Canada led efforts to weaken the draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples at the United Nations, working secretly with Australia to develop a watered-down substitute in the early 2000s, newly released Australian cabinet records show.
Crafting the state-friendly alternative was the Chrétien Liberal government’s idea, but one Australia backed as a pressure tactic against Indigenous leaders who wouldn’t alter their 1993 original draft, the records say.
“Australia has aimed to negotiate with Canada a strong and complete alternative text to counter the status of the existing draft and prevent it from attaining the status of customary international law,” two Australian ministers wrote in anow-public May 2003 cabinet submission.
Canada saw Australia “as its most promising partner” in drafting the new text and was prepared to devote “significant resources” to it, a 2002 Australian departmental memo to cabinet says.
It goes on to say, “Canada and Australia are likely to be criticized by hardline Indigenous groups, including some Australian Indigenous advocates, for developing alternative text and for doing so in a non-transparent, bilateral manner.”
Today, the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) is considered a legally non-binding human rights instrument. The original draft was eventually amended before its adoption by the UN in 2007.
The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples affirms the inherent and pre-existing collective rights and human rights of Indigenous Peoples. (Ka’nhehsí:io Deer/CBC)
The revelations come via Australia’s national archives, which releases cabinet records after 20 years, and were first reported on by The Guardian. Similar Canadian records are legally accessible after 20 years but in this case aren’t public.
The two Commonwealth governments understood the sensitivities around their backroom tactics, the records suggest, going around the official UN working group and keeping their talks, beginning in June 2002, quiet for at least a year.
“The fact that we have been discussing an alternative text with Canada has not yet been made known publicly,” the Australian ministers continued in 2003.
“Our approach has been to only discuss the alternative text with those key states that appear to share our views and concerns.”
Kenneth Deer, who is Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) from Kahnawà:ke just south of Montreal and was involved in developing the declaration from 1987 to 2007, wasn’t surprised by the files.
“Canada tried to have a nice public face, but in the background they were stabbing us in the back,” said Deer.
“I’m not surprised. Disappointed, but not surprised.”
Self-determination controversial
Australia was increasingly isolated in opposition to the Indigenous right of self-determination at the time, fearing it may encompass secession, the records show. It wanted the term deleted and replaced with “self-management.”
Canada accepted the term self-determination, conditional on it being expressed through negotiation and “agreement with government.”
Kenneth Deer, who was involved in developing the declaration from 1987 to 2007, says he isn’t surprised by the content of the Australian cabinet documents. (Ka’nhehsí:io Deer/CBC)
The governments jointly proposed deleting references to demilitarization, restitution of land, armed conflict and cultural genocide, while adding language affirming the territorial and political integrity of sovereign states, ultimately yielding mixed results.
A line affirming states’ political and territorial integrity was eventually added, for instance.
But an article banning the forcible removal of Indigenous peoples from their lands — which the governments wanted changed because, in Australia’s view, “there are circumstances where removal is legitimate (eg. for child welfare purposes)” — was left unchanged.
At the time, the Indigenous caucus had an absolute “no changes” stance, Deer said. Australia hoped the substitute would compel “moderate” factions to break ranks with “hardline” leaders, the records show.
Australia saw promise in a 1999 Canadian proposal to develop “states-only” text on certain “easier” articles.
“Divisions are beginning to appear in the Indigenous caucus between hardline adherents to the original [declaration] and those Indigenous representatives who are prepared to contemplate negotiated compromises,” the 2002 memo says.
‘Exit strategies’ to kill talks
Even so, Australia was also mulling “exit strategies,” including potentially trying to kill the talks.
“Refusal by hardline Indigenous groups to discuss a substitute text prepared by Australia and Canada may necessitate the activation of strategies to wind up the working group,” the memo says.
They eventually made their text public in September 2003, with First Nations leaders in Canada reacting with disgust.
