article 14 is somewhat of a concern to me, but it's really a debate we've been putting off too long. i might argue that this document is meaningless altogether unless indigenous peoples decide to look towards a concept of cultural synthesis and education has to be at the forefront of this movement. i mean, it's 2016. we can't be talking about turtle island, anymore. we can't be talking about great spirits. just like we can't be talking about legislating out of bibles or korans, either. it's backwards. north america is not a turtle. but that has to be a collective decision on their behalf in the first place. as such, it's not truly as dangerous as it looks. you have to assume that if you give them real education rights then they'll use that to their advantage; otherwise, it's just another worthless treaty, anyways. i went to a catholic school and took a religion class. it was a combination of philosophy, ethics, history and anthropology rather than real religious instruction. i'm probably better off for it. and, i wouldn't imagine a course in anthropology would be anything less than beneficial. again: you have to have faith in them to modernize, or the treaty is worthless to begin with.

for a similar reason, i don't really like article 24 - but have to shrug my concerns off under the faith that the concern is unnecessary. if at the end of this process, you end up with a society doing dances and drinking potions to ward off evil spirits then the document is irrelevant. those people will remain wards of the state. that has to be discarded freely. so, a right to hocus pocus becomes entirely rhetorical.

i otherwise don't see anything "unworkable" or "simplistic" about the document. to the contrary, i think it's entirely consistent with the supreme court's evolving interpretation of the constitution. s. 45 is particularly useful, there.

i support the private member's bill and hope the government reconsiders supporting the declaration. this would be a far more substantive step than continuing on with symbolic, and fully meaningless, identity politics.

http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/DRIPS_en.pdf