Canadian Government Advances Indigenous Rights Bill

On Feb. 17, 2021 the House of Commons began second reading of Bill C-15, An Act respecting the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. On March 11, Parliament's Indigenous & Northern Affairs Committee began pre-study of Bill C-15. This Bill draws heavily on Bill C-262 which was passed by the House of Commons on May 30, 2018 but failed to pass through the Senate before Parliament prorogued for an election in the fall of 2019.

C-15 affirms the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (the Declaration) as a "universal international human rights instrument with application in Canadian law" and provides "a framework for the Government of Canada's implementation of the Declaration."¹ C-15 obligates the Government of Canada to: