Local Métis youth Erin Konsmo said her trip to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues earlier this summer was an eye-opening experience.
The forum, an advisory body to the U.N.’s Economic and Social Council, is mandated to discuss economic, social, environmental, health and human rights issues specific to indigenous people. The forum’s 10th session ran from May 16 to 27 in New York City.
Konsmo, 25, attended the forum as a representative for the Native Youth Sexual Health Network (NYSHN), an organization that works with indigenous communities to advocate for reproductive rights, including culturally competent sexual health education, violence against women, midwifery and teen pregnancy. Konsmo currently works as an intern for NYSHN and is attending York University, where she is working towards her Master’s in Environmental Studies.
Jessica Yee, NYSHN’s executive director, and one other staff member travelled with Konsmo to New York to ensure those topics were included in statements provided to the UN’s General Assembly and to the chair of the permanent forum. Konsmo said the trio acted as UN special rapporteurs in both the Global Indigenous Youth Caucus, which is comprised of a number of native youth from across the world, and the Global Indigenous Women’s Caucus.
“There’s lots to talk about in terms of human rights for native youth in Canada, specifically around reproductive rights,” she said.
Until the adoption of the U.N.’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2007, indigenous peoples were not recognized within human rights instruments, Konsmo said. The declaration says the state has the responsibility to uphold the rights of its indigenous peoples. Konsmo said while both Canada and the United States signed the declaration late last year after initially refusing, neither country has made any significant change.
“That gave reason for myself, as well as many other indigenous people from Canada, to attend the United Nations and speak on behalf of our organizations and our communities, to say there’s stuff that Canada needs to work on,” she said.
“One of the things we need to do as indigenous people to Canada is to go and make sure that we tell the story about Canada in the way that we see it.”
As special rapporteurs they were in charge of ensuring the perspectives brought up by both women and youth at the forum were built into statements that were then delivered during the General Assembly. Most nights the group worked on statements until 3 a.m. to ensure they were delivered during the two weeks of the forum.
“It’s a really good process to be able to work with women that much,” she said. “But it also speaks to some of the basic flaws in the United Nations’ structures as well, that we come together and for the most part people are strapped for resources to get there.”
On May 21, NYSHN hosted a day-long session on indigenous sexual and reproductive rights, health and justice.
Among the speakers was Cindy Blackstock, who spoke about the rights of Aboriginal children in foster care.
“It’s definitely an issue all Canadians need to know about because there are now more Aboriginal children in foster care than the amount of children in residential schools at the highest peak,” Konsmo noted. “We’re making up about 40 per cent of the children in foster care although we‘re only about one per cent of the population.”
Other speakers included representatives from the Native Women’s Association of Canada, who spoke about missing and murdered Aboriginal women in Canada, and Konsmo, who spoke on behalf of the National Aboriginal Youth Council regarding the alarming rates of HIV infections affecting First Nations, Métis and Inuit youth across the country.
The environmental impacts of industry on downstream communities were also discussed, including the “staggering” rates of cancer in indigenous women because of chemical pollutants in their water.
“You definitely find those commonalities, not only in Canada in indigenous communities, but you find them across the world,” Konsmo explained, adding that Aboriginal self-determination will only come from within their communities.
“For the most part there is still a huge lack of awareness around the issues that are affecting indigenous peoples. It’s important for everybody in our communities, and within our countries, to understand what’s happening and for everybody to help hold our governments accountable.”
