'Nation to Nation'? Indigenous people and the Trudeau government

The Liberals are going to face the first real test of their commitment to a new relationship with First Nations. The H of C will have a bill in front of it that the Liberals voted for in opposition. We shall see if they vote for it in government. The Bill will effectively give First Nations veto rights over projects in their territories such as pipelines and Site C and fracking and mining.

I sincerely hope they do the right thing but I suspect they will vote against it because they are developing a "Canadian" model that will pay lip service while ceding little to no actual control  to FN's.

Quote:

Liberals supported previous bill

The MP's attempt to table a similar bill last year was voted down by the then-Conservative government, but he said considering the Tories' track record on such issues, it wasn't a surprise.

"I even made a last pitch on the very day it was debated and voted on, and it was a flat no," he said. "I saw it coming."

Back then the Liberal party supported the proposed legislation, which gives Saganash reason to hope it will pass this time.

Comments made by Justin Trudeau at the Assembly of First Nations last summer, before he was prime minister, might also buoy those supporting the bill.

"Reconciliation starts with recognizing and respecting aboriginal title and rights, including Treaty rights," Trudeau said in his address to the assembly.

"A Liberal government will do just that. Not only in accordance with constitutional obligations, but also with those enshrined in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples."

Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Carolyn Bennett has made no statement on whether the Liberals would support the legislation this time around.

http://thetyee.ca/News/2016/04/22/Indigenous-Rights-Bill/

iyraste1313 wrote:

unfortuneately things are far more sophisticated in these modern times of deception politics.....while they may actually support some form of legislation, be assured they will do everything legally to ignore and misuse the legislation and the International Agreement...

Actually there is nothing particularly new with the idea that the white man speaks with a forked tongue. Just look at the Treaties we have signed and how any vagueness (and they are deliberately vague) has been used to deny providing meaningful services.

mark_alfred wrote:

(note, the following quote below is from a recent duplicate thread -- I just became aware of this thread, so I've transplanted this here)

epaulo13 wrote:

..while the bill from saganash is important there is no enforcement mechanisms.

Yeah, that's true.  Still, it firmly establishes recognition of UNDRIP, and obligates the government to both establish a plan to meet the UNDRIP's obligations and it establishes that the government must report annually on the progress of this obligation.  It would be an important statutory achievement, I feel.  Further specifics regarding any accompanying machanisms deemed necessary to achieve the acknowledged government obligation could be drawn up later in regulations, I figure.

..i repeat undrip is an important step.

..the indian act contains enforcement and this needs to be addressed. undrip and the indian act cannot co-exist as they are in contradiction. extraction proceeds under the indian act and is contrary to undrip. it should be a concern to everyone that this is occurring right now and not rely on what governments may or may not draw up later. all parties need to be calling for an end to the indian act. 

swallow wrote:

The Indian Act has to go, for sure, but so far it hasn't partly because without it, there are protections for First Nations that would be lost. Passing UNDRIP into law would help make those protections available elsewhere, so I think Saganash's bill is an important piece of starting to dismantle colonialism. 

..i see this differently. i don't believe that the political will is there to really end the indian act nor to implement undrip...in spite of all the lip service. this will be a fight and enormous pressure will need to come from the bottom up. this pressure, i believe, will come from the existing struggles around extraction. 

..last night i attended a break free event in wpg. there was a good turnout and 85-90% were young folks. we made plans for the near future between now and oct. one of the key longer term priorities was the implementation of undrip. 

Repeal Bill C-51 Conference

Chief Bob Chamberlin, Vice President of Union of BC Indian Chiefs addresses the Repeal Bill C-51 Conference @ SFU Harbour Centre February 28, 2016.

Occupation ongoing: Camping out at INAC in Regina

Today marks the one-month anniversary of the protest camp outside the Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada offices in Regina, Saskatchewan. I’m participating in the camp, which was established in solidarity as part of a wave of occupations of INAC offices that began in Toronto following news of the suicide crisis in Attawapiskat.

The destruction of First Nations’ sense of self and our structures of family, community, and governance are hallmarks of Canadian colonialism. To this day, the refusal to admit that Canada has been founded on and maintained through colonial practices inhibits the federal government’s capacity to sit at the table and address the issues facing Canada. If you refuse to acknowledge historical reality, even after you have apologized for wrongs committed, it shows the need to redefine what reconciliation means to all parties involved.

