First Nations Day of protest June 29
 

First Nations peoples and their supporters are planning a National Day of Protest June 29. The Assembly of First Nations is asking all Canadians to stand together in various events to ask the Government of Canada to resolve the crisis in First Nations communities.

Canada is one of the wealthiest nations on earth. Yet aboriginal people living in this country, including thousands of households with children, endure horrendous levels of poverty. People are denied access to safe drinking water, and suffer from chronic housing shortages and overcrowding, with serious social consequences.

Meanwhile, the Government of Canada is trying to crush the collective rights of First Nations, working to oppose indigenous peoples' rights both here and internationally. Shamefully, in June 2006, the federal government voted against a draft UN declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples.

Canada's First Nations are calling on the government to adopt the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and to respect the decision by the UN Human Rights Council that the Declaration establishes the essential standards for respecting the rights of Indigenous Peoples.

For more information about events: http://www.afn.ca/NDA.htm 

For more background on the issues see: http://www.afn.ca/article.asp?id=3635 

Also please see National Aboriginal Day June 21 information: www.opseu.org/committees/aboriginal/index.htm