UNDRIP Essay

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Jan 9, 2024

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Reflection Paper B: UNDRIP and Today’s Canada Maya Salman INS201: Introduction to Indigenous Studies: Foundation, History and Politics March 6, 2023

Salman 1 To reconcile with a legacy of illegal occupation and genocide is not one devoid of complications and regret. Whatsmore, it is not a legacy easily forgotten. Interestingly, Canada, a country condoned for having impressive standards of human rights and quality of life, seems to ineffectively grapple with their history of violent colonization and current promises of reconciliation with its Indigenous population. Canada has prolonged reconciliation processes through its reluctance to adopt the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), and when they did in 2015, they only embraced fragments of what the document outlines. In the conditional adoption of the UNDRIP, the Canadian government could veto and selectively address Indigenous rights violations, rendering the document virtually useless. Canada's willingness to address human rights abuses is questionable when examining the relationship between federal and provincial governments and Indigenous nations, seen in events such as the Wet'suwet'en land defence movement. Conversely, Canada's support for international instances of violent occupation and similar humanitarian abuses is ostensibly unwavering, apparent in their support for Ukraine's resistance to Russian invasion in the ongoing Russia- Ukraine War. To explain the 'humanitarian-hypocrisy' evident in Canada's reaction to the invasion of Ukraine in comparison to their response to an event such as the illegal occupation of Wet'suwet'en to future generations, I will explore the conditions of each event, detail Canada's response to each event, and establish how Canada's response to human rights crises is dependent on the lives it involves and whether it parallels with its political agenda. To begin the Wet'suwet'en Land Defence Movement began when three particular companies, Chevron, TransCanada, and Enbridge, had proposed pipelines through unceded Wet'suwet'en territory in British Columbia; all of which working without consent (Shah, n.d). The three proposed pipelines are the Coastal GasLinks, Pacific Trail and Northern Gateway

Salman 2 pipeline. The pipelines and their installation violate Wet'suwet'en sovereignty and threaten the safety of the land and women of the Wet'suwet'en Nation. These three companies are directly violating the Wet'suwet'en and Gitxsan nation's Indigenous title, as confirmed in the Supreme Court Case Delgamuukw v. British Columbia, in which the Supreme Court found that the provincial government had no right to extinguish the Gitxsan and Wet'suwet'en peoples' rights to their ancestral territories in the areas they have claimed, providing full legal basis for the Wet'suwet'en and Gitxsan to have full governance of their land (Beaudoin, 2017). The court also clarified the definition of Aboriginal title as Indigenous peoples' exclusive right to the land, affirming that Aboriginal title is recognized as an "existing Aboriginal right" in section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982. Despite these legal protections, as outlined in Delgamuukw v. British Columbia , the people of Wet'suwet'en have been subjected to ongoing and relentless encroachment by pipeline companies since 2007 (Shah, n.d.). In December 2019, the British Columbia Supreme Court granted Coastal GasLink an injunction calling for the removal of any protester-developed obstructions, including cabins and gates, on any roads, bridges, or work sites the company has been authorized to use. Subsequently, in November of 2021, a violent RCMP raid on the unceded Gidimt'en territory ensued, removing the people of Wet'suwet'en and Gitxsan peoples from their land at gunpoint (Beaudoin, 2017). In this raid, more than 30 land defenders were arrested, and many were detained under inhumane conditions for several days. The encroachment of the companies and the RCMP raid is a direct violation of Gitxsan and Wet'suwet'en rights as outlined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) by comprising their right to their traditional territories (Article 26); to life, liberty and security (Article 7); to govern their territories and to free, prior, and informed consent (Articles 19, 32); to protect and conserve their lands (Article 29); to not be forcibly removed

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