International tribunal finds Canada continuing genocide against Indigenous people News
Dwayne Reilander, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
International tribunal finds Canada continuing genocide against Indigenous people

The Permanent People’s Tribunal (PPT) on Missing and Disappeared Indigenous Children and Unmarked Graves in Canada released their preliminary statement on Sunday, finding that acts committed by Canada constitute genocide, and that Canada has failed to comply with its international legal obligations to investigate and punish these crimes. The PPT found that the pattern of state action and omission and the continued denial of Indigenous sovereignty reveals a pattern of continuous genocide.

The preliminary statement highlighted that it has previously been found that Canada has committed genocide by the Truth and Reconciliation Report, the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, and the Office of the Independent Special Interlocutor for Missing Children and Unmarked Graves and Burial Sites Associated with Indian Residential Schools. According to the statement:

Canada is failing to comply with its international legal obligations to investigate and punish the crimes revealed by Survivors and by families who have lost children. As Survivor groups try to name victims and locate burial sites, the government sits on 27 million records containing that necessary information. It makes no move to prevent the imminent destruction, on grounds of ‘confidentiality,’ of Survivors’ Independent Assessment Process testimonies, or even warn them of the impending destruction so they can have their documents preserved at the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation.

The PPT made 12 preliminary requests to Canada including the full implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (2021), to amend domestic legislation regarding genocide and crimes against humanity to be consistent with the Rome Statute, and to condemn and combat residential school denialism and hate speech

The 57th session of the PPT was held in Montreal, Canada from May 25-29. On the first day of the Tribunal, they released an indictment against Canada for genocide and crimes against humanity against Indigenous children, families, and communities. The preliminary statement released Sunday is in response to this indictment.

The indictment focuses on allegations that the enforced disappearance of Indigenous children into the countries notorious Residential Schools System constitutes crimes against humanity and the crime of genocide. It uses evidence from documents of the Canadian state and testimony from survivors. The indictment requests declarations of the acts committed against Indigenous children seeks to remedy the pain and harm caused through Indigenous-led reparations and resources to investigate and repatriate children who disappeared.

The PPT was requested to hold this special tribunal in October 2024 by the Native Women’s Shelter of Montreal (NWSM) in partnership with Amnistie internationale Canada francophone (AICF) . NWSM’s goal in hosting the international tribunal was to demand accountability for the alleged crimes committed against Indigenous children in Canada’s residential school system.

The PPT is an independent international opinion tribunal which investigates human rights violations. Founded in 1979, the PPT has held 57 sessions facilitating survivors, families, advocates, and communities be heard when other institutions have failed. The findings of the PPT are nonbinding.

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