UNION OF B.C. INDIAN CHIEFS
CHIEFS COUNCIL
FEBRUARY 26TH-27TH, 2020
MUSQUEAM COMMUNITY CENTRE, XʷMƏΘKʷƏY̓ƏM (MUSQUEAM TERRITORY)
Resolution no. 2020-06
RE: Call for USMCA and Signatories to Uphold the UN Declaration
WHEREAS the US-Mexico-Canada-Agreement (USMCA) represents a free trade deal that will replace the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and introduce new policies around labour and environmental standards, intellectual property protections, and digital trade;
WHEREAS US, Canada, and Mexico are perpetuating historic patterns
of Indigenous rights abuses and violations of free, prior and informed consent
(FPIC) through large-scale development projects that the USMCA must be
contextualized alongside. The Dakota Access Pipeline in the States, the Coastal
Gaslink Pipeline in Canada, and the Maya Train project in Mexico have been
criticized by various bodies of the UN for their failure to comply with the
international standards of consultation and FPIC, and for the harassment and
intimidation land defenders opposed to these projects have faced;
WHEREAS the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples,
which the government of Canada has adopted without qualification, and has,
alongside the government of BC, committed to implement, affirms:
Article 19: States shall consult and cooperate in good faith with
the indigenous peoples concerned through their own representative institutions
in order to obtain their free, prior and informed consent before adopting and
implementing legislative or administrative measures that may affect them.
Article 32(1): Indigenous peoples have the right to determine and
develop priorities and strategies for the development or use of their lands or
territories and other resources.
(2): States shall consult and cooperate in good faith with the
indigenous peoples concerned through their own representative institutions in
order to obtain their free and informed consent prior to the approval of any
project affecting their lands or territories and other resources, particularly
in connection with the development, utilization or exploitation of mineral,
water or other resources.
Article 38: States, in
consultation and cooperation with indigenous peoples, shall take the
appropriate measures, including legislative measures, to achieve the ends of
this Declaration;
WHEREAS in September 2019 Tonatierra, a non-profit Indigenous
rights organization based in Arizona, appealed to the USCMA Working Group of
the US House of Representatives and called for a public hearing to address the
systemic disregard for the rights of Indigenous people, stating: “There can be
no approval of USMCA without recognition, respect, and effective mechanisms for
the protection of the internationally recognized Human Rights of Indigenous
Peoples in the trade zone encompassing the three countries,
specifically the right of Free,
Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC)”;
WHEREAS Tonatierra pointed to the Indigenous Peoples of Mexico who
convened in the Zapatista territories to make known their “determined
opposition to the imposition of the USCMA scale mega
development projects that are
already being illegally implanted,” and stated that if the US Congress should
approve the USCMA they would be “complicit in a deliberate act of international
aggression against the Indigenous Peoples of Mexico”;
WHEREAS after their messages were ignored and the Senate Finance
Committee passed the USMCA on January 9, 2020, Tonatierra renewed their calls
for the signatories of the USCMA to meet the minimum standards of FPIC, and
wrote to US Senator Kyrsten Sinema about the legal imperative to hold a public
hearing that would inform US congressional representatives and the public about
the right of Indigenous peoples to FPIC; and
WHEREAS the USCMA has now been ratified by Mexico and the US, and
is currently awaiting ratification from Canada, upon which the agreement will
go into effect after 90 days.
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED the UBCIC Chiefs Council fully supports
the call for a public hearing to inform the public and the appropriate
legislative representatives on the violations of FPIC that have resulted from
government backed projects and to communicate to the American, Mexican, and
Canadian governments that any international commercial agreement must be
accompanied and contextualized by the UN
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples;
THEREFORE BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED the UBCIC Chiefs Council opposes
any actions by the US, Canada, and Mexico that breach the international
standards of FPIC and consultation, and calls upon the federal government of
Canada to delay ratification of the USCMA until they can ensure that the USCMA
meets Canada’s constitutional and international human rights obligations and is
consistent with their commitment to federal legislation that will implement the
UN Declaration; and
THEREFORE BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED the
UBCIC Chiefs Council directs the UBCIC Executive and staff to work alongside
Tonatierra and other like-minded organizations to compel Canada, Mexico and the
US to take immediate action to ensure that the USMCA will be fully inclusive of
Indigenous rights and will not prioritize investment deals or development
projects over the welfare of Indigenous peoples.
Moved: Ruby Manilla, Da'naxda'xw/Awaetlala Nation (Proxy) Seconded: Chief Donna Aljam, Nicomen Indian Band Disposition: Carried
Date: February 27, 2020
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