Did Australia demand reversal on natives?
Ottawa pulled support after Howard's visit
By GLORIA GALLOWAY
9 June 2007 - The Globe and Mail - Canada's decision to withdraw support for the United Nations Declaration on the Right of Indigenous Peoples coincided with a visit to
Ottawa by Prime Minister John Howard of Australia -- a country that strongly opposes the declaration.
Shortly after Mr. Howard's meeting with Prime Minister Stephen Harper in May, 2006, Mr. Harper called Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice to tell him to
review Canada's position of support, government sources said yesterday.
Although previous Liberal governments had difficulty with the declaration thathad taken more than two decades to craft, by 2005 Canada was fully
supportive and actively encouraging other countries to sign on.
But the United States and Australia remained staunchly opposed. And Mr. Harper walked away from his meeting with Mr. Howard believing the
declaration would be problematic, the sources said.
"It was very much the Prime Minister [Harper] directing Prentice to relook at this thing," a source said.
Mr. Prentice has since said there are concerns that the declaration is unconstitutional, that it could prevent military activities on aboriginal land
and that it could harm existing land deals.
Sandra Buckler, a spokeswoman for Mr. Harper, said yesterday that there is "no truth to it" when asked if Mr. Howard had influenced Canada's position on
the declaration.
But the sources were clear that there was a direct link between the visit of theAustralian Prime Minister and the change in policy.
In the earlier stages of the declaration's development, many countries had reservations, said Craig Benjamin, an aboriginal-rights campaigner for
Amnesty International. But Canada, which helped revise the document through the early part of this decade, had come to embrace it and was
actively encouraging other countries to do likewise, he said.
"The U.S. and Australia had become so isolated that in the last few [UN] sessions, when they were attempting to put their proposals on the floor, they
were all but being shouted down by the other states," Mr. Benjamin said.
"You can see how important it would be to them to get a moderate state on side -- a state with a positive reputation, a state that countries with much
more limited technical resources were turning to for advice."
Australia had also seen courts affirm aboriginal title to ancestral lands -- rulings that had been irritants to some interests in that country, including the
mining sector. The declaration is not binding on countries but it does give added credence to aboriginal territorial claims.
Mr. Harper and Mr. Howard have reportedly been fast friends since becoming acquainted at a 2005 meeting for the International Democratic Union, a forum
for conservative leaders.
Mr. Howard was the first foreign head of government to visit Canada after Mr. Harper took office.
Documents obtained by Amnesty International show that bureaucrats in Foreign Affairs, Indian Affairs and Defence all urged the government to
support the declaration. But, after Mr. Howard's visit, that advice was set aside.
Anita Neville, the Liberal aboriginal-affairs critic, stood in the House of Commons yesterday to ask why the policy had changed.
"Contrary to all advice, the Conservative government, in a betrayal of this country's position, has been one of most aggressive opponents of the
declaration," she asked. "How can the government say it is a protector of human rights when it opposed the rights of indigenous people around the
world?"
Rod Bruinooge, the parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Indian Affairs, said his government's position on the declaration "has been consistent with
the previous government. Over the last 10 years, this draft declaration has been negotiated and it is hoped that it will continue to be negotiated so that
it is a format that works for Canada."
Source:The Globe and Mail
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