Speaking Notes for Congress of Aboriginal Peoples
National Chief Patrick Brazeau
For a News Conference on
Protection of Human Rights for
First Nations Citizens
Ottawa, Ontario
October 12, 2007
{Check Against Delivery}
Good morning, Ladies and Gentlemen.
Thank you for being here today, and for taking an interest in what I believe to be a matter of enormous importance to Aboriginal Peoples in Canada in 2007.
My name is Patrick Brazeau and I am the national leader of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples. Our organization represents the interests and aspirations of Canada’s off-reserve, non-status and Métis peoples.
We’re here today to talk about human rights, and the need to ensure that all Canadians are entitled to, and indeed receive, protection of their human rights.
I recently had the opportunity to attend the United Nations to witness the signing of the Declaration on Indigenous Rights.
While Canada’s position on that declaration was disappointing to me, I recognize that, compared to the other nations of this world, Aboriginal Canadians have the potential to benefit from modern democratic and legal instruments that do not exist in other parts of the world.
One of the most fundamental of these democratic and legal instruments is the Canadian Human Rights Act. The Canadian Human Rights Act protects nearly all Canadian citizens from discrimination.
Yes, most, but not all Canadians are able to benefit from the provisions made available through the Canadian Human Rights Act.
It is hard to believe that for over 760,000 Registered Status Indians in Canada, the Canadian Human Rights Act does not apply.
There are those in many countries around the world who struggle to achieve even the most basic of human rights.
There are those who must flee their countries of origin in search of a better place, where the protection of human rights is embraced and treasured.
Canada is one such country that ensures those who choose this country, have access to protection of their human rights, which is as it should be in a nation as free and democratic as ours.
Yet, for some of Canada’s indigenous peoples, this is not the case.
I am a Registered status Indian under the Indian Act, and a member of the Algonquin Nation.
I live in Canada today without the full protection of the Canadian Human Rights Act. This has been the case all of my life.
How can this be, in a country as free and democratic as Canada?
Well, at root of the problem is the Indian Act. This piece of governing legislation is a statute that neither I, or indeed any Canadian, can regard with pride.
Since 1982, when the Charter of Rights and Freedoms came into being, it has been demonstrated and proven in the courts time and again that the Indian Act is part of a racist and colonial legacy that makes it legal in Canada today to discriminate against Aboriginal peoples.
In 1977, when the Canadian Human Rights Act was passed, I was two years old. At that time, Parliament decided that my access to the rights protection afforded by that important piece of legislation could be delayed for a few more years.
It was believed, at that time, that a delay was necessary to allow governments to consult and prepare for the transition that would happen when the Canadian Human Rights Act finally cast a human rights light on the Indian Act.
Now, thirty years later, I am a father. Since then, there have been eight different Prime Ministers - both Liberal and Conservative – leading successive governments in the House of Commons.
And the basic human rights protection that I have been waiting thirty years for is now being denied to my children.
My parents, my generation, and my children have never had full access to the Canadian Human Rights Act where the Indian Act is concerned.
As a consequence, the light of human rights protection does not shine upon us - we live in a legislative shadow.
At every turn, the continued imposition of the Indian Act blots out any ray of hope for rights protection.
While elected officials - both Aboriginal and Parliamentary - continue to argue and debate this issue, the third generation has now been born.
As an Aboriginal person, a Registered Status Indian, a father, and a leader, I am here to tell you today that I cannot - I will not – and we must not -- accept the continued denial of basic human rights protection to myself, my children and the people that I am obligated to represent and on whose behalf I speak today.
Il est inacceptable que la Loi sur les Indiens ne soit pas encore soumise à la Loi Canadienne sur les droits de la personne.
Il est temps d'agir afin que tous les Indiens puissent avoir pleinement acces à la Commission canadienne des droits de la personne.
Les Indiens ne peuvent comme les autres Canadiens bénéficier de la protection de la Loi canadienne sur les droits de la personne.
Je demande aux Libéraux, au Bloc et au NPD de cesser leur obstruction quant à la protection des droits fondamentaux des Indiens.
Anyone who tells you that it is important to defer protection of basic human rights to Aboriginal people in Canada is focused on other needs than those of the people.
Governments exist to serve people, and to meet their needs.
I cannot - I will not – and I must not -- accept any approach that places the needs of any institution or group ahead of those of the people at the grassroots level.
Justice delayed, is indeed justice denied.
The people I represent need the discrimination to stop today. They need access to the Canadian Human Rights Commission. They need justice.
Democracy is sometimes imperfect. It challenges us to deal courageously and honestly with difficult issues.
Today, I am challenging Canada, and each and every Canadian, to insist on the repeal of Section 67 of the Canadian Human Rights Act, without further delay.
Equally, I invite the leaders of the Assembly of First Nations and the Native Women’s Association of Canada to join us in this important endeavour.
I know that Canadians are concerned with the plight of Aboriginal peoples in Canada.
I know that they want to address the legacy that colonialism has had on Aboriginal people.
I also know that Aboriginal peoples are sometimes angry and frustrated about their place in Canadian society, and by the nature and essence of their relationship to Canada.
It is time for us to act together, as a nation, and work to address this unfinished business.
When Parliament prorogued in September, the latest attempt to repeal Section 67 of the Canadian Human Rights Act died on the Order Paper.
Next week, the Government of Canada will lay out its vision and work plan for the next session of Parliament.
On behalf of Aboriginal Canadians, I urge the Government of Canada to bring back before the House of Commons, legislation to finally repeal Section 67 of the Canadian Human Rights Act.
But the onus for change is not solely on the shoulders of Parliamentarians. Every one of us - as citizens of this great country – has to take on this challenge.
If you are Aboriginal and have never written or spoken to your Member of Parliament, now is the time.
Make them fulfill their duty to you as Parliamentarians. Insist on democracy. Demand justice. Speak up for yourself.
If you are not Aboriginal, but want to help us, now is the time.
Your Member of Parliament has an obligation to you as well. Contact them.
Let them know that continued exclusion of Aboriginal people from the Canadian Human Rights Act offends you. Make sure they know that protection of basic human rights for Aboriginal peoples in Canada cannot be delayed again.
From the perspective of Aboriginal Canadians right now, Canada is about discrimination – rather than being a nation of inclusion and protection of rights for all.
I want to change this. We need to change this. We have an opportunity to change this.
With the repeal of Section 67, Canada and the leadership of national Aboriginal organizations have the opportunity to make positive and significant change in the relationship between the Government and Aboriginal Canadians.
As I’ve said, the time is now.
Meegwetch, Thank you, and I’d be pleased now to answer any questions you may have.
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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
