Joint Statement
In December, in two separate letters issued under their Early-Warning Measures and Urgent Action Procedures, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial (CERD) called on Canada to seek independent, expert advice on implementation of the right of free, prior and informed consent (FPIC).
One letter was issued in response to an ongoing First Nations legal challenge to the Site C dam, a hydroelectric megaproject in northeast British Columbia that the Committee has stated should not proceed without FPIC. The other letter concerned the federal government’s support for the Trans Mountain pipeline despite strong opposition from affected First Nations in British Columbia.