We sent a letter to Prime Minister Trudeau urging him to break with decades of
failure and act now. | View in browser [[link removed]] .
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Dear John,
Yesterday, Amnesty's Alex Neve and I visited Tyendinaga in the aftermath of the
Ontario Provincial Police’s enforcement action. We spoke with community members
who all described a feeling of betrayal and broken trust.
Following our visit, we issued an open letter to Prime Minister Trudeau to urge
him to act now to finally break with decades of failure when it comes to the
relationship with Indigenous peoples in Canada.
You can read and share the letter to Prime Minister Trudeau here:
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Mi aje kija pizagwikidamag (it is time we lift this issue up),
Ana Nicole Collins
Indigenous Rights Advisor
Amnesty International Canada
Dear Prime Minister,
The past several weeks have brought the deeply disappointing state of
reconciliation and regard for the rights of Indigenous peoples in Canada to the
fore with a degree of urgency rarely witnessed.
Right across the country, protests of resistance and of solidarity by Indigenous
peoples and non-Indigenous communities, sparked by deep concern about the
construction of the Coastal GasLink Pipeline through Wet’suwet’en Territory in
British Columbia, have led to a national conversation about rights,
reconciliation, the economy and the environment, that has been both troubling
and encouraging.
We write to urge that your government demonstrate the leadership that is very
much needed at this critical and potentially pivotal moment , working closely with Indigenous peoples’ leadership and organizations and
with provincial and territorial governments, to advance foundational change to
truly progress with meaningful reconciliation and full respect for the rights of
Indigenous peoples in Canada.
It is unacceptable and untenable to rely primarily on a strategy of responding
one-by-one to the mounting number of instances of barricades, injunctions, and
law enforcement. Instead, there is a pressing need for comprehensive and
concrete action, beyond the aspirational words and lofty promises that are
usually offered, that will build confidence that the journey of reconciliation
is truly underway.
Amnesty International visited Tyendinaga today, in the aftermath of the Ontario
Provincial Police’s enforcement action which has reportedly resulted in the
arrest of ten protesters. It was notable to us that all community members we spoke with described a
feeling of betrayal and broken trust , particularly given the dialogue that had begun with Minister Miller on
February 15th, reiterated in his assurance to Tyendinaga leadership the
following day, in his letter of February 16th, that he “welcome[s] the
invitation to talk again in the near future to continue our open and respectful
dialogue.” What happened today was not consistent with that assurance.
We should be ashamed as a country that we find ourselves in the current
situation:
* Measures should have been adopted long ago to ensure proper respect for
Indigenous rights in Canada.
* We should have in place a fair, accessible, non-adversarial and expeditious
process for resolving land claims.
* Legal reforms should have been enacted, years ago, to ensure that the UN
Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is part of our national
fabric.
* The vital human rights safeguard of free, prior and informed consent should
by now have been embraced by all governments in Canada as the blueprint for a
nation-to-nation relationship rooted in respect and justice; rather than the
scaremongering talk of it being a veto that stands in the way of Canadian
prosperity.
We appreciated the restraint that your government demonstrated in the initial
phases of the blockades and demonstrations that have been organized,
highlighting how important it is to pursue dialogue and not rush to the use of
police force as a response. That is of vital importance given that there is a
long historical context of unrelenting human rights violations against
Indigenous peoples, going back hundreds of years, that give shape to the
realities that are at the root of contemporary concerns.
Many politicians and commentators have rashly and often aggressively insisted
that Indigenous peoples must exhibit patience. It is time to recognize that the
contrary is the case. Indigenous peoples have shown nothing but patience, for far too long, in the
face of racist laws, unjust policies and unspeakably cruel violence, as their
rights have been violated, dismissed and ignored. If anything, it is time for governments across Canada, businesses and the
Canadian public to be the ones expected to be patient.
As many have noted, the call for patience is particularly inappropriate with
respect to the Wet’suwet’en people, who have waited for 23 years for their land
rights to be recognized following the groundbreaking 1997 Supreme Court of
Canada Delgamuukw decision; and for the Tyendinga Mohawks who have waited for
over 170 years for the return of their lands taken as part of the Culbertson
Tract.
While your government did initially show remarkable restraint, you have of
course in the end given a nod to enforcement action, which is now being pursued
by national, provincial and municipal police forces across the country. That
enforcement will not bring resolution to the deep concerns that underly these
rights struggles and protests. For many communities it only adds to decades of
trauma associated with violent and repressive police and judicial action that
has been at the heart of the most shameful and upsetting chapters of Canadian
history.
We have written to you previously urging that at a minimum Canada comply with
the decision of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
with respect to the Coastal GasLink pipeline, TransMountain Pipeline Expansion
and Site C dam. The importance of governments in Canada living up to the country’s
international human rights obligations in those three situations and many others
has been frequently reiterated by Indigenous peoples across Canada, yet your
government has not shown any intention to do so.
We therefore call on you to take the following steps:
* Ensure that land defenders are not criminalized and that people who have been
arrested for defending the land and who have not engaged in acts of criminal
violence are released unconditionally.
* Respond immediately to the December 2019 ruling of the UN Committee on the
Elimination of Racial Discrimination, including suspending construction of
the Coastal GasLink pipeline in the absence of the free, prior and informed
consent of the Wet’suwet’en people and the withdrawal of the RCMP from their
traditional territory.
* Move immediately on longpromised legal reforms, notably a legislative
framework for implementation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples.
* Engage directly and personally in discussions with Indigenous chiefs, elected
and hereditary, so as to demonstrate that you recognize that these are not
simply matters of barricades and law enforcement, but are the very essence of
a respectful and rights regarding nation-to-nation relationship.
Prime Minister, you face an unprecedented opportunity to break with decades of
failure when it comes to the relationship with Indigenous peoples in Canada. To
do so means putting rights first, embracing the full complexity of
reconciliation and making it clear to all Canadians that while the road ahead
will not always be easy, it is the only path to a just and sustainable future
for our country.
We are available to meet with you at your convenience to discuss these concerns
and recommendations further.
Sincerely,
Alex Neve
Secretary General
Amnesty International Canada France-Isabelle Langlois
Directrice générale
Amnistie internationale Canada
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