Action Plan
Under section 6 of UN Declaration Act, the Government of Canada, in consultation and cooperation with Indigenous peoples, is required to prepare and implement an Action Plan to achieve the objectives of the UN Declaration. Specifically, the Act requires that the Action Plan include measures:
- to address injustices, combat prejudice and eliminate all forms of violence, racism and discrimination, including systemic racism and discrimination, against Indigenous peoples, including Elders, youth, children, persons with disabilities, women, men and gender-diverse and Two-Spirit persons
- to promote mutual respect and understanding, as well as good relations, including through human rights education
- related to the monitoring, oversight, recourse or remedy or other accountability with respect to the implementation of the UN Declaration
“For Inuit women, who experience significantly higher rates of violence and sexual assault than non-Indigenous women, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Action Plan (UNDA) represents an opportunity to secure critical commitments to increase the safety of Inuit women and address the underlying and systemic reasons why these harms keep happening.
As the national voice for Inuit women, Pauktuutit will be watching to see if the implementation of the UNDA will be informed by utilizing a ‘gender-based plus analysis’ that will consider the distinct expert knowledge, lived experiences, and concrete ideas of Inuit women, as well as gender-diverse Inuit.”
President Gerri Sharpe
Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada
The UN Declaration Act Action Plan is a fundamental part of the process of implementing the UN Declaration and recognizing and upholding the human rights of Indigenous peoples in Canada. To this end, the Government of Canada, in consultation and cooperation with Indigenous peoples, undertook efforts to co-develop the Action Plan to meet the statutory deadline of June 2023. Originally intended by those partners who advocated for the inclusion of a statutory timeline to ensure timely completion of the Action Plan, the legislated deadline for the preparation of the Action Plan created significant pressure for both the Government of Canada and Indigenous partners. COVID-19-related restrictions, and some delays in distributing the approximately $26.3 million in funding available to support Indigenous participation in the process, contributed to these challenges.
As described below, however, participation by Indigenous peoples in the two-phased consultation and cooperation process, which began in December 2021, was nonetheless extensive and guided the development of the Action Plan.
Action Plan development—Phase 1
Phase 1, which took place largely between December 2021 and December 2022, focused on working in consultation and cooperation with First Nations, Inuit, and Métis, through their governments and representative institutions, to better understand their priorities to shape the draft action plan and to begin to identify potential measures for aligning federal laws with the UN Declaration. To support Indigenous participation in this process—as well as Indigenous-led engagement with their communities, citizens and members—a call for proposal process was launched. Over 150 Indigenous partners from coast to coast to coast were provided funding to support their participation in this process, totaling $26.3 million. Please see Annex C for a list of funding recipients.
Consultation and cooperation occurred in several different ways, including bilateral and multi-lateral meetings between Justice Canada and First Nations, Inuit, and Metis governments, representative institutions, and organizations. Representatives from their Government of Canada departments and agencies joined these meetings as necessary to discuss specific proposed Action Plan measures. A total of 284 consultation and cooperation sessions were held between April 1, 2022 and March 31, 2023, involving 123 Indigenous partners.
During Phase 1, Indigenous partners provided over 60 written submissions which identified more than 1,300 proposed Action Plan measures, many of which addressed similar topics. The majority of submissions were received during the months of December 2022 and January 2023. Given the ambitious statutory timeline, coupled with unanticipated challenges and delays that impacted the ability of Indigenous partners to organize their own consultation processes and synthesize and analyze the results, there was limited time to fully co-develop draft action plan measures.
As an alternative, and in order to provide a basis for ongoing consultation and cooperation during Phase 2, government departments and agencies were asked to propose draft measures within the scope of their departmental mandates that were responsive to the priorities shared by Indigenous peoples.
Phase 1 culminated in the publication of a “What We Learned to Date Report” and a draft action plan on March 23, 2023. The draft action plan contained 101 measures, organized into four chapters, and reflected approximately 80% of measures proposed by Indigenous partners up to that point.
