SharonM
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Yet another UN intervention
Back in 2007 the UN General Assembly adopted the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. 144 nation states voted in favour, 11 abstained and 4 voted against. (Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand.) In 2016, Canada reversed its position as a result of international pressure, domestic advocacy and a shift in government policy towards reconciliation.
In 2021 Canada passed the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act which required that all existing law be brought in line with UNDRIP. In 2019, British Columbia had passed the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act. In 2021, Vancouver became the first municipality in the world to do so.
Vancouver, in 2021, created a task force to develop the city’s strategy for UNDRIP. The Musqueam Indian Band, the Squamish Nation, and the Tsleil-Waututh Nation worked with the City of Vancouver. In October 25, 2022 the task force presented its final report to Vancouver Council which called for 70 actions related to UNDRIP be implemented.
In 2024, Vancouver implemented its ‘5-Year UNDRIP Action Plan’. The Musqueam Indian Band, the Squamish Nation, and the Tsleil-Waututh Nation became partners with the City of Vancouver, the partnership to be referred to as MSTV.
On February 20, 2026 the Government of Canada recognized the Musqueam Indian Band’s rights and title over the Metro Vancouver region. The supreme court of BC recognized the Cowichan First Nation’s land title rights to 732 acres on land on the southeast side of Lulu Island in Richmond, BC.
DRIPA has created an atmosphere of legal uncertainty, economic disruption, and political tension surrounding land and resource management. Land owners in the Metro Vancouver area are now uncertain about their property rights. Will developers be able to secure the necessary loans required to build the housing that Vancouver has mandated.
The Bureaucracy Balloons
The United Nations is a sizeable unelected bureaucracy with an estimated 170,000 core employees. As with all bureaucracies it lives to maintain and expand power through a combination of structural permanence, specialized expertise, control over information and strategic pursuit of larger budgets and personnel.
The UN greatly expanded its global power and influence when it assumed control over the environment and the living beings within it. It accomplished this through the establishment of large global conferences and summits to create frameworks to meet environmental challenges. At these summits, agendas are developed in conjunction with Nation State bureaucracies. Declarations are made and treaties are signed, some voluntary and some legally binding. Considered to be the watershed moment that established global environmental governance is the 1972 Stockholm Conference attended by 122 nation states. The Canadian Maurice Strong was the Secretary-General of the Conference, and then became the head of the newly created United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). The conference forced governments to place the environment on their political agendas, which led to the creation of environmental ministries worldwide. Under Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, Canada is considered to be the first nation to establish a Ministry of the Environment.
Back in 2007 the UN General Assembly adopted the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. 144 nation states voted in favour, 11 abstained and 4 voted against. (Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand.) In 2016, Canada reversed its position as a result of international pressure, domestic advocacy and a shift in government policy towards reconciliation.
In 2021 Canada passed the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act which required that all existing law be brought in line with UNDRIP. In 2019, British Columbia had passed the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act. In 2021, Vancouver became the first municipality in the world to do so.
Vancouver, in 2021, created a task force to develop the city’s strategy for UNDRIP. The Musqueam Indian Band, the Squamish Nation, and the Tsleil-Waututh Nation worked with the City of Vancouver. In October 25, 2022 the task force presented its final report to Vancouver Council which called for 70 actions related to UNDRIP be implemented.
In 2024, Vancouver implemented its ‘5-Year UNDRIP Action Plan’. The Musqueam Indian Band, the Squamish Nation, and the Tsleil-Waututh Nation became partners with the City of Vancouver, the partnership to be referred to as MSTV.
On February 20, 2026 the Government of Canada recognized the Musqueam Indian Band’s rights and title over the Metro Vancouver region. The supreme court of BC recognized the Cowichan First Nation’s land title rights to 732 acres on land on the southeast side of Lulu Island in Richmond, BC.
DRIPA has created an atmosphere of legal uncertainty, economic disruption, and political tension surrounding land and resource management. Land owners in the Metro Vancouver area are now uncertain about their property rights. Will developers be able to secure the necessary loans required to build the housing that Vancouver has mandated.
The Bureaucracy Balloons
The United Nations is a sizeable unelected bureaucracy with an estimated 170,000 core employees. As with all bureaucracies it lives to maintain and expand power through a combination of structural permanence, specialized expertise, control over information and strategic pursuit of larger budgets and personnel.
The UN greatly expanded its global power and influence when it assumed control over the environment and the living beings within it. It accomplished this through the establishment of large global conferences and summits to create frameworks to meet environmental challenges. At these summits, agendas are developed in conjunction with Nation State bureaucracies. Declarations are made and treaties are signed, some voluntary and some legally binding. Considered to be the watershed moment that established global environmental governance is the 1972 Stockholm Conference attended by 122 nation states. The Canadian Maurice Strong was the Secretary-General of the Conference, and then became the head of the newly created United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). The conference forced governments to place the environment on their political agendas, which led to the creation of environmental ministries worldwide. Under Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, Canada is considered to be the first nation to establish a Ministry of the Environment.
