By Anasophie Vallee, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Telegram
October 23, 2024
The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) – a piece of legislation that was over 25 years in the making – wasn’t adopted in Canada until 2016.
That’s nearly a decade after it was passed by the United Nations in 2007.
At the time, Canada, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand were the only four countries that voted against it, explained Keith Cormier, former western vice-chief of Qalipu First Nation.
Now the push is on to have Newfoundland adopt it as well.
UNDA
Following its adoption in Canada in 2016, Cormier said, came The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, or UNDA, which is the act to implement UNDRIP in Canada.
“Back in the fall of 2022, I think it was, there was a position that came out with the Regional Chiefs Office out of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland,” he explained.
The position was to conduct community sessions inside the Qalipu First Nation on what UNDRIP is and to explain the expectations of the membership.
“I applied for it and got it,” said Cormier. “I spent six months travelling, having community meetings, having note-takers, having elders there.”
He compiled a report and sent it to Canadian Senator Paul J. Prosper, which was added to the main report that went to Canada.
How to implement UNDRIP
This past spring, another ad was listed for an UNDA program coordinator for the province, and Cormier applied once again.
A special chief’s committee has been set up by the Assembly of First Nations on UNDA, which includes a coordinator and every regional chief.
The group’s mandate is to provide advice to the executive committee of the Assembly of First Nations about the work that we can be done to implement UNDRIP in Canada.
“My role here in Newfoundland would be, how are we going to get the province to sit down to the table and implement – at first adopt – that declaration, that international piece of legislation that was 30 years in the making,” Cormier explained.
‘One informal meeting’
Cormier’s role is to help discern how they will get the province to sit down at the table, adopt, and implement the declaration.
“We started that process with the bureaucrats in St. John’s,” he said. “We’ve had one informal meeting with new minister, Scott Reid.”
The Office of Indigenous Affairs and Reconciliation has stated, “The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador is giving due consideration to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). We are presently gathering information and assessing the implications associated with adopting a declaration.”
The provincial government is currently “engaged in discussions with the federal government and provinces and territories on how UNDRIP will impact Indigenous Governments and Organizations, as well as provinces and territories,” it added.
As the provincial government continues to engage with Indigenous governments and organizations on a broad range of subjects, it said it is committed to advancing Indigenous-led priorities.
Engaging with the wider Mi’kmaq community
Once the Qalipu First Nation elections are over, Cormier will be engaging again with the wider Mi’kmaq community in Newfoundland and setting up community meetings.
Conne River and Qalipu First Nation are members of the Assembly of First Nations, along with two non-status bands – Glenwood and Flat Bay – which are wards within Qalipu First Nation.
“I’ll be doing community engagement right across our territory with First Nations peoples on what we have uncovered so far and what we’re going to be presenting or what we would have already presented to the province as a reason for them to get in the boat with us and roll this thing forward for the good of all Indigenous people in Newfoundland,” he said.
“My role is really only on the island because the Labrador First Nations people are represented by a regional chief out of Quebec.”
What are the main concerns?
From previous consultations with communities, Cormier said there are specific topics of discussion that have been consistently brought up.
The first is the repatriation and collection of Indigenous artifacts, homelands, and places that are identified as Indigenous – for those to be protected and catalogued.
Having Indigenous-led archeologists do research rather than the government is another major topic, as well as the incorporation of Indigenous heritage and culture in the education system and the ability to generate self-declared income.
The way memberships of Qalipu First Nation were originally decided is another major subject that the declaration could address.
“If I was to think grandiose,” he said. “If I look at just the membership of Qalipu First Nation, where you lived and how many times you came home was more important than your genealogy.”
Articles three and four
Articles three and four from the declaration pop out to people the most when doing consultations, he said.
Article three states, “Indigenous peoples have the right to self-determination. By virtue of that right, they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.”
Article four states, “Indigenous peoples, in exercising their right to self-determination, have the right to autonomy or self-government in matters relating to their internal and local affairs, as well as ways and means for financing their autonomous functions.”
Based on these articles, if the declaration had existed back when Qalipu First Nation was first formed, things could have unfolded differently.
“If we had had UNDRIP when Qalipu was formed in 2011 or in the negotiations with the Federation of Newfoundland Indians starting way back in the nineties, the communities would have determined who was going to be members of the Qalipu First Nation rather than a federally appointed jury, shall we say, for the lack of a better word, or the enrollment committee,” explained Cormier.
“I kind of wish we had that because the communities know who the people are.”
‘Wishful thinking’
While it’s all water under the bridge now, he hopes there may be an opportunity to revisit Canada’s involvement in the enrollment process once UNDRIP is implemented.
“We don’t know,” he said. “But, it’s wishful thinking for us, to manage your own finances rather than getting grant money from the federal government.”
Cormier hopes to do the best job he can as the UNDRIP program coordinator for the future of his family.
“Every day I come to work, I think about my five grandchildren,” he said. “Two of them have status; three don’t because the three that don’t have it don’t live here.
“Crazy as that seems, that should never be, but that’s the way it is.”
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Anasophie Vallée is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter covering Indigenous and rural issues.