CANADA
CBC News
By Haydn Watters, CBC News
Prime Minister Stephen Harper spent much of Tuesday’s question period defending his government’s work on aboriginal affairs as the opposition challenged him on the results of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s findings.
But Harper wouldn’t commit to any of the 94 recommendations outlined in the summary report, released Tuesday morning.
Members from the NDP, including Opposition Leader Tom Mulcair, questioned Harper repeatedly as to whether the government would fully adopt the United Nations’ Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, which the commissioners called the “framework for reconciliation.”
The prime minister answered by reiterating his party’s stance on the declaration.
“Canada is one of the very few countries in the world where aboriginal and treaty rights are recognized and that’s one of the reasons why the government accepts the UN declaration as an aspirational document,” he told the Commons.
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