Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you, so much, for having me here today. I am really excited to be here, both to speak about something that I spent a lot of time thinking about, which is the role of the UN declaration in promoting reconciliation in Canada, and also, particularly t

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Sure. I was going to defer to Celeste. I'll go first.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  That's always my cheat so that I get more time to gather my thoughts, but I'm happy to try to answer this. I think it's fair to say that while the existing international human rights standards that Celeste referenced and that are found in the various international human rights i

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Sure, yes.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Sure, and I'll try to do so in a minute and a half. How's that? It's an interesting position because Canada was there. Let's not forget the people who were there from the beginning. I was only there in the last couple of meetings, but Canada was there, and one of the years I was

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Correct, in case that wasn't clear.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  When I started that project years ago, it was about the recognition that there was a really important instrument that not a lot of people knew about. I tried to develop it in such a way that my dad—with his...we'll say grade 6 education—could get some understanding, while also ha

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes, I am happy to do that.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  A really recent example would be New Zealand and the way in which their recent trade agreements respect Maori rights and are in line with the UN declaration. Canada is coming up there, but New Zealand has actually led the way on that one. Bolivia also has recognition of the UN d

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I have a couple of hopes for what might change. If we're still required to use the courts to assert our rights and gain that recognition, the UN declaration can assist in articulating and understanding the scope of protected rights without a judge. For example, an Ontario Court o

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  In that answer, I think it's important to go back to what I said at the beginning, that implementing the UN declaration is about resetting the relationship and shifting from a colonial one where Canada is making all decisions for indigenous peoples to where indigenous peoples are

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Wow. Thank you for that question. Although I haven't fully turned my mind to that, I can say, as someone who has participated through the NGO process at Canada's review before several international bodies, that it has been frustrating. It seems that Canada lacks the mechanism to

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The instruments are different, for example. When Canada is up for review before CERD, they're looking at all of their protections on the elimination of racial discrimination. At those reviews, Canada sends the Department of Canadian Heritage, which leads the reviews with support.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I agree with what Celeste was saying, and I'll try to add one or two points quickly. One is that consent really is the foundation of the Canadian Constitution. It's part of our democracy. Democracy is about the will of the people being expressed. I'm hoping everyone in this room

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I actually think that implementing the UN declaration and the standards will lead to greater certainty in Canadian law than what we have now. I think we will make better decisions, faster, and subject to less review than the current state of affairs, because parties are not feeli