(OTTAWA) Canada is under fire for its support of a controversial telescope slated for development on the island of Hawaii due to allegations that the project violates Indigenous rights.
A group of academics and advocacy organizations last Friday called on the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination for urgent action regarding the development of the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT).
“The Government of Canada is a major partner and supporter of the TMT project, which Native Hawaiians have legally challenged for decades, in addition to physically opposing it,” said Uahikea Maile, director of the community-led research group. Indigenous Ziibiing Lab and professor at the University of Toronto.
“We must not tolerate the status quo of Canadian human rights abuses against Indigenous peoples, whether inside or outside its borders,” he added.
The telescope is expected to be built on Mauna Kea, a location that researchers say provides ideal viewing conditions, as it is located above 40 percent of Earth’s atmosphere and has a favorable climate for capturing sharp images. The volcano’s summit also holds cultural significance to the Kanaka Maoli, the indigenous people of Hawaii, who opposed the placement of the telescope.
The National Research Council, which provided part of the $30 million Canadian funding for construction costs, says it is reviewing the petition and notes that the federal government abides by the “principles” of the UN Declaration of Human Rights. of indigenous peoples.
In 2015, the previous Conservative federal government pledged $243 million to help fund the project over 10 years.
The petitioners want the UN to hold Canada accountable for “aboriginal rights violations” at its next session. They argue that Canadian astronomical organizations have deliberately misrepresented obtaining consent from Native Hawaiians, although some have policies in place indicating they would not proceed without it.
Vincent Wong, a member of the Transnational Law and Racial Justice Network and a lawyer who helped submit the letter to the UN, said Canada had unique international human rights obligations to uphold.
This is not the first time that the project has been criticized.
In 2019, the Union of BC Indigenous Chiefs wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Governor of Hawaii calling for a halt to construction plans for TMT and the withdrawal of Canadian support for the project. , which they believe impacts the endangered geology and wildlife of Mauna Kea as well as cultural practices vital to the Kanaka Maoli.
While Canada is the subject of this appeal to the United Nations, other countries are also involved in the development of the telescope, including the United States, Japan, China and India.
Also in 2019, elders, known as kūpuna, who were protesting the development of the telescope were arrested by police. This led the Dr Robert P. Kirshner, a University of Toronto professor and founding director of the TMT project in Canada, to publish a letter saying that “their institutional values are quite fundamentally opposed to the construction and operation of research facilities by the police and the military”.
The Dr Kirshner said TMT’s approach to community engagement has changed since 2019 and, led by a Hilo-based team, the organization has had “genuine and deep conversations with hundreds of people who have protested TMT.” “.
According to him, those who oppose the project are “contributing to an important conversation” about its future on Mauna Kea. He believes that through discussions, Hawaiians and Native Hawaiians will decide whether the project will go ahead.