About the Act

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples provides a framework for reconciliation, healing and peace, as well as harmonious and cooperative relations based on the principles of justice, democracy, respect for human rights, non-discrimination and good faith.

This Act creates a lasting and action-oriented framework to advance federal implementation of the UN Declaration in consultation and cooperation with Indigenous peoples. It ensures sustained and continued efforts to uphold the human rights of Indigenous peoples now and in the future and contains measures to hold the federal government accountable. This legislation also responds to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Call to Action 43 and the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls’ Calls for Justice.

In this way, this Act provides a clear vision for the future, ensuring that, moving forward, federal laws reflect the principles and rights set out in the UN Declaration, while also respecting Aboriginal and Treaty rights recognized and affirmed by the Constitution.

This legislation advances the implementation of the UN Declaration as a key step in renewing the Government of Canada’s relationship with Indigenous peoples.

The purpose of this Act is to affirm the UN Declaration as an international human rights instrument that can help interpret and apply Canadian law. It also provides a framework to advance implementation of the UN Declaration at the federal level.

This Act requires the Government of Canada, in consultation and cooperation with Indigenous peoples, to:

• Take all measures necessary to ensure the laws of Canada are consistent with the UN Declaration
• Prepare and implement an action plan to achieve the objectives of the UN Declaration
• Develop annual reports on progress and submit them to Parliament

Federal implementation of the Act, in consultation and cooperation with Indigenous peoples, will help:

• Create a roadmap to advance work together to implement the UN Declaration in Canada
• Protect, promote and uphold the human rights of Indigenous peoples in Canada
• Forge stronger relationships with Indigenous peoples and advance reconciliation
• Respond to calls from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
• Confront the harms of the Canada’s colonial history and build a better future together

The Act consists of a number of preambular provisions followed by seven sections and a schedule, which attaches the UN Declaration to the Act.

The preamble of the Act will guide this work, with an emphasis on:

• Viewing the Declaration as a framework for reconciliation, healing and peace
• Respecting and promoting the inherent rights of Indigenous peoples
• Addressing discrimination and racism, and denouncing discriminatory doctrines, policies and practices
• Affirming the constitutional protection of Aboriginal and treaty rights and that such rights are not frozen but can evolve and grow
• Taking into account the diversity of Indigenous peoples
• Respecting treaty rights, treaties and other agreements
• Basing all relations on Indigenous peoples’ inherent right to self-determination, including the right of self-government

The Act affirms that:

• Aboriginal and treaty rights protected by section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982 will be upheld and are not lessened in any way
• The UN Declaration already has application as a tool to interpret Canadian law
• The Government of Canada is committed to work with Indigenous peoples to implement the UN Declaration

The Preamble sets out the context of the Act, including:

• Role of the UN Declaration as the framework for reconciliation
• Acknowledgement of inherent rights and the importance of respecting treaties and agreements
• Emphasizes the need to take diversity across and among Indigenous peoples into account in implementing the legislation

Section 2 sets out interpretive elements, including:

• Definitions, including “Declaration” and “Indigenous peoples”
• A non-derogation clause
• Clarifies that the Act does not delay the application of the UN Declaration as an interpretive tool in Canadian law.

Section 3 provides for the designation of a Minister for the purposes of the Act:

• The Minister of Justice was named the Minister responsible for the Act by Order in Council on June 24, 2021.

Section 4 describes the purposes of the Act as:

• Affirming the Declaration as a “universal international human rights instrument with application in Canadian law”
• Providing a framework for the Government of Canada’s implementation of the UN Declaration

Section 5 requires measures to ensure laws are consistent with the UN Declaration:

• This requires that measures be taken over time to ensure that federal laws are consistent with the UN Declaration
• Such measures must be taken in consultation and cooperation with Indigenous peoples
• Like the rest of the Act, this obligation applies only to federal laws and does not seek to bind provincial or territorial governments
• The Department of Justice Canada prepared an interim Guide to assist officials with assessing consistency of legislative proposals with the UN Declaration.

Section 6 requires the Minister to develop and implement an action plan to achieve the objectives of the UN Declaration:

• The plan must be developed in consultation and cooperation with Indigenous peoples and with other federal ministers
• The plan must be completed within 2 years, by June 21, 2023 and be tabled in Parliament and made public following its completion
• The plan must include measures to:
  • tackle violence and discrimination against Indigenous peoples
  • promote understanding through human rights education
  • ensure accountability with respect to implementation of the UN Declaration
  • monitor the implementation of the plan and for reviewing and amending the plan

Section 7 requires the preparation of annual reports:

• Reports must be prepared in consultation and cooperation with Indigenous peoples
• The report must:
  • Address the measures taken to ensure the laws of Canada are consistent with the UN Declaration and the preparation and implementation of the Action Plan
  • Be tabled in each House of Parliament, and be made public
• Subsection 7(3) provides that the report stands permanently referred to the committee of each House of Parliament that is designated or established to review matters relating to Indigenous peoples.

