UN panel rips Canada’s record on natives
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Monthly Digital Subscription
$1 per week for 24 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Billed as $4.00 plus GST every four weeks. After 24 weeks, price increases to the regular rate of $19.00 plus GST every four weeks. Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
Monthly Digital Subscription
$4.75/week*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Billed as $19 plus GST every four weeks. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Winnipeg Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
*$1 will be added to your next bill. After your 4 weeks access is complete your rate will increase by $0.00 a X percent off the regular rate.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 23/02/2012 (4960 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
CANADA’S international reputation came under fire in Geneva on Wednesday as a UN expert panel delivered scathing criticisms of the government’s treatment of First Nations and recent changes to the country’s immigration system.
Members on the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, all human-rights experts from around the world, questioned why headway has not been made in resolving the disparities between First Nations communities and the rest of the country.
“This problem should not continue the same way as it has in the past,” said Noureddine Amir, vice-chairman of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. “How long will this be ongoing?”
The treatment of natives jumped back onto the federal political agenda after the Red Cross delivered humanitarian aid to the First Nations community of Attawapiskat in northern Ontario late last year.
Since then, opposition parties and aboriginal groups have called on the Conservative government to provide more funding for education, better infrastructure and a move toward self-determination. There are also concerns the Tory omnibus crime bill will have a disproportionate impact on natives.
Speaking to the UN panel on behalf of the federal government Wednesday, Catrina Tapley, a senior Citizenship and Immigration Canada official, acknowledged mistakes had been made in the past. But she highlighted the range of programs established and actions taken by various levels of government in recent years to help natives, and the focus on jobs.
“Increasing aboriginal participation in the economy is the most effective way to improve the well-being and quality of life of aboriginal people in Canada,” Tapley said.
— Postmedia News