Quaker backing helps Canada’s Tsilhqot’in people

Canadian Friends congratulate the Tsilhqot'in people on a historic victory

Canadian Friends Service Committee (CFSC) last month congratulated the Tsilhqot’in people on an historic victory for the rights of indigenous peoples.

Following a campaign supported by CFSC and Amnesty International Canada, the Supreme Court of Canada recognised the right of the Tsilhqot’in people to own, control and enjoy the benefits of approximately 2,000km2 of land at the heart of their traditional territory in central British Columbia.

It is the first time that a Canadian court has awarded land ownership to a particular First Nation, a Canadian aboriginal group, rather than relying solely on negotiations between Canada and First Nations to resolve outstanding title disputes.

CFSC and Amnesty made formal interventions in the Tsilhqot’in title case to encourage the Supreme Court to adopt an approach to indigenous land rights that would be consistent with international human rights standards, including the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

‘We welcome the Court’s affirmation that indigenous peoples’ rights to own and control lands should be on a broad, territorial basis, which is necessary to ensure the health of their cultures and economies,’ said CFSC.

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