Toronto Star (Windpeaker.com) – The Assembly of First Nations Annual General Meeting failed to adopt “Resolution 86/2019 Support for Federal Legislation to Create a Framework to Implement the UN Declaration”
A number of objections were raised:
- too little time allotted in the debate to address the many concerns raised about Bill C-15
- Not enough substantive discussions with Indigenous leadership by the federal government
- three-year timeframe to develop a National Action Plan and Strategy is too long
- Exclusion of the term racism from the Bill within the context of discrimination
- Concerns around Canada continuing to veto inherent rights
- The Association of Iroquois and Allied Indians affirmed their sovereignty and right to self-determination, and had refused to be engaged in reviewing Bill C-15.
- Recognition of Indigenous laws, customs and traditions
- Items identified in the Preamble should have been embedded in the Bill
Chief Judy Wilson said a resolution supporting implementation of UNDRIP should be brought back for consideration to the chiefs’ assembly in July 2021.