La Commission interaméricaine des droits de l’homme analyse la situation des droits territoriaux des Premières nations au Canada

Conférence organisée par Avocats sans frontières

Venez rencontrer monsieur Robert Morales, négociateur en chef pour le Hul’qumi’ num Treaty Group (HTG) en Colombie-Britannique, qui regroupe six communautés des Premières nations.

M. Morales présentera les revendications du groupe Hul’qumi’num concernant leurs terres ancestrales et expliquera pourquoi il pense que la Commission interaméricaine des droits de l’homme (CIDH) peut constituer une solution à
leurs revendications.

Quand: Mercredi 21 septembre de 18h30 à 21h

Où: Local A-3316, Pavillon Hubert-Aquin, 400, rue Sainte-Catherine Est, UQAM, Métro Berri-UQAM

Mr. Morales is Coast Salish and a member of Cowichan Tribes of British Columbia. He has served as the Hul’qumi’num Treaty Group (HTG) Chief Negotiator since 2000. HTG is composed of six member First Nations, with a population of over 6,000 members and is one of the largest treaty tables in British Columbia. Mr. Morales is regarded as one of the most experienced and respected First Nations treaty negotiators in North America.

Mr. Morales has also served as immediate past Chair for the First Nations Summit Chief Negotiators roundtable which is composed of 47 First Nations treaty group negotiating tables. He has been a lead participant in the establishment and spokesperson of the Common Table for the BC Treaty Negotiation Process. A graduate of the University of Victoria Law School in British Columbia, Mr. Morales maintained a private law practice for over 14 years specializing in the areas of First Nations rights, criminal law, family law, and child protection.

HTG is presently represented by the IPLP Program (Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy Program of the University of Arizona) in a petition filed with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights alleging violations of the six First Nations’ traditional property and other human rights by Canada.
In a nutshell, the petition alleges that : 1) Canada has not set boundaries, demarcated, or recorded the title deed to the ancestral lands of the HTG; 2) the State has granted licenses, permits and concessions within its ancestral lands without prior consultation; 3) Canada has not provided restitution for the ancestral lands the HTG lost involuntarily and that were transferred by the State to private third parties; and 4) this has resulted in the destruction of the environment, natural resources, and of the sacred sites used by the alleged victims.

The petition has been deemed admissible by the Commission in October 2009, and is under consideration by the Commission for the report on the merits. The Commission found admissible the allegations pertaining to a potential violation of the right to equality before the law (art. II), religious freedom and worship (III), right to the benefit of culture (XIII), and the right to property (art. XXIII) contained in the American Declaration. The petition is now under consideration by the Commission for the report on the merits, as the report on admissibility does not constitute yet a finding of a violation or a statement that Canada acted against its international obligations.