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The UN Declaration provides a principled framework for partnership and reconciliation between states and Indigenous Peoples. Its provisions provide much needed guidance to governments, state institutions and society as a whole on how human rights laws and obligations can be best understood and applied to the distinct circumstances and urgent needs of 370 million Indigenous People around the world.

There are calls for Canada's government to work in genuine partnership with Indigenous Peoples for unqualified endorsement and full implementation of the Declaration. Groups also highlight that an endorsement must honour the spirit and intent of the Declaration consistent with Indigenous Peoples' human rights.

This statement was signed by Assembly of First Nations; Inuit Circumpolar Council Canada; Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami; Native Women's Association of Canada; Assemblée des Premières Nations du Québec et du Labrador; Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs; Chiefs of Ontario; Grand Council of the Crees (Eeyou Istchee); Innu Council of Nitassinan; Amnesty International; Canadian Friends Service Committee (Quakers); KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives, among several others.

A report presented to theToronto Board of Health estimates idling wastes 90-million litres of fuel a year in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), which suggests over 105 million tonnes of CO2 are released while vehicles idle, every year.

"It should be an easy win to get rid of idling," states Dr. McKeown, who said emissions from motor vehicles are responsible for 440 premature deaths, and 1,700 hospitalizations.

The Board of Health also voted to limit exemptions to the bylaw, making it less likely for transit vehicles to idle, and eliminating exemptions for extreme temperatures. Currently, transit buses are allowed to idle for 15 minutes. Police, fire and ambulance are exempt when idling is not "substantially" for convenience.

"CETA would give seed companies enforcement and confiscation powers pertaining to all other seeds – those that do not contain patented genes – that exceeds even the powers that companies possess for their gene-patented varieties," said NFU President Terry Boehm during an April 21, 2010 pres release in Ottawa.

Boehm went on to explain that CETA would give seed companies the power to seize crops, farm property, seeding and harvest equipment, and freeze farmers' assets. Seed companies would also have a veto power over independent seed cleaners. "If farmers can't get their farm-saved seeds cleaned, farmers can't save and re-use seed," elaborated Boehm.

Oxfam is an international aid and social justice organization, active in climate negotiations.

The Winnipeg event is the first of seven national events the TRC will hold over the next five years. Subsequent events will take place in Alberta, British Columbia, the Maritimes, Northern Canada, Quebec, and Saskatchewan.

TRC Chair Justice Murray Sinclair said "This event is a first for former Indian Residential School students, and a first for Canada. My fellow Commissioners and I have made a commitment to former students that we will hear from as many of them as we are logistically and humanly able to."

The national events are part of the TRC mandate and are intended to engage and educate the Canadian public about the Indian Residential School system. They will honour those whose lives were affected by residential schools and give those individuals an opportunity to present statements to the TRC.

"We are calling on our political leaders to rise above the gridlock of a minority government to embrace this transformative piece of legislation," stated Margot Venton, an Ecojustice lawyers who drafted the legislation.

Linda Duncan, NDP MP for Edmonton-Strathcona, introduced Bill C-469, An Act to establish a Canadian Environmental Bill of Rights for first reading October 29, 2009. "There have been many public calls for an environmental bill of rights," declared Duncan when she reintroduced the Bill for second reading in the Canadian House of Commons Thursday May 6, 2010.

The bill affirms a general right to a healthy environment, grants the public specific rights to access information, participate in lawmaking processes, review federal instruments, investigate alleged offences, and in specific cases seek recourse of the Federal Court against the Government of Canada for failing to live up to its duty to protect the environment.

"The right to live in a healthy environment enjoys legal recognition in the majority of the world's nations. Canada is behind the curve, but this Bill offers the hope that we might catch up," said Ecojustice lawyer Margot Venton.

The time for debate expired and the Bill dropped to the bottom of the order paper. It remains to be seen if Canada will ever enact an Environmental Bill of Rights. Both Quebec and Ontario have statutes that enshrine Environmental Rights into law.

In 2010, after proroguing Parliament December 30, 2009, the Government has again introduced a budget bill that reduces legal and regulatory provisions under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act to protect Canada's natural environment.

In a May 10, 2010 letter to the Canadian Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, sixteen conservation and community organizations implore members of the Committee "...to object to these regressive changes that threaten Canada's environment."

1. exempting a host of major projects from environmental assessments;
2. granting Minister of Environment discretionary power to break large projects into smaller pieces and avoid environmental assessment (over rules January 2010 recent Supreme Court decision of MiningWatch Canada v. Canada);
3. public environmental assessments for pipelines and nuclear power projects to National Energy Board and Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, despite no previous experience or mandate to conduct environmental reviews.

