Premiers issue stark warning
Indigenous legislation could `fundamentally change Confederation'
OTTAWA • The Liberal government introduced legislation Thursday to start aligning Canadian laws with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, despite a request from six provinces to delay the bill given their “legitimate, significant concerns” with its consequences.
Harmonizing Canadian laws with UNDRIP has long raised concerns that it could alter Canada's legal framework around land and treaty rights, causing uncertainty and litigation particularly when it comes to natural resource projects.
But federal Justice Minister David Lametti, speaking alongside Indigenous leaders, told reporters that Bill C-15 sets out a framework for moving forward responsibly, and rejected the harshest criticisms of UNDRIP legislation — including the concern it could give Indigenous groups veto power over energy projects.
“There are a lot of fears being raised about it,” Lametti said. “We think they're misplaced.”
The legislation does not simply turn the declaration into law. Instead, it requires the government “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,” the justice department said in a news release.
It also requires the government to table an action plan within three years outlining how the declaration's objectives will be achieved, and to report on progress annually to Parliament.
On Nov. 27, Indigenous relations ministers from Ontario, Quebec, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and New Brunswick sent a joint letter to Lametti and Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett that protested the six-week time window they say they were given for input on the draft bill.
“We are writing to urge you to delay your government's plans to introduce federal legislation respecting the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples,” the letter said.
“This delay is necessary both to allow for appropriate engagement with provinces, territories, and Indigenous partners on the draft bill, and to allow time for Canada to fully and meaningfully consider and address the legitimate, significant concerns that we have already raised about the draft bill in its current form.”
The l etter said the COVID-19 pandemic has hampered their ability to fully study the legislation and consult with stakeholders.
“A hasty adoption of ambiguous legislation that could fundamentally change Confederation without the benefit of the widespread and necessary national and provincial consultation and consensus not only risks undermining reconciliation, but will create uncertainty and litigation and risk promoting deeper and broader divisions within our country,” the letter said.
The provinces that signed the letter are all led by right-leaning governments. The largest province not to sign, British Columbia, is led by an NDP government that passed its own UNDRIP bill in 2019.
Lametti responded in a Dec. 2 letter, and said the provincial ministers had given “valuable suggestions” to the draft legislation at two federal-provincial meetings in November. He also pointed out that Parliament extensively debated UNDRIP in a previous version of the bill put forward by then-NDP MP Romeo Saganash in 2016.
“Now is the time for bold action as we advance the necessary work of reconciliation with concrete measures,” Lametti’s response said.
“The UN Declaration is the result of over two decades of work; it was adopted by the United Nations in 2007 and was fully endorsed at the United Nations in 2016,” the letter went on. “Federal legislation is simply a continuation of that endorsement, and it is past time for Canada to take action on its implementation.”
Lametti concluded the letter by thanking the provincial ministers for their “open and frank dialogue.”
Adopting UNDRIP was a recommendation both of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. The Liberals promised UNDRIP legislation in their 2019 election platform.
“Implementing the declaration should not be scary,” Bennett told reporters, calling it a “road map.” She said the Liberals have already been aligning new legislation with UNDRIP, including Bill C-69, the environmental assessment reforms passed last year.
The declaration's repeated use of the phrase “free, prior and informed consent” has caused the most consternation in Canada, raising concerns it would effectively give Indigenous people a veto over resource projects.
“The word veto does not exist in the document,” Lametti told media. He pointed out that the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers has endorsed UNDRIP as a framework for reconciliation, and that B.C. has already passed its own UNDRIP bill.
“We're going to meet the misinformation or the fear — to the extent that it might be held legitimately — with information and with facts and with a positive attitude and framework moving forward,” Lametti said.
“It is all about involving the rights and titleholders sooner than later,” added Perry Bellegarde, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, at the news conference.
“It's creating that space for full involvement, the inclusion of the rights and titleholders, and that will create the environment that will create certainty.”