UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples starts 10-day visit to Canada

For the first time since being appointed as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, José Francisco Calí Tzay is making an official visit to Canada.

Calí Tzay, who is Mayan Kaqchikel from Guatemala, was appointed to the role in 2020. 

The 10-day trip starts in Ottawa Wednesday and includes visits to Montreal, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Vancouver before returning to Ottawa.

Kenneth Deer, a member of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy's external relations committee, will be in attendance for an one-hour meeting with Calí Tzay on Thursday in Montreal. 

"Canada has this altar boy image out there that everything is wonderful," he said.

"We need people like the special rapporteur to focus on human rights violations that take place within Canada. It helps keep Canada to account."

Deer, who has represented the Haudenosaunee Confederacy at the United Nations for many years, said he is going to raise human rights issues like Canada not fully recognizing the Haudenosaunee Confederacy as a government, missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, unmarked burials associated with former residential schools sites, and racism experienced in Quebec.

During the visit, Calí Tzay will examine a wide range of issues affecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis, including the implementation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the right to self-determination, land, and resources, according to a statement from the UN human rights office. 

He will also focus on issues like missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, unmarked burials associated with residential schools, language and culture, and free, prior and informed consent.

Calí Tzay will meet with government officials, national human rights institutions, and several Indigenous leaders including representatives from the Assembly of First Nations, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami and the Métis National Council.

"We are looking forward to meeting the UN Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Peoples to discuss issues for the Métis Nation, including the Métis experience of residential schools," said Métis National Council President Cassidy Caron in a statement to CBC News.

"We hope that this will be a first of many meetings where we can share issues that many Métis citizens face in Canada, with a look to a strong future of working together to ensure UNDRIP is implemented for all Indigenous Peoples, wherever they are located." 

For Hailey Rose, co-chair of the AFN National Youth Council, the opportunity to meet with Calí Tzay will provide an important platform for First Nations youth.

"I think that's extremely integral for the next generations to talk about things that are suppressing and colonizing and still assimilating our people," said Rose, who is from the Mosquito-Grizzly Bear's Head-Lean Man First Nation and Red Pheasant Cree Nation in Saskatchewan.