Ambassador Chartier Attends the 18th Session of the UN EMRIP held July 14-18, 2025 in Geneva, Switzerland.

July 22, 2025

July 2025 - Ambassador Clément Chartier, representing the MMF, the National Government of the Red River Métis attended the 18^th session of the United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP), which was preceded on July 12-13^th with a Global Indigenous Caucus preparatory meeting.

EMRIP was established by the UN Human Rights Council in 2007 to replace the Working Group on Indigenous Populations, itself established in 1982 with the mandate for setting standards for the recognition of Indigenous rights, which resulted in over two decades of deliberations leading to a declaration adopted by the UN in 2007: the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).

EMRIP is mandated to provide the Human Rights Council with advice and expertise on the rights of Indigenous peoples, as well as assisting Member States in achieving the goals contained in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. In 2016 its mandate was expanded to include country visits/studies.

While Canada initially voted against the adoption of the Declaration, in 2010 the Harper government adopted it, but subject to the Constitution of Canada. In 2016, the Trudeau government fully endorsed the Declaration, and in June 2021 adopted the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, with a companion Action Plan for its implementation.

This year's attendance by Indigenous peoples from around the globe was higher than usual, which made getting on the speakers' list very difficult. There were ten agenda items to which Indigenous delegates could speak. Of particular importance to the Red River Métis, amongst others were agenda item 5 - UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, including the (EMRIP) report on the rights of Indigenous peoples to their traditional economies; Item 7 - International Decade of Indigenous Languages; and item 9 - Enhancing the participation of Indigenous peoples in the United Nations.

See the three attached written interventions provided to the UN.

The delegates from Canada were also invited to a breakfast meeting with Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Peter MacDougall. One of the items discussed was the enhanced participation of Indigenous peoples in the Human Rights Council. Ambassador Chartier re-affirmed that while this enhanced participation is very much desired, any accreditation mechanism must be under the management of Indigenous peoples themselves, and that only legitimate representative institutions of Indigenous peoples, nations or governments must be recognized.

This representation accreditation mechanism, Ambassador Chartier further commented must ensure that fake organizations and individuals not be accredited and that vigilance must be taken to protect legitimate Indigenous representative institutions from individual and group identity fraud.

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Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP): 18^th Session

Geneva, Switzerland
July 14 - 18, 2025

Agenda Item 5: United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, including report on the rights of Indigenous Peoples to their traditional economies.

My name is Clément Chartier, Ambassador responsible for International Relations representing the Manitoba Métis Federation, the National Government of the Red River Métis.

UNDRIP has certainly addressed many of the issues which have confronted Indigenous peoples over the past few centuries, including the right to our traditional economies. For the Americas, this has been further enhanced by the American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, although that Declaration still needs to be fully embraced by Canada.

In my nation, the traditional economy is still extremely important, particularly for our villages located within our homeland in western Canada. For decades the enjoyment of our traditional economies of hunting, trapping, and fishing was denied us by federal and provincial government legislation.

With the entrenchment of Aboriginal rights in Canada's Constitution in 1982, and the defence of our people in the courts, our right to practice those traditional harvesting activities has slowly been recognized and accommodated. However, in parts of our homeland, where judicial decisions and/or agreements with provincial governments have not yet been acquired, our people continue to be charged and taken to court.

Further, our traditional trapping industry has been severely affected by the animal-rights movement, and our traditional fishing industry affected by provincial governments preference for tourism and sports fishing. The ability to practice our harvesting activities, including gathering of berries and medicines has been further affected by the yearly reduction of the lands upon which we can undertake those activities.

My government has a department and Minister responsible for addressing and promoting our traditional economies with the aim of conserving our natural ecosystems and the development of traditional economies.

For example, a few years ago we established the Red River Métis Fur Company which buys furs from our trappers above the going rate, have them tanned and then provides them to our artisans free of charge. Our artisans then create clothing, art or crafts which my government purchases and markets as "Traditional Métis made".

In closing, my government agrees with the EMRIP study assertion that "Secure access to lands, territories and natural resources is central to Indigenous Peoples' traditional economies", and its recommendation that "States should recognize and protect Indigenous Peoples' rights to maintain and strengthen traditional economic practices without fear of criminalization or persecution."

MARSI

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Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP): 18^th Session

Geneva, Switzerland
July 14 - 18, 2025

Agenda Item 7: International Decade of Indigenous Languages

My name is Clément Chartier, Ambassador responsible for International Relations, representing the Manitoba Métis Federation, the National Government of the Red River Métis.

We add our voice to the urgent need for EMRIP, and the United Nations generally, to continue all efforts to assist Indigenous peoples to safeguard our languages, including the encouragement of member states to provide fiscal resources which are necessary to assist those Indigenous peoples and communities who need that assistance in order to maintain their languages, and where necessary to reclaim their languages.

While our respective situations differ, generally the loss of Indigenous languages globally is due to the colonization of our homelands and in many cases the direct efforts by governments to erase our existence as Indigenous peoples, including the erasure of languages.

In Canada, this was carried out, at least in part, by the residential schools system, which banned the speaking of our languages. While Canada has taken corrective measures, including enacting the UNDRIP Act in 2021; the passage of a federal Indigenous languages act; the creation of an Indigenous Languages Commission; and a federal fund for provision of grants to address language revitalization, the danger of language loss continues.

For my people, the Red River Métis located in what is now western Canada, according to the last Canadian census we have less than 800 Michif speakers left, and those are well over the age of 60. Most of those speakers reside in the provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

This undermining of our languages will take more than just a decade to reverse, and efforts to maintain, revitalize and enjoy these languages must continue for the foreseeable future.

My government is in full support of the call for the United Nations to adopt a Convention on Indigenous Languages, and strongly urge EMRIP members to pursue this objective on a priority basis.

Marsi.

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Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP): 18^th Session

Geneva, Switzerland
July 14 - 18, 2025

Agenda Item 9: Enhancing the participation of Indigenous Peoples in the United Nations

My name is Clément Chartier, Ambassador responsible for International Relations, representing the Manitoba Métis Federation, the National Government of the Red River Métis.

Over the past 50 or more years, in the Americas, Indigenous peoples' representative governments and organizations have been pursuing decolonization based on the right of self-determination as peoples.

In Canada, substantial progress has been made: For example, my government concluded a self-government agreement with Canada in 2021 and concluded a Treaty with Canada on November 30, 2024. The next stage is the passing of ratification legislation by Parliament which will enshrine our Treaty in the Canadian Constitution.

My government engaged fully last year in both the enhanced participation of Indigenous peoples in the UN General Assembly and the Human Rights Council processes. Our views respecting our participation in the Human Rights Council were set out in our interventions at those two intersessional meetings.

We are in general support of the report produced by the co-facilitators and encourage EMRIP members to forcefully advocate for Indigenous peoples, nations and governments full participation within the Human Rights Council, based on our right of self-determination as peoples, as captured by the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

In this respect, we wish to again emphasize that any accreditation mechanism must be primarily composed of representative institutions of Indigenous peoples with participation from all socio-cultural regions, with a strong mandate to guard against fraudulent claims by groups of non-Indigenous Individuals who falsely claim to be Indigenous representatives.

To be clear, our participation cannot, and must not, be as individuals or non-governmental organizations, but rather in our own right as legitimate representatives of our respective peoples, nations and governments, through representative institutions of our own choosing, in our case, the Manitoba Métis Federation, the National Government of the Red River Métis.

Marsi.

 

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