Few Aboriginal people celebrate 50 years of human rights

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In a community event at Edmonton city hall on Nov. 5, the Canadian Race Relations Foundation celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, but there was little interest shown by Aboriginal people in the community.

The lunchtime celebration brought together a small, but attentive, audience in the city room to listen to speakers from the foundation's board and a guest panel representing Edmonton's human rights activists.

The foundation came into existence as a result of the Japanese Canadian Redress Agreement in 1988, and the promise made to the Canadian Japanese by the federal government to create a foundation to foster racial harmony.

Art Miki, a former president of the association that negotiated the redress agreement for the Japanese, spoke about the need for the foundation. Miki is now the vice chair of the foundation's board of directors.

"Visible minorities and First Nations still face discrimination. The Japanese agreement reaffirmed why we need this foundation," said Miki. He believes the potential still exists for the abuse of civil rights. The awareness the foundation raises in Canada will empower people to act as watchdogs to keep the abuse in check, Miki indicated.

The foundation was proclaimed into law in 1996 under its own act, but officially opened its doors in 1997. Requests for applications for board members were called for by the prime minister. The board now consists of 15 people.

"I'm the one and only Aboriginal on the board," said Ann Enge, of Yellowknife. Enge, a retired social worker, is one of the founding directors. Since Enge's been serving as director, much of her time has been spent developing the office and staff needed to oversee day to day business. Now the foundation is ready to move forward and launch a national anti-racism campaign especially targeted to school-aged children, said Enge.

"Most of the board members are just flabbergasted by what going on for Aboriginal people," said Enge, referring to the racism Aboriginal people face in Canada. "Racism is a learned behavior and we are going to be focusing on getting a message out there," Enge said.

"There is a lack of Aboriginal representation here," said Martha Campiou, president of the Canadian Native Friendship Centre. Campiou received her invitation to the celebration the day before. She expected to see a lot more Aboriginal representatives at the city hall gathering. Campiou believes the low attendance is due to the lack of awareness Aboriginal people have about their human rights.

"Sometimes we don't get involved and we should. We could have seen more people here," said Valerie Kaufman, a member of the Aboriginal human rights committee. She said the lack of Aboriginal people at the celebration was discouraging.

Mohammed Brihmi, communications manager for the foundation, said all the Aboriginal organizations in Edmonton were invited to the celebration. He stated that a great deal of effort was made to invite Aboriginal people.

Edmonton was just one of the stops for the foundation. Other cities visited by the group included Vancouver, Montreal and Charlottetown, P.E.I.

A new initiative for the foundation is an award of excellence competition for community groups or organizations for efforts made to reduce racism in the community. The awards will be announced March 21, 1999 with a prize of $10,000 going to the winner. The foundation will also announce anti-racism day in 1999.