Delegation of Indigenous representatives from Quebec heads to the United Nations

Francis Verreault-Paul, shown in Lac-Beauport, Que., on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025, has been elected the new regional chief of the Assembly of First Nations for Quebec and Labrador. (Jacques Boissinot / The Canadian Press) (Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press)

A delegation of Indigenous representatives from Quebec is taking part in the 24th session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII), which is being held this week at UN headquarters in New York.

Before noon on Monday, the new Chief of the Assembly of First Nations of Quebec and Labrador (AFNQL), Francis Verreault-Paul, was feeling “very nervous,” a few hours before he was due to address international delegates at UN headquarters.

“Ghislain Picard has been at the head of the AFNQL for more than 30 years, so it’s a big change for everyone,” but “the chiefs have given me their support and I’m realizing it this week at the UN. It’s special to be here and it’s an opportunity to mobilize and look to the future,” Verreault-Paul, who was elected to head the AFNQL last February, told The Canadian Press.

The 37-year-old former professional hockey player, who has an MBA, will be one of the key players in a three-day mission by a delegation of chiefs, elected officials and representatives of the First Nations of Quebec and Labrador.

The goal of the mission is “to send a clear message on the international stage,” according to a news release issued by the representatives: “The governments of Quebec and Canada must go beyond words and fully implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).”

For Verreault-Paul, originally from Mashteuiatsh, the adoption of the UNDRIP Act by Ottawa in 2021 is “an important step forward,” but a number of challenges remain, including the need to “harmonize this legislation with provincial” and territorial jurisdictions.

“I like to use the term ‘legislative reconciliation,’” he said.

“For example, in Quebec, we’re in a jurisdiction that doesn’t necessarily want to recognize the UNDRIP.”

The issue of caribou protection “is a concrete example of this,” he said, pointing to a recent ruling by the Quebec Superior Court highlighting the government’s lack of consultation with Indigenous populations in its strategy to protect caribou populations.

According to the AFNQL Chief, Quebec should follow the example of British Columbia, the only province to have adopted legislation on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

“That province has set up a UNDRIP secretariat that is responsible, in a way, for ensuring that any bill in their national assembly respects the UNDRIP. Of course, this brings with it its share of work. But the fact remains that it’s a positive example for all our nations and I think it’s one to follow,” he said.

The delegation of chiefs is due to take part in a side event at the 24th session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues on Monday.

The chiefs intend to highlight three issues at the event, which takes place at the United Nations headquarters: “the reform of the forestry regime in Quebec, analyzed in the context of the territorial dispossession of First Peoples”; “the notion of free, prior and informed consent in the context of the Chalk River nuclear waste disposal project”; and “the Innu Nation’s constant recourse to the courts to assert its fundamental rights, particularly in relation to the protection of caribou.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French April 21, 2025.

Stéphane Blais, The Canadian Press