Amid such pressures, some Indigenous leaders did begin proposing amendments, opening the gates for negotiation, said Deer. Post-2003, the original was overhauled �— talks Deer recalled as horrible — though it wasn’t totally gutted like Canada and Australia wanted.
Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the U.S. were the only four countries to vote against the declaration in 2007 when it was adopted by the UN.
Deer said Canada’s government stance softened after Paul Martin became Liberal prime minister in 2003, and hardened with the election of Stephen Harper’s Conservatives in 2006. But regardless of who was in power, the country’s bureaucracy was resistant to Indigenous rights, he said.
The documents cast some doubt on statements Martin made in 2007 that the Liberals had long supported the declaration, accusing Harper of flip-flopping on it, a statement the Conservatives charged was false.
A spokesperson with the Martin Family Initiative, a charity founded by Martin that focuses on the wellbeing of Indigenous children, said they would stand by what’s on the record in Canada, noting Martin left cabinet in June 2002 and wasn’t sworn in as prime minister until December 2003.
Chrétien-era Indigenous and foreign affairs ministers could not be reached for comment.
The Harper government eventually endorsed the declaration as an “aspirational document” in 2010. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals passed legislation in 2021 to align federal laws with the declaration. An implementation action plan was released last year.
Australia endorsed the declaration in 2009 but has not yet taken legal steps to implement it, amid calls by one Australian lawmaker to pass legislation similar to Canada’s.
Nova Scotia RCMP say their investigation into two suspicious deaths earlier this month has concluded that one man died by homicide and the other by suicide.
The bodies of two men, aged 40 and 73, were found in a home in Windsor, N.S., on Sept. 3.
Police say the province’s medical examiner determined the 40-year-old man was killed and the 73-year-old man killed himself.
They say the two men were members of the same family.
No arrests or charges are anticipated, and the names of the deceased will not be released.
RCMP say they will not be releasing any further details out of respect for the family.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
For the first time in their history, members of the Cree community of Nemaska received a visit from a sitting Quebec premier on Sunday and were able to share first-hand the story of how they were displaced by a hydroelectric project in the 1970s.
François Legault was greeted in Nemaska by men and women who arrived by canoe to re-enact the founding of their new village in the Eeyou Istchee James Bay region, in northern Quebec, 47 years ago. The community was forced in the early 1970s to move from its original location because members were told it would be flooded as part of the Nottaway-Broadback-Rupert hydro project.
The reservoir was ultimately constructed elsewhere, but by then the members of the village had already left for other places, abandoning their homes and many of their belongings in the process.
George Wapachee, co-author of the book “Going Home,” said community members were “relocated for nothing.”
“We didn’t know what the rights were, or who to turn to,” he said in an interview. “That turned us into refugees and we were forced to abandon the life we knew.”
Nemaska’s story illustrates the challenges Legault’s government faces as it looks to build new dams to meet the province’s power needs, which are anticipated to double by 2050. Legault has promised that any new projects will be developed in partnership with Indigenous people and have “social acceptability,” but experts say that’s easier said than done.
François Bouffard, an associate professor of electrical engineering at McGill University, said the earlier era of hydro projects were developed without any consideration for the Indigenous inhabitants living nearby.
“We live in a much different world now,” he said. “Any kind of hydro development, no matter where in Quebec, will require true consent and partnership from Indigenous communities.” Those groups likely want to be treated as stakeholders, he added.
Securing wider social acceptability for projects that significantly change the landscape — as hydro dams often do — is also “a big ask,” he said. The government, Bouchard added, will likely focus on boosting capacity in its existing dams, or building installations that run off river flow and don’t require flooding large swaths of land to create reservoirs.
Louis Beaumier, executive director of the Trottier Energy Institute at Polytechnique Montreal, said Legault’s visit to Nemaska represents a desire for reconciliation with Indigenous people who were traumatized by the way earlier projects were carried about.
Any new projects will need the consent of local First Nations, Beaumier said, adding that its easier to get their blessing for wind power projects compared to dams, because they’re less destructive to the environment and easier around which to structure a partnership agreement.
