United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples ACT (UNDA)
CAAN & UNDRIP: Advancing Justice Through Indigenous Leadership
The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) is a global framework for reconciliation, healing, and justice. It promotes respectful, rights-based relationships rooted in equality, non-discrimination, and good faith. In 2021, Canada passed the UN Declaration Act (UNDA), committing to align federal laws with UNDRIP in full partnership with Indigenous Peoples.
CAAN, in collaboration with the HIV Legal Network, is leading the creation of an Indigenous-informed Action Plan focused on the realities of Indigenous people living with HIV, Hepatitis C, STBBIs, and TB. This work is grounded in our community’s lived experience and supports legal and policy changes that reflect our rights, needs, and ways of knowing.
Our approach includes building a scorecard to track Canada’s progress and designing a Community-Led Monitoring (CLM) system. CLM is an Indigenous-rooted, grassroots accountability tool that ensures community voices guide improvements to health care, drug policy, criminalization, data collection, and more. Through this work, CAAN continues to uphold the spirit of UNDRIP—centering Indigenous leadership, knowledge, and healing in everything we do.
UNDRIP ACTION PLAN – CAAN & THE HIV LEGAL NETWORK
What is UNDRIP?
The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) is an international framework that affirms the rights of Indigenous Peoples to self-determination, culture, language, health, education, and land. It sets a global standard for the dignity, survival, and well-being of Indigenous communities.
CAAN is deeply committed to upholding the principles of UNDRIP by centering Indigenous voices in all our work, promoting culturally safe health practices, supporting self-determined community solutions, and ensuring Indigenous leadership is respected and heard across all levels of health and social advocacy.
What is Community-Led Monitoring (CLM)?
Community-Led Monitoring is a grassroots accountability process led by those most impacted—our communities. CLM empowers Indigenous people to define what matters, create their own indicators, collect real-time data, and hold systems accountable. It is:
A community-designed process to assess the quality and accessibility of services
An accountability framework to ensure service providers and governments follow through on commitments
An evidence-based advocacy tool that supports changes to programs, policies, and funding
CAAN's Commitment
Through this Action Plan and community-led monitoring, CAAN is committed to ensuring that the voices of Indigenous Peoples are central to the implementation of UNDRIP in Canada. We are building the tools, relationships, and strategies needed to ensure our laws reflect our rights, and our systems serve our people—not the other way around.
