When Ms. Étienne spoke about the United Nations Declaration, she was referring to the MMIWG calls to action 13.1 to 13.5, which we also discussed earlier.
The goal of these calls to action is for the welfare and safety of indigenous women to be taken into consideration in the development of mining projects, which is currently not being done, or at least not enough. Indigenous women are entitled to consultation, as provided in Canadian constitutional law and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Ms. Étienne and I are in New York at the moment to take part in the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. One of the issues being discussed is free and informed consent. The fact is that the absence of consent is blatant. That's the link with the declaration.
What is clear is that mining projects are implemented even if there is no consent. We want to note, however, that Femmes autochtones du Québec is not necessarily against projects that would be beneficial to communities and their residents Technical difficulty economic emancipation. However, such projects have often not been conducted in a way that respects human rights or guarantees the safety and welfare of indigenous women.
Unfortunately, that means women continue to experience all forms of violence, in addition to having their land and resources developed without being consulted and without their consent. With all this is happening right in front of them, it continues to have serious intergenerational impacts, added onto the colonization process and what happened in residential schools.
All of the repercussions we are still experiencing today in terms of mining, forestry and resource development in general are like a wheel going round.
The cycle of all forms of violence never ends. The consequences are felt on many levels and they are neither taken into consideration nor properly assessed.