MKO recommended as United Nations consultant

The United Nations headquarters is shown on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

An Indigenous organization in Manitoba is being recommended to become consultants by a United Nations committee.

Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak (MKO) announced Wednesday that the United Nations Committee on Non-Government Organizations has recommended the organization receive special consultative status for the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). The recommendation was made on Tuesday at the U.N. headquarters.

“Being formally in consultative status with ECOSOC means that MKO can enter United Nations buildings to attend official meetings, submit and make written and oral statements, meet official government delegations and other NGO representatives, organize and participate in parallel events, and participate in debates and panel discussions,” Chief Garrison Settee said in a written statement.

Settee said that MKO will bring forward traditional knowledge, voices and the lived experiences of people from northern Manitoba First Nations to the United Nations. He says MKO will participate with the Commission on the Status of Women, the Commission for Social Development, the United Nations Forum on Forests, and the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

“We are pleased for the opportunity to share and discuss with the United Nations bodies and with other NGOs the MKO approach to making the principles of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples enforceable in Canada’s national law,” he said.

MKO will be participating as interveners during the U.N.’s universal periodic review of Canada from Nov. 6 to 17.