The Government of Canada is responsible for taking all measures necessary, in consultation and cooperation with Indigenous peoples, to ensure consistency of federal laws with the UN Declaration. This means taking measures to ensure that existing laws are consistent with the UN Declaration. It also means that the Government will take measures to ensure that future laws reflect the rights and principles of the UN Declaration.

The Department of Justice Canada has prepared an interim Guide to assist federal officials in assessing legislative proposals for consistency with the UN Declaration. This Guide is an evergreen document that will be updated periodically. The Guide does not constitute legal advice.

Given the scope of the UN Declaration, many federal laws intersect with elements of the Declaration. We anticipate that some existing federal laws will need to be amended in order to better align with the UN Declaration. This legislation provides a whole-of-government framework for identifying and guiding such future changes. New legislation will also need to be developed with the UN Declaration in mind.

The full and effective implementation of the UN Declaration is a process that will take time as the federal government, in cooperation and partnership with Indigenous peoples, assesses changes that need to be made to laws, policies and practices to be consistent with the UN Declaration. Any future changes will need to go through regular policy development, engagement and parliamentary processes.

Upholding Section 35 rights through a non-derogation clause in the federal Interpretation Act

First Nations, Inuit and Métis have long advocated for legislation to signal that all federal laws and regulations should be interpreted as upholding Aboriginal and treaty rights, as protected by s. 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982, and not as negatively impacting them. Many Indigenous peoples have called for a non-derogation clause in the federal Interpretation Act.

• Visit the Non-derogation clauses webpage for more details.

The Act recognizes that the UN Declaration, like other international human rights instruments, can guide the interpretation of Canadian law. The Act also requires the federal government to take measures to ensure that federal laws are consistent with the UN Declaration over time. This means that the Government of Canada, in consultation and cooperation with Indigenous peoples, will identify measures to help align existing or new federal laws with the UN Declaration.

The UN Declaration affirms the human rights of Indigenous peoples – both collective and individual rights. These include the inherent rights to self-determination and self-government, as well as equality rights, rights relating to culture, spirituality, and identity, and rights relating to lands, territories and resources.

Many of the rights affirmed in the Act are already reflected in the Constitution, notably the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and section 35 of the Constitution, which recognizes and affirms Aboriginal and treaty rights. The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act does not amend the Constitution – but this legislation recognizes that the UN Declaration should inform how we understand and interpret the Constitution.

This legislation and Canadian law recognize that international human rights instruments, like the UN Declaration, can be used to interpret the Constitution, which is a “living tree” that evolves over time.

The Act, like other international human rights instruments or federal legislation, cannot amend or supersede the Canadian Constitution. However, they can inform how the Constitution and the law are interpreted and developed.

The 2023-2028 Action Plan is the result of two years of working in consultation and cooperation with First Nations, Inuit and Métis from across Canada.

In keeping with the UN Declaration Act and the spirit of the UN Declaration, the Government of Canada worked in consultation and cooperation with First Nations, Inuit and Métis to develop an Action Plan to achieve the objectives of the UN Declaration, and to identify measures needed to ensure federal laws are consistent with the UN Declaration.

The Government of Canada has a constitutional duty to consult Indigenous peoples when it considers measures that might adversely impact their potential or established Aboriginal or treaty rights. This has been consistently confirmed by the Courts. The Government of Canada has consistently worked to uphold this duty and has shown its commitment to taking additional steps to do so.

As the Principles Respecting the Government of Canada’s Relationship with Indigenous Peoples note, free, prior and informed consent builds on and goes beyond the legal duty to consult. Consultation obligations can also be set out in legislation or modern treaties. In fact, modern treaties have been described as an example of free, prior and informed consent in action.

The implementation of the UN Declaration will inform how the Government approaches meeting these legal duties going forward. It will do so in a way that provides greater clarity and creates greater certainty over time for Indigenous groups and all Canadians. The Act itself does not immediately change Canada’s existing duty to consult Indigenous groups, or other consultation and participation requirements set out in legislation like the Impact Assessment Act.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission called on all levels of government to adopt the Declaration as the framework for reconciliation. Many provincial and territorial governments in Canada are also using the UN Declaration as the framework for reconciliation and to actively engage with Indigenous peoples on matters that affect them. For example, British Columbia passed the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act into law in November 2019.

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act only imposes obligations on the federal government. It is intended to create a framework to support the Government of Canada to further implement the UN Declaration.

This Act affirms that the UN Declaration is a universal international human rights instrument with application in Canadian law. This means that the UN Declaration is an important source to interpret provincial and federal law. In fact, provincial and federal courts are already using the Declaration in this way.

The preamble to this Act specifically recognizes that provincial and territorial governments have their own approaches and authorities relating to the implementation of the UN Declaration. The obligations set out in the Act apply specifically to the Government of Canada, in consultation and cooperation with Indigenous peoples. This includes the requirement to take all measures necessary to ensure that the laws of Canada that fall within federal authority are consistent with the UN Declaration, the development and implementation of an action plan, and the tabling of annual reports in Parliament. Together, these provide a framework for the federal government’s implementation of the UN Declaration. Nothing in the federal legislation prevents provinces or territories from developing their own plans and approaches for implementation of the UN Declaration, or requires them to do so.