Quebec ombudsperson Marc-Andre Dowd is calling on the province to adopt the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People. (Photo courtesy of Marc-André Dowd, Quebec ombudsperson)
Quebec ombudsman calls on government to embrace UNDRIP in report
‘Well past time for the government to listen to us,’ says Quebec Native Women president
The Quebec ombudsman called on the provincial government to adopt the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP), among other recommendations in a report tabled last week.
Quebec ombudsman Marc-Andre Dowd released his first follow-up recommendations on the Viens Commission report Oct. 4.
Dowd said the government has made some progress — but not enough — and called on the CAQ government to adopt UNDRIP and outlined a number of other areas for improvement in terms of the provincial government’s relations with Indigenous communities.
“I’m aware of the magnitude of the changes required. It stands to reason that some of them will take longer than others depending on the extent of the issues,” Dowd said.
“However, I see that initiatives are piecemeal and that no progress has been made on urgent reforms. For example, even though Indigenous children continue to be over-represented within the youth protection system, we’re a far cry from seeing the corrective action needed.
“They’re priorities that have to be tackled head-on immediately.”
On top of enshrining UNDRIP at the provincial level, Dowd recommended the government develop, as a matter of urgency, a long-term strategy for meeting housing needs in Indigenous communities, among other recommendations, as well as abolishing and preventing all forms of discrimination against First Nations and Inuit people in health and social services.
Additionally, Dowd called on the Legault government to aim for concrete results in the area of youth protection for First Nations and Inuit, with an emphasis on self-determination.
Quebec Native Women president Marjolaine Etienne called on the provincial government to finally acknowledge, in the face of all this documentation, the existence of institutional racism in the province.
“Obviously, it’s clear that we would like to see the government listen to and apply the ombudsman’s recommendations, but we would, above all, like to see the Quebec government lend the same attentive ear to Indigenous organizations,” Etienne said.
“We can add the ombudsman’s report to the long list of recommendations that have come from Indigenous organizations that can attest to the institutional racism and discrimination in Quebec. It’s well past time for the government to listen to us and do the same.”
Other recommendations from Dowd include establishing a clear picture of the realities of First Nations and Inuit by collecting and analyzing reliable ethno-cultural data; and aligning educational services with the needs of Indigenous students and adopt a strategic vision for education.
He also recommended recognizing Indigenous police forces as autonomous bodies and essential services; ensuring the safety of Indigenous women and respect for their right to physical integrity and equality; increasing access to justice services for the population of Nunavik; rethinking the operation of correctional services for First Nations and Inuit populations by redefining detention tools and standards and extending the offer of culturally safe support services to all correctional facilities.
Look at those self satisfied, unintelligent eyes. What do you see? The face of deep satisfaction at saying “whatever appears to be the right thing.”
It must be fun to ignore everything someone says because you disagree with them, and to pretend like it’s coming from a mediocre and unintelligent source….
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This person was vice president of the provincial commission that oversaw enforcement of Quebec human rights legislation, and multiple bachelor’s degrees and at least one master’s degree. He has been a professor at well-regard faculties, a litigator, and even the Police Ethics Commissioner.
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His appointment to this position was the result of unanimous ratification via the provincial legislature. His recommendations result from an extensive review of one of Quebec’s most serious provincial inquiries, and they are rather tame and far from being some kind of wild-eyed and bland pie in the sky commentary from some radical nobody.
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But I guess no one can spot unintelligent mediocrity like anonymous internet commentators. Everyone knows the real insights come from random naysayers online, not the people who work in a specialized, technical field for decades.
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You clearly see yourself as someone smarter and well-informed, what are your thoughts and recommendations? You disagree with the source, but you can’t even say why and you don’t even try to engage with the material everything he said rested on. Do you even know what the Viens commission was, or do you just post angrily online? Disagreement is one thing, but at least make it substantive and worthwhile.
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Self-satisfaction indeed…
Article 1 of UNDRIP:
Indigenous peoples have the right to the full enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms as recognized in the UN Human rights declaration and International Human Rights Law.
Article 2 of UNDRIP:
Indigenous peoples are free and equal to all other peoples and like others have the right to remain free from discrimination.
Just 2 articles in, and you might start to think “What’s the problem with this?” the problem is that these commenters are openly hostile to indigenous people and don’t believe we are deserving of human rights, nor do they see us as equal human beings.
It’s as simple as that. And that’s why we need the UN to outline that we’re HUMAN BEINGS. That’s why we need a government body to live up to the declaration.
Because the Feds aren’t living up to it, neither is the government of Quebec hasn’t, or NWT, Or Nunavut, or Nunavik, or Nunatsiavut, or IRC.
Basic human rights please
Tell us what rights you don’t have? The inability to create anything but dysfunctional systems (the NLCA, for example) is not a problem ‘Canada’ can fix. I find comments like yours tedious.
To answer your rather simple statements, you’d have to read the UNDRIP, which is the international consensus on basic Indigenous rights that Canada has signed and ratified albeit a bit late because of the colonial approach used by the Harper government. That being said, obviously you haven’t read the Viens report that is also available in English. The commission had limited powers because Quebec has limited jurisdiction about Indigenous people which is mainly a federal jurisdiction. Nonetheless the Commission did its job and limited its recommendations to issues of clear provincial jurisdiction. The Commission had recommended that the implementation of its recommendations be delegated to the Quebec Human Rights Commission and its Ombudsperson and that’s exactly what he did.
Decolonization is difficult and your comments are a good example but doing the right thing in terms of Indigenous rights is a start. Otherwise, the Courts will have to get involved to make sure Indigenous rights are respected.
Im surprised no one has commented on this considering what he is aiming for. I got to say that change is a must and where he is directing all that momentum.. good on him.
Very ambitious considering the fact that you cannot kill an extreme idea like racism.
Everything else, tho.. I have to say that he could very much tackle those. Maybe even the cops to speak languages that the Inuit they detain would understand. I speak French and could understand what they were saying about one guy they already had in the car. I had to remind them im inuk and I also speak French.
there’s nothing ambitious at all in this statement, it is easy to say, predictable and will accomplish absolutely nothing.