Local historian, author and educator David Doyle is returning to Cuba this week to speak at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) World Balance conference in Havana.
Doyle is author of The Prophet and the Apostle of the New World, Louis Riel and Jose Marti, From the Gallows, the Lost Testimony of Louis Riel and producer of the video On the Trial of Louis Riel.
Doyle gave a re-enactment of the trial of Louis Riel to the Cuban writers’ union at Havana’s international book fair last February and was invited to return and attend the UNESCO conference on the topic of the Doctrine of Discovery.
The doctrine is a 500-year-old controversial document which played a historical role in the colonization of the Americas. The doctrine gave early explorers the right to claim sovereignty over land and resources for European Christian monarchs. The doctrine is still used today in issues such as extraction of resources on indigenous lands, proposed oil pipeline developments and cultural appropriations such as the mascots used for Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics.
“Unfortunately, although both Canada and the United States are modern, mature countries, the racist Doctrine of Discovery remains the foundation of indigenous law in both countries,” wrote Doyle in a press release. “It remains the cornerstone of indigenous policy and continues to hinder true nation to nation relations with the aboriginal peoples.”
The doctrine was the theme of 2012’s UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples, where representatives of indigenous nations spoke on the doctrine’s impacts on their people and recommended ways to restore equality.
In Canada in 2010 the United Nations signed the Declaration of Indigenous Peoples and called for the repudiation of the doctrine in 2012. The Idle No More movement has taken up the call.
By attending the conference, which is organized to debate major world problems and challenges, Doyle will bring the doctrine to the attention of delegates from over 40 countries. He has sights on preparing conditions for the international condemnation of colonialism and the repudiation of the doctrine at the UN’s Indigenous Global Summit in 2014.
