UNDRIP (UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples)

“UNDRIP” does not mean that the plumber has arrived and stopped the drip in the bathroom tap. UNDRIP is the short form for the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Free copies are available at each event of our Reconciling Circle’s Treaties Recognition Week events. Take one and read carefully through its pages. Discuss and share it with others. Watch for references to it in the news.

This little booklet is a gem of hope and inspiration for improved human relations in all countries. Although the United Nations General Assembly ten years ago adopted this statement of just expectations for all peoples on Earth, four countries voted against it and eleven other countries abstained from voting.

Is it surprising that four countries with sizable Indigenous populations opposed this vote? Is it surprising that most of the world’s poorly regulated mining operations are registered in Canada; mining operations that often displace and dispossess Indigenous peoples as well as destroy and contaminate their land and water?

​The good news is that these four countries have seen the light. All four countries have reversed their position and now support UNDRIP. Canada now has accepted UNDRIP and work is underway to bring into effect the recommendations that are presented. Once you have read the forty-six statements of principle, you will begin to gain a sense of the meaning for all people. Here are words of wisdom that point to a new way of life; dignity, well-being, right relations, and respect between people.