Measuring progress
Tangible outcomes are important to measure success of government commitments, particularly in addressing persistent inequities. Measures need to be designed to reflect diverse perspectives ensuring that progress is inclusive and representative of community needs. Measures must also be responsive to Indigenous learnings and wise practices in reporting on implementation to demonstrate progress in a culturally relevant, gender-based and intersectional way.
One partner envisions success as achieving equal outcomes in areas such as infrastructure, education, income, justice, and underscoring the importance of closing gaps in service access and delivery. Some Indigenous partners have developed their own metrics or indicators to measure the success of UN Declaration Act implementation, emphasizing the importance of co-developing evaluation frameworks. For instance, one group has proposed creating processes to own their data and research, enabling the co-development of regional and Nation-level performance measures.
The submissions highlight that transparent, accessible, and accountable reporting mechanisms are important to track progress. Government reporting is a critical tool to measure milestones, benchmarks, and outcomes, to ensure that federal actions remain aligned with the transformative goals of implementation. Indigenous partners suggest more detailed, clear and frequent reports, that could foster public engagement and build trust in the government’s commitment to implementation of the UN Declaration Act and Action Plan.
At the same time, some concerns were raised about the technical nature of the current federal reporting framework. Partners advocate for a system that not only assesses government performance but also incorporates meaningful feedback from Indigenous rights-holders, including independent and Indigenous-led monitoring bodies to enhance credibility and accountability.
Overall, Indigenous partners advocate for a holistic and participatory approach to implementation, with clear metrics and indicators tailored to their unique contexts. To this end, Shared Priorities (SP) Measure 20.3, commits Justice Canada to work in consultation and cooperation with Indigenous peoples to develop metrics to ensure that useful measurements are reported on. Justice Canada reached out to a number of Indigenous partners that had been engaged in previous reports and had demonstrated capacity and expertise in the development of metrics. As a result, Justice Canada is partnering with Indigenous Youth Roots and Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) to form a Technical Working Group to begin scoping the work of co-developing metrics to measure the impact of UN Declaration Act implementation. The aim of this working group is to ensure comprehensive and accessible reporting on implementation is developed in consultation and cooperation with Indigenous peoples. It also seeks to identify methods to respond to existing feedback and explore ways to enhance reporting on a regular basis. This work is in its early stages and in the coming fiscal year, we hope to progress in identifying priority metrics with Indigenous partners.
“The UNDA and action plan lacks a cyclical ceremony that links its measures to the web of relations that reminds the Mi’kmaw families that future generations will prosper through its measures. Ceremonies, gatherings, events, and stories tie the past and future generations together and renew relationships in our lives. These ceremonies bring families and communities closer to kinship in our lives and build resilience. Too few Mi’kmaq are fully aware of the action plan measures or how to participate to affect their future. We believe the situation can be mitigated by meaningful audio and visual material that generates space for [UN Declaration], UNDA, and its action plan among the Mi’kmaw families and communities. We believe in a communication strategy to explain why leadership and communities should devote time and energy to establishing cooperation protocols with the UNDA Action Plan. The existing Canadian material in the communication strategy has not effectively mobilized Mi’kmaq leadership, communities, and families.”
Eskasoni First Nation
“We continue to reiterate our recommendation that there be a user-friendly, live-updated online tracker where anyone can check the status of each action plan measure easily and see the specific ways in which communities have been supported to lead implementation of the UN Declaration in ways that are best for them. In order to be accountable to Indigenous youth, reporting needs to happen more than once a year and be available in many languages and formats, and generally accessible on social media. Reporting should happen in the online spaces where Indigenous youth and their communities already gather, rather than setting the expectation that they should search dense reports/websites for those updates.”
Indigenous Youth Roots
Indicators
An indicator is a means of measuring actual outcomes and outputs. It can be qualitative or quantitative, and consists of a unit of measure, a unit of analysis and context. It is important to note that in the development of APMs, there were no jointly agreed-upon indicators of success, impacting the ability of measuring progress effectively and consistently. This can lead to differing views on what success looks like, making it harder to track outcomes and ensure alignment with the original goals. Understanding this context helps interpret the difficulties and limitations highlighted below.
Overall, we heard that more work is needed to ensure that progress on implementation is monitored in ways that are both measurable and aligned with how Indigenous peoples understand the objectives of the APMs. As of this year, only 50 APMs (28% of all APMs) had at least one indicator developed to measure progress on implementation. Among these, 20 APMs (11% of all APMs) had at least one indicator developed in consultation and cooperation with Indigenous peoples and 19 (10% of all APMs) had an indicator that can be disaggregated to monitor the impacts for specific communities.
This was the first year departments were asked to report on indicators, and we intend to work with others to see these numbers grow in the years ahead.
Integrating Indigenous partners’ perspectives on UN Declaration Act implementation
Indigenous partners consistently emphasize the importance of meaningfully reflecting their voices and experiences in this report. Their contributions are not only central to the implementation of the UN Declaration Act, but also shape a path forward grounded in mutual respect, accountability, and true partnership.
Throughout the reporting period, several key themes emerged offering valuable insight into both the opportunities and the challenges experienced during the early stages of implementation. They reflect a wide range of lived realities, priorities, and hopes for the future, and speak to the need for continued collaboration, transparency, and responsiveness from all parties involved. To provide a balanced account of APM progress, we’ve sought to integrate a representative reflection of Indigenous partners’ views directly into the sections that follow to acknowledge both the successes identified and the work that remains.
“The Action Plan is an opportunity to advance reconciliation between the Red River Métis and Canada by addressing priority needs, securing stable funding, and ensuring equitable treatment in Canada’s relationship with the Red River Métis. The Action Plan presents an opportunity to close gaps caused by distinctions-based neglect and fiscal uncertainty, and to reinforce Canada’s obligations to the Red River Métis as a rights-bearing Indigenous People. However, the Action Plan will only advance reconciliation between the Red River Métis and Canada if it is fully, properly, and meaningfully implemented.”
Manitoba Métis Federation
Department of Justice Canada
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