Indigenous Peoples

Amnesty International spoke with educator and water defender Angela Levasseur. Angela is from O-Pipon-Na-Piwin Cree Nation (also known as South Indian Lake) and lives in Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation (also known as Nelson House). Her home community is deeply impacted by decades of Manitoba Hydro operations. Angela spoke about the impacts of these operations and the urgent need for action to stop Manitoba Hydro from being granted permanent access to continue flooding her community.

In the summer of 2020, Amnesty International Canada used a photo without permission as part of a series of Covid and human rights promotion. We removed the image as soon as the mistake was identified, and we have been in conversations with the individual to make redress and promote grassroots community organizations that the individual works with. The apology letter can be read here.

We encourage our members and supporters to visit the Dashmaawaan Bemaadzinjin website and fundraiser to learn more, support and get involved in the work they do in their community.

By Ana Nicole Collins and Stacia Loft

In February, as demonstrators across the country halted trains and stopped traffic in solidarity with Wet’suwet’en land defenders in northwestern B.C., Prime Minister Justin Trudeau asserted that Canada is “a country of the rule of law, and we need to make sure those laws are respected.” We have seen too many examples of settler/Indigenous conflict, and now, just eight months later, we are witnessing another flagrant violation of Indigenous rights, as Mi’kmaq fishers have come under violent attack for exercising their longstanding treaty rights to fish lobster. So how does the rule of law apply?

Christine McLean is ready to retire. After running a successful electrical business in Calgary for the last 20 years, the Kamloops, BC born and raised McLean planned to move back to BC with her husband, Eric. In 2014 they began laying plans to spend their retirement years living in what Christine describes as, “paradise” – a gorgeous log cabin on a large, treed lot perched above the stunningly beautiful Mitchell Bay on Quesnel Lake. For Christine, it is a place for the spirit to rest and the heart to soar.

For Secwepemc and Nuxalk activist Nuskmata (Jacinda Mack), Quesnel Lake is part of her cultural heritage. Raised in the northern Secwepemc community of Xat’sull, Nuskamata spent her youth out on the land and eventually came to work for her Secwepemc community as the Natural Resources manager. Her mother taught her that for Indigenous peoples, “our economy walks on the land and swims in the waters.” She calls the relationship between her community and the land a ‘love story’. 

Young people from Grassy Narrows are travelling to Toronto for a massive rally on June 20th to focus attention to urgency of addressing the crisis of mercury poisoning facing their First Nation.

Amnesty International is urging its members and supporters to do all they can to help this vital and timely campaign.

The people of Grassy Narrows are living with the devastating consequences of a half century of mercury contamination of their rivers and lakes. The harm they’ve experienced, including erosion of culture, loss of livelihoods, and one of the worst community health crises anywhere in Canada, has been made so much worse by decades of government denial and inaction. 

Last month, federal Indigenous Services Minister Seamus O’Regan visited Grassy Narrows but failed to deliver on a long promised treatment centre for mercury survivors. 

This stalling and inaction is all the more shocking in light of the fact that two of the United Nations independent human rights advisors, the expert of health and the expert on toxic wastes, have now both urged Canada to take action on the mercury crisis.

Canada is on the brink of a breakthrough to protect the rights of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples. But urgent action is needed to ensure that this historic opportunity isn’t lost.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada called the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples “the framework for reconciliation.” Last year, the House of Commons passed Bill C-262, a private members bill requiring the federal government to finally move ahead with the work of implementing the Declaration.

Good news: On May 16, the Senate voted to move the Bill to Committee for study. This is the next step on the path to a final vote. Public support for the Declaration and Bill C-262 is clearly having an effect. Thank you to everyone who has sent emails or made phone calls!

Unfortunately, however, passage of the Bill is still far from certain. Time is running out in this session of Parliament. And private members bills are particularly vulnerable to delaying tactics. If Bill C-262 isn’t passed by the Senate before this session of Parliament concludes, this crucial opportunity to advance the work of reconciliation will be lost.