Wondering whether Canada & BC might domesticate UNDRIP seem…

Canada & BC (for the most part) have not even been parties to the many Treaties involving Indigenous peoples on these territories, let alone respected or adhered to them. Treaties are ostensibly international law, while UNDRIP is not.

Most of BC has no Treaties. BC is a rogue province that was formed in violation of the Royal Proclamation of 1763 & Duty of Disallowance of 1875. The modern BC "treaty" process was started in response to the many Native blockades in the 1980s & 90s (more than any other province.)

At the time of adopting UNDRIP last year, BC's Premier & Minister of Indigenous Relations publicly stated that First Nations would not have a "veto", that Native rights were the same as those "all peoples" have, & that Bill 41 doesn't give UNDRIP "legal force and effect."

BC's adoption of UNDRIP is not a conspiracy or trojan horse. It's conducted openly in collaboration with the settler corporate community. As the CEO of the First Nations LNG Alliance said, “I see UNDRIP creating more certainty. I’m hoping that investors hear this message."

It's no surprise that after adopting UNDRIP, BC continued & continues to attack the Wet'suwet'en, Secwepemc, Sinixt & Nuchatlaht Nations, as this is consistent with BC's history, from its beginnings to more recent times.
https://t.co/7bONGKuv2q

The lack of "certainty" in BC is a lack of corporate certainty over investment due to the lack of historic Treaties, which is the basis for Native-brought legal cases that BC fights against & then sometimes loses at the higher Supreme Court of Canada level.

The modern BC "treaty" process started in response (& intended to bring an end) to blockades & court cases has mostly been a bust. Why not try to use UNDRIP for the same means? It's involved the same organizations, Band Councils & their umbrella group from the BC "treaty" process

It's not that Article 46 & 27 of UNDRIP are some kind of Trojan horse, but that the BC government has always & continues to operate under a similar framework anyway (Doctrine of Discovery, denial of Native sovereignty, capitalist development & corporate rights).

UNDRIP is totally silent on major concrete determinants of Native, Black and other racialized peoples' oppression, police & prisons. Can we be in good relations while exalting corporate settler rights above those of our policed & incarcerated relatives?

In contrast to this aspect of UNDRIP, when Chief Deskaheh of Six Nations of the Grand River went & appealed to the League of Nations in the 1920s, he denounced the police (RCMP) invasion of his community & their arresting & incarcerating of his people.
https://t.co/reqklbGe7G

"A nation draws up it’s own Constitution or it isn’t a nation but a colony. The B.N.A. [British North America] Act was devised by England. The 'nation' among the white people is a recent concept."
https://t.co/Ia8L6U6qU9

"Granting us a government is not within the jurisdiction of the colonial state of Canada. Canada was created by Great Britain and its parliament. Our governments were created and operated on Great Turtle Island since the beginning of time."
https://t.co/FYkI6w0KCs

"Our strength as Indians derives from our tribal identity. The Canadian government, very deliberately and systematically, is seeking to undermine our tribal identity by imposing policies on Indians that emphasize individualism and materialism."
https://t.co/mOLEvZMDm4

BC gov't promoting corporate perspectives on UNDRIP & assuring corporations that BC retains "authority" & will continue to make decisions in the "public interest" rather than respect Indigenous peoples' consent (which the gov't reaffirmed in practice in Wet'suwet'en territory).

Wondering whether Canada & BC might domesticate UNDRIP seems besides the point since UNDRIP itself explicitly recognizes the sovereignty of settler colonial states (above Native sovereignty) in Article 46. Article 27 recognizes colonial law as able to "adjudicate" Native rights.

More from Law

You May Also Like