Amnesty Warns Ottawa Is Rolling Back Indigenous Rights

Amnesty International said this week that Canada is backsliding on Indigenous rights under Prime Minister Mark Carney, warning in its annual global human rights report that new laws passed last year to fast-track major infrastructure projects have threatened the right of Indigenous peoples to self-determination. The criticism landed during the twenty-fifth session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York, where Canadian Indigenous organisations and a federal delegation were already engaged in a tense public exchange over the country's record.

The Amnesty report characterised the fast-track legislation as a significant departure from the principles set out in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which Canada adopted into federal law in 2021. The organisation said the new measures allow federal cabinet to exempt priority projects from certain impact assessment and consultation requirements, arguing that this undermines the requirement for free, prior and informed consent of affected Indigenous nations.

Governor General Mary Simon, addressing the opening of the UN forum on Monday, defended Canada's overall record on Indigenous rights and highlighted progress on institutional reconciliation, including First Nations University of Canada in Regina and the development of the new Inuit Nunangat University in the Arctic. But the forum also heard sharp criticism from Canadian Indigenous organisations on issues ranging from incarceration rates to consultation on natural resource projects.

What the fast-track legislation does

The law in question, passed last year, allows cabinet to designate projects of national strategic importance and subject them to a streamlined regulatory process. Qualifying projects can bypass some steps of the Impact Assessment Act, receive expedited decision timelines and benefit from a coordinated federal-provincial approval system. Supporters in industry and within the Carney government have argued that the fast-track framework is essential to build the critical minerals, energy and infrastructure Canada needs in a period of geopolitical uncertainty.

Critics, including the Assembly of First Nations, have consistently argued that the legislation does not include adequate safeguards for Indigenous consultation or consent. Although the law formally references UNDRIP and the duty to consult, critics say the accelerated timelines make meaningful engagement impossible, particularly for smaller nations with limited capacity to respond to multiple overlapping proposals at once.

Ottawa has responded to these concerns by pointing to a separate consultation capacity fund and by arguing that impact assessment requirements continue to apply even to fast-track projects. Federal officials say that no project has yet been approved under the streamlined regime over the formal objection of affected First Nations, and that the government is committed to ongoing dialogue about how the framework is applied in practice.

Indigenous incarceration and the UN forum

At the UN forum this week, the Prince Albert Grand Council, Black Lake Denesuline First Nation and the Assembly of First Nations used their time at the podium to rebuke Canada for what they described as the mass incarceration of Indigenous peoples. The nations called on Canada to redirect one third of Correctional Service Canada's approximately $3 billion annual budget, or about $1 billion a year, to Indigenous governments and organisations tasked with decarceration strategies.

Indigenous peoples make up approximately five per cent of the Canadian population but account for roughly a third of the federal inmate population, a disparity that has grown rather than narrowed in the years since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's final report. Women and youth Indigenous incarceration rates are even more disproportionate, a reality that Indigenous leaders and public health advocates have identified as one of the most urgent signals of ongoing colonial failure.

Federal officials responded at the forum by pointing to a series of programs including Indigenous Healing Lodges, custody release programs and culturally based parole review measures. But AFN National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak said the federal response falls well short of what is needed. She called for direct transfers of authority and funding to Indigenous governments with the jurisdiction and expertise to operate alternative justice institutions.

The Eby government and DRIPA

The federal government was not the only target of criticism. National Chief Woodhouse Nepinak also specifically criticised British Columbia Premier David Eby, saying that recent decisions by his government have been contrary to the provincial Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, the first legislation of its kind in Canada when it was passed in 2019. Woodhouse Nepinak described the recent moves as a huge step backwards for human rights and reconciliation.

The AFN has been particularly concerned about a provincial decision earlier this year to use ministerial powers to override municipal zoning in certain housing-related files, which First Nations have argued is being applied inconsistently with respect to Indigenous lands and priorities. The Eby government has defended the decisions as necessary to address a provincial housing crisis and has said that DRIPA remains the province's organising framework for Indigenous relations.

