This post is written by Kim Wakeford, Policy and Research Manager & Megan Lewis, Director of the Centre for Indigenous Policy and Research at Canadian Roots Exchange. Canadian Roots Exchange (CRE) is a national, Indigenous-led non-profit. They envision a future where Indigenous youth are empowered and connected as dynamic leaders in vibrant and thriving communities. Their purpose as a national Indigenous youth-led organisation is to collaborate with communities to provide programmes, grants and opportunities that are grounded in Indigenous ways of knowing and being and designed to strengthen and amplify the voices of Indigenous youth.

  • The problem: Indigenous youth and their communities are frequently left out of the policy decision-making processes that directly impact them.
  • Why it matters: Canada is starting work to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP), which will impact every area of Indigenous people’s lives and nations.
  • The solution: Create space for Indigenous youth to lead conversations about UNDRIP and empower their communities to determine what it means to them.

How might we implement UNDRIP in Canada, so that youth, elders, women, Two-Spirit and LGBTQ+ people are able to co-create the relationship with Indigenous peoples and their communities?

Over the past two years, CRE has been privileged to host several engagements designed to create space for Indigenous youth in Canada to lend their wisdom to this question and to the question of UNDRIP more generally. In fall 2020, following an engagement led by Justice Canada, CRE created an additional space for Indigenous youth to come together and share their perspectives and priorities. As a result of this engagement, it became clear that Indigenous youth were seeking more spaces to share their priorities as they relate to UNDRIP, so we hosted an Indigenous Youth Policy Hackathon in May of 2021 which provided teams with space to have “sky’s the limit” conversations about solutions, resulting in surprising and creative policy recommendations. The insight and recommendations we heard throughout these engagements are wide-reaching and innovative, reflecting the diversity of Indigenous youth in Canada, who are too often treated monolithically.

Empowering Indigenous communities

The youth we spoke to were clear: implementing UNDRIP as Canada’s framework for reconciliation now and into the future will not reflect their own or their communities’ needs unless it is done in a reciprocal and decolonised way. This means an accessible, meaningful, and continuous engagement. It means communities need to be empowered to implement the declaration in their own way, and it means the consistent delivery of clear progress updates with success measures that are identified by the rights-holders directly impacted by UNDRIP.

Indigenous youth in this country understand the importance and implications of this vision, including the legal complexities UNDRIP will have on the collective and individual rights of Indigenous peoples (#landback).

For the youth we spoke to, implementing UNDRIP in a good way means that there shouldn’t be a one-size-fits-all plan for every community. Any action plan created to align Canada's laws and policies with UNDRIP needs to be flexible enough to respond to distinct community needs - not only between First Nations, Metis, and Inuit communities, but also based on specific regional and more community-based needs. This extends to rights surrounding everything from access to water, housing, employment, education, to care for elders. Ultimately, it means empowering nations to lead their own implementation plans at the community level.

Reconciliation and enhancing Indigenous rights are multi and inter-generational projects, and Indigenous youth need to be front and centre in those conversations.

Making changes

Indigenous youth also recognise the pressing need educate non-Indigenous people about UNDRIP and Indigenous rights more generally, including the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Calls to Action, the MMIWG Inquiry Calls for Justice, treaty rights, Indigenous constitutional rights, and the findings of the 1996 Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. Throughout our UNDRIP engagements, nearly all of the youth recommended some form of independent oversight for UNDRIP’s implementation, including a national UNDRIP advocacy council that would specifically advise legislators and hold them accountable to the principles of UNDRIP.

Implementing UNDRIP meaningfully is also a matter of embedding certain values in the government processes and institutions where those values don't currently exist. With its emphasis on self-determination and sovereignty, UNDRIP stands to be a tool for Indigenous youth and their respective nations to have more access to the decision-making processes that impact them directly. Implementing UNDRIP must widen Indigenous peoples’ path to these tables or create those paths where they don’t already exist.

As part of their commitment to reconciliation, the government of Canada must continue creating space for Indigenous youth to take part in and lead conversations about implementing UNDRIP. Reconciliation and enhancing Indigenous rights are multi and inter-generational projects, and Indigenous youth need to be front and centre in those conversations.

See CRE's past work on UNDRIP here:

This fall, CRE is running a large-scale engagement on Indigenous Youth Voices & the UNDRIP Action Plan. In December 2022, a report highlighting what we heard will be shared on our website- follow along for updates.

If you have any questions, or would like more information please contact Megan Lewis, Director of the Centre for Indigenous Policy and Research at megan@canadianroots.ca

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