Inuk human rights defender calls for special prosecutor on genocide against Indigenous peoples in Canada

On Saturday July 31, Inuk human rights defender and Member of Parliament Mumilaaq Qaqqaq will be calling on the Canadian government to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the genocide against Indigenous children at residential ‘schools’.

She writes: “We will be marching to call on the government — and in particular, Attorney General David Lametti and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — to take the steps necessary to appoint an independent special prosecutor, with International Criminal Court observers, to investigate the crimes against Indigenous peoples through the residential ‘school’ system.”

“The federal government has the power to set up this investigation. According to the Director of Public Prosecutions Act, the attorney general can recommend and refer the appointment of a special prosecutor to the director of public prosecutions.”

“This system was committed to annihilating Indigenous peoples. This was genocide. When a genocide happens, shouldn’t the perpetrators be brought to justice?”

Qaqqaq highlights: “Canada is a country that was built on the oppression and displacement of Indigenous peoples. Like prime ministers before him, Justin Trudeau is refusing to do what’s needed to bring us the truth and justice that we clearly deserve.”

Qaqqaq, who is not seeking re-election, said in her farewell speech to the House of Commons: “I don’t belong here, but my presence — I hope — is starting to crack the foundations of this very federal institution that started colonizing Inuit barely 70 years ago.”

Her full commentary can be read at Crimes have been committed against Canada’s Indigenous people. Justin Trudeau has no excuse for not bringing the perpetrators to justice.

The Facebook event page is at March for Truth and Justice.

There is also an online petition – Demand Truth and Justice: Investigate Canada’s crimes against Indigenous Peoples – that calls for a fully-funded special prosecutor, for that person to have a mandate to seek guidance from the International Criminal Court (given the serious crimes against humanity and serious breaches of international law), for the special prosecutor to have the authority to demand access to all relevant documents, and the authority to make public any relevant information and the names of known perpetrators.