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de Beer, Jeremy; Dylan, Daniel --- "Traditional knowledge governance challenges in Canada" [2015] ELECD 1528; in Rimmer, Matthew (ed), "Indigenous Intellectual Property" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2015) 517

Book Title: Indigenous Intellectual Property

Editor(s): Rimmer, Matthew

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781781955895

Section: Chapter 22

Section Title: Traditional knowledge governance challenges in Canada

Author(s): de Beer, Jeremy; Dylan, Daniel

Number of pages: 26

Abstract/Description:

Creating appropriate policies for governing the knowledge of the world’s Indigenous and local communities is a tremendous challenge. Just conceptualizing Indigenous communities’ knowledge is difficult, and often controversial. Communities themselves do not typically differentiate categorically among traditional medicinal, ecological or cultural practices, resources or expressions. Yet those are the terms in which most debate takes place in relevant international and national forums. Article 31 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples 2007 states that Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain, control, protect and develop a very wide variety of heritage, knowledge, expressions and intellectual property over such heritage, knowledge and expressions. States must work with Indigenous peoples to effectively recognize and protect the exercise of these rights. The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples 2007 is not the only legal instrument recognizing Indigenous peoples’ right to protect heritage, knowledge and expressions. A protocol to the Convention on Biological Diversity addressing access and benefit sharing is limited to traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources generally. Parallel provisions exist in a separate agreement to deal with traditional knowledge concerning plant genetic resources used for food and agriculture. Also separately, model laws and legislative provisions exist to guide countries wishing to protect traditional cultural expressions and folklore. An inter-governmental committee of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has tried to tackle several of these issues together, but efforts have so far failed to yield success.