"By burying these significant changes deep within a towering, 900-page budget bill, the government has deliberately sought to hide these changes from public scrutiny, discussion or debate," says Josh Paterson, staff lawyer at West Coast Environmental Law in Vancouver. "That's why we're asking MPs on the Finance Committee to show environmental leadership by cutting these changes out of the Budget."

The following day, May 6 2010, an "Open Letter Supporting the Climate Change Accountability Act" was sent to all Members of the Canadian Senate. The letter was signed by twenty civil society organizations and urges the Senators to promptly pass Bill C-311.

Manitoba Wildlands was amongst the signatories, which also include: Climate Action Network Canada, David Suzuki Foundation, Oxfam Canada, Sierra Club of Canada, National Union of Public and General Employees, Nature Canada, and WWF Canada.

"Anyone with a pair of binoculars and bird watching experience, or even a desire to learn about birds, can participate. You don't need to be an expert--we just ask that you are confident in the identification of the birds you report." Exlains the MBAP webpage. Courses in atlassing techniques are already being offered for those wanting to take part. Anyone interested in taking part can call Project Coordnator Christian Artuso, at 204-945-6816, or visit: http://www.birdatlas.mb.ca

Although the Manitoba Naturalists Society released a publication, The Birds of Manitoba in 2003, Manitoba is behind other Canadian provinces in initiating a breeding bird atlas. Breeding bird atlases were first started in Europe in the late 1970's, and Saskatchewan had an atlas like project starting in the 1970's. The first official Canadian bird atlas was published by Ontario in 1987. Alberta and the Maritime Provinces published bird atlases in 1992, with Quebec following suit in 1995. Ontario and Alberta both released second editions in 2005, and the Maritimes and Quebec are in the process of likewise publishing a second edition. British Columbia, in 2007, announced that it was launching its own bird atlas program. "It's so important to have a comprehensive data set for the province, and it's something we [Manitobans] don't quite have yet," Artuso told the Winnipeg Free Press.

Studies from the U.S., such as the State of the Birds report, indicate that over the past four decades bird numbers have declined across North America due to deforestation, pesticides, urban sprawl, and climate change. Obtaining accurate data, therefore, is vital to both: monitoring the health of the planet, and determining where conservation efforts are most needed.

"Today's announcement restores our mana and our moral authority to speak in international fora on issues of justice, rights and peace," stated New Zealand's Minister of Maori Affairs, Dr. Pita Sharples.

"While the declaration is non-binding, it both affirms accepted rights and establishes future aspirations. My objective is to build better relationships between Maori and the Crown, and I believe that supporting the declaration is a small but significant step in that direction," added New Zealand's Prime Minister, John Key.

When the UN General Assembly adopted the UN Declaration on the Right of Indigenous Peoples (hereinafter simply Declaration) on September 13, 2007: 143 countries voted in favour, 11 abstained, while 4 countries (New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and the United States) opposed the Declaration.

The day following New Zealand's announcement, Washington's U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice announced that the U.S. would be reviewing it's opposition to the Declaration.

Canadian Governor General Michaelle Jean, in her March 03, 2010 Speech from the Throne, declared: "A growing number of states have given qualified recognition to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Our Government will take steps to endorse this aspirational document in a manner fully consistent with Canada's Constitution and laws,"

Despite the apparent reversal of positions, it remains to be seen when Canada or the U.S. will affirm the Declaration, or what caveats they will demand in return.

"Science never absolutely proves anything, but 'well-established scientific theories' are often spoken of as 'facts'. Climate change now falls into this category: There is compelling, comprehensive, and consistent objective evidence that humans are changing the climate in ways that threaten our societies and the ecosystems on which we depend. Like all human beings, scientists make mistakes. When errors are pointed out, they are corrected. But there is nothing remotely identified in the recent events that changes the fundamental conclusions about climate change."

In recent months climate change deniers, and some mainstream media have seized on small technical errors, claiming these errors disprove the theory of human caused global warming. Obviously bothered by such distortions the consortium of scientists have banded together in urging "... policy-makers and the public to move forward immediately to address the causes of climate change, including unrestrained burning of fossil fuels."

The annual interfaith summit releases the Faith Leaders Statement. The Faith Leaders Statement underscores G 8 commitments to the Millennium Development Goals and processes that move toward equity and justice. As the G 8 has evolved into both G 8 and G20 meetings, the faith leaders have also addressed the G 20. The 2010 Faith Leaders Statement, A Time for Inspired Leadership and Action, calls on global leaders to:

• address immediate needs of the most vulnerable while simultaneously making structural changes to close the growing gap between rich and poor;
• prioritize long term environmental sustainability and halt climate change, while addressing its impacts on the poor;
• invest in peace and remove factors that feed cycles of violent conflict and costly militarism.