Ottawa's stand at climate talks hurting native rights, chiefs say

First nations blast Indian Affairs Minister

BILL CURRY AND MARTIN MITTELSTAEDT

From Friday's Globe and Mail

December 12, 2008 at 4:24 AM EST

OTTAWA and TORONTO — Canada's position on the rights of indigenous people at the UN climate-change talks in Poland led Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl to receive a public tongue-lashing yesterday as he appeared at a gathering of Assembly of First Nations chiefs in Ottawa.

The chiefs made Mr. Strahl wait nearly an hour before allowing him to speak, and scolded him on stage before and after his speech.

"The actions of Canada in Poland are designed to undermine the rights of indigenous people here and elsewhere," said AFN National Chief Phil Fontaine, standing in front of the seated Indian Affairs Minister. "It's completely unacceptable."

Mr. Strahl said Canada sometimes opposes language in international treaties if it contradicts existing Canadian laws or treaties.

The chiefs' outburst was prompted by fallout from one of Canada's negotiating positions at the climate talks, which end today in the Polish city of Poznan.

Negotiators have been grappling with measures to protect tropical forests in Third World countries. Forest loss accounts for about 20 per cent of global greenhouse-gas emissions, and limiting releases from this source would be a major way of slowing climate change.

As part of the talks, negotiators were considering the extent of the rights that indigenous people have over the forests they live in. But Canada and a number of other countries argued successfully against making mention of these rights in a new international climate-change pact.

One delegate from a developing country who took part in the closed-door negotiations said Canada opposed all references to indigenous rights in the discussions.

The delegate, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Canada's actions mean indigenous people could lose out on any financial compensation for protecting forests on their land. Instead, compensation in the form of international carbon credits would go to their national government.

"It was very sad," the delegate said of Canada's actions.

Environment Minister Jim Prentice, speaking at a news conference in Poznan, defended Canada's position, saying the question of legal rights aside, he believes indigenous people should be involved in talks on preserving the forest they live in. "It is important that aboriginal people, indigenous people, be consulted and be part of any discussion of those issues," he said.

Canada also objected to having the discussions on deforestation linked to the UN's declaration on rights of indigenous people, because this "has nothing whatsoever to do with climate change," Mr. Prentice said.

Canada has been criticized by many environmental groups for having some of the weakest positions among industrialized countries on curbing releases of greenhouse gases. Among its controversial actions, Canada unilaterally decided to use 2006 as the base year for calculating reductions in its carbon dioxide emissions, rather than 1990, as is required under the Kyoto Protocol. Canada's emissions have risen nearly 30 per cent since 1990.

But Mr. Prentice, countering his environmental critics, said Canada is well respected at the talks.

"I would caution people that simply because one environmental group characterizes the record of the government of Canada in one way, doesn't mean that that is the reality," he said.