UFCW  1518’s Executive Board unanimously passed a motion to support the Union of BC Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) in their campaign to have a national reconciliation framework passed into law. Cree MP Romeo Saganash introduced Bill C262 to the Senate in an attempt to bring Canadian laws in line with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples [source], and last year it passed the third reading. This came more than a decade after 144 countries – but shamefully not Canada – signed the declaration.

The bill has stagnated for more than a year and will die if not passed before the Senate rises at the end of June. “The UBCIC has called upon the labour movement to help ensure this important bill gets passed,” said President Kim Novak. “It’s critical that working people show our support for the human rights of Indigenous people by writing to our Senators and encouraging them to pass C262 into law.”

The BC Federation of Labour received a unanimous mandate at its convention last fall to hold the federal government accountable for implementing the Declaration. They are fully supporting the UBCIC in pushing for Bill C262 to be passed and are asking working people to stand as allies with their Indigenous co-workers, friends and neighbours.

“Bill C262 is about reconciliation,” added President Novak. “And we all have a part to play in that.” In its recommendations, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada called upon the “federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal governments to fully adopt and implement” the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as a pathway towards reconciliation. [source]

Please write to Canadian Senators today and encourage them to sign Bill C262 into law.