United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (Canada)

• Ottawa, ON, Oct. 25, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Métis National Council (MNC) continues to publicly support Bill C-53, An Act respecting the recognition of certain Métis governments in Alberta, Ontario and Saskatchewan.
• President Caron will continue to support the Métis governments’ pursuit of Riel’s vision of self-government.
• This bill lays the path for Section 35 based Treaties providing jurisdiction over internal matters of Métis governance, such as Métis citizenship, Métis elections, Métis government structures, and Métis child and family services.
• Since 1983, the Métis National Council has been the national and international voice of the Métis Nation within Canada.

• BROMONT, QC, Oct. 13, 2023 /CNW/ - Today, federal, provincial and territorial (FPT) ministers of Justice and Public Safety concluded two days of productive discussions on justice and public safety priorities.
• Ministers acknowledged the urgency of the crisis and the need to mitigate harms while balancing public health and public safety priorities.
• Ministers discussed the contract policing assessment led by Public Safety Canada, in collaboration with the RCMP.
• Ministers were updated on the federal UNDA Action Plan measures related to Indigenous justice and public safety across Canada, including the development of the federal Indigenous Justice Strategy.

• Ottawa, ON, Sept. 29, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- On September 30, 2023, Canada’s leading occupational therapy organizations reaffirmed their dedication to Indigenous Peoples in Canada through addressing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) of Canada’s Calls to Action with the announcement of a joint Occupational Therapy TRC Commitment Statement.
• The document has been developed with leadership from the Occupational Therapy TRC Task Force’s Co-Chairs and Métis occupational therapists, Angie Phenix and Kaarina Valavaara, along with invited allies and members of the Boards of Directors of the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists (CAOT), the Canadian Occupational Therapy Foundation (COTF), the Alliance of Canadian Occupational Therapy Professional Associations (ACOTPA), the Association of Canadian Occupational Therapy Regulatory Organizations (ACOTRO), and the Association of Canadian Occupational Therapy University Programs (ACOTUP).
• The organizations acknowledge that “transforming our colonial reality must be a responsibility shared by all Canadians” and the Commitment Statement represents “beginning steps in embracing this shared responsibility” with acknowledgement of the harmful colonizing narratives, policies, and practices in the Canadian occupational therapy profession and a commitment to change within their respective mandates.
• The Co-Chairs call upon all occupational therapists (OTs), occupational therapist assistants (OTAs), students, and other readers of the Commitment Statement to take responsibility and action to support the respective leadership organizations.

• There will be many meaningful conversations about ways we can each engage with and support reconciliation.
• However, one issue that doesn’t get enough attention is how transportation continues to be a serious challenge for Indigenous communities.
• This is concerning as it undermines our pursuit of true equity for all and runs the risk of misallocating public funds.

The roots of transportation injustice

• Though each jurisdiction in Canada has its own settler-colonial origin story, the roots of transportation within this are inseparable.
• This was a dark period of extreme poverty and housing insecurity, the impacts of which continue to marginalize and harm Métis people today.
• Under this system, police were authorized to arrest and imprison Indigenous people who were found off-reserve without a pass.

Lack of investment

• They impact the ability for Indigenous communities to respond to emergencies and climate disasters, complicate the unity of Indigenous families and more.
• Some of these impacts may be more acute in rural, remote or isolated communities, but local governments lack an understanding of how urban Indigenous communities experience transportation and mobility.

Anti-Indigenous racism

• Indigenous communities experience systemic racism in policing, with disproportionate amounts of ticketing and overrepresentation in arrests, with rates as high as 10 times that of white people in some areas.
• Read more:
  How colonial racism fuels Saskatchewan's criminalization of Indigenous men

  The impacts of colonization are gendered, as evidenced by the disturbing rate of violence against Indigenous women, girls, Two-Spirit, transgender and gender-diverse people.

• Land dispossession and a lack of adequate housing and transportation options also enable disproportionate rates of human trafficking of Indigenous women and girls.

Right to security

• Many of the factors underpinning these issues violate the principles of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), including the right to a life free from discrimination; to life, physical and mental integrity, liberty and security of person; and the right to improve economic and social conditions.
• It’s time for planning professionals, municipalities and transport agencies to recognize that transportation is a reconciliation imperative too.
• There are things we can do to embed reconciliation in our work more meaningfully: Be diligent about the truth.
• Such actions are uncovering the ways municipal institutions and structures have dispossessed and violated Indigenous Peoples, and illuminating the path forward.