The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) Act, or Bill C-15, is being utilized as a tool for justification of rape and murder. Based on the actions of the provincial and federal governments, the agenda is still crystal clear that their intentions of complete Indigenous genocide are moving forward. The reality of the whole situation is that anyone looking at an agreement on paper written by any government but that of their own which dictates their rights is a smoke screen for ulterior motives.
Meeting with elected officials from Band Councils and the Assembly of First Nations is not at all consultation, as they hold no real voice in the matters of nation to nation diplomacy a mere branch of the Canadian government which seeks to oppress and erase anything that has to do with Indigenous sovereignty; the proof is in the six weeks of closed door meetings with these individual branches of so-called Indigenous representation where “engagement” took place.
In the case of Indigenous peoples across the world, and especially in Canada, we are treated like we are not human; with status numbers on cards rather than tattooed on our arms. Justin Trudeau continues to sit at the table with so-called Indigenous leaders who are nothing more than another branch of the colonial government seeking to appease their industry-based, resource grabbing benefactors.
Bruce McIvor, lawyer and principal of First Peoples Law Corporation put it perfectly when he stated “Governments pour promises on Indigenous people like a winter rain. Rather than witnessing real change, we are too often left with cold disappointment” making it a ”fundamental, reason for scepticism about Canada's UNDRIP bill is that the lack of respect for Indigenous rights in Canada is not due to a shortage of legal obligations--it is the federal and provincial governments' refusal to fulfil those obligations.”
In the non-legally binding preamble to the Bill C-15, it is nothing more than a poetic twist of the knife in the backs of Indigenous peoples everywhere across the country as the Trudeau government weaves its web of deceit in disguise as reconciliation. The use of the English language still foreign or us all after only several generations of use, and only because it was forced upon us. The thousands of years of knowledge and history is embedded in our language, and Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller is only a Liberal tool who learned the language to weaponize it and use it for themselves just as any colonizing leader would.
Within the document, it is also made clear that any national law will supersede, in turn continuing with the violation of Indigenous rights for many more years to come. The main sections maintain the common law interpretation of section 35(1) and section 35(2) of the Constitution Act, 1982, based on the Doctrine of Discovery, stripping Indigenous people of their land ownership and land rights.
If it becomes law, all 46 Articles of the Declaration will be interpreted and implemented through the colonial Canadian constitutional framework, instead of respecting international law regarding the rights of Indigenous Peoples. The Department of Justice further drives the nails in the coffin by declaring “If passed by Parliament, Bill C-15 would require the Government of Canada, in consultation and cooperation with Indigenous peoples, to take all measures necessary to ensure that the laws of Canada are consistent with the rights of Indigenous peoples set out in the Declaration”. As Indigenous people we know that this means the Canadian government will continue the status quo resource and land grabbing cultural genocide that has been perpetuated for generations.
This process completely undermines the strive to reestablish Indigenous sovereignty as not one Indigenous nation has been consulted with in any diplomatic way, shape or form. When dealing with the actual representatives of the nations, the government tends to turn to tear gas, brutalization, and murder. The true representative sent by the colonial government should be their Minister of Foreign affairs, as it states in the treaties we are all individual nations.
The arrests of land defenders across the country is a direct result of the manipulation and brainwashing the colonial Canadian government has inflicted on all the people, creating the dystopia in which a euro-centric municipal governance system will actually work for nations with ancient traditions, cultures, and policy. This system will not work for nations that are widespread and even cross their colonial borders, it was due time for the land back movement to explode.
The Bill goes on further to ensure power and control over the lives and land of the Indigenous people:
“The inherent right of self-government does not include a right of sovereignty in the international law sense…implementation of self-government should enhance the participation of Aboriginal peoples in the Canadian federation”
Russ Diabo, Mohawk policy analyst, took to Twitter saying “The mainstream settler media don’t give a damn that many Indigenous People’s & Nations were bypassed in the 6 week Dept. of Justice bogus “engagement” process & want Bill C-15 stopped. They only care about what 6 white supremacist settler Premiers think about Bill C-15!”
Many across the country are waking up to see the facts that have been laid before them, peeling back the fancy wording and public displays of pageantry that fall short of any real action. Residential school survivor, former TRC commissioner, grand chief, lawyer and politician, Wilton Littlechild stated during the 2020 Assembly of First Nations General Assembly “It took us eight years to convince the UN we were human beings. Eight years.” He said reflecting on his time as a member of the first-ever Indigenous delegation to the UN, “As we sit here today, they’re still fighting us from participating at all levels of the United Nations in our own right as sovereign nations. So the battle is still on, and this is really only step one.”
Andrew Brant
Executive Producer/Publisher
Credible Mohawk Entertainment and News Media
Instagram @andrewbrant87
decolonize@thecrediblemohawk.com
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