"The rule of thumb, "Nothing about us, without us," also applies to the United Nations and we (First Nations people) should always be in the room, participating in conversations, when there are global decisions being made that will come back and impact us."

Sheryl Lightfoot is the first First Nations woman from Canada to be appointed as the North America Representative to the United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. She joins National Chief Bellegarde to discuss the important role First Nations peoples have to play at the UN, their decades long battles to win a seat at the table, and how joining forces with on common causes with Indigenous people around the world benefits First Nations right down to the grassroots level. She points to Bill C-15, the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, working its way through Parliament in Ottawa, as a prime example of the positive impact International engagement by First Nations has had.

Sheryl Lightfoot is the Canada Research Chair of Global Indigenous Rights and Politics at the University of British Columbia. She is an Associate Professor in First Nations and Indigenous Studies, Political Science, and the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs. She is proudly Anishinaabe from the Lake Superior Band of Ojibwe.

You can learn more about the UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples here:

https://www.ohchr.org/en/issues/ipeoples/emrip/pages/emripindex.aspx

And for more about the important work of the Assembly of First Nations, including advocacy for Bill C-15, please visit AFN.ca

The Akhameyimok Podcast is produced by David McGuffin of Explore Podcast Productions in Ottawa,

Our theme music, Intertribal, is by the Red Dog Singers from Treaty 4 territory in southern Saskatchewan.