Thank you for listening to Depiction's Media Radio. Welcome to Policy Rights to show
about government policy and human rights. Welcome back to Policy and Rights here in
Depictions Media Radio. And this next segment we're going to hear is about Indigenous
rates um and it is was recorded from a United Nations press conference. I
want to point out something very interesting about about this particular press conference because a
lot of the press conferences that happen there that they get a bunch of the
national press and a lot of the a lot of those reporters show up to
actually be part of the press conference to ask questions and things. And in
this particular case, while we were able to grab it from off of the
Indigenous or First Nations a channel, that there were no other big national international
press people there that they did not show up or they did simply didn't ask
any questions, which is kind of interesting. It means that that what happens
with the Indigenous people in the US and Canada is not news. How these
people are treated by the US and Canadian governments. In this particular case,
we're gonna it's going to be more focused on the Canadian government because these nations
were from Canada that it these issues aren't important to who enough to be broadcast
as news, or they should be glossed over as not being newsworthy, and
they are newsworthy. What happens to any particular group's rights is newsworthy and should
be broadcasted. Thus, why we are putting this information out there. They're
going to talk about colonialism, and we have said time and time again on
this particular show that colonialism is the root cause to a lot of hate crimes,
that that attitude about, well, this is our land and you don't
belong here because our forefathers settled here and they and they grew it to what
we see now. Well, the thing of it is, in the cases
of indigenous rights, there are forefathers were the where the colonialized forefathers they stole
the land away from the forefathers who are already here or in this particular case,
because this is one of the colonial attitudes, is that there should be
a patriarchal system, meaning that men are totally in control, where the indigenous
way is more of that it should be the women who are more in control
of the of of these civilized natures, the governments and how the culture it
is spread and nurtured. Culture should be nurtured. So the matriarchal system that
was in place by the original Nations or the indigenous nations that were here in
North America before colonialism, has been replaced by a patriarchal system. And that
again leading us back to some of the root causes of the hate crimes and
the genocide that have been placed against the First Nations or Indigenous Nations people in
the US, the United States and Canada. So why don't we listen to
what was said during your press conference and we'll be back mm hmm. Yeah,
this one's for me. When I sit down on three, we just
sit yeah, just grab a seat except for the first one. Yeah,
any of the other seats, Yeah, I don't want yeah there um yeah
yeah, where where you can put it here, nobody's gonna walk this way,
okay, yeah, m hmm watching Miss Wing, Rosiane Archibald, Dititionagaan.
Hi, everyone, welcome to our press conference. First someone to just
say Meguach, thank you to the Permanent Mission of Canada who are sponsoring our
press conference today in Cree. I just said greetings and my name and where
I'm from. I am the National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations and
of course the first woman to be elected to this position. I first of
all, I wanted to say meguaton and askimon for the inspiring leaders who are
joining me in the front row today before I introduced them. I want to
always acknowledge the creator the world around us, in our place within it,
and to say meguatch to the Lenape peoples for hosting us on their beautiful territory.
Welcome and thank you for joining us at this twenty second session of the
United Nation's Permanent Form Forum on Indigenous Issues. We welcome you to today's briefing
and the purpose of our holding this press conference is for First Nations to talk
about their priorities and what has driven us from our home fires all the way
here to New York City to this global forum this week. To my left
our Chief Joe Alphonse, who is the Chakotan National Chief. Beside him is
Vice Chief Alley Bear from the Federation of Indigenous Sovereign Nations, and to the
left of her is former Cook P. G. D Wilson and also a
part of our Canadian delegation, and of course Grand Grand Council Chief Ridge Nicknabe
from the Innishonaubek Nation. In the front world, we have Chief Norman,
Chief Norma Catarat not Norman from Buffalo RIVERDNY Nation. We also have of Hailey
Rose, one of the youth. And over there I see Taylor to Kosha
Ben and Ashley Daniels who are on the AFN Youth Council. So we have
what we call an international panel to honor this International Indigenous Forum. Each First
Nation is unique and if you're looking for uniformity, you won't find it.
