Periodical
Nesika: The Voice of B.C. Indians -- Summer/Fall 1977
- Title
- Nesika: The Voice of B.C. Indians -- Summer/Fall 1977
- Is Part Of
- 1.06-01.02 Nesika: The Voice of BC Indians
- 1.06.-01 Newsletters and bulletins sub-series
- Date
- July 1977
- Language
- english
- Identifier
- 1.06-01.02-07.03
- pages
- 20
- Table Of Contents
-
U.N.N. People's Assembly Rated "Best-ever" page 10
PLUS:
Yukon
page 9
page 18
Native demands ignored as Canada approves Alcan pipe-line.
Yukon Indians, Government approve settlement model;
Proposed Agreement-in-Principle to be presentedby year-end
N.W.T
page 6
Federal government presented with settlement proposals from the Dene, Metis, and Inuit.
Trudeau's Drury appointment and cabinet shuffle indicate hard-line response.
Ontario
page 16 - Contributor
- Mickey Harrop
- Hoigsk
- John Post
- Louise Campo
- Dave George
- Ivan Duncan
- Butch Smitheram
- Type
- periodical
- Transcription (Hover to view)
-
published by
the
UNITED NATIVE NATIONS
Summer/Early Fall Issue 1977
NESH
AJ A JOURNAL DEVOTED TO AHE ot = MOVEMENT
a N. People S hagcrabty
Rated en iii
Second Class Mail Registration # 3025
PLUS: _ Native demands ignored as
: Canada approves Alcan pipe-
line. Yukon Indians, Govern-
ment approve settlement
model; Proposed Agreement-
page 9 in-Principle to be presented
page 18__—siby year-end
o. $2 Federal government presented
3 ze | with settlement proposals from
gus the Dene, Metis, and Inuit.
ve 3s Trudeau’s Drury appointment
5 fe and cabinet shuffle indicate
mad page 6 _—sihard-line response.
= Ojibway and Cree Indians in
25 ert Ontario declare independence;
35 2 0, Nn ts f \ e | set demands for local self-
g3 4u3 ' government and the |
55 ie - page 16 _—sre-negotiation of Treaty #9
leg S582
sa ESS
LAND CLAIMS BOOKS FOR ne -
Fees alee pel eal eae ral pe
area el Ee {Foul Te
AS LONG AS THIS LAND SHALL
LAST
by Rene Fumoleau, OMI
415 page paperback, $5.95
‘An Oblate missio has produced
one of the most carefully documented
stones of the life of the Neviuat People
of the Mackenzie Valley in the
Northwest Territories. Fr. Rene Fumo-
leau started out to prepare a “modest
paper” on the significance of two
Indian treaties signed in 1899 and
1920.
Fumoleau spent many hours inter-
viewing old people who remembered
the early treaty parties, and became
the star witness before Mr. Justice
William Morrow in a caveat action
asking the courts to designate the
450,000 square miles as having “‘prior
interest’ for the natives. Morrow
ruled they did, and it was the evidence
of Rene Fumoleau which helped
convince the Judge that the natives of
the NWT had aboriginal nghts predat-
ing the spurious treaties.
THIS LAND IS NOT FOR SALE
by Hugh and Karmel McCallum 210
page paperback, $3.95
Four contemporary land claims are
discussed in detail - the Yukon,
Northern Manitoba, Northwest B.C.,
and the Northwest Territories.
an entire chapter is devoted to an
examination of two recent land settle-
ments - Alaska and James Bay - and an
ciplcinlinns of why native groups
across Canada insist that the earlier
'§ not be used as proeedents
for further ‘settlements.
After all the oil company
promotional material, the book is a
needed change.
ef fee eh) oe ea fe ee
NATIVE LAND CLAIMS IN
BRITISH COLUMBIA:
AN INTRODUCTION
A teacher's manual prepared by
Target Canada, a research and projec-
= group. 118 pages, paperback,
00.
The manual was prepared as
part of a slide-tape presentation to
give high school students a eral
introduction to the subject of B.C. land
claims.. The filmstrip, cassette, and
a videotape of the slide-tape show are
also available through NESIKA.
Chapter headings include:
Definitions, Attitudes, Aboriginal
Title, Colonial Period in B.C.
