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I have been watching the debates on C-15 in the House of Commons and the Senate. Click "show sittings" on the different stages of the bill to read transcripts or watch video.  Please ask if you have never used this site, and have questions. Some of the most interesting discussions are happening at the Standing Senate Committee on Aboriginal Peoples . Study dates so far (click on webcast image to watch video): Friday, May 7, 2021 Monday, May 10, 2021 Friday, May 14, 2021   Most of the witnesses have been Indigenous.  They represent a wide variety of Indigenous perspectives from coast to coast, and into the north. Most want the bill passed quickly so this policy won't be delayed again as happened when the bill had the C-262 number. This includes some witnesses that submitted amendments to the House of Commons that were not included. Some witnesses have amendments that are a condition for their support, and a few want the entire process scrapped and start over. Listening cl...

Many people have drawn conclusions based on the notion that the Canadian government is behind Bill C-15, and thus because the Canadian government has demonstrated itself untrustworthy over generated, the bill also can't be trusted. Knowing who helped create UNDRIP and C-15 may then help move the next steps forward once this bill is finally passed into law. Who isn't behind this policy? Canada (including its provinces) has been an opponent of this policy from the beginning.  The formal aspects of UNDRIP started in 1982 when the Working Group on Indigenous Populations was established, and Canada has been an opponent for the entire 39 years since. There are individual politicians (Members of Provincial Parliaments, Members of the Federal Parliament, Senators) who support, and they are largely but not exclusively Indigenous. The governments of Canada has been an opponent regardless of which party happens to have formed a government. The Conservative Governments and party spokespe...

I sent in a brief to the committee for their study on March 25'th ( PDF ), but it was a bit too long so was asked to send in a more brief brief on April 12'th ( PDF , via OurCommons.ca ). I'm merging the footnotes from the earlier version for this blog. Introduction This is my ( My name is Russell McOrmond. Full contact information is at http://www.flora.ca/#contact ) first submission to parliament on this area of policy as I previously focused on technology law . I wish to offer myself as an example of a privileged white male who for most of my life was unaware of Canada's record on human rights. I believed what I was told, and now wants what I was told to match Canada's actions. European worldviews were embedded within the UN's conceptualisation of Human Rights as encoded in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. I do not believe UDHR was ever universal, and consider UNDRIP a critical step in that direction. I am aware of opposition to UNDRIP as adopted...

One of the articles assigned for NS 115 students this week is an essay by Jessica Kolopenuk titled Provoking Bad Biocitizenship . ( https://doi.org/10.1002/hast.1152 ) I do not have a background in biology or the medical sciences: that is the domain of my wife who teaches high-school biology to possible future doctors and scientists. I have spent decades involved in democratic reform, starting in the 1990's. I am inspired by the essay to think about how I might slide it into a domain that I am more actively engaged in. What is Democracy? Everyone thinks they know it when they see it, but lets copy a dictionary definition to have a common start. a : government by the people especially : rule of the majority b: a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections Provocation 1: Canadian Confederation was not an example of a democracy Prior t...

I find discussions on these issues from many Canadians, including in the federal parliament, to be -- well -- irrational, and full of "I know you are, but what am I" type childish behavior. I've already written China vs Hong Kong, Canada vs Haudenosaunee Confederacy , but the focus of certain politicians is now directed at the Indigenous Uyghurs rather than post-British-occupation Hong Kong. The Uyghurs are an indigenous peoples that have a history in that region dating back thousands of years. They call the region East Turkestan (or Uyghurstan), and reject the name Xinjiang (Sinkiang, meaning "New Frontier" in Mandarin Chinese). Many converted to Islam in the 10'th century, but that doesn't take away from their status as Indigenous peoples, and should not misdirect the focus of discussion toward religion. Even the type of name imposed by China should sound extremely familiar to Canadians, given we have a province called "New Found Land" on one...

I've been writing about association fallacies , and how they are leading to errors in analyzing UNDRIP, Bill C-15, and related laws. Who created UNDRIP UNDRIP is the result of decades of work, starting from the late 1970's, by Indigenous peoples worldwide.  This included many representatives of Turtle Island Nations and peoples.  The goal was to create policy which would regulate the behavior of nations which are not Indigenous nations. It should not surprise anyone to know that the most offending nations, known collectively as CANZUS (Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United States) would be actively opposing this human rights initiative. These foreign/foreigner created nations exist as an ongoing expression of White Supremacy . These are nations where their colonization projects were so successful (meaning, so horrible and genocidal ) that the foreign population and their descendants greatly outnumber the Indigenous population. Genocide is not what democracy looks like,...

In my last article I discuss some of the mistakes that settlers regularly make when trying to understand and help with policies that impact Indigenous peoples on Turtle Island. With regards to Bill C-15 , I am most concerned that some settlers have read emotional statements made by a subset of Indigenous individuals that are justifiably upset with Canada for the ongoing genocide against Indigenous peoples. These settlers will then incorrectly believe that it is helpful to protecting the rights of indigenous people to also be angry at Canada and oppose Bill C-15 and any other activity Canada might take relating to changing Canadian law to conform with UN human rights declarations. While I respect and understand Indigenous people who simply want Canada to get out of the way and allow them to live their lives in peace, I do not believe settlers should allow themselves to think the same way.  Whether settlers support Canada or any of its institutions, they are still part of and uphold...