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FEATURE
The Water Rights Research Consortium, which
held a symposium in The Pas in May, has grown far
beyond anyone’s expectations. It now includes 30
researchers, including Dr. Annemieke Farenhorst,
who will help train Sapotaweyak Cree Nation
youth to test water samples in their community.
She’s also working on another ambitious idea to
create a graduate-level science and engineering
training program on integrated water resource and
sanitation management.
While some members of the consortium have
extensive experience working in partnership with
Indigenous communities, others are new to this
work. The Centre for Human Rights Research hosted
a workshop in March to celebrate successful First
Nations and Metis research partnerships and help
junior researchers gain skills and tools. The most
important thing researchers can bring to such a
partnership is a humble attitude.
Lakota researcher Dr. Jeff Henderson told a Winnipeg
audience recently that his community uses the word
Wowahwala to describe people little recognized
during their lifetimes whose funerals are packed with
those who respect their humble and patient ways. U.S.
tribes wish the researchers who come to them would
be like that, Henderson said.
For more information
Visit the CCHR website www.chrr.info and join the
mailing list to receive notices about upcoming
events, including a public seminar series on water
as a human right.
A ‘How-To’ for UN Declaration Indigenous Rights in Canada
By Margaret Anne Fehr
Understanding and Implementing the
UN DeclaratioN
oNt he rights of
iNDigeNoUs PeoPles
An Introductory Handbook
A partnership between Robson
Hall Faculty of Law at the
University of Manitoba and the
Indigenous Bar Association has
culminated in the launch of a
guide entitled “Understanding and
Implementing the UN Declaration
on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples:
An Introductory Handbook.”
The objective of this project was to
raise awareness of the standards
set out in the UN Declaration and
to provide guidelines on how
Aboriginal communities and their
leaders, the legal community,
academics, and the broader
Canadian society might apply these
standards to bring about social and
legal change in Canada.
A series of half-day workshops
in Halifax, Ottawa, Winnipeg,
and Vancouver in the fall of 2011
introduced the handbook and
provided detailed information on
the publication. The workshops
included discussions on how
the UN Declaration fits within
international and Canadian law and
on how participants might use the
handbook in their own work.
Workshop attendees’ comments
about the handbook’s usefulness
were positive. “I will be able to
apply the information in the
handbook to real situations
of other Indigenous peoples,”
one participant commented.
“The handbook shows what
Indigenous communities around
the globe are doing to ensure
that their aspirations are
being met,” said another.
Some workshop participants
indicated that they had already
distributed advance copies of
the handbook. “I was visiting
Australia with an environmental
group working with Indigenous
peoples who asked for some
copies, and so I sent them some,”
said one participant.
Other awareness streams
include the creation of
accessible community legal
education materials on the UN
Declaration and how it could
be used in Canada, as well as a
page of useful materials on the
Indigenous Bar Association’s
website. Finally, lessons
learned in this project will feed
into an academic article on
implementing the
UN Declaration in Canada.
For more information
Contact Professor Brenda Gunn email,
Brenda.Gunn@ad.umanitoba.ca or
phone 204-272-1667.
15 ROBSON HALL ALUMNI REPORT