However, you will find that we are united in our support of one another
and the indivisible common vision that we share, which is happy, healthy children
surrounded by the love and care of their families, living in safe and vibrant
communities, and that that vision starts with ensuring that Indigenous women and girls are
and two spirited, are loved, cherished, safe, protected and treated with
dignity and resp backed. Always as First Nations, at this United Nations Permanent
Form, we're taking the microphone to amplify our priorities of decolonizing, decarbonizing,
and calling out the systems that undermine and harm Mother Earth and our mother tongue
and matriarchy. Internationally, we must take a family's first approach to the crisis
of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls and to us plus. And I've
asked Judy Wilson to be that voice for her family and for all families.
We did hear deb Hallan at the beginning of this form say if we don't
empower our women, our climate goals won't succeed. And I would add that
we must also empower our youth who are sitting with us today. Youth are
often called the leaders of tomorrow, but everyone knows that I call them the
leaders today. So at last year's forum, I requested these special Rapperture on
the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to come to Canada to investigate violations of Indigenous rights
in our internal island. And I wanted to thank him for traveling to us
last month, and I was happy to be sitting in the planary with him
this morning. I look forward to his findings and recommendations this Friday, and
ultimately his report to the United Nations Human Rights Council in September. And that's
why these forums are so important. It's a way for all Indigenous people across
the world to connect and to work together on common goals. So now I'd
like to invite my fellow panelists to highlight the issues that bring them to this
year's United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. Much for listening, then Askskin.
So we'll start with Chief Joe Alphonse, John at Leo, a Lil
Johnny deal, anilt of a high deal, the clean nights on during cleaning,
and yet all thick. I want to acknowledging the lands that we are
on. I'm not true what the nation le not pay people? You know,
we hope they'll leave this area and not have any negative effect on their
territories. It's customary that we always get permission from those nations before we travel
their territories and stuff. So to do business on their land is we have
to acknowledge at the very least. So I'm here, I'm I'm travel cherry
for the Taty National Government. We are are twenty fourteen one aborigin right and
title case in Canada, the only firstation to win Aboriginal title. We have
eighteen hundred square kilometers that's all on bite sale quoteen people, you know,
reserve lands and a lot territories. We always say is ours, but there's
nothing that's actually one hundred percent can be seen. Don't have jurisdiction on those
lands. We do and stuff and it's to tell a lot story, to
tell a lot journey, to share that with other Indigenous people, regardless of
what country they come from, to inspire to bring hope. It's a lonely
place when you stand, when you stand up for your rights. We fought
to seek gol Mine, which to have been the largest copper and gold mine
in North America. As part of that journey, it was a big part
of our fight against to win title. How many times we stood there,
we were told there's no way you guys can beat them. You got pro
government Canada government, Stephen Harper government, you got pro provincial government, Gordon
Campbell government. You guys have no chance. It's always a chance. It's
clotheen people where Denay people where are roleless to travel before the other Denays and
obtained land. We were a warlike people. We love a fight. Doesn't
matter if we wouldn't or lose the slums we're fighting. We're happy even if
we have no chance. We have a fight, and if we lose that
fight, we will come back. We will restrgedize, study our enemy,
and we will come back twice as hard. That's the way it's been with
that. Twice we beat them when everybody else says there was no hope.
So we signed a business deal. We don't believe in that. Whatever you
believe, you stand behind it one hundred percent. And to stand there often
we had to stand there alone, feeling alone. Nobody would Everybody would tell
us how foolish we are to win Abrige a title. On the eve of
our court case, every Aboriginal organization and every abrigein lawyer in Carada told us
you have no chance of winning. Withdraw your case. Withdraw your case.
We reminded them. Eighteen sixty four conclusion of the Chu War, six of
our word chiefs, we're executed. But in today's day in h if we
lose that case, we just lose it. We don't get executed. So
where you guys afraid of we lose, We'll go back, We'll restrategize,
will come back. This is what it means to be Chilton in our world.
We're only here for a short time. When you guys cross over,
there's going to be six chiefs waiting on the other side, you explain to
them while you withdrew when they paid the ultimate price to protect our culture in
our way. So we said we will move forward. And we didn't have
a lot of friends when we said we were going to move forward, but
suddenly everybody was our best friend. Will not quart to say and came down.
We said, it's not whether we win or lose. We have done
everything we can in our power. The only thing left is for that courtroom
up there to finally look at us and I actually acknowledge us as human beings.
That's what this case is about. And it's the stand up, stand
up for yourself, stand up for your family. We want a better quality
life. You look at statistics all across Canada. It's all and for our
win. And the Chill Colden War were declared war on white people in eineteen
sixty four. And what led to that was the final straws when they took
our head war chief starter and they use her for entertainment, they abused her.
The Chill Cools declared war on them, and I thank our our mothers
in winning that aboriginal title. You can change all of the Chill Cooden chiefs
every month if you want, but the position of the chill Cooden will always
stay the same because our mothers and their teachings to all of our children.
The first thing we learn is chill Cooden is that under a flag of truth
we went in the talk piece and they jumped our word chiefs and took them
and tried them as murders and executed them. And because of those teachings,
teachings by our women, our mothers, that's the reason why we won our
case. So I'll leave it there. We got some other numbers on the
board here and I don't want to take them too much more of our time.
Thank you very much. Chief Joe Um and Vice Chief Alibert. Huh
I pay two wash day A two a iohanna a chiapaaaahi good day. My
name is Tataka Skawe. My English name is Alibert. I'm the third Vice
Chief of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations and i am honored. I'm proud
to represent the seventy four nations in the Saskatchewan region in Canada. Um I'm
from Wapahaskayat, which is White Cap da Quota First Nation, and I'm a
proud Dakota Wean and I'm honored to be here today with each and every single
one of you. As a young leader, um, I know I have
a lot of ways to go in a lot to learn still, so it's
a huge honor to be able to sit here and to speak to these issues,
but also from a younger perspective. You know, first and foremost,
I'm a mother and I have two daughters that have to grow up in this
society. And this society right now is targeting our women and our girls and
our two spirited plus and we need to be doing more to protect them.
We need to be making sure that these issues are at the forefront because they
continue to get overlooked and we continue to see more women go missing and murdered.
Right now, currently in Canada, we do have the MMW inquiry from
twenty nineteen and the two hundred and thirty one calls to justice that need to
be implemented because we continue to see an increase of our Indigenous women's being murdered,
especially the latest case Linda Beardy and Winnipeg who was just recently found in
a landfill. We are not trash, we are not garbage. We deserve
to be valued. Traditionally, our women held high respect and our communities and
is that colonial violence that came here, that colonial mindset that came here,
and you put us to the lowest of the hierarchy. And now we're we're
regaining that power. We're regaining that leadership as we see National Chief here as
the first women national Chief, and we see a lot more women chief standing
up and stepping up. Chief normal Cadidact here, a strong DNA leader of
her nation, and I'm very honored to be here with her today, our
youth Chief Hailey Rose. We need to continue to protect each other, and
we need to make sure that we are calling on all levels of government to
take this issue seriously because we need to put it into it and this is
not just an Indigenous issue. This is everyone's issue. Everybody in society should
be protecting one another and our future generations and our children. And I say
that, and I asked that, and I call upon all levels of government
as a mother, as a lawyer, and as the third vice chief of
the fasi in Putama matakowas maybe that's Chief Beard like a quietep. I also
want to acknowledge the Lenape people of the land here, and also all of
our women and youth here and the ones that are will be listening in around
the world because this is the place we gather at the United Nations to be
able to share our voices and share our space. So I'm very honored to
share the space here and thank you National Chief for creating the space. I
think our leadership, when they create the space, we can amplify those issues,
as you heard from Archialcot and Nation and from Ali here, the Vice
Chief of all the issues that we're going through. So, despite its commitments,
Canada continues to breach and violate the principles and standards affirmed in the UN
Declaration. Our country is just having legislation to implement it through an action plan.
But Canada continues to deny the existence of indigenous title and treaty rights,
inherent title and treaty rights which our nations have never seed it, surrendered or
sold, despite having been forcibly displaced from our homelands and regulated to reserves that
total to zero point zero two of the Canadian land mass. And so when
Chief Joe's talking about how they took our land, they forced us on reserves
and they didn't recognize or still refusing to recognize our territorial lands and the show
quoting people have been having the long time in courts across the country in securing
their title for their land. So the assumption that the crown title to the
ninety nine point eight percent of our territory land is very the very dispossession that
the United Nations condemns. They we do not even hold title to our reserves.