Beaumier added that he believes it will be nearly impossible to get the public — Indigenous or not — to agree to “the destruction of a river” for a new dam, noting that in recent decades people have come to recognize rivers as the “unique, irreplaceable riches” that they are.
Legault’s visit to northern Quebec came on Sept. 15, when the community gathers every year to remember the founding of the “New Nemaska,” on the shores of Lake Champion in the heart of the boreal forest, some 1,500 kilometres from Montreal. Nemaska Chief Clarence Jolly said the community invited Legault to a traditional feast on Sunday, and planned to present him with Wapachee’s book and tell him their stories.
The book, published in 2022 along with Susan Marshall, is filled with stories of Nemaska community members. Leaving behind sewing machines and hunting dogs, they were initially sent to two different villages, Wapachee said.
In their new homes, several of them were forced to live in “deplorable conditions,” and some were physically and verbally abused, he said. The new village of Nemaska was only built a few years later, in 1977.
“At this time, families were losing their children to prison-schools,” he said, in reference to the residential school system. “Imagine the burden of losing your community as well.”
Thomas Jolly, a former chief, said he was 15 years old when he was forced to leave his village with all his belongings in a single bag.
Meeting Legault was important “because have to recognize what happened and we have to talk about the repercussions that the relocation had on people,” he said, adding that those effects are still felt today.
Earlier Sunday, Legault was in the Cree community of Eastmain, where he participated in the official renaming of a hydro complex in honour of former premier Bernard Landry. At the event, Legault said he would follow the example of his late predecessor, who oversaw the signing of the historic “Paix des Braves” agreement between the Quebec government and the Cree in 2002.
He said there is “significant potential” in Eeyou Istchee James Bay, both in increasing the capacity of its large dams and in developing wind power projects.
“Obviously, we will do that with the Cree,” he said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
NEMASKA – For the first time in their history, members of the Cree community of Nemaska received a visit from a sitting Quebec premier on Sunday and were able to share first-hand the story of how they were displaced by a hydroelectric project in the 1970s.
François Legault was greeted in Nemaska by men and women who arrived by canoe to re-enact the founding of their new village in the Eeyou Istchee James Bay region, in northern Quebec, 47 years ago. The community was forced in the early 1970s to move from their original location because they were told it would be flooded as part of the Nottaway-Broadback-Rupert hydro project.
The reservoir was ultimately constructed elsewhere, but by then the members of the village had already left for other places, abandoning their homes and many of their belongings in the process.
George Wapachee, co-author of the book “Going Home,” said community members were “relocated for nothing.”
“We didn’t know what the rights were, or who to turn to,” he said in an interview. “That turned us into refugees and we were forced to abandon the life we knew.”
The book, published in 2022 by Wapachee and Susan Marshall, is filled with stories of Cree community members. Leaving behind sewing machines and hunting dogs, they were initially sent to two different villages, 100 and 300 kilometres away, Wapachee said.
In their new homes, several of them were forced to live in “deplorable conditions,” and some were physically and verbally abused, he said. The new village of Nemaska was only built a few years later, in 1977.
“At this time, families were losing their children to prison-schools,” he said, in reference to the residential school system. “Imagine the burden of losing your community as well.”
Legault’s visit came on Sept. 15, when the community gathers every year to remember the founding of the “New Nemaska,” on the shores of Lake Champion in the heart of the boreal forest, some 1,500 kilometres from Montreal. Nemaska Chief Clarence Jolly said the community invited Legault to a traditional feast on Sunday, and planned to present him with Wapachee’s book and tell him their stories.
Thomas Jolly, a former chief, said he was 15 years old when he was forced to leave his village with all his belongings in a single bag.
Meeting Legault was important “because have to recognize what happened and we have to talk about the repercussions that the relocation had on people,” he said, adding that those effects are still felt today.
Earlier Sunday, Legault had been in the Cree community of Eastmain, where he participated in the official renaming of a hydro dam in honour of former premier Bernard Landry.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
