A/HRC/54/31/Add.2 not required to do so. To date, only the provinces of British Columbia and Québec and the Northwest Territories have undertaken similar initiatives. A 2019 law in British Columbia predates the federal legislation, and in March 2022 the province released its Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act Action Plan. The National Assembly of Québec unanimously adopted a motion in October 2019 that supports the principles of the Declaration, but it is not binding on the province. In March 2023, the government of the Northwest Territories introduced in the Legislative Assembly a proposed United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Implementation Act. 14. The preambular paragraphs of the federal United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act include a repudiation of the doctrines of discovery and terra nullius, 5 acknowledging them as racist, scientifically false, legally invalid, morally condemnable and socially unjust. Indigenous Peoples repeatedly emphasized the role of the Catholic Church in running the residential school system and in issuing the papal bulls that led to the colonial doctrines, and urged the Vatican to rescind them. On 30 March 2023 the Holy See issued a statement, in which it declared: “The Catholic Church therefore repudiates those concepts that fail to recognize the inherent human rights of indigenous peoples, including what has become known as the legal and political ‘doctrine of discovery’.”6 The Church also declared its strong support for the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. 15. Indigenous representative organizations in Canada have urged Canada to establish an independent Indigenous-led human rights commission, tribunal and/or ombudsperson to monitor and enforce the State’s compliance with and progress in implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act. 7 Accordingly, in Measure 19 of the federal Action Plan, the Government commits to an “Indigenous rights monitoring, oversight, recourse or remedy mechanism”. 16. Canada has taken some notable steps to address the negative legacy of residential schools, including the establishment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to provide an opportunity for those affected by residential schools to tell their stories. The Commission issued its final report in 2015, setting out 94 calls to action for further reconciliation under the framework of United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The documents collected by the Commission are housed at the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation; the Federal Government has committed to providing funding to the Centre for future years. Canada is also funding Indigenous Peoples’ efforts to identify missing children and unmarked burials, and created the National Advisory Committee on Residential Schools Missing Children and Unmarked Burials to ensure that Indigenous Peoples have access to independent, trusted information and expertise to identify, locate and commemorate their missing children. In 2021, the Government of Canada passed legislation to mark September 30 as the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation to recognize the ongoing impacts of residential schools. 17. A number of settlement agreements between Canada and Indigenous Peoples have been signed to provide compensation for: Indigenous children taken into care during the “Sixties Scoop” and placed with non-Indigenous parents; the residential school and day school survivors and their families; the forcible relocation of Inuit people from their homelands; and harm caused by drinking water advisories. Multiple class-action lawsuits are still pending with respect to outstanding residential school claims; forced sterilization of Indigenous women; abuse suffered in “Indian hospitals”; and discrimination in policing and corrections. 18. After the visit in 2013, Canada was called upon to undertake a comprehensive, nationwide inquiry into the situation of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. 8 5 6 7 8 4 Indigenous Peoples have expressed concern over the placement of the provision in the preamble instead of in the substantive articles in the main text of the Act. See https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2023/03/30/230330b.html. Submission from Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami; information provided by Métis National Council; and Assembly of First Nations, “Breathing life into the Calls for Justice – an action plan to end violence against First Nations women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people”. A/HRC/27/52/Add.2, para. 89. GE.23-13374