I am in full support of this motion. When I was a city councillor a number of years ago, the city council of the City of Yellowknife approved a motion urging the Government of Canada to approve the UN declaration.
It is beyond my understanding why the Government of Canada has not approved this declaration. I believe they should. There are many principles in the declaration which are already a reality in the ways the Government of Canada treats indigenous people, so I don’t understand why they feel that they can’t sign on to this declaration.
There is an objection on the part of the Government of Canada which says something like, “It leaves too much open for interpretation and does not provide effective guidance regarding how indigenous governments might work with other levels of government.” I, unfortunately, can’t agree with that. I don’t feel that this document leaves much open at all.
Again, I want to state that the principles in the declaration are those which are already there in a legal and political environment sense. We are using those, so I have great difficulty in understanding the Government of Canada’s position.
As a member of the United Nations, I think that Canada, as a nation, should stand behind decisions that are made by the United Nations. The decision was made to accept this declaration, and I believe that as a country, we ought to honour that motion and the passing of that motion by other member countries.
That said, I am fully in support of the motion. I urge the House to give it unanimous approval.