People don't realize that we're still wards of the government and we don't hold
title to our reserves. That's the other thing. I think we raised that
in the A word report to the federal government. And our people are still
wards, and we still have our programs and services. So all of our
wealth has taken from our land and it comes back to us in forms of
programs and services that a poverish us. You hear many chiefs talk about that,
where I'm just managing poverty on our lands. So when the time and
rights of the Indigenous people are perceived to be in conflict with the assumed national
interests or the agenda or priorities of Crown government that offer online with corporate interests,
the time and rights of Indigenous peoples are repeatedly infringed and unviolated. So
we can see that continually over and over. It probably heard a lot of
that today when we're in the Assembly within Indigenous People's Rapporteur of Indigenous People,
some of those core issues when we talk about we're still under that colonial blanket.
It's a colonial framework that we're under, and it's really the Section two
of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Common Law Interpretation Act on thirty five
one relies heavily on the doctrine of discovery, and that's when we're saying repudiate
the doctor in the discovery and the Pope repudiated it. But there's a lot
of the work dismantling it and revoking it in law because the courts and the
legislation and the governments still rely on that framework. So which negatively impacts us
on our day to day life as Indigenous people and nations, includes the imposition
of crown sovereignty over Indigenous lands, including the self government rights, and it's
disregarding indigenous laws and legal traditions, many of ours are still intact. Because
our lands are still intact, we still hold those indigenous laws and legal orders
and jurisdiction and establishing that the Crown has that ultimate title to the land.
That's what we're pushing back on. That's what we're saying, No, they
don't. They have something called assumed title and jurisdiction. They never We never
consented to it. They never conquered us, they never see us. We
didn't surrender to them. So the burden, however, the burden of proof
is imposed on our indigenous peoples and nations to establish their rights and courts.
And I can't phantom how long Chief Joe spinettis and the cost of it.
You know, it's the burden was placed on their nation. That's not right.
And they I know, they're very strong and they will continue that.
We've supported them in the courts and will continue to support this work. And
the other racist notion is the frozen in time, the vander Pete legal tests
for establishing our average and rights. We're constantly fighting that with fisheries. We're
constantly fighting at over our rights and our resources and the land. So that's
the other thing. And the ability for the Crown to infringe average rights based
on the Sparrow legal tests, So the justifications for infringing Canada got a national
pipeline and then they're infringing coming through our territory without our consent. So there's
like all kinds of examples of these different infringements and the erosion of the government's
duty to consult and accommodate to nothing more than procedurally right that is reviewable based
on administration and law principles. So that's the other part is the consultation.
Now it should be free prior informed consent, which was something we're going to
have to move the bar on. I wanted to touch on something Ali touched
on with the Indigenous women and communities in Canada are facing a crisis. You
know. The I was just that the ENaC side event on missing murdered women
and climate change, so you know, some of the provinces were noting the
the statistics and they're similar all across Canada, that our women are missing and
murdered, and our two spirit and diverse gender, and our men and boys
too. They're almost like almost getting to be almost the same amounts now,
which is you know, against our indigenous people. So they're especially when their
land protectors are water protectors, you know, they're they're even more vulnerable and
more attacked, especially when they're environmental states like in downtown east Side or Winnipeg,
or Manitoba or Ottawa. We've seen that firsthand when we're in Ottawa just
a few weeks ago for our Special Chiefs Assembly. How are marginalized our women
are and you know the impacts that our women have that they're going through.
But we we did have recommendations many many years ago for the un Permanent Forum.
You know, we wanted to include the Indigenous lands, territory and resources,
you know, as a standing agenda, and in the Forum, we
wanted to be able to have a better Indigenous coordinating body, which I just
came from the Chill quote and supported that they were just having their hosted meeting
across the street. There. There's still a lot of changes that we have
to do, but we have to be involved in these mechanisms and uh,
you know a large part I spend on climate, an environment and MISI murdered
women. But you know they're all connected. All of it's connected. That's
why you know, we have to have the equal opportunities to have these spaces
to be able to speak on these different issues. But because it is about
our self determination, it is about the nations deciding, you know, uh
what avenues they're going to go. It isn't Canada's determination. We're not under
Canada or our own nations. The self determination has to be driven by our
nations. Cooks Chaman, thank you, thank you so much, Judy.
And our final speaker is Grand Council Chief Imation that going to be Quine English
and the cosmas wagging jam a Nititionive beag Natian gig the Oldama mean uh mean
question National chief for invitation today is much appreciated and good afternoon to everybody.
