Arthur Manuel facts for kids

Arthur Manuel (1951 – January 11, 2017) was an important Indigenous leader in Canada. He was the son of Marceline Paul from the Ktunaxa Nation and George Manuel, a well-known political leader from the Secwepemc Nation. Arthur grew up on the Neskonlith Reserve in British Columbia. He went to several residential schools, which were schools for Indigenous children that caused a lot of harm. Later, he studied at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, and Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, Ontario. He was a father of five children.

Early Life and Activism

Arthur Manuel was born into a family that was already fighting for Indigenous rights. His father, George Manuel, was a president of the National Indian Brotherhood and the World Council of Indigenous Peoples in the 1970s. This meant Arthur grew up surrounded by activism. In the 1970s, he became the president of the national Native Youth Association, showing his leadership skills from a young age.

Working for His Community

In the late 1970s, Arthur Manuel studied law but did not finish his degree. He returned to his home community, the Neskonlith Indian Band. There, he was elected as chief four times, serving from 1995 to 2003. He was also elected chair of the Shuswap Nation Tribal Council three times during the same period. As chief, he spoke for the Interior Alliance of B.C. Indigenous nations. He also led efforts to help Indigenous communities manage their own logging businesses.

Arthur Manuel also helped lead a group called the Assembly of First Nations Delgamuukw Implementation Strategic Committee. This group worked to make sure the Canadian government respected a major Supreme Court decision about Aboriginal title and rights. Aboriginal title means the original ownership of land by Indigenous peoples.

Global Efforts for Rights

Arthur Manuel also worked on the international stage. He was part of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues since it started in 2002. This forum is a special group at the United Nations that focuses on the rights and issues of Indigenous peoples worldwide. He led the global Indigenous caucus and co-chaired the North American caucus.

He spoke to UN human rights groups about how Canada was not always respecting the human rights of Indigenous Peoples. He also took part in important international meetings about biodiversity, which is about protecting the variety of life on Earth.

From 2003, he was a spokesperson for the Indigenous Network on Economies and Trade (INET). This group works internationally to get recognition for Aboriginal title and treaty rights. Through INET, Arthur Manuel helped bring the fight for Indigenous land rights to international financial organizations.

He showed how Canada's failure to recognize and pay Indigenous people for lumber taken from their traditional lands was like a hidden payment to the lumber industry. This was seen as unfair trade practice. These actions helped set important examples for Aboriginal title and rights in Canada.

Arthur Manuel was also on the board of directors for the Seventh Generation Fund for Indigenous Peoples, which supports Indigenous communities. He was also a spokesperson for the Defenders of the Land, an activist group connected to the Idle No More movement.

His Writings

Arthur Manuel wrote important books and essays. His book, Unsettling Canada, A National Wake Up Call, which he wrote with Grand Chief Ronald Derrickson, won an award in 2016. Another book, The Reconciliation Manifesto: Recovering the Land, Rebuilding the Economy, was published after he passed away. He also wrote essays that were included in the 2018 book Whose Land Is It Anyway? A Manual for Decolonization. These writings shared his ideas on Indigenous rights and how to make things right between Indigenous peoples and Canada.

Arthur Manuel passed away on January 11, 2017, at the age of 66.

List of works

Books

• Manuel, Arthur and Derrickson, Ronald. 2015. Unsettling Canada, A National Wake Up Call, Between the Lines.
• Manuel, Arthur and Ronald Derrickson. 2017. The Reconciliation Manifesto: Recovering the Land, Rebuilding the Economy. Toronto: James Lorimer.

Chapters

• Manuel, Arthur. 2003. Aboriginal Rights on the Ground: Making Section 35 Meaningful. In: A Box of Treasures or Empty Box? Twenty years of Section 35. Theytus Books Ltd.
• Manuel, Arthur. 2006. Indigenous brief to WTO: How the denial of Aboriginal title serves as an illegal export subsidy. In: Paradigm Wars. Sierra Club Books.
• Manuel, Arthur. 2015. Indigenous Rights and Anti-colonial Struggle in Canada. In: Canada After Harper. Lorimer Books.
• Manuel, Arthur. 2017. "From Dispossession to Dependency" in Whose Land Is It Anyway? A Manual for Decolonization. Federation of Post-Secondary Educators of BC. (published after his death)
• Manuel, Arthur. 2017. "The Grassroots Struggle: Defenders of the Land & Idle No More" in Whose Land Is It Anyway? A Manual for Decolonization. Federation of Post-Secondary Educators of BC. (published after his death)

Articles

• Alexander, Don. 2018. Remembering the work of our Elders: Arthur Manuel. The Vancouver Observer. Available in VIUSpace at: https://viurrspace.ca/handle/10613/9849 DOI: 10.25316/IR-4292
• Manuel, Arthur and Schabus, Nicole. 2005. Indigenous peoples at the margins of the global economy: A violation of international human rights and international trade law. Chapman Law Review, 8:229.

See also

In Spanish: Arthur Manuel para niños