Brazeau Urges Parliment to Move Immediately On Passage of Human Rights Protective Legislation
No need for further consultation or to deny threats to Aboriginal rights
(December 4, 2007 – Ottawa, ON) In the wake of the federal government’s recent introduction in the House of Commons of legislation to ensure that the fundamental human rights of First Nations people are protected under the Canadian Human Rights Act, Canada’s youngest national Aboriginal leader is calling for the voices of First Nations women to be heard by Members of Parliament to ensure that the Bill is passed without delay.
National Chief Patrick Brazeau of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples (CAP) today stressed the need for First Nations women and youth, and those who support their plight for protection of their human rights, to ensure that their position on the matter is made known to Parliamentarians.
Representatives from the Congress of Aboriginal people have been taking part in a dialogue since early fall with members of Canada’s off reserve Aboriginal population. This countrywide dialogue is aimed at enhancing the protection of Human Rights for First Nations people living away from Indian Act reserves.
CAP has undertaken a series of consultations with grassroots Aboriginal people concerning the Repeal of section 67 among other issues. These meetings have taken place in selected urban areas across the country including Winnipeg, Sturgeon Falls, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Regina, Thunder Bay, Vancouver, and Prince George.
The conclusion of these meetings, clearly demonstrate that an overwhelming majority of the human rights violations are directed towards Aboriginal women. These women feel they have no appropriate mechanisms in place to deal effectively with their complaints and that there is an urgent to need to deal with this problem through the repeal of section 67 of the Human Rights Act.
The Congress has been urging all Canadians to let their Members of Parliament know that they are in strong support in favor of the immediate repeal of section 67 of the Canadian Human Rights Act, which does not currently permit human rights complaints of First Nations peoples to be directly dealt with, as is the case for all other Canadians.
The National Chief reiterated the call to action in the face of opposition by some in the First Nations community to making immediate moves to repeal Section 67 of the Canadian Human Rights Act.
“Any suggestion that there hasn’t been an opportunity to address how this proposed Act can be implemented so that capacity concerns of First Nation governments are addressed is not dealing with fact. At the heart of this matter are peoples’ rights. There’s no evidence at all to support that granting access to First Nations peoples of the same redress mechanisms as all other Canadians even remotely compromises inherent and treaty rights in any way,” emphasized National Chief Brazeau.
“Efforts that seek to deal with this have been ongoing throughout the last thirty years. That is more than long enough for consultation. After such a lengthy period there can be absolutely no reason to delay forward movement on such a fundamental matter any further. This is a major step forward for the rights and interests of First Nations peoples at the grassroots level. I’ve heard it firsthand in communities across the country in the past two months, and particularly from women and youth,” said Chief Brazeau.
While certain of the leadership in First Nations communities seem preoccupied with concerns over timing and their demand for further consultation, Brazeau has been dealing with the concerns of the people on the ground.
Brazeau concluded, “People are feeling frustrated by the needless delays. They’re telling us that Canada needs to get on with this matter and grant them the same accommodation and protection of rights as all other Canadians. All Canadians and their parliamentarians need to know this. We intend on shouting this message from the rooftops until the legislation passes. There’s absolutely no agenda at play here other than ensuring that First Nations people are afforded exactly the same measures of protection of human rights as any other Canadian. After thirty years of delay, we need to get this dealt with by Parliament now”.
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For further information, please contact:
Al Fleming
Director
Public Affairs
613-747-6022 (office)
613-867-8696 (mobile)
al@abo-peoples.org