The continued disparity in living conditions between the two sides of the treaty relationship reveal the impact the Indian Act has had. Most Canadians take for granted the water that comes from city taps. But in Saskatchewan, 16 First Nations are currently on a boil water list. INAC says it has a five-year plan with regard to this crisis, yet a list compiled by the office shows seven First Nations with boil water advisories extending as far back as 2002.

quote:

The 140-year-old Indian Act can be said to be the most racist piece of legislation in the world. Its repercussions are felt far and wide, as it helped set the blueprint for apartheid in South Africa and, dare I say, Palestine, establishing the practice of gathering people onto reservations to gain complete control of the population.

There was a time in my life when I thought it was fear that held me back, and then I read the Indian Act.

We Can Do It

'We Can Do It' is a call to action! It is a call to revolution! Created by Amai Kuda to promote the Decolonize NOW! movement and the Divest to Decolonize campaign, the song featuring guest artists Y, Kinnie Starr and M1 of Dead Prez.

With this song, Decolonize NOW! invites everyone to support us, as Black and Indigenous peoples taking a stand against the historic and ongoing colonial assault on the earth and our peoples!

We are calling on all peoples to take their money out of the big banks that are fuelling our destruction through investment in mining, fossil fuels and arms trade.

We CAN do it on our own! We will create viable, sustainable alternatives to capitalist economies. We must Decolonize Now or watch the earth and our peoples be destroyed!

www.decolonizenow.ca

Trudeau fails to deliver on election promise to support Indigenous post-secondary students

In the 2016 federal budget, Trudeau failed to deliver on his explicit election commitment to invest $50 million per year in the Post-Secondary Student Support Program (PSSSP), a federal initiative that provides support to Indigenous and Inuit students pursuing post-secondary education. Instead, the Liberals invested no new funding in the program.

quote:

The Limitations of Recognition

Post-secondary education is a right of Indigenous people. It is, as Trudeau has recognized, both a fundamental right and a treaty right dating back to foundational nation-to-nation treaties.

Following the release of the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Prime Minister Trudeau committed to "fully implement the Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission". Call to action #11 stipulates providing "adequate funding to end the backlog of First Nations students seeking a post-secondary education."

Just this past month, the Government of Canada announced its intention to fully adopt and implement the United Nations Declaration on The Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Article 14 of this Declaration states that Indigenous peoples have the right to all levels and forms of education of the State without discrimination. Yet in his government's first real statement of priorities, Trudeau's first budget didn't mention the PSSSP once.

While the recent recognition of Indigenous rights is important, without the necessary funding to back it, how will Indigenous peoples' right to education ever become a reality?

quote:

The Canadian Federation of Students has launched a national petition calling for the Government of Canada to immediately invest $50 million in the PSSSP and fully fund access to post-secondary education for all Indigenous learners. Our petition requires 500 signatures to enter the House of Commons and be tabled for a government response.

Stand with Indigenous students by signing this petition. If our government's pursuit of reconciliation is genuine, Canada must not break any more promises to the Indigenous peoples of this land.

Extinguishment of Algonquin Aboriginal Title & Rights by Trudeau Government

quote:

Unlike the approach of the five member communities of the AANTC, who are seeking to enter Canada's Comprehensive Claims extinguishment process, in early May 2016, our Algonquin First Nation along with Wolf Lake, Timiskaming and Kebaowek (Eagle Village) submitted an Early Warning Urgent Action Request to the United Nations Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) informing the Committee of the violation of our Algonquin Human Rights by the fabrication of the "Algonquins of Ontario" by the governments of Canada and Ontario to extinguish Algonquin Aboriginal Title and Rights through the referendum of an Agreement-in-Principle, which the members of the Algonquins of Pikwakanagan First Nation have now clearly rejected.

Our four Algonquin First Nations (Barriere Lake, Wolf Lake, Timiskaming and Kebaowek/Eagle Village) are calling on the UN Committee to question Canada on what actions they are taking to respond to AFN Resolution #47/2015 to replace the Comprehensive Claims Policy with a Recognition of Aboriginal Title Policy, particularly in light of the 2015 Indigenous Policy Platform of the Trudeau government.

