Tl’esqox Chief Francis Laceese is part of a small Tŝilhqot’in delegation heading to the United Nations forum on Indigenous peoples in New York taking place April 25 to May 6, 2022.
Tŝilhqot’in chiefs have gone before to make their presence known and while there this time will listen to a presentation from the Canadian government on what it is doing for Indigenous people in Canada, Laceese said.
“We are there to say ‘this is part of what they are doing, and this is the other half they have to do.’”
The theme for this year is Indigenous peoples, business, autonomy and the human rights principles of due diligence including free, prior and informed consent.
About 2,000 Indigenous delegates will attend from all over the world and Laceese said they are there to give others hope because of their own 2014 win in the Supreme Court of Canada that gave them rights and title over a 1,900 kilometres of land.
“We will sometimes have a side meeting with other nations that attend. That’s how some of our people went to New Zealand to visit,” Laceese explaiend.
A small Tŝilhqot’in delegation will also be going to Sweden in the near future for a planned visit that was postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We have had different nations reaching out to us to work together and help each other.”
While it keeps him busy, Laceese said it is important to make the connections.
A lot of the TNG work is on Aboriginal rights and title while the UN forums deal with human rights which are also important, he added.