UN Attacks Law Limiting Natives’ Complaints Rights
Monday, November 07, 2005 at 13:16
The UN’s Human Rights Committee is the latest body to publicly condemn a section in the Canadian Human Rights Act that excludes some First Nations people from the Act’s protection.
In a recently-released report, the committee says Section 67 of the Human Rights Act “allows discrimination as long as it can be justified under the Indian Act”.
As a result of the section in question, First Nations people living on reserves don’t have the same access for launching certain complaints afforded to non-reserve residents.
The call from the UN Human Rights Committee comes just days after a similar call from the Canadian Human Rights Commission.
The commission says the exclusionary provision in the human rights act is nothing less than a “national and international embarrassment to Canada”.