Canada Secretly Collaborated with Australia to Weaken UN Indigenous Rights Declaration
Newly released Australian cabinet records reveal that Canada took the lead in efforts to undermine the original draft of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The Chrétien Liberal government of Canada worked closely with Australia in the early 2000s to develop a diluted substitute for the declaration. The Australian cabinet records show that Canada saw Australia as its most promising partner in crafting a new text and was willing to commit significant resources to the endeavor.
The aim of this state-friendly alternative, proposed by Canada, was to apply pressure on Indigenous leaders who refused to alter the 1993 original draft. Two Australian ministers wrote in a cabinet submission from May 2003 that their country sought to negotiate a strong and complete alternative text to counter the existing draft and prevent it from becoming customary international law.
The secretive nature of the collaboration between the two countries was highlighted in the records. They chose to bypass the official UN working group and kept their discussions under wraps. The Australian ministers noted in 2003 that the fact they had been discussing an alternative text with Canada had not yet been publicly disclosed.
Today, the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is considered a non-binding human rights instrument. The original draft underwent amendments before its adoption by the UN in 2007.
The revelation of Canada’s efforts comes from Australia’s national archives, which release cabinet records after 20 years. According to the records, both Canadian and Australian governments understood the sensitivity of their backroom tactics and only shared the alternative text with states that shared their views and concerns.
Kenneth Deer, an Indigenous representative involved in the development of the declaration, expressed his disappointment but was not surprised by the revelation. He stated that Canada presented a public facade while working against Indigenous rights in the background.
One specific point of contention in the negotiations was the Indigenous right to self-determination. Australia, fearing implications of secession, sought to replace the term with self-management. Canada, on the other hand, accepted the term self-determination but conditioned it on negotiation and agreement with the government.
The governments jointly proposed deleting references to demilitarization, restitution of land, armed conflict, and cultural genocide from the draft. They also sought to affirm the territorial and political integrity of sovereign states. However, the results were mixed, with some proposed changes being adopted and others left unchanged.
The Indigenous caucus at the time maintained a firm stance of no changes to the original draft. Australia hoped that the alternative text would bring divisions among Indigenous representatives and lead to negotiations. Exit strategies, including potentially ending the working group’s discussions, were also considered.
Australia and Canada made their text public in September 2003, which drew strong reactions from First Nations leaders in Canada. Despite the pressure, some Indigenous leaders eventually proposed amendments, allowing for negotiations. The final version of the declaration underwent significant changes but did not fully reflect the original intentions of Canada and Australia.
When the declaration was adopted by the UN in 2007, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States were the only countries to vote against it. Kenneth Deer noted that Canada’s government stance softened with the Liberal prime minister Paul Martin in 2003 but hardened with the election of the Conservative government under Stephen Harper in 2006. Regardless of the ruling party, Canada’s bureaucracy consistently resisted Indigenous rights, according to Deer.
The released documents also cast doubts on Martin’s 2007 claim that the Liberals had long supported the declaration, accusing Harper of changing positions on the matter. A spokesperson for the Martin Family Initiative clarified that Martin left the cabinet in June 2002 and became prime minister in December 2003.
In 2010, the Harper government endorsed the declaration as an aspirational document. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals passed legislation in 2021 to align federal laws with the declaration, and an implementation action plan was released the year before. Australia endorsed the declaration in 2009 but has yet to take legal steps to implement it, despite calls for similar legislation to be passed.
The revelations from the Australian cabinet records shed light on the secret collaboration between Canada and Australia to weaken the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. This controversial endeavor, carried out in the early 2000s, aimed to develop an alternative text that would counter the original draft. While the final version of the declaration underwent changes, it still affirms the collective and human rights of Indigenous Peoples. The documents bring to attention the challenges Indigenous communities face in securing their rights and the ongoing struggle for recognition and equality.
