In advance of the 09 August UN Day of the World’s Indigenous People, the Global Foundation for Social Harmony and Sustainable Development (GFoundation) in Canada is calling on its country to ratify the UN-ILO Convention 169 on Indigenous & Tribal peoples.
Honorary GFoundation Board member Ramon Antipan said C169 is the only international treaty to protect the right of indigenous and tribal peoples and for them to control their institutions, ways of life and economic development. There are obligations for governments to promote economic empowerment and decent work. Once ratified, C169 is the only enforceable treaty at the global level that exists on indigenous issues.
A Mapuche native from Chile (which has ratified C169), Antipan says Canada should join other nations in a genuine dialogue process for change. “Both Canada and Chile are far from compliance to C-169. “The first steps are the prerequisites from the UN International Labour Organization (ILO) for a dialogue process. “We will engage with other groups here and abroad to pressure Canada to do the same”, he said.
“Countries that have UN-designated Biospheres (such as Canada and Chile) are encouraged to integrate indigenous realities into their development plans, so as to achieve climate change resiliency. ILO’s C169 can be a valuable tool for linking indigenous issues to Biosphere programs.
GFoundation’s headquarters are situated within the UN-designated Beaver Hills Biosphere in Canada yet the organisation has a long-standing solidarity pact with the Mapuche Peoples, who also live within their UN-designated Araucarias Biosphere Reserve , in Chile. “Our commonalities of living in a Biosphere will help us promote C169”.
GFoundation is a United Nations-accredited NGO and aims to press the issue within global intergovernmental processes. See the GFoundation Website: GF Annual Meeting 21 Aug.
INDIGENOUS MEMBER OF PARLIMENT FROM EDMONTON VISITS GFOUNDATION
On July 28, 2022, Blake Desjarlais, Member of Parliament for Edmonton Griesbach, visited the GFoundation’s ‘Ancestral Grove’ to inaugurate its ‘Spirit” Garden’
“I was honoured to be gifted my own commemorative tree in the Spirit Garden and to plant sweet grass there,” said Desjarlais.
Members of GFoundation’s newly formed Indigenous Committee were on hand to introduce the MP to their work and guide him through its forest and wetlands.
Photos courtesy Kim Fong
