{"id":9317,"date":"2026-02-10T11:48:06","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T16:48:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apnql.com\/the-afnql-denounces-the-colonial-nature-of-bill-1\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T10:20:52","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T15:20:52","slug":"lapnql-denonce-la-nature-coloniale-du-projet-de-loi-1-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apnql.com\/en\/lapnql-denonce-la-nature-coloniale-du-projet-de-loi-1-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The AFNQL Denonces the Colonial Nature of Bill 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wendake, february 5th 2026 –<\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Following its appearance at the general consultations on the\u00a0Bill\u00a0No.\u202f1,\u00a0<\/span>Qu\u00e9bec constitution Act,\u00a02025<\/span><\/i>,\u00a0respecting the Constitution of Qu\u00e9bec, the Assembly of First Nations\u00a0Qu\u00e9bec-Labrador (AFNQL) is calling for its immediate withdrawal. This bill is colonial,\u00a0centralizing in its approach, and incompatible with the rights and political status of First Nations.\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The AFNQL denounces Bill No.\u202f1 for reinforcing a unilateral conception of political and constitutional legitimacy based on the existence of a single constituent people,\u202fan approach that marginalizes and\u202frenders\u202finvisible the legal traditions and governance systems of First Nations. This logic, rooted in the doctrine of discovery, runs directly counter to the spirit of a genuine legislative reconciliation process.\u202f\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are faced with a text that consolidates\u00a0\u2018\u2019a\u00a0Qu\u00e9bec state\u2019\u2019\u00a0through a clear<\/span>
\ndomination-driven endeavour, at the cost of erasing and\u00a0rendering\u00a0legally and politically invisible the First Nations,\u202fhallmarks of colonialism,\u201d\u202fstated\u202fFrancis\u202fVerreault-Paul, Chief of the\u202fAFNQL.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It must be noted that, despite the efforts of the AFNQL, the minister responsible for the bill, Simon\u202fJolin-Barrette, conducted no consultations with First Nations governments. They were systematically excluded from all discussions, negotiations, and\u202fdecision-making\u202fprocesses. In this regard, the government\u2019s approach runs directly counter to the principles of free, prior, and informed consent as set out in the United Nations Declaration on\u202fthe Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which is internationally recognized.\u202f\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Bill No.\u202f1 raises several other major concerns, including the reinforcement of systemic barriers resulting in the erosion of linguistic, social, economic, and cultural rights,\u202fparticularly for First Nations girls and women. Added to this is the concept of the \u201cterritorial integrity of Qu\u00e9bec\u201d invoked in the legislative text, which disregards ancestral titles\u202fand undermines the right of First Nations to\u00a0self-determination.\u202f\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While this bill could have represented a historic opportunity to build a constitutional process founded on equality, respect, and the coexistence of our peoples,\u202fMinister<\/span>
\nJolin-Barrette\u202finstead puts forward an approach akin to a contemporary colonial\u202fclaim.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough the idea of a constitution for Qu\u00e9bec is understandable, accepting this bill, as presented, would mean renouncing our rights, our traditions, and our cultures, and accepting our own assimilation\u202ffor the benefit of Qu\u00e9bec state. We can entirely reject what is being proposed while\u202fremaining\u202fconstructive, but that requires mutual recognition,\u202fand\u202fabove all, shared\u202fpolitical will,\u201d added the Chief of the AFNQL.\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wendake, le 5 f\u00e9vrier 2025 –\u00a0\u00c0 la suite de\u00a0son\u00a0passage en consultation g\u00e9n\u00e9rale\u00a0sur\u00a0le projet de\u00a0loi\u00a01 (loi constitutionnelle de 2025 sur le Qu\u00e9bec), l\u2019Assembl\u00e9e des Premi\u00e8res Nations Qu\u00e9bec-Labrador (APNQL) exige\u00a0le\u00a0retrait imm\u00e9diat\u00a0de celui-ci…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":9315,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[38],"class_list":["post-9317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gouvernance","tag-communique-de-presse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apnql.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apnql.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apnql.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apnql.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apnql.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9317"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/apnql.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9317\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9391,"href":"https:\/\/apnql.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9317\/revisions\/9391"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apnql.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apnql.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apnql.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apnql.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}