One of northern B.C.'s most acclaimed First Nations leaders has been reappointed to a prestigious international position.
Grand chief Ed John is a hereditary chief of the Tl'azt'en Nation near Fort St. James. He is a lawyer and a former provincial cabinet minister, who holds honorary degrees from the University of Victoria and UNBC. He sits on the First Nations Summit executive and is one of only two North Americans representing the continent's aboriginal people at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII).
For the past year he has been the chair of this global body, and when they reconvene at the end of May he will hand off to the next chair but take up another three-year position at this table of 16 experts in aboriginal culture.
According to the United Nations website, the UNPFII "is an advisory body to the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, with a mandate to discuss indigenous issues related to economic and social development, culture, the environment, education, health and human rights."
For all peoples at the UNPFII table, one of the main concerns is fostering the adoption by the world's governments of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, signed in 2007 by the U.N. general assembly (Canada initially refused to sign on but later changed its position). Having the tenets of the declaration implemented in daily governmental life has not been fully accomplished, however, said John, and major efforts are underway by the UNPFII to improve this.
The UN estimates there are more than 370 million indigenous people in the world, plus those unrecognized by oppressive regimes. In few nations - notably Bolivia and Guatemala - are native populations the dominant culture.
The UNPFII meets semiannually at UN headquarters in New York for two weeks at a time. The group is also the host body for the upcoming World Conference on Indigenous Peoples scheduled for Sept. 2014 at which world leaders will focus on the broad agenda of the indigenous peoples' body.
