Despite centuries of sustained attacks against their collective existence, Indigenous peoples represent over 5,000 languages and cultures in more than 70 nations on six continents. Most have retained social, cultural, economic, and political characteristics distinct from other segments of national populations. Yet recognition of their humanity and rights has been a long and difficult time in coming. Based on personal experience, James (Sa'ke'j) Youngblood Henderson documents the generation-long struggle that led ultimately to the adoption of the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by the United Nations General Assembly. Henderson puts the Declaration and the struggles of Indigenous peoples in a wider context, outlining the rise of international law and how it was shaped by European ideas, the rise of the United Nations, and post-World War II agreements focusing on human rights. Henderson analyzes the provisions of the Declaration and comments on the impact of other international agreements on Indigenous peoples. He concludes with his view of what must be done to give the Declaration its full force for Indigenous peoples around the world, and what it means for Canada. The full text of the Declaration and selected excerpts of other key international agreements are included.

Sa'ke'j Henderson's profile page

JAMES (SA'KE'J) YOUNGBLOOD HENDERSON, a member of the Chickasaw Nation, is an internationally recognized authority in Indigenous knowledge, heritage and jurisprudence, constitutional rights and human rights. He is research director at the Native Law Centre of Canada and teaches Aboriginal law at the College of Law, University of Saskatchewan. He is the author of Mi'kmaq Concordat, Aboriginal Tenure in the Constitution of Canada, First Nation Jurisprudences and Aboriginal Rights, Treaty Rights in the Constitution of Canada, and Protecting Indigenous Knowledge and Heritage, and has contributed to many other books and journals. He was one of the strategists who created the Indigenous diplomacy network, working through the Four Directions Council, an NGO, in the UN system, and he was a member of the drafting team for many of the existing documents, including the ILO Convention concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries (1991), Guidelines and Principles for the Protection of Indigenous Heritage (1994-2001), and the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007). He has been an advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (2003-1997) and the UNESCO Convention of Cultural Diversity. Since 2000, he has been a member of the Canadian Commission to UNESCO. His achievements in international and national law have been recognized by being named Indigenous Peoples' Counsel (2005), and receiving the National Aboriginal Achievement Award for Law and Justice (2006) and an Honorary Doctorate of Laws, Carleton University (2007).