The Truth and Reconciliation Commission will release its final report today.
Some of the key recommendations listed in their interim report released this past June include:
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reducing the number of Aboriginal children in care by … providing adequate resources to enable Aboriginal communities and child-welfare organizations to keep Aboriginal families together where it is safe to do so
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developing with Aboriginal groups a joint strategy to eliminate educational and employment gaps between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Canadians
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acknowledging that the current state of Aboriginal health in Canada is a direct result of previous Canadian government policies, including residential schools
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eliminating the overrepresentation of Aboriginal people in custody over the next decade, and to issue detailed annual reports that monitor and evaluate progress in doing so
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appointing a public inquiry into the causes of, and remedies for, the disproportionate victimization of Aboriginal women and girls.
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developing a national action plan, strategies, and other concrete measures to achieve the goals of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
The Council of Canadians endorsed all 94 recommendations and called on the Canadian government to implement them.
During this past federal election, the Liberal platform promised to do just that: “We will enact the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. To support the work of reconciliation, and continue the necessary process of truth telling and healing, we will work alongside provinces and territories, and with First Nations, the Métis Nation, and Inuit, to enact the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, starting with the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.” And speaking to the Assembly of First Nations last week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated that one of his top five priorities related to Indigenous peoples was to, “Implement all 94 recommendations from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.”
Manitoba Grand Chief Derek Nepinak has stated, “Implementing the [Truth and Reconciliation Commission recommendations] and the [United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples] would require a consultation protocol outside of the National Energy Board (NEB) process. But on Nov. 23, APTN reported, “Trudeau dodged a question … on whether his Liberal government would continue to rely on regulatory review bodies to execute Ottawa’s duty to consult with First Nations on large resource and energy projects like TransCanada’s proposed Energy East pipeline. …Trudeau was asked how he planned to increase the level of consultation with First Nations… Trudeau dodged the question and instead said his government would be focusing on improving the Canadian public’s trust through ‘robust environmental and scientific oversight and regulation’.”
The Council of Canadians has also repeatedly called for the full realization of the human rights to water and sanitation for Indigenous peoples in Canada. An estimated 20,000 First Nations people living on reserves across Canada have no access to running water or sewage. In July 2011, a “National Assessment of First Nations Water and Wastewater Systems” conducted by Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada estimated that it would cost $4.7 billion over a ten year period to meet the department’s protocols for water and wastewater services for First Nations communities. That included an immediate $1.2 billion to deal with high-risk systems. The United Nations recognition of the rights to water and sanitation in July 2010 means that the Canadian government is obligated under international law to come up with a plan to fulfill these rights. Canada will have to report on its human rights record at the United Nations by July 24, 2020.
On Oct. 5, Trudeau stated, “We have 93 different communities under 133 different boil water advisories across the country. [Serpent River First Nation] Chief Isadore Day has called for within five years there should be zero, and I’ve told the Chief and I’ve told First Nations many times, we agree with that, and a Canadian government led by me will address this as a top priority because it’s not right in a country like Canada that this has gone on for far too long.” Unfortunately, the prime minister did not mention the right to water and sanitation for Indigenous peoples in his Dec. 8 speech to the Assembly of First Nations, nor was it included in the Dec. 4 Speech from the Throne, nor was it specifically mentioned in his Nov. 13 mandate letter to the Minister of Indigenous Affairs beyond his instruction “improve essential physical infrastructure for Indigenous communities including improving housing outcomes for Indigenous Peoples.”
The Council of Canadians welcomes the release of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s final recommendations, calls on the Trudeau government to fully implement all of the recommendations, and further highlights that the implementation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples includes greater consultation with First Nations on major resource projects (including the Energy East and Trans Mountain pipelines that would cross their territories) and the realization of the human right to water and sanitation.
Photo: Justin Trudeau promised Serpent River First Nation Chief Isadore Day that boil water advisories in First Nations would be eliminated within five years.
