 
April 27, 2004
Paul Martin
Prime Minister
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON K1A 1A6
Dear Paul Martin,
We are writing on behalf of Amnesty International Canada, Rights
& Democracy, KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives,
and Canadian Friends Service Committee, the peace and service arm
of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). As representatives
of Canadian human rights and social justice groups, we are deeply
concerned that as the United Nations Decade of the World’s
Indigenous People draws to a close, there is little likelihood that
urgently-needed international human rights standards concerning
the world’s 300 million Indigenous people will be adopted
as planned by the U.N. General Assembly.
The situation of Indigenous peoples throughout the world remains
perilous. Attacks on culture and language, dispossession of lands
and resources, and systemic discrimination continue to occur around
the globe. Indigenous peoples continue to be threatened or even
killed when they speak out for their rights.
The adoption of a Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
is a major objective of the Decade. Yet there continues to be little
progress in the U.N. Working Group mandated to advance this goal.
While debate continues the Working Group has not approved a single
Article during the past 7 years. Since its inception in 1995, the
Working Group has approved only 2 of the 45 Articles.
All of the participating States in the Working Group must significantly
improve their efforts to advance the human rights protections for
Indigenous peoples. We believe that Canada has the opportunity to
play a leading and constructive role.
Toward that end, we recommend to you the document recently submitted
by the Grand Council of the Crees (Eeyou Istchee) and many other
Indigenous organizations to the Office of the High Commission on
Human Rights assessing the work of the International Decade. This
Joint Submission is entitled “Urgent Need to Renew Mandate
and Improve the U.N. Standard-Setting Process on Indigenous Peoples'
Human Rights”. (It is our understanding that you already have
this document. Should this not be the case, we would be happy to
ensure you receive a copy.)
We are impressed with the thorough scope of this document, and
believe that the legal analyses presented can help point a way forward
in the promotion and protection of the human rights of Indigenous
peoples. We encourage you to seriously review this Submission and
hope that Canada will use it constructively in the dialogue at the
Working Group on the draft Declaration.
We urge Canada to work hard to complete the Declaration before
the Commission on Human Rights meets in April 2005. To this end
we encourage further meetings, if necessary, of the Working Group
to ensure that a strong Declaration is achieved.
Sincerely,
Jean-Louis Roy, President
Rights & Democracy
Margaret Ford, Clerk,
Canadian Friends Service Committee
Alex Neve, Secretary General
Amnesty International Canada
Mary Corkery, Executive Director
KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives
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