The disagreement is a reminder that reconciliation, as a legislative and political project, depends on consistent practice as much as on formal declarations. DRIPA was widely celebrated when it passed with all-party support, but Indigenous organisations have since pointed to multiple files where they say the province has failed to implement the consent standard the act appeared to promise.

Governor General's address

Mary Simon's address to the UN forum sought to present a balanced picture of Canadian progress. The Governor General, who is Inuk and the first Indigenous person to hold the office, described visible improvements in Indigenous education, language revitalisation and constitutional recognition, while acknowledging that progress has been slow and that significant gaps remain in health, housing and policing outcomes for Indigenous peoples.

Simon highlighted the development of Inuit Nunangat University, which will be Canada's first post-secondary institution grounded in Inuit culture and language. The university is scheduled to open its first campus in Iqaluit in 2028, with smaller campuses planned in Kuujjuaq, Inuvik and Nain. Simon said the project reflects decades of advocacy by Inuit leaders and represents a structural change in the educational opportunities available to Inuit youth.

The Governor General also pointed to the First Nations University of Canada in Regina as an example of institutional reconciliation, and to ongoing work on language preservation funded under the Indigenous Languages Act. Critics have acknowledged these initiatives as meaningful but have argued that they cannot offset the larger pattern of what Amnesty and others describe as rollback in core areas of rights implementation.

Federal response

Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Rebecca Alty, who is leading the federal delegation at the UN forum, said the government takes the Amnesty report seriously and is committed to ongoing implementation of UNDRIP. Alty highlighted the federal UNDRIP Action Plan, which sets out more than one hundred measurable commitments, and pointed to progress on self-government agreements, child welfare reform and specific claims resolution as evidence of continued momentum.

Alty said she would meet with AFN leadership and other Indigenous organisations in the coming weeks to discuss specific concerns about fast-track legislation implementation. Federal officials have signalled openness to operational adjustments but have not committed to reopening the underlying law. Within cabinet, the view is that the law's success or failure will be measured in practice over the coming year.

Prime Minister Carney, asked about the Amnesty report at a news conference in Ottawa, said his government stands by the fast-track law as an economic necessity but acknowledged that consultation processes must be rigorous and that Indigenous concerns cannot be treated as procedural obstacles. The prime minister said he would continue to meet regularly with First Nations, Inuit and Metis leadership, and that implementation of UNDRIP would remain a core commitment of his government.

What it means for reconciliation

The dispute comes at a moment when the federal-Indigenous relationship is being tested on multiple fronts. The Alberta referendum has raised fundamental questions about treaty rights and provincial authority, and litigation initiated by Treaty nations could reshape the constitutional framework for future separation or devolution debates across the country. Ottawa's handling of the Indigenous rights file will be one important signal of how the Carney government intends to manage these pressures.

For Indigenous governments, the Amnesty report is an opportunity to renew international pressure on Canada at a time when domestic attention is focused on economic and trade questions. Indigenous leaders have long used the UN system to highlight Canadian rights gaps, particularly during the Harper government's resistance to UNDRIP, and the return to critical international scrutiny marks a shift from the more cooperative posture of recent years.

For the broader Canadian public, the question is whether the formal commitments to reconciliation that have accumulated over the past decade are being backed up by consistent implementation. Polling suggests that public support for reconciliation remains high but that understanding of specific issues is often shallow. The current moment will test whether the political coalition that sustained reconciliation in principle can be translated into a coalition that supports it in practice.

What's next

The UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues continues until April 24. Canadian organisations are scheduled to present several additional statements on topics including murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls, northern food insecurity and Indigenous cultural heritage preservation. A final session report is expected to be released in early May.

Within Canada, the AFN is preparing for a Chiefs of Ontario special assembly in late May that is expected to produce a coordinated position on the fast-track law. The Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs has scheduled a parallel meeting in June. Ottawa will receive formal communications from both processes and is expected to respond publicly before the summer recess.

Minister Alty has committed to tabling an annual progress report on the UNDRIP Action Plan in Parliament before the end of the spring sitting. That report will be an important early test of whether the federal government can present a credible account of progress in the face of sustained criticism from organisations including Amnesty International, the AFN and independent UN rapporteurs.