Natives warn of blockades if changes to Indian Act are made

Catholic New Times, May 18, 2003

OTTAWA (CCN) -- Three caravans of native leaders and hundreds of supporters from across Canada arrived on Parliament Hill April 28 warning that bridges and blockades may go up unless the federal government scraps its planned changes to the Indian Act.

"Canadians are becoming outraged at the manipulation that is going on behind me--from closed door meetings, to time limits, to procedural trickery," Chief Roberta Jamieson of the Six Nations of the Grand River reserve in southern Ontario told the crowd. "It will not work."

Demonstrators cheered as Jamieson, a Mohawk and a former Ontario Ombudsman, jabbed at the air and declared, "We are not protestors, we are nations."

The demonstration coincided with the resumption of sittings of the House of Commons after a two-week Easter break, and the clause-by-clause study of Bill C-7, the First Nations Governance Act (FNGA) by the Commons Aboriginal Affairs Committee. Native leaders say the proposed act would shift the primary relationship between the federal government and chief and council, to one between First Nations governments and First Nation members.

The Assembly of First Nations, whose national chief, Matthew Coon Come, took part in the demonstration, wants Bill C-7 to be withdrawn rather than amended. "It is fundamentally flawed because it is rooted in the Indian Act and cannot be fixed through amendments," the AFN claims.

Mainstream Canadian churches, including the Catholic Church, say they also have "serious concerns" about the bill. In a joint statement in March, several church leaders said the bill "threatens First Nation's inherent and treaty rights, and perpetuates a discriminatory federal policy, which the 1996 Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples concluded was responsible for the social and economic problems currently facing First Nations."

As well, the aboriginal rights committee of KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiative, has said, "the Government's strategy of speeding passage of this deeply flawed Bill into law is unacceptable because it is undemocratic. By limiting the ability of elected, non-Government members of the Standing Committee, and the House of Commons, to debate and to recommend changes to the proposed legislation, the Government is undermining our parliamentary and democratic processes."

The First Nations caravan to Ottawa began at opposites ends of the country, with Chief Stewart Phillip, president of the union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs leading a delegation from Vancouver and an Eastern caravan starting out from Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia. Jamieson led a Southern Ontario caravan.

"What this government is attempting to do is to terminate and extinguish the rights of our children and grandchildren and we cannot allow that," Phillip said.