The Liberal government of Justin Trudeau announced Thursday, December 3 that it wanted to comply with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by tabling a bill to this effect, which does not, however, confer legal value on this declaration.
This bill is "
a significant step on the path to reconciliation
" with indigenous peoples, Justice Minister David Lametti said.
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It aims in particular to provide a framework for the implementation of this declaration in Canadian law, which recognizes indigenous rights over their ancestral lands, as well as respect for their traditions.
"
The text provides for the obligation for the Government of Canada to take the necessary measures to ensure that federal laws are compatible with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and to develop and implement a plan action aimed at achieving the objectives of the Declaration,
”the document states.
This action plan must be developed within three years of the entry into force of the bill.
"
It is about repairing historical faults, about getting rid of what belongs to our colonialist past,
" Carolyn Bennett, Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, told a press briefing.
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Perry Bellegarde, National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, praised the bill and hoped it would pass more quickly.
Last year, the Trudeau government made a commitment to implement this declaration, which does not have the force of law and which Ottawa finally supported in 2010.
The United Nations adopted in 2007 the United Nations Declaration, a non-binding declaration aimed at protecting the rights of some 370 million indigenous people around the world, despite opposition from Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United States.
This text, adopted after more than 20 years of debate, affirms in particular that "
indigenous peoples have the right to self-determination and that by virtue of this right they freely determine their political status and freely seek their economic, social and cultural development.
".
Ottawa was concerned at the time that the declaration would be used by indigenous people to support their land claims or natural resources.
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