Indigenous leaders always suspected certain countries of colluding behind closed doors to undermine their rights at the United Nations.

But now, after newly released Australian cabinet papers showed Canada led efforts to weaken the original draft declaration on the rights of Indigenous peoples at the UN, secretly crafting a state-friendly substitute with Australia in 2002 and 2003, they have some evidence to prove it.

And they’re far from shocked.

“We all knew that Canada was in the back rooms trying to counter everything,” said Pam Palmater, a Mi’kmaw lawyer and chair in Indigenous governance at Toronto Metropolitan University.

“Not just Canada, but Canada was a main instigator, so to have this on the record from another country just backs up everything that Indigenous peoples have been saying for decades.”

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