Senate recommends creation of Indigenous human rights tribunal

The bodies that currently handle human rights complaints are not well suited to helping Indigenous people, underlines the Senate in a new report. It is therefore necessary to create an ombudsman position and a new specialized court run by Indigenous people to support them in this process, which is often complex and difficult to access for many injured people.

The major problem with human rights protection mechanisms at the moment is that they are often inaccessible to many Aboriginal people who would like to pursue recourse, underlines the Senate report.

According to the testimony of the coordinator of the Iskweu project at the Shelter for Native Women of Montreal, Laura Aguiar, the aggrieved people – and particularly women – often do not have enough time in a day to pursue recourse or seek justice for these violations as many human rights institutions would require.

Marginalized and vulnerable people are victims of widespread discrimination and systemic prejudice and that, for this reason, “people generally do not dare to assert their rights”also write the senators, citing the testimony of Madeleine RedfernPresident of the Nunavut Legal Services Commission.

Added to this is the lack of financial resources or knowledge to embark on such a process.

Although human rights protection structures have their qualities, the fact remains that they are based on a right that has always undermined or sought to eliminate the rights of indigenous peoplesexplains Innu senator Michèle Audette in an interview.

For a long time, the Canadian Human Rights Act did not even fully protect the majority of First Nations members. Article 67 of this law stipulated that it is without effect on the Indian Act and the provisions made under that Act.

In short, First Nations members who live or work on a reserve could not file complaints with the Canadian Human Rights Commission for an alleged reason of discrimination attributable to a measure or decision taken under the Indian Actexplains the senatorial report.

It was necessary to wait until 2008, 23 years after the drafting of the Canadian Human Rights Act, for section 67 to finally be repealed.

Result : a dramatic influx of new and complex complaints, many of which were previously prohibited by section 67Valerie Phillips, director general of complaints services at the Canadian Human Rights Commission, told senators during her testimony.

The removal of this legislative barrier has therefore created a new obstacle: even longer delays for a complaint to progress.

It shows that we should have had this a long time ago.argues Michèle Audette.

L’ombudsman [doit pouvoir] support people who file complaints, while the court [doit] be able to make binding decisions on complaints and order substantial remedies.

Parallel structures

The ombudsman position and the specialized tribunal would not replace the Commission or the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, but rather provide an infrastructure in parallel with the bodies that already exist.

Canada could thus kill two birds with one stone: creating a new court and an ombudsman position would make it possible to unclog this space to bring in experts who have knowledge of Canadian law and Indigenous rightsexplains Senator Audette.

At the same time, there is this exercise to honor what [les instances actuelles] it is [sont] not capable[s] to do for lack of knowledge, lack of resources or because it is not in [leur] mandate.

Ultimately, Aboriginal people would therefore have the opportunity to choose the mechanism of their choice. This space will have expertise that will support [les plaignants] and collaboration will exist. We have coexisted for 500 years with the societies that live here, and it's the same with our institutions: we will collaborateaffirms Ms. Audette.

To maximize the accessibility of new structures, some witnesses heard by the Senate suggest that they be free and that they also include the training of resource people on human rights within the communities to support complainants.

But to prevent new Indigenous structures from becoming victims of their success and a new bottleneck from forming, Michèle Audette believes that Indigenous governments must also equip themselves with complaints and accountability mechanisms.

We want to be an autonomous nation and we have the right to it, but that comes with responsibilities and that means that if there are complaints offices, it comes with recommendations, sanctions and actions to take.she explains.

Progress and frustration

The report of the Standing Committee on Aboriginal Peoples released last week is a direct response to the Call for Justice 1.7 of theENFFADA.

This call for justice is one of the main priorities of Michèle Audette, who was one of the commissioners of theENFFADA,. What calls for justice should we take to push the thinking a little further and get the government moving? asked the long-time activist, following her swearing in a little over three years ago.

At the time, she and her colleagues Dennis Glen Pattersonthe Mi'kmaw And Christmas (both retired today) as well as Brian Francis (the current chair of the Standing Committee on Aboriginal Peoples, also Mi'kmaw) have spontaneously agreed that it was the mechanism of accountability, of protection of rights, the mechanism where [quelqu’un peut] file a complaint and be supported which had to be a priority, knowing that the government would necessarily reject certain calls for justice.

Although the key recommendation of the recent report closely resembles what we find in the conclusions of theENFFADAthe file has nevertheless progressed a lot, because it is studiedexplains Mrs. Audette. We brought in people from the government, various human rights experts, court officials – which we were not able to do with theENFFADA. That, for me, was a success.

We only have to make one phone call as a senator to call an office of deputies or ministers to tell them: “what are you going to do?” They respond a little faster, otherwise, we cross the lawn and we are in their room.

The climate of instability that reigns in Ottawa is, however, not encouraging for the future of this call for justice launched five years ago.

I don't live in a world of unicorns or pink cariboulaunches Michèle Audette with a yellow laugh. It is necessary that [la création d’un tribunal spécialisé] comes from the government because it comes with budgets […] I am aware that it will not be for the next few months.