The Daily UbuntuThread 05 · War and Reconciliation · September 24, 2026
A declaration for all peoples
Canada voted against the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2007, before endorsing it without qualification, then making it law.
1 · The scene
In a classroom in Wendake, a teacher unrolls an old UN poster, dog-eared at the corners. She fixes it to the board with four magnets.
"Here, it says Canada supports this text without qualification," she says. "What does 'without qualification' mean?" A boy raises his hand: "It means you don't hold anything back for later." A girl at the back adds: "Or that you can't go back on it." The teacher smiles and writes both answers on the board, side by side.
Original vignette
2 · The documented case
From four votes against to a law
On September 13, 2007, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by 143 votes in favour, 4 against and 11 abstentions. The four votes against came from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States. All four countries would later change their position.
On November 12, 2010, Canada endorsed the Declaration, but as an "aspirational," non-binding document. On May 10, 2016, in New York, before the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, Minister Carolyn Bennett announced that Canada was now a full supporter, without qualification.
The text then became Canadian law. The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act came into force on June 21, 2021. Two years later, on June 21, 2023, Ottawa published a 2023-2028 action plan of 181 measures, the result of two years of consultation and cooperation with First Nations, Inuit and Métis across the country.
Every October 24, United Nations Day recalls what such texts can change. A declaration repairs nothing by itself. It was Indigenous Peoples themselves who carried it to the UN, then to Parliament. What remains is to turn 181 measures into concrete actions, and a promise into a relationship.
3 · The voice
“Once you know the truth, you can't pretend you don't know it.”
4 · The question
Is signing a promise with other peoples the end of the road, or the first step in a relationship that must be tended every day?
Sources
- United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UN, Department of Economic and Social Affairs) www.un.org
- Speech by Minister Carolyn Bennett to the Permanent Forum (Government of Canada, 2016) www.canada.ca
- Canada's Statement of Support for the Declaration (Crown-Indigenous Relations, 2010) rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca
- "An important step in respecting the human rights of Indigenous peoples in Canada" (Justice Canada, 2023, French version) www.canada.ca
- UN Declaration Act action plan (Justice Canada) www.justice.gc.ca
Every figure on this page links to a verifiable public source.
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