Indigenous Peoples in Canada

by Craig Benjamin,
Indigenous Rights Campaigner, Amnesty International Canada

A leading United Nations human rights expert says the situation of First Nations, Inuit and Métis in Canada has reached "crisis proportions in many respects."

In a just released report, James Anaya, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, highlights a wide range of concerns documented during his 2013 research mission to Canada.

Downplaying the human rights of Indigenous peoples will only exacerbate conflict over pipeline development in British Columbia.

In a joint submission tabled with the Prime Minister’s office last month, 11 human rights and Indigenous peoples’ organizations, including the BC Assembly of First Nations, First Nations Summit, and Union of BC Indian Chiefs, caution that development of energy infrastructure such as pipelines can have far-reaching effects on Indigenous rights protected under the Canadian Constitution and international law.

The joint submission responds to two reports currently being reviewed by the federal cabinet: the report of the Prime Minister’s special representative on West Coast energy infrastructure, Douglas Eyford and the report of the environmental assessment panel for the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline.

While these two reports acknowledge that Indigenous peoples’ rights are at stake in decisions about whether or not to approve pipelines and other projects, neither adequately addresses the legal framework for safeguarding these rights and neither accommodates a human rights-based approach.

By Craig Benjamin and Jackie Hansen, Campaigners

Earlier today, Amnesty International Canada released a press statement expressing deep disappointment over the recommendations in the final report of the Special Parliamentary Committee on Violence Against Indigenous Women. Indigenous peoples' organizations, human rights groups, and federal opposition political parties also condemned the report as promoting the status quo and failing to make comprehensive, concrete, time bound recommendations to prevent violence against Indigenous women and girls.

“Indigenous women and girls – and indeed all Canadians – deserve better from our Parliament,” said Alex Neve, Secretary-General of Amnesty International Canada (English Speaking). “Government ministers keep saying that they want action, not just talk, on violence against Indigenous women. But when given the opportunity to make a commitment to meaningful action, the government keeps endorsing the status quo.”

In a decision released on February 26, federal Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq rejected the proposed New Prosperity Gold-Copper Mine, stating that the significant environmental impacts of the proposed mine could not be justified.

      “The Panel is convinced that the Tsilhqot’in cultural attachment to Fish Lake (Teztan Biny) and the Nabas areas is so profound that they cannot reasonably be expected to accept the conversion of that area into the proposed New Prosperity mine.”   -Federal Environmental Review Panel

The Tsilhqot'in people have consistently opposed plans to mine near Teztan Biny or Fish Lake which is part of their traditional territory in central British Columbia.

Every child has the right grow up safely at home, get a good education, be healthy, and be proud of who they are.

It’s hard to imagine anyone disagreeing.

Yet year after year, First Nations children are denied these basic rights.

For most children in Canada, health care, education and family services are funding through the provincial or territorial governments. But for First Nations children on reserves, these same services are funded by the federal government.

Numerous studies - including reports by the Auditor General - confirm the Federal government provides less funding per child for services First Nations children on reserves than the provinces provide for children in their jurisdictions.

This is despite often higher costs of delivering such services in small and remote communities, and the greater need experienced by many First Nations communities.



The math is simple: less money plus higher costs = inadequate services for those who need them most.

A case before the Supreme Court could mark an important turning point for the rights of Indigenous peoples in Canada. At stake is the right of the Tsilhqot’in Nation to own lands at the heart of its traditional territory in British Columbia.

Amnesty International and Canadian Friends Service Committee (Quakers) have joined together to urge the Court to seize this moment to give practical application to human rights standards affirmed in international law. This includes rights to lands and territories affirmed in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Read our joint statement on the case

Want to know more?

Photo: Tsilhqot'in healer Cecil Grinder

Good news: the federal government has announced its decision to reject the proposed New Prosperity Mine.

In October, a scathing environmental impact assessment.concluded that the proposed mine would have “significant” long-term, and irreversible impacts on water quality in Teztan Biny or Fish Lake, on fish habitat, and on wetlands ecosystems and cause “high magnitude, “long-term” and “irreversible” harm to the Tsilhqot’in people who depend on these lands and waters.

Thank you to everyone who wrote to the federal Minister of the Environment to encourage her to act on the findings of this assessment.

For more information, please see our update.

If you would like to send a letter commending the federal government for its decision, the Minister's address is below.

Salutation: Dear Minister