Action Plan development—Phase 2
During Phase 2, the Government of Canada and Indigenous peoples and organizations at national and regional levels worked intensively, under short timelines, to validate the proposed measures in the draft action plan. This work included refining the measures in the draft action plan and identifying gaps and including additional measures, where possible, to complete the Action Plan by June 2023.
The validation process occurred through additional meetings between Indigenous peoples and federal departmental staff. Lead departments and agencies, identified on the basis of alignment between the subject matter of proposed measures and departmental mandates, worked directly with Indigenous peoples to develop final proposed language.
Phase 2 included over 100 bilateral meetings, thematic sessions, and roundtables as well over 60 additional written submissions from Indigenous partners. This resulted in 84 new and 77 revised action plan measures between the draft and completed Action Plan. This work helped address gaps and strengthen measures from the draft.
Government officials also met on several occasions with provincial and territorial counterparts to keep them informed of developments and offer an opportunity for dialogue, including on options for possible collaboration during the implementation phase. Bilateral engagement was also carried out, especially with British Columbia, which has already begun work to implement the UN Declaration and the BC Declaration Act Action Plan at the provincial level.
Update on progress
The Action Plan is a starting point for ongoing consultation and cooperation with Indigenous peoples on UN Declaration implementation. The Government of Canada is committed to working with Indigenous peoples to advance implementation of the Action Plan in order to achieve the objectives of the UN Declaration.
We acknowledge the tight timeframes required by the UN Declaration Act, which created challenges for us all. Despite the challenges, all submissions received from Indigenous partners throughout the process will be relevant and important to the overall UN Declaration Act implementation process. The submissions are expected to inform and guide the next phase of our implementation work together. The Act also requires that the Action Plan be reviewed and amended in consultation and cooperation with Indigenous peoples. In this way, the Action Plan is a living, evergreen set of Government commitments, with opportunities to renew and further co-develop its contents as part of the UN Declaration implementation process.
A variety of new and existing mechanisms may be utilized to make progress on the work ahead, including Permanent Bilateral Mechanisms, national and regional committees to co-develop implementation plans for the measures where needed, as well as possible federal-provincial-territorial-Indigenous fora.
Indigenous Peoples’ perspectives on Action Plan development
The drafting of this Annual Report was guided by conversations with Indigenous partners looking back on the past year of work, and in particular on the process of consultation and cooperation to co-develop the Action Plan. While the number of Indigenous partners who participated in conversations with Justice Canada was limited by short timelines, the discussions were nonetheless rich and constructive. In total, 17 Indigenous partners provided feedback for the Annual Report over two months. Additionally, 265 proposed action plan measures from 33 partners related to Section 7 of UN Declaration Act and the annual reporting process moving forward. Several themes emerged from these conversations and submissions, which are discussed here.
Successes
Overall, partners expressed that the Action Plan development process was positive and progressive. While some groups noted that the work was long overdue, they also noted the profound, generational work that the UN Declaration Act presents.
Among the groups that received funding, many noted the flexibility of funding as positive. This allowed them to engage with their community members in a way that suited their distinct needs.
In addition, substantial progress was made following the release of the draft action plan, including the addition of a co-developed Indigenous Modern Treaty Partners priorities chapter and the completion of the co-developed Inuit priorities chapter.
Challenges
“The process was faster than what we would have preferred. It did not allow for ceremony and consulting with our ancestors to ensure the right timing for speaking.”
Communities Alliances & Networks
While the sentiment around the Action Plan development was generally positive, a number of consistent challenges were highlighted by Indigenous partners.
Some Indigenous partners expressed concerns about limited engagement by various departments and agencies as well as compressed timelines. As well, challenges relating to making specific legislative commitments were also seen as impacting the ambition and scope of the Action Plan, particularly in relation to measures associated with implementing section 5 of the Act.
Nearly every group noted that the short timelines within which they were asked to provide input and feedback created significant challenges for ensuring a truly collaborative process.