My name is Reginald Nigonambi from Mississauga First Nation and I'm part of the Sturgeon
Clan and I'm elected Grand Council Chief of the Inititionanve beag Natian. Yesterday the
Initiative beag Natian spoke at the thematic discussion about the issue of Line five in
the Macana Strait or the Macinac Straits. Sorry a Nishnabe peoples are peoples of
the Great Lakes Basin. The international border creates an artificial divide between our American
and Canadian families. At the United Nations will continue to seek clarity on the
application of principles of free prior and inform consent when it comes to state actors
and Indigenous peoples that do not live within their domestic jurisdiction. For example,
Line five crosses through Wisconsin, Michigan and then terminates in Ontario. Should Canada,
as a signatory to UNDRIP be informed about the need to ensure that Indigenous
bands in America must also be consulted in the creation, monitoring, and decommissioning
of major energy projects. As many in Nishnabe have stated, Goldway one is
in Nishnabe, we are one a Nishnabe family, no matter if we are
a US federally recognized tribes or Canadian Indian act bands. I also like the
highlight the ongoing situation in Thunder Bay, Ontario with the over policing and over
incarceration of our people, our two spirited, missing, murdered Indigenous women and
girls concerns, and the deaths of young Indigenous peoples in that community. There
has been a number of expert reports presented that require a strong commitment implementation to
remedy the human rights situation, and we encourage the Government of Canada and the
Province of Ontario to follow the direction given by those reports as we continue to
monitor the situation and advocate for safer living conditions for our own inditional peoples and
other Indigenous peoples in thunder Bay. Additionally to that, policing remains a core
issue for Indigenous peoples, and I like to highlight that the Ontario First Nations
police chiefs have filed a complaint with the Canadian Human Rights Commission on the inequitable
funding of Indigenous police services. We've seen the value of Indigenous these forces being
run for and by the community. They are more responsive and understanding of intergenerational
trauma and how that leads to more Indigenous people as being in contact with the
police. We at the Ignition of AC Nation are also concerned with safeguarding nition
of AAC sovereignty, possession and jurisdiction over data, genomics, omics, and
artificial intelligence. Current data practices, both in force and draft legislation, do
not align with addition of ac nation sacred duty to protect, preserve, and
ensure the well being of the peoples of the Seven Generation. We are worried
that data priorities that weaponized data could create further dispossession at the expense of our
inherent rights with that is important to engage on his international stage to monitor how
state actors will use novel or complex jurisdictions like data governance or the implementation of
FPICK to push through agendas that serve corporations and not people. As a Nichinabe
people, we worry that a lack of attention to the guidance and wisdom of
indigenous people will lead to more poor policies for human health and well being.
We are proud to stand alongside our international indigenous brothers and sisters and call for
sustainable future based on indigenous leadership than glitch. Thank you very much to all
of our speakers. We are told that we have we're okay for time in
terms of Q and A because there's nobody coming after us, so really appreciate
that and understand its customary for the first question to go to the UNCA,
which is the United Nation's correspond association. So I'm not sure if one of
them is in the room with the question. If not, we'll just open
it up for general questions. Sorry, we need to get you a mic.
Yeah, yeah, the mic is on on your side. There you
go, YEA working for the French. I'm just would like to ask you
to elaborate a little more on the on the situation of women. And I'm
on the other hand here at the UN and this forum, you can see
that a lot of leaders women are participating, which is the situation in the
in the in in your in your lands, and I'm here. It's just
like it's a little contradiction because could you well, I don't know if it's
a contradiction, but I think it's it's like a huge powerful empowerment of women
in a in a in among the indigenous population. Right, can you display
thank you? Did you want a specific panelist or just generally Okay, So
the question it's about if there's a contradiction because there's more Indigenous woman in leadership,
but there's also missing a murdered Indigenous woman epidemic happening. Yeah. Well,
as as I mentioned, traditionally, Indigenous women have always been leaders in
their communities. We have our matriarchs and so forth, but Indigenous women and
are two spirited brothers and sisters have been targeted because of that respect and authority
that we've always held in our communities. So for a very long time that
colonial ideology of a hierarchy and patriarchy and misogyny has also been embedded in our
communities. As mentioned the Indian Act, the band council system something that we
never incented to. We have treaty rates, we have inherent rates, but
we've never had an implementation of a treaty act or actually had the Indian Act,
which was incredibly racist and it actually created more harm. And that's where
the band council system was implemented. And from that that implemented a lot of
those colonial ideologies and so that's why we didn't have a lot of women and
leadership for a very long time. And that's where we see a lot of
lateral violence as well in our communities because that comes from that colonial violence.
