News

May 20, 2011 | UN launches new initiative to promote rights of world’s indigenous peoples (UN News Centre)

Four United Nations entities today launched a new initiative to promote and protect the rights of indigenous peoples, aiming to strengthen their institutions and ability to fully participate in governance and policy processes at the local and national levels.
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May 19, 2011 | Agencies failing to deliver outcomes (The Australian)

AN audit into the NSW government's indigenous policy has found it inefficient and lacking accountability for the $2.65 billion spent on Aboriginal affairs each year. The audit of the Two Ways Together plan introduced by the former Labor government in 2003 -- a policy that costs about $40 million a year in administration alone -- found a distinct lack of accountability among government agencies managing programs for an estimated 160,000 Aboriginal people in the state.
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May 18, 2011 | 2 aboriginal MPs picked for cabinet for the first time (Vancouver Sun)

OTTAWA - [...] Wednesday's unveiling of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's new federal cabinet marked the first time in Canadian history that two members of Canada's indigenous communities — returning Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq, an Inuk from Nunavut, and the new Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Peter Penashue, an Innu Nation leader from Newfoundland and Labrador — will sit together in the inner circle of Canada's national government.
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May 10, 2011 | Indigenous groups want more say at Arctic Council (CBC News)

Some northern indigenous groups want the Arctic Council to give them the right to vote and other powers that are currently reserved for member countries like Canada, the United States and Russia.
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