United Nations meet to discuss in New York

For a full 24 hours a message from the Quebec First Nations delegation to the United Nations lit up Times Square, with passersby reading a message that called for respect for the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) in the province.

“We wanted to raise awareness and highlight to the international community the need for Quebec to fully commit to the implementation of the UNDRIP, an essential gesture of respect for the rights of Indigenous peoples,” said Francis Verreault-Paul, head of the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador (AFNQL), at the unveiling of the billboard.

It was installed as part of the 24th session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII), which was held in New York at the United Nations headquarters. Thirteen chiefs joined Verreault-Paul to make up the AFNQL delegation. They joined Verreault-Paul in Times Square to see the billboard, which included the message “Call to respect #UNDRIP in Quebec,” in English and in French.

“We also wanted to highlight the inconsistency of a federal implementation of the UNDRIP when a state like Quebec makes no concrete commitment to it, forcing our nations to turn to the courts to enforce rights that should be undeniable,” Verreault-Paul said.

Though there were no representatives from Kahnawake travelling as part of the delegation, Kahnawa’kehró:non Kenneth Deer was in attendance with the Haudenosaunee External Relations Committee to participate in discussions.

Talks were focused on the event’s theme: “Implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples within United Nations Member States and the United Nations system, including identifying good practices and addressing challenges”

“There’s hundreds of Indigenous people here and hundreds of non-Indigenous supporters and states here,” said Deer. “There are opportunities to make contacts, build networks, and a lot of work gets done outside of the big room.”

He said that states have been speaking at the meeting to share how they have been implementing UNDRIP, including Canada, which discussed Bill C-15, which is an official act respecting UNDRIP in Canada.

“Canada has an important role to play in showing and demonstrating to other states how it could be done,” Deer said.

Chiefs have raised how issues have arisen with Quebec refusing to recognize UNDRIP.

“That’s problematic. Quebec is part of Canada, and Bill C-15 is a national legislation, so Quebec shouldn’t be resisting or not recognizing it, because under Canadian law, they’re obligated to apply it,” Deer said.

Deer said that attendees heard from a range of Indigenous people who shared stories of how they’d experienced UNDRIP fail to be implemented, such as getting arrested when hunting or fishing.

“There’s a lot of work still to be done,” Deer said.

A report will be available in the coming weeks highlighting discussions from the conference.

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