And now we're dealing with colonial violence and lateral violence and harms on our peoples
when it comes to missing a murdered Indigenous people in general, and we see
a rise in that. But now we see that traditional women in leadership coming
to the forefront at the same time. And that's why I think we're talking
more about our missing and murdered Indigenous sisters and two spirited relatives because this has
been overlooked for far too long, and we just had our first national gather
in Vancouver and you know there was thousands of families. The FSI in serves
one hundred and twenty eight families and our province alone, and that's not even
all the families for missing a murdered. We don't have any justice being served
because the justice systems also racist. And then if those women we're non Indigenous
women, I think this issue would be taking more seriously and it's time for
us to all take this issue more seriously, to put it into it so
that we can feel safe on our own land. So when we talk about
what we talk about perspective from matriarchy or a perspective of life givers and our
role. That's essential in our families, but it's also essential in our governance
structure. As was mentioned, we need to continue the traditional knowledge to have
that foundation not just for ourselves, but are families the community in the nation.
So with the disruption of the colonial cloak or the colonial framework as we
mentioned earlier and the Indian Act, it displaced that role and the Indian residential
schools that removed our children broke down the families. So the families were they
didn't what they knew it they were doing. They're not just taking the Indian
out of the child, they were taking the entire family governance structure and the
community and nation structure out when they did that. So they did it on
purpose besides the language and the culture. So many of the nations now are
rebuilding or reconnecting, I guess is a better word. In our world,
it's more stronger reconnecting with who we are, our teachings or culture are.
And one of the elders told me that sometimes even in our families, we
don't even know how to talk to each other there anymore because of that whole
colonial system. You know, the children weren't supposed to be heard from,
the women were you know, not being acknowledged or respected. So their violence
continued from residential school into the communities, and a lot of that is being
restructured, even though with the Indian Act it's really hard because it's almost like
a conditioning in the community because they are trying to remember what who worry before
that. So when we take go back on the land and when we hunt
and neifish, and we harvest and get plants and medicines, there is that
collective memory that comes back of who we are as a nation, as a
people, and how we need to have that balance in that harmony. So
will the Indian Act structure survive? You know, I don't know. You
know, it's some nations are doing hybrid type things. I'm looking to the
nations that are reconstituting themselves in the sense of reconnecting with the land and their
governance systems. There are some in the nations that are doing that, and
I always explain to our leadership not to be afraid of it. I said,
many of you are already spokespersons in your families. Ideally, my older
sister would be our spokesperson our patriarchy. My mother is eighty six, so
she's still the one that's in our you know, calls all the shots,
I guess, but you know that I think our people had that system for
a reason, right and pass that on. A lot of our laws are
based on coexistence with everything and interconnectedness. So I just wanted to say that
and really support what Alis saying about that structure, because we're going into the
whole implementation of the UN Declaration, but it doesn't mean we're implementing the colonial
structure continually, we need to shift from that and protect our territories like you
know what our nations here are taught talking about and rebuilding. I heard a
lot of great words from our chiefs here that how they're talking about doing that,
and that's where we need the resources and the funding and the government to
quit taking us to court when we're standing up for our own land, our
own water, and our own people. Thank you both for them. Do
you just want to add one more thing to this conversation. As the first
woman national chief, these spaces are particularly difficult for women, especially at this
juncture, and being the first is always a really difficult place to be.
And so we're seeing the resurgence of matriarchy and the respect of matriarchy happening,
but we're not to the place of gender equality or gender parity and leadership.
Women are half the population yet right now, I think we stand at about
twenty four percent of chiefs across Canada, so we still have quite a ways
to go. But what's interesting about this question is that you know, we
are bringing forward those issues that have not been discussed in the past. And
this is the second United Nations form where I have spoken about missing and murdered
Indigenous women and girls. And so what's important about this issue is that there
are families that are affected directly, and those families need a space internationally.
