The following letter was sent to member of Parliament John Weston and copied to Coast Reporter.
We wish to congratulate you and your government for making Canada a signatory to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
The declaration was adopted by the United Nations in 2007 after about 20 years of ongoing negotiations. Only Canada, New Zealand, Australia and the U.S. abstained from the original signing. The U.S. now remains alone in refusing to endorse the UN declaration.
Indian Affairs Minister John Duncan said in a statement that in endorsing the document the government was recognizing its importance to aboriginal Canadians. Shawn Atleo, Grand Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, stated that it signals a real shift, a move forward toward real partnership between the First Nations and the government.
Good show.
Louis Legal, Council of Senior Citizens Organization (COSCO)
