On June 5, 2014, the Seattle Human Rights Commission passed Resolution No. 14-3 encouraging the City of Seattle to recognize the second Monday of October (the federally observed Columbus Day holiday) as Indigenous Peoples’ Day. This move would put the City in good company with Minneapolis, which took similar action in April, and other cities such as Berkeley that have already made the change.
The Commission urged the City to honor its status as a Human Rights City committed to protecting, respecting, and fulfilling the full range of inherent human rights set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights instruments.
Specifically, the Commission urged the City to comply with the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD), a human rights treaty ratified by the United States. In keeping with CERD, the Commission encouraged the City to recognize Indigenous Peoples’ Day in order to promote tolerance, understanding, and friendship among indigenous peoples and all other segments of society, and to combat prejudice and eliminate discrimination stemming from colonization.
The Commission also called on the Board of Directors of Seattle Public Schools to recognize and advance the rights of indigenous peoples to have the dignity and diversity of their cultures, traditions, histories and aspirations appropriately reflected in education and public information. To that end, the Commission encouraged the Board to mandate that City public schools teach about the history, culture, and governments of the indigenous peoples of Washington State, with special focus on those subjects on the second Monday in October. Such a move would be in keeping with rights recognized in the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.