigenous population has never been an equal one.
AAP Image/Adam Gartrell
The relationship between Canada’s Aboriginal peoples and non-indigenous population has never been an equal one, even though the 1982 national constitution recognises Aboriginal rights.
Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences, Auckland University of Technology, and Professor of Political Science, Charles Sturt University
Chair and Member from North America of the UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP) and Professor in Political Science, Public Policy and Indigenous Studies, University of British Columbia