1858-1871, B.C. in Confederation 1871
1913, Cut-Off Lands - the McKenna
McBride~Commission 1913-1916, ie
aty #8, Nisha Land Claims, Organize
Tribal Activities, Road Ble
occupations.
od by by H d Karmel
he u
McCullum and North, publi-
shed by the Indian Sathea&iod of the
16 page paperback, $1.00
This illustrated booklet was pre-
| to promote the presentation of
the Dene claim made to the Federal
Government in October 1976, but also
provides people from the South with
a good general nd of the
Dene people in the NT
NATIVE PEOPLE IN AREAS OF
INTERNAL NATIONAL
EXPANSION
by Doug Sanders
31 pages, pamphlet, 75 cents
“The purpose of this paper is to
attempt a general analysis within
which these geographically separated
Talal
tee eee el
events (the Bennett Dam, the Bighorn
Dam, the James Bay project, the
flooding of Southern Indian Lake, the
exploration and resource development
in the Arctic, and the Mackenzie
Valley pipeline) can be understood.
SS — a eee ee
BEYOND CHARITY:
TOWARDS DIGNITY
Prepared by Mike Lewis and the
United Church Support, Group
a small pamphlet, 530 cents.
The pamphlet is meant to be a study
guide for understanding the land
claims issue, concentrating on 1) the
historical perspective of the land
claims 2) some facts of Indian life in
Canada 3) the philosophical foundation
for the future ~ land, identity, and
survival. .
re ae
Edited by Peter Cummings and Neil
350 page paperback, $8.95.
This book is considered by many to be
the authority on the subject of legal
pags enstlnscnt ilies memenn
and was prepared moatly by lawyers
and legal professors. .
Aboriginal Rights - the origins, theory,
legal content of a claim, extinguish-
ment, compensation. .
Treaties - their legal nature, interpre-
tation.
History of native dealings in - Atlantic
provinces, Ontario, Northwest Terri-
tories, British Columbia, Yukon and
i Prairies.
rrent Issues - huni and fishing
rights, mineral siaes, Sorel control.
U.S. Indian Claims Commission, Alas-
ka Settlement.
NESIKA Corner
This is the space in the paper that
faithful readers have come to expect us
to make our excuses about the long
time between issues. Well, we're not
going to disappoint you, you've come
to the right place.
First of all, we have to admit to a
small problem. There are so-o-o many
excuses (reasons, really) we don’t
know where to start. Without going
into what would be a full page
explanation involving many smaller
and minor problems we've had recently,
we'll stick to the two major events that
have caused our lengthy disappear-
ance.
To begin with, everyone involved in
the production of the paper went ‘to
work on the preparations for the
U.N.N. assembly immediately after
the last issue was mailed out. Well,
before you knew it, a litthe more than
six weeks had passed before work
could begin on this issue of the paper.
Secondly, the NESIKA has had the
use of two summer students to
research a land claims calendar for the
past several months, and they have
proved to be invaluable in doing the
many small tasks that go into every
issue. Realizing that a summer grant
wouldn't last forever, the WVESIKA
issued an invitation to native people
throughout the lower mainland who
might be interested in forming a
seciety to see that the paper would be
published more frequently. What
came out of the meetings, however,
was something even bigger and more
ambitious, the founding of the Native
Media Society (see story page 15).
Needless to say, a great many staff
hours went into the founding of that
society adding another delay to this
issue.
Well, enough excuses about this
issue. What we'd like to do now is
begin making our excuses for the late
appearance of the next VNES/IKA.
Part of our plans to get a more
permanent and better paid staff inclu-
ded a submission to the Canada Works
program of the federal Manpower
Department. We had requested a
$19,000 grant to employ three people
to work on the paper for an eight
month period beginning November
Ist. Athough it is not yet official, the
Canada Works people apparently have
rejected our request. The Canada
Works people, in case you didn’t
know, are the same people who will be
spreading some $20 million through-
oul the province in the coming year,
including $6 million specifically ear-
marked for native people. Once again,
as in the case of the grant refused by
Grace McCarthy for a typesetting
machine, our request was denied after
the Canada Works people asked for,
and received, a copy of the VESIKA.
We still must be doing something
right.
So, with no sign of help on the
horizon, we look forward to another
long time (not too long we hope) until
the next WESIKA appears.
by ‘Sumiiter/ Barly! Fall fssiie 1977
!NESIKA
~
Red-Circled?
If the address label on your paper is
circled in red, this will be the last issue
you will receive until we hear from
you.
Please note - this is not a demand for
money, although we could always use
a donation, but it is a demand for a
greater involvement from our readers.
If you want to continue receiving the
paper, then we are asking for some
involvement on your part by contribut-
ing something to the next issue. With |
our special production problems in
mind, we could especially use articles,
letters, photos (pictures from news-
papers and magazines will do), and
newspaper clippings. We can use
other things too, like artwork, poetry,
cartoons, mailing lists (postal codes
included), minutes of meetings, even
money will do.
The NESIKA is not government-fun-
ded. Except for our two summer
student workers who are about to leave
us, there is only one full time worker
for the NESIKA (salary, travel and
telephone paid by the U.N.N.). All the
other expenses relating to the paper's
production typesetting, printing, post-
age have to be paid from our reader's
donations, book and T-shirt sales, and
these expenses will total about $1,000
for this issue.