We believe there needs to be ongoing monitoring of Canada by the CERD to ensure the UN recommendations to end the Comprehensive Claims Policy requirements of modified (extinguished) Aboriginal Title and non-assertion of rights is replaced with a policy of recognition and affirmation of Aboriginal Title, which is consistent with the Tsilhqot 'in decision and section 35 of Canada's

iyraste1313 wrote:

And if Pikwakanagan vote against the Agreement, surely international law kicks in, which guarantees that a vote determine 'consultation and consent'

International law is merely a framework. There is no way to make the government of Canada follow anything except its own Constitution. All treaty negotiations in BC have always had only one thing in mind and that is extinguishment of aboriginal land title rights.

The treaty process is a trap for First Nations who want to maintain their sovereign rights however small bands cannot fund the decades long litigation required to get those sovereign rights recognized by our courts. The reality is also that even when those rights are recognized the SCC has always stated there are limits to aboriginal rights. For most Bands the courts are a case of you pay your money and you take your chances while under the extinguishment track the government at least bribes the leaders and community to give up as yet undetermined rights.

Cindy Blackstock says Canada’s discrimination against Indigenous children continues after landmark tribunal ruling

In New Brunswick, months after the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruled Canada discriminates in how it pays for Indigenous child welfare, Mi’kmaq and Maliseet nations are asking what that means for them.

With little word from government, child welfare workers turn to the woman who took Ottawa before the tribunal in the first place.

"Respectfully" in this context appears to mean.....

...thank you for this......The Maya are very successfully using International Covenants to guarantee their rights to informed!! consultation and consent, which the Guatemalan Courts are now backing...3 major mining operations were just shut down.....

shame on the Liberals....all that work that went into draughting the Declaration, the powerful popul;ist process by all the stakeholders, coordinated by Indigenous leaders globally........If this is Government policy, it must be strenuously challenged through International Tribunals...Canada must not be allowed to maintain its impunity in violation of Indigenous rights!!

..from april

First Nations target Trudeau's climate plan with Indigenous Climate Action

The Trudeau Government has positioned itself as allies to Indigenous peoples of Canada and has gone so far as to publicly commit to the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).

quote:

The relevance and impacts of implementation of UNDRIP, particularly article 19 which states the following:

States shall consult and cooperate in good faith with the Indigenous peoples concerned through their own representative institutions in order to obtain their free, prior and informed consent before adopting and implementing legislative or administrative measures that may affect them.

quote:

But what we've seen is the Trudeau government announcing plans to host consultations across the country to inform Canada’s national climate plan, potentially steering our economic and energy sectors in new directions. Yet, nowhere in the federal budget has there been resources allocated for First Nations to meaningfully engage and participate in this consultation process on a nation-to-nation level creating a real potential to leave Indigenous communities behind once again.

The issue of energy development in Canada, its effect on Indigenous Peoples and the rapidly escalating climate crisis continues to be a very polarized debate in Indian country. This couldn’t be more true than what we see in Alberta, home to one of Canada’s central economies of oil and gas, namely tar sands.

The tar sands has become a hot button topic that brings out polarizing opinions locally, nationally and internationally. Indigenous communities have called for a moratorium on tar sands development and an overhaul of the regulatory systems, citing that current regulations contribute to the erosion of the rights and title of the Nations as defined by Treaty and UNDRIP. But these concerns are not recognized and implemented into the national discourse. The government forges ahead developing positions, policies and climate targets, leaving Indigenous communities out of the equation—something UNDRIP and its creators would no doubt frown upon.

Again, we can look to Canada’s historical track record to see this is history repeating itself.

Assembly of First Nations Seeks Investigation of Furlong Abuse Allegations

The Assembly of First Nations wants a “thorough and impartial investigation” into allegations former Vancouver Olympics CEO John Furlong abused aboriginal students more than 45 years ago.

Delegates to the assembly’s annual general meeting this week supported a resolution calling for an investigation by the RCMP and the federal government.

The resolution also called on the federal government to meet “the affected members of Lake Babine Band Council, Burns Lake Band Council, and any other affected former students to hear their concerns about the conduct of investigations and to discuss with them acceptable remedies.”

The resolution was moved by Lake Babine Chief Wilf Adam....

