Latest News

BC First Nations Justice Council
British Columbia Assembly of First Nations
Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs
First Nations Summit

COVID-19 in prisons stands to be a death sentence for overincarcerated Indigenous peoples
Indigenous leadership demand proactive response from governments

(xwməθkwəy̓ əm (Musqueam), sḵwx̱ wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlR ilwətaʔɬ/selR ílwitulh (TsleilWaututh)/Vancouver, BC – First Nations leadership across BC is united in calling for immediate action to protect incarcerated peoples amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Rights Groups React to Prisoner Death in Custody; Call for Public Inquest and Immediate Release of Prisoners to Stop Dangerous Spread of COVID-19

April 17, 2020, VANCOUVER, Coast Salish Territories – Prisoner rights, human rights, Indigenous and civil liberties groups are reacting to the horrific news of a death in Correctional Service of Canada’s custody of a person incarcerated at Mission Institution in BC. Mission Institution is the site of the largest COVID-19 outbreak at a federal institution in the country.

April 14, 2020

Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Must be Respected During COVID-19

During the extreme challenges caused by the current threat of the coronavirus, our Nations and organizations are profoundly concerned with ensuring respect for Indigenous peoples’ rights, particularly their rights to self-determination, health, security and well-being. Related Treaty rights of Indigenous peoples must also be fully considered.

Dear Premier Horgan, Minister Mark, Minister Simpson, Minister Darcy, Minister James, Minister Dix, Minister Robinson, Minister Mungall, Minister Fraser and Ms. Dean:

We are writing to express our grave concern for the vulnerable residents living in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside (DTES), where high levels of trauma, poverty, crowding, homelessness, drug addiction, and mental illness create a high-risk environment for a potential aggressive outbreak of COVID-19. Indigenous peoples are disproportionately represented in this vulnerable population, and the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic stand to exacerbate thea intergenerational trauma, marginalization, violence, cultural and traditional knowledge loss inflicted by colonization.                                                                      

OPEN LETTER: Emergency Relief in Energy Sector Must Not Enable Massive Public Investment in Fossil Fuels

Dear Prime Minister Trudeau, Minister Wilkinson, and Minister O’Regan,

As you are aware, the global COVID-19 pandemic and the concurrent crash in international oil prices has decimated the price of Canadian oil; its recovery in the coming weeks or months is unlikely with the decreased demand amid global measures to curtail the transmission of COVID-19. We recognize that Canada is taking steps to ensure the safety and economic security of Canadians in this tumultuous time, and we are aware that your government is negotiating a bailout of Canada’s oil and gas sector. We strongly feel that the urgent need for emergency relief should not enable massive public investment in fossil fuels. While Canada acts to address the current crises, the urgency of the climate crisis cannot be overlooked.

Dear UBCIC Chiefs Council,

Attached and below, please find correspondence from the UBCIC Executive notifying you that the scheduled May 20-21 UBCIC Chiefs Council meeting has been cancelled due to COVID-19.  This notice is being sent via email only, and will be posted on our website.