Trudeau and Indigenous Peoples

Eduardo del Buey
Foto: Reuters
La Jornada Maya

Martes 3 de octubre, 2017

By todays values, the treatment of indigenous peoples by colonizing powers has historically been abysmal. Canadian indigenous people, First Nations in Canadian parlance, have seen their treaty rights abridged by successive governments, and have found themselves living, in many cases, on reservations that lack a proper infrastructure for 21st century life.

Colonizing powers have tried to either marginalize indigenous communities completely, or else force them to assimilate, giving up their languages and culture, yet continue being treated as second class citizens by the colonizers. The forced separation of indigenous children from their parents and communities in Canada in order to house them with non-indigenous families and attend non-indigenous schools where they were forbidden to speak their own language is a sad example. And this took place as late as the 1960’s and 70’s.

This is changing, albeit slowly.

The United Nations has been working for years to codify the rights of indigenous peoples with the goal of encouraging them to nurture their languages and cultures, and get the majority cultures to respect the rights of indigenous peoples to pursue their culture and foster economic growth and social development. This has met with limited success, since United Nations Agreements depend on the good will of member states to implement them, and, sadly, in many cases, the good will has been slow to act.

On September 21st, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addressed the United Nations General Assembly. Rather than focus of the great international issues of the day, Trudeau chose instead to deliver an inward-looking speech focusing on the plight of Canadian indigenous people and what his government plans to do about it.

“We have to acknowledge what we’re doing at home,” Trudeau said afterward in response to a reporter’s question about the focus of his speech.

And so he did.

The Canadian government is engaged in an ongoing series of talks to address First Nations grievances and to set a new course for the future. The Government of Canada has called 2017 as the Year of Reconciliation, and is determined to work out ways to allow First Nations to grow and prosper with full respect by all for their languages and cultures.

During my thirty-seven years as a Canadian diplomat I was often called upon to advocate for human rights in the countries in which I was stationed. The usual response I received to my entreaties was, “how could Canada consider itself an example given its treatment of its own indigenous peoples.”

I was often left at a loss for words, and my arguments seemed timid in the face of what Canada was asking from the target country.

This was and continues to be the case for many of my colleagues, as well as for Canadian political leaders when they travel abroad or attend international conferences focusing on human rights.

So, Trudeau’s speech, while different from those of other world leaders, achieved two major goals.

He put Canadians on notice that the treatment of indigenous peoples by government and other Canadians must change for the better quickly, and that past injustices are going to be addressed. This process began some years ago. In 2008, when Trudeau’s predecessor, former Prime Minister Stephen Harper, apologized in Parliament for the above mentioned forced separation of indigenous children from their parents and their placement in so-called residential schools and white homes. The loss of their family ties and cultural and linguistic links has plagued indigenous communities to this day.

He also placed the international community on notice that all governments and peoples have to speed up their processes of addressing aboriginal grievances, and treat indigenous people and cultures with the respect they deserve. International covenants are worthless if signatories do not put them into practice.

In his unorthodox speech before the General Assembly, Trudeau didn’t mention many of the international challenges facing humanity. There was no mention of Crimea, North Korea, Myanmar, the Middle East, Syria, or any of the myriad problems plaguing the global community. He left that to other world leaders.

Instead, he decided to focus on an issue that is rarely raised at such forums yet affects many countries around the world, and its unique character has, I suspect, made a favorable impression on some in the Assembly Hall as well as in Canada, and elsewhere around the world.

Yet it is not only governments that have to change.

People everywhere have to change.

Majority populations have to leave discrimination and prejudice behind them, and adopt new values and attitudes towards their populations.

Indigenous populations have to leave behind historical bitterness and work with governments and majority populations to bring indigenous communities into the 21st Century technologically and economically, while respecting traditional values and culture. Indigenous leaders must seek elected office at all levels of government in order to affect the changes they seek to see in their societies. Indeed, indigenous peoples must run for political office in far greater numbers if they are to affect change in Canadian and other societies within which they live.

Indigenous history must be taught in mainstream schools so that non-indigenous youth can share in the richness of their cosmogony, especially the respect that indigenous peoples have for mother earth at a time when global warming is affecting us all. Sharing indigenous culture with non-indigenous youth would go a long way towards dispelling the racist stereotypes that seem to define relations between indigenous and non-indigenous peoples.

And aboriginal business people must get to work to establish close contacts with aboriginal businesses in other countries and to share experiences and learnings. They must also create synergies with non-indigenous businesses at home and abroad, to provide indigenous peoples with the jobs and incomes they need to develop and thrive in a globalized economy.

They must also reach out across borders and create ties with other indigenous peoples and engage in cultural and business exchanges.

In fact, an Inuit (indigenous) community in the North of Canada is now buying coffee beans from indigenous Peruvian coffee growers in a unique indigenous to indigenous business venture. The idea is to facilitate trade between Peruvian indigenous farmers and Canadian indigenous business enterprises.

The profits from this venture will go to building a new cultural center in Peru and funding other programs. The Inuit plan to build a roasting center to package and sell their Inuit branded coffee in Canada and abroad. Both communities stand to benefit, and can serve as a model for indigenous groups in Canada and Peru to reach out to indigenous producers throughout the hemisphere and beyond to create a new international trading trend.

Inuit founder Pamela Gross recently told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, “As indigenous people across the world we have all been colonized. This is a great opportunity for both communities in the north and the south to create better revenue for our communities, which will in turn change the cycles that we face with colonization”.

Admitting fault and admitting guilt is difficult for many governments and individuals to do. Yet former Prime Minister Harper did just that in Canada in 2008, and now Prime Minister Trudeau has done that on a global stage in 2017. The rest of us should follow suit by changing attitudes and abandoning outdates stereotypes.

Only through sincere leadership from both sides will attitudes and human conditions change, and a positive common future for all be created.

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