For decades, the families of murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls and their communities; together with Indigenous women leaders and experts and allied human rights organizations, advocated for government action to end the crisis. Many families had called for a national inquiry, which was supported by various international human rights treaty bodies. After a…
Continue reading…about Transitional Justice Plan Urgently Needed to End Genocide in Canada
This blog is an excerpt of the speech that I gave at the Climate Tour with David Suzuki and Stephen Lewis, on October 4, 2019 in Winnipeg, Manitoba at the University of Winnipeg on Treaty 1 territory. (Check against delivery). Kwe n’in telusi Pam Palmater. It is an honour to be here on Indigenous territory…
Continue reading…about A Modern Treaty to Save Our Peoples and The Planet
Today, Conservative leader Andrew Scheer made the shocking statement that protestors and activists need to “check their privilege” and let people whose jobs depend on the railway systems get to work. In this case, it is Scheer who needs to check his own privilege. His comments appear to be racially motivated as the people occupying…
Continue reading…about Check your White Male Privilege Andrew Scheer
RCMP invades Wet’suwet’en territory. Photo by Amber Bracken; Jan. 7, 2019 While Prime Minister Justin Trudeau makes flowery public speeches about respecting the rights of Indigenous peoples and reassures the international community that there is no relationship more important that the one with Indigenous peoples, Canada invaded sovereign Wet’suwet’en Nation territory. When questioned about this…
(Public domain image) Canada’s colonial objectives have always been to clear the lands…
Continue reading…about Overincarceration of Indigenous peoples nothing short of genocide
Reconciliation has become the buzz word of the decade ever since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) of Canada published their report on residential schools in Canada.* The TRC, headed by (then) Justice Murray Sinclair, heard from residential school survivors, families and native communities from all over Canada about their experiences in residential schools and their…
Continue reading…about Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples in Universities and Colleges
*This article was originally published in The Lawyer’s Daily on Jan.30, 2019. For decades, federal and provincial governments, through their local, regional and national police agencies and court systems, have arrested, charged and imprisoned thousands of First Nations people for engaging in the cannabis trade. Many had hoped that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s stated commitment…
Continue reading…about Cannabis legalization ignores First Nations
(Picture of Sharon McIvor and I at the United Nations in Geneva) Sharon McIvor has won yet another landmark legal victory for First Nations women – this time at the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC). On January 14, 2019, the UNHRC released their decision which found that Canada still discriminates against “Indian” women and…
Continue reading…about What You Need to Know About Sharon McIvor’s Major UN Victory on Indian Status
(Image from Unistoten Camp) *This article was originally published in Canadian Dimension Magazine on May 15, 2018. Conflict is coming. There is no getting around that fact. Anyone who believes that reconciliation will be about blanket exercises, cultural awareness…
Continue reading…about True Test of Reconciliation: Respect the Indigenous Right to Say No
(Originally published in Lawyer’s Daily on May 15, 2017) It looks like those who advocated for the long-awaited national inquiry into murdered and missing indigenous women and girls will be waiting a little while longer. Despite the promise from Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that the national inquiry would be his first order of business,…
Continue reading…about Inquiry into Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls Fatally Flawed