E/CN.4/2004/18/Add.2 page 11 who claim to be victims of discrimination may file complaints with the appropriate commission. These complaints are investigated, and there may be a conciliation process. If necessary, a board of inquiry or human rights tribunal determines the legal merits of the complaint. 26. The Canadian Criminal Code contains three provisions relating to hate propaganda: advocation of genocide (sect. 318), public incitement of hatred (sect. 319, para. 1) and wilful promotion of hatred (sect. 319, para. 2). The provincial human rights statutes also contain provisions of dealing with discriminatory messages in various forms. 27. International human rights treaties are not self-executing in Canada. Furthermore, the different powers between federal and provincial authorities mean that “there may sometimes be differences in the manner of implementing rights in the various jurisdictions. These differences may reflect differences in local conditions (ibid, para. 140). Canada asserts that the legal system safeguards against discrepancies in the level of human rights protection between jurisdictions for two main reasons: first, that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms applies across all jurisdictions and takes precedence where there is any contradiction in federal or provincial legislation; and, second, that the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Charter is valid across all jurisdictions. Section 15 (1) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms reads: “Every individual is equal before the and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law, without discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability”. 28. Nonetheless, the Special Rapporteur wishes to recall that the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, has pointed out that the fact that the federal Government cannot compel the provincial and territorial governments to align their laws with the requirements of international instruments like the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination ratified by Canada a matter for concern,4 II. PRESENTATION OF THEIR SITUATION BY THE COMMUNITIES CONCERNED A. Aboriginal peoples 29. Treaty rights, and especially the recognition of the land rights of aboriginal peoples, remain one of the central, symbolic issues for most members of the aboriginal communities. To date, 0.4 per cent of Canadian territory has been attributed to aboriginal peoples in the form of reserves. According to the Special Rapporteur’s interviews with aboriginal contacts and to the documentation supplied, between 1867 and 1923, several Indian Nations signed treaties with the Canadian authorities, according to which they were willing to share their land with non-aboriginals, but without giving up their independence.5 Special provisions were added to the 1982 Constitution Act to deal with the land claims of aboriginal peoples and the need to reconcile their ancestral rights with the rights of the State and other Canadians. In section 35 (1), the Constitution Act states that “The existing aboriginal and treaty rights of the aboriginal peoples of Canada are hereby recognized and affirmed”. These treaty rights include “rights that now exist by way of land claims agreements or may be so acquired” (paragraph 3 of the same section). The aboriginal peoples’ persistent claims led to significant advances from a judicial point of view, especially with the Supreme Court judgement in Delgamuukw v. British Columbia (1997), which recognized the uninterrupted existence of the land titles of aboriginal peoples in