In solidarity with Colonialism No More: A place for labour in anti-colonial struggles

For three months, Colonialism No More activists in Treaty Four territory have maintained a solidarity camp outside the Regina offices of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC). In fact Tuesday marked 100 days of protest outside of INAC. The camp setup in April as one of a handful of occupations that emerged across the country after NDP MP, Charlie Angus brought public attention to the high rates of suicides in Attawpiskat, Ontario. Only the Regina camp remains. The demands of the movement have broadened to include the development of a publicly accessible database on conditions experienced by First Nations in Saskatchewan, a remedy to the situation facing Indigenous children who are forced into state care, and for the Treaties to be respected and upheld. Most importantly perhaps, the Camp wants to see the Indian Act abolished.

quote:

Over half of First Nations children live in poverty, and conditions are worse on-reserve. In Saskatchewan 69 per cent of on-reserve children experience poverty, compared to just 13 per cent of non-Indigenous children in the province. This is the lived reality of colonialism. Prescott says the Indian Act has taken away people’s culture and left them with few role models and sources of inspiration. Poor job opportunities and a lack of affordable housing make matters worse. In Saskatchewan the unemployment rate is five times higher for First Nations than it is for the rest of the labour market. While he remains hopeful, Prescott acknowledges that many of the long-term changes he wants to see will take time to implement.

quote:

Union members have also joined the ranks of Colonialism No More activists at the camp. Darin, with COPE Local 397, and Unifor local 1-S member, Don, were there in attendance on Day 90. Asked why they support the camp, Don says that Unifor has a strong social justice background and that he believes in the movement Colonialism No More represents. What we are dealing with, Don insists, is a form of systematic racism that can only be dealt with at the macro-level. Yet, he’s committed to the idea that people need to work from the grassroots up to affect change. For Darin, a long time labour activist, it is not enough to deal with issues of racism in the workplace alone, but in the greater community as well. He mused that we can attend union workshops on these issues all we want, but there is more to gain by simply sitting down and listening to someone like Prescott. Both Darin and Don feel it is time for labour to put words into action. And in many ways it has.

Organized labour in the community has shown its support for Colonialism No More through donations of money, equipment, food, and time. The Regina and District Labour Council, the Sask Building Trades, COPE, CUPE, and Unifor have all expressed solidarity with the camp. In fact, individual members from these respective organizations have been present at the occupation since the first demonstrations launched in the spring. The nearby Knox Metropolitan United Church and various human rights organizations have also provided assistance.

Who is the leader of the First Nations? "Nation to Nation" is not a precise definition. First Nations are not a separate country.

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2016/08/03/government-to-launch-inquiry-int...

Nor will the federal government wait until the end of the inquiry to take action to help curb the violence, said Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett.

The process — designed to be arm's length from government once it is up and running on Sept. 1 — is expected to last at least two years and cost at least $53.8 million — $13.8 million than was originally expected.

Bennett said the inquiry will reflect what the government heard during pre-inquiry consultations: that policing and child welfare policies will be put under the microscope, that it will not take a one-size-fits-all approach and will take into account regional differences when crafting recommendations.

I would very much like to know why the following 5 people are considered enemies of the First Nations.

5 commissioners

As part of Wednesday's formalities, ministers delivered to the commissioners a gift basket made of birch bark, lined with sealskin and wrapped in a red Metis sash. Inside was a digital copy of all the pre-inquiry research.

The five commissioners responsible for carrying out the inquiry are:

— Chief commissioner Marion Buller, B.C.'s first female First Nations judge;

— Michele Audette, a former president of the Native Women's Association of Canada;

— Qajaq Robinson, an Ottawa-based, Nunavut-born lawyer who practices civil litigation with an emphasis on aboriginal law;

— Marilyn Poitras, a professor at the University of Saskatchewan professor with a focus on indigenous law;

— Brian Eyolfson, a First Nations lawyer based in Ontario.

Oh okay, thanks epaulo13.  I'll move my post.

..txs mark_a

Adopt and Implement the UN Declaration

Sign the petition!

In 1982, the United Nations began work on a document to protect the human rights of Indigenous Peoples globally. It took them 25 years to finish that work.

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was eventually adopted by the UN in 2007 – with Canada voting against it. It was finally endorsed by Canada in 2010.

Canada has stated that they would put into place the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which call for the Declaration to be adopted and implemented.

Canada now has the chance to become a world leader upholding Indigenous rights by fully standing behind this seminal document.

This Declaration would go a long way to establishing a new relationship between Canada and Indigenous Peoples, and go a long way to improving the lives of Indigenous Peoples.

We call upon the Canadian government to fully adopt and implement the Declaration, and stand up for the rights of Indigenous Peoples. We call on Canada to adopt Bill C-262 to this effect.