Implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP / the “Declaration”) was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on September 13, 2007. Although Canada had been an active participant in drafting this document over a period of two decades, Canada opted to oppose the adoption in 2007, along with three other UN member nations: Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. Since then both Australia and New Zealand have reversed their position on the Declaration. In Canada, this past March, after more than two years of Indigenous advocacy, in its Speech from the Throne, Canada also expressed its intention to take steps to endorse the Declaration. Finally, on November 12, 2010, Canada announced that it had advised the President of the United Nations General Assembly that it was endorsing the UNDRIP.
