Canada led efforts to weaken the draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples at the United Nations, working secretly with Australia to develop a watered-down substitute in the early 2000s, newly released Australian cabinet records show.
Crafting the state-friendly alternative was the Chrétien Liberal government’s idea, but one Australia backed as a pressure tactic against Indigenous leaders who wouldn’t alter their 1993 original draft, the records say.
“Australia has aimed to negotiate with Canada a strong and complete alternative text to counter the status of the existing draft and prevent it from attaining the status of customary international law,” two Australian ministers wrote