And that's why I had asked former cook P G. D Wilson to be
the voice of not only her family, but to let other family and families
know that there's a space for them here. But last October, the Commission
on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women release the General Recommendation on the Rights of
Indigenous Women and Girls, and so this is her historic i would say,
human rights document providing legally binding recommendations obligations to governments around the world. So
we're calling on governments everywhere, all the nation states that belong to the UN
to make sure that this recommendation is implemented. And it's very much connected to
the work that we are trying to do in creating spaces for conversations about missing
and murdered Indigenous women and girls. And to us people, now, I
just want you to know that we do have some young people, our youth
leaders here, so if there are questions, we want to let you know
that they're available to come up to the mic as well. Because it's not
just about the panel at the front. But we know that our youth leaders
have been doing great work here at the UN, you know, facilitating,
participating in many many side sessions and so and leading some of them. So
that's really important work for the future as we move forward here at the UN
and become more and more active and look toward a permanent me mechanism, a
permanent space for Indigenous women, which was called for today by a representative from
I believe, Central America. So with that, I'll turn back and see
if there are any questions in the room, and if not, I'll go
to the online. I'm not sure if there are any people online who had
their hands raised or had any questions, but anyone in the room, Chief,
Yeah, you have to grab a mic. It's right beside you to
the left. Sorry about that. You've all heard about carbon credits. What
are your thoughts on carbon credits? Go ahead? I think they're always inventing
something more and more and more, ten years, more credits, more,
and that they can control. I know our elders say, how can you
control water? How can you control the air? Well? You know,
Mother Nature control or creator controls that. So I think they're just coming always
up with more things they can trade to pollute more and contaminate more and justify
more what they're doing. So if we take the carbon credits from the Amazon
or another country, or I can pollute more over here. So it's not
really a fair process. I think it's just like in more mathematical numbers to
use. So I think it's our jurisdiction, our laws, and our ways
and knowing that at the end of the day are going to be what we
need to be leading with. I know one of the chiefs in our area
one time, when he first was hearing about climate crisis will change at that
time and the Arctic people, we're telling us it's already here. He was
saying, well, how do we control that in our territory these government and
state industry is doing. Is maybe we should just have our laws already.
You know what, we can't see the zero emissions in our territory. So
he said that's what he told me anyway, But anyway that there's probably more
a sophisticated way to answer that. But I just was also asking our elders
what they thought about it, but they so just coming up with something else
to trade to justify continued pollution which we know needs to end because of the
climate crisis. Goad Chief, Grand Chief, Grand Council Chief. Yeah,
I view it as another way to pass off on exactly what she said,
another way to pass off on things that could be tangibly done right away.
As I mentioned in our discussion, the line five. Line five could effectively
be shut down. It was supposed to be shut It's supposed to have a
duration of fifty years. It's well beyond the fifty years now it's fifty years
plus another fifteen years of operation plus plus however long they can keep it going
with a lot of their court challenges and everything else they're doing, or the
interference that Canada can run for them. That's a tangible thing that they could
do tomorrow. It wouldn't impact the very heavily on fuel or oil in any
way, shape or form. They can transfer it somewhere else if they really
wanted to, in other avenues of transferring it. But they choose to keep
that line in operation for no reason. That also, Yeah, there's more
effective resources that they could do, or more effective things that they can do
that they're not doing. Thank you and thank you for the question, any
other questions in the room or online there's one question or somebody has their hand
up. Sorry, I'm looking at the technician in the room. Maybe Andrew
you could ask him. Okay, no questions online? Okay. Well I
don't see anybody else raising their hand in the room. So I want to
again thank the panelists for participating and U as promised. We heard a lot
about the murder and missing women in Canada, that these Indigenous mothers and sisters
have been stolen and some herd one was found in the landfill, and the
statement made that we are not trash or garbage. The struggle comes down to
this more than anything else, is that that Indigenous people are human beings and
should be treated as human beings and not as something they could be just tossed
away because it well, I think just didn't count to begin with. That
is the attitudes that were they brought about the colonial system and the genocide attempts
they came along with it. So I want to thank you for listening today.
You've been listening to policy and rights here on the Depictions Media Radio.
I've been your host, Michael Clogs and please do subscribe wherever you find the
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