The lack of sufficient time led to numerous challenges, which many partners touched on. These included a lack of time to:
- conduct ceremony or consultations with Elders
- educate community members on the UN Declaration, especially in relation to the impacts for communities
- dig deeply into the issues and search for solutions to systemic problems
- engage all groups, especially diversity groups—women, youth, 2SLGBTQI+
- receive feedback from federal departments on proposed measures in a timely fashion
Funding to participate in the engagement process was also raised as an issue. The proposal-based approach for flowing funding was described as disadvantaging already under-funded and under-resourced organizations. Ultimately, some groups did not receive any funding, which limited their ability to engage their members meaningfully and, in turn, participate in the Action Plan development process. While some groups noted the flexibility of funding, other groups felt that the funding was not flexible enough to allow them to engage their communities in the ways they would have liked to.
Government of Canada perspectives on Action Plan development
The development of the Action Plan was truly a whole-of-government effort. As proposed action plan measures were received from Indigenous partners, they were circulated to all relevant departments and agencies with a view to identifying the lead and supporting departments and agencies, in line with their respective mandates. Once identified, implicated departments and agencies were asked to respond to proposed measures and consider what they could commit to including in the draft action plan.
Once the draft action plan was published, departments and agencies worked with Indigenous partners to address feedback and gaps identified in the draft. At this time, intensive work was undertaken by departments, agencies, and Indigenous partners to co-develop and refine the language of action plan measures.
Successes
The intensive work over the course of Phase 2 of consultation and cooperation, in particular, resulted in a significant evolution of the Action Plan, including the addition of many new measures and strengthened language in relation to: implementation of pre-1975 treaties; self-determination and self-government; economic reconciliation; respect for legal pluralism; and the need for changing Government of Canada processes in relation to working together.
The volume of submissions and number of meetings with Indigenous partners reflected the level of interest and engagement from partners. Departments and agencies worked hard to meet this level of engagement and to work with partners, under very tight timelines, to ensure that action plan measures reflected the priorities of Indigenous partners and their respective communities.
Over the reporting period, more than 120 written submissions were provided by Indigenous partners, proposing nearly 1500 action plan measures.
As a reflection of the whole-of-government nature of this initiative, implementation of the Action Plan will be led by 28 departments or agencies. Approximately one quarter of the Action Plan measures specifically include commitments to co-development, continuing to build on the relationships and work that went into the development of the Action Plan.
Challenges
Similar to challenges identified by Indigenous partners, departments and agencies also found short timelines to be challenging during the Action Plan development process. Limited time impacted the ability to meet with Indigenous peoples at various levels (senior official and working level meetings), and in some instances limited the depth and breadth of conversations. This, in turn, impacted the degree of co-development that was possible.
Towards the end of the process, timelines also began to limit which proposals from partners were able to be considered for inclusion in the Action Plan. Forty-four submissions were received past the time that they could realistically be considered by departments and agencies for inclusion in the Action Plan. We know these submissions are important to the overall process and are confident they will continue to inform the Action Plan implementation moving forward.
The exercise of reviewing proposed action plan measures also highlighted limitations within government structures to respond to the multi-faceted, transformational work of reconciliation. When a proposal did not fit squarely into the mandate of a department, it sometimes became a challenge to identify a lead department or agency and ensure there was clear accountability. As the work of implementation of the Action Plan continues, this is a key lesson being taken forward.
Finally, through the work of developing the Action Plan, it became clear that ongoing education on the UN Declaration, the UN Declaration Act, and the Action Plan were needed across the Government of Canada. This, along with submissions from Indigenous partners to the same effect, led to the inclusion of action plan measures related to education, training, and awareness for all public servants and Indigenous communities on the UN Declaration and the associated work being undertaken in Canada to implement it.
“Advancing reconciliation and renewing our relationships with First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples are essential to our country’s future. Our work as public servants must be rooted in the affirmation of rights, respect, cooperation, and partnership. We will continue to be guided by consultation and collaboration cooperation with Indigenous Peoples as we implement the UN Declaration Act and the Action Plan. Working collectively, we will rebuild trust, renew relationships, and ensure that Canada recognizes, upholds, and protects the human rights of Indigenous Peoples.”
John F.G. Hannaford, Clerk of the Privy Council and Secretary to the Cabinet
Department of Justice Canada
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