On November 4, 2019, the Indian Residential School History & Dialogue Centre (IRSHDC) at the University of British Columbia (UBC) arranged a special dialogue session on Implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UN Declaration) in British Columbia. The session brought together First Nations leaders, lawyers, community members and those working in government to discuss potential challenges in implementing BC’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA), using the UN Declaration as a framework for reconciliation.
Today the Centre is releasing the summary report highlighting some of the issues raised at the dialogue, including a technical review of the bill, a primer with more detailed explanation of DRIPA, and a summary of some of the key discussion at the session. Indigenous leaders present highlighted the issue of free, prior and informed consent, and the importance of defining terms to support self-determination and self-government.
Professor Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond (Aki-Kwe), Academic Director of the Centre, congratulates the Members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia and First Nations leaders for the accomplishment of the unanimous passage of Bill 41, and the Royal Assent of the Bill.
“This legislation is a new beginning in British Columbia. It represents significant positive change by respecting the human rights of Indigenous peoples—the very rights that generations saw trampled at residential schools and in colonial systems. By standing up for a new chapter in British Columbia that is based on the United Nations Declaration, and working to bring laws and policies of the province in alignment with the standards of the Declaration, important work can now begin, in collaboration and cooperation with Indigenous peoples. This is an important vindication for survivors of residential schools who worked tirelessly at the United Nations to craft the Declaration with Indigenous peoples from around the Globe, and to bring it to British Columbia. Those survivors want to prevent such mass human rights violations from happening again—and to ensure our children and grandchildren understand that a sharp break with the colonial legacy will permit them to move forward together in safety, peace and respect for their identity and rights.”
The UN Declaration describes the individual and collective rights of Indigenous peoples around the world. Canada adopted the UN Declaration in 2016, and the BC Government has publicly committed to embrace and implement the UN Declaration in full partnership with Indigenous peoples, having introduced DRIPA in October 2019. The Indian Residential School History & Dialogue Centre will be convening additional dialogues in 2020 and looks forward to seeing DRIPA become law in BC to improve the future for Indigenous Peoples in British Columbia and Canada.
For more information on attending further dialogues, email dialogue.irshdc@ubc.ca.
About the Indian Residential School History & Dialogue Centre
The Indian Residential School History & Dialogue Centre (IRSHDC) is located on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓-speaking xʷməθkʷəy̓əm(Musqueam) people. In support of this mandate, the IRSHDC works to generate inclusive dialogue that is transparent and trauma-informed. This approach to dialogue is essential to the Centre’s work building on information practices, research, and education around Residential Schools and related systems. With a framework that privileges respectful, equitable, and Indigenous-informed access to records and information, the IRSHDC is developing digital systems and spaces of inquiry to model a new platform for information stewardship.
For more information on the report or dialogue statement, contact Jessica Woolman, Communications Strategist at the Centre: 604-822-6603 or communications.irshdc@ubc.ca
