Come join us to hear from Cree and Haudenosaunee voices on a very important anniversary for international indigenous struggles.

Just in June the federal government began to review our entire set of federal legislation to reflect a newfound commitment to acknowledging indigenous rights in compliance with UNDRIP. This occurred 100 years after the visit Haudenosaunee Chief Deskaheh made to the League of Nations to seek international support for what was then a brewing dispute with Canada over constitutional matters. Chief Deskaheh didn’t make much headway in 1923 (and the Haudenosaunee lost the constitutional battle, had its traditional governance system squashed by the federal government the next year). But it set a precedent for other indigenous people to engage multilateral institutions. In some sense it was the precedent that eventually led to the negotiation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. How far does that go? What does it mean for the practice of foreign policy, not to mention every other domain of federal policy?

Join us as we bring in several respected learned voices to discuss what happened in 1923, its significance, and where we need to go today.  Speakers include

• FSIN vice-chief Aly Bear
• Heather George, historian, Woodland Cultural Centre
• Haudenosaunee elder Kenneth Deer, who is the ringleader for this whole event

Special thanks to all who made this event possible: the Haudenosaunee External Relations Committee, the Woodland Cultural Centre, the Network for Democratic Solidarity, the Bill Graham Centre and the Canadian International Council.