EN :

The Sami are recognized as an Indigenous people and a national minority in both Norway and Sweden, and their involvement in any planning concerning their traditional territories is required. The aim of this article is to examine how Sami interests are secured and institutionalized in municipal comprehensive planning (MCP). We use two case study areas: Sortland municipality in Norway and Vilhelmina municipality in Sweden. Analysis of various qualitative materials indicates that, despite contextual and institutional differences, the planning processes in the case study areas have similar outcomes. We conclude that formal rights of the Sami are not always acknowledged by the politicians who make the final decision. Rather, the Sami depend on the politicians’ willingness to consider their needs.

EN :

Since 2015, there has been heightened interest in reconciliation and renewed relationships with Indigenous Peoples. Anchoring our work in the definition of reconciliation provided by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, we, as practitioner-scholars, sought to better understand the preconditions to collaboration among First Nations, the federal government, and the provincial government in Alberta. This participatory action research was conducted with mid- to senior-level public servants, who were involved in the further development and implementation of the 2014 Joint Action Plan to Improve the Health of First Nations in Alberta, in either First Nations, the federal government, or the provincial government. This article concludes that collaboration must consider the negative legacy of relationships between First Nations and federal and provincial governments, as well as between First Nations and settlers.

EN :

Improving state compliance with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) can be supported by monitoring and measurement. Current approaches to monitoring state compliance with the UNDRIP are qualitative and non-standardized, which limits comparability across time and across geopolitical lines. In this article, we introduce a novel approach to monitoring compliance with the UNDRIP and human rights more generally. This work highlights the potential advantages of using a performance improvement framework to clearly identify gaps in compliance, monitor state compliance with the Declaration over time, and effectively assess and compare state compliance. We describe the development of a standardized UNDRIP compliance assessment tool and report the process and findings of a pilot test of the tool. The pilot assessment utilized the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples' (SRRIP; Anaya, 2014) findings on the situation of Indigenous Peoples in Canada in three thematic areas: (a) self-government and self-governance; (b) consultation and free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC); and (c) land and natural resources. While insufficient for a fulsome assessment of Canada’s compliance with the UNDRIP, we restricted ourselves to the report for two reasons: first, to test the applicability of the tool for quantifying qualitative data; and, second, to evaluate the degree to which the UN monitoring mechanism for Indigenous rights adheres to the Declaration’s Articles for monitoring and reporting. We discuss implications and opportunities for improving human rights monitoring and state implementation efforts.

EN :

Research to address the health burdens experienced by Indigenous populations is essential. In the Canadian context, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada determined that these health burdens are the result of policies that have undermined opportunities to address community-level health needs. The Canadian Institutes of Health Research Guidelines for Health Research Involving Aboriginal People (2007-2010), or“CIHR Guidelines,” were prepared in a national consultation process involving Inuit, Métis, and First Nations communities, researchers, and institutions. This paper asserts that the principles espoused in the CIHR Guidelines hold ongoing potential to guide health research with Indigenous people in ways that promote equitable research partnerships. We encourage those in research environments to engage with the spirit and content of the CIHR Guidelines.