A senior Iranian lawmaker has underlined the need for the restoration of the rights of Canada’s indigenous community.

Alaeddin Boroujerdi, member of Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, made the remark during a meeting with Canadian aboriginal leader Terry Nelson on Wednesday.

Boroujerdi said that the Canadian government’s move to prevent the indigenous community’s presence in the political system of the country was a clear instance of human rights violation.


He said that Iran took pride in supporting the rights of minorities as underlined in the Iranian Constitution.

Nelson, for his part, said that big powers used human rights as a tool to deprive nations of their rights.

He condemned economic sanctions imposed by the British government against the Canadian aboriginal community as a clear example of human rights violation.

Nelson said that the disappearing of nearly 600 aboriginal women and girls in the North American country as well as the high rate of unemployment as a result of the sanctions proved the double standards adopted by the so-called advocates of human rights.

Native Canadians remain among the poorest members of the Canadian society with most of them suffering poor educational, economic and social conditions.

Activists say there has been a significant rise in human rights violations together with an unprecedented crackdown on freedom of speech since Canadian Premier Stephen Harper took power in 2006.

The UN strongly condemned Canada's record on children's rights recently, and accused Ottawa of systematic discrimination against aborigines and immigrants.
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