Native people who are concerned
about and involved in the land claims
movement produced this issue and
you, are invited to help them: Pat,
Joanne, and Brian.
eal elie
SUPPORT THE NESIBA
ee
a |
Je eee eee
ALLIED TRIBES
CONFERENCE MINUTES
143 page paperback, $3.00
NESIKA has reprinted a carbon
copy of the verbatim minutes of a
meeting held in 1922 between the
Executive of the Allied Tribes of B.C.
and the head of the Indian’ Affairs
raat at that time, Dr. Duncan
ott,
a ree EE eS
WHO OWNS CANADA?
ABORIGINAL TITLE AND
CANADIAN COURTS
by William Badcock, published by the
CASNP
38 page paperback, $1.50
He begins with Columbus, and
continues with the different concepts
of land ownership and the doctrine of
discovery, and moves through the
Proclamation of 1763, and some deci-
sions by the U.S. Supreme Court, The
major part of his work is the section
os with Canadian court decisions,
ote the St. Catherine's
in 1887, and concluding
with she desicion fn the es Case
THE MACKENZIE VALLEY:
NATIVE LAND CLAIMS AND
CORPORATE GROWTH
by Roger Rolfe of Oxfam Canada
6 pages, panerback pamphlet, 50 cents
Headings in the pamphlet: 1) Vic-
tims of Growth 2) The Dene of the
Mackenzie Valley 3) ‘Northwest Terri-
tories’: The Conquest of the Last
Frontier 4) Land and Self-Determina-
tion: The Dene’s Struggle for Survival.
Also included is a list of resources for
“further reading on the north.”’
Support the
NESIKA!
Name:
Address:
I enclose a donation of:
Return to:
‘NESIKA
7201-1451 West Broadway
Vancouver, B.C. V6H -1H6
eee ewe ae oe
Solidly Behind | | Us
NESIKA:
In your spring issue, | noticed that
you blame the Provincial Government
for the stalled Nishga talks. In a letter
to your paper early last year, | asked
the question whether or not the Native
people were satisfied with the prevail-
ing government since they chose to
repudiate the New Democratic Party,
but, unfortunately, | have never
received any feedback.
Certainly it is as clear to me now as
it was then that the Social Credit
Government would not support any
radicalization of the status quo. What
is not quite so transparent is the
relationship between the New Demo-
cratic Party and the Native population
and why this political organ lost its
favour. Whatever the reason, | am
convineed that the Indian did not, in
any way, alleviate his situation by the
programmed bloc voting. There are
those political pundits who maintain
that we socialists lost the election
because of the ailverse Native vole and
therefore lost the opportunity to assist
the victims of the power structure,
But we must go on from here. | am
solidly behind vou. The more land in
the hands of the Indian, the happier I
will be, providing,- of course, you
remain the keepers of the land in
accord with the Spirit. Personally, |
would like to walk through Indian land,
knowing it was safle from the ravages
of the exploiters.
[Ms] Mickey Harrop
Vancouver
Issues Not Dead
VE: SIK. i:
In-your spring issue's story on the
UBCIC’s Assembly in Prince George
was a discussion aboul two issues
critical to our political movement and
to the success of the Indian land
question: 1) the Declaration and 2) the
“non status” issue. You called them
“lead issues’’ because the UBCIC
avoids them.
Today we hear a lot about the
comeback of the UBCIC and how this
time things will be different; this time
the UBCIC will really deal with the
land question; this time the UBCIC has:
good leadership. There are statements
for the press, alliances with white
organizations, and trips to foreign
countries to visit with other Native
peoples. We are even told that the
UBCIC’s new leadership are the
“leaders” that we've all been waiting
for and how they once got a $3 million
budget and a staff of 40 for our
national Indian bureaucracy, the NIB.
Well, the “old” UBCIC had a staff of
150 and what was the result?
Bul we hear nothing about two
simple, basic ideas of any political
movement. These are |) a statement of
principles and a political program that
is pul into action, and 2) an effective
principle of membership and organiz-
ation. All peoples who have won their
fight against colonialism and racism
have successfully dealt with these two
things. The Algerians, the Vietnam-
ese, the Angolans each had a clear
slalement of tdeas, a political pro-
gram, and a way of organizing
themselves for victory.
These things are essential to the
building of any real people's move-
ment. And we have the basis for these
things in B.C. We have the beginnings
in our Declaration that. “‘B.C. is Indian
Land” and in the = tliat we oT
LETTERS
over our membership by declaring the
principle of 44 Indian ancestry. These
are the kevs to organizing for a real
victory rather than a sell-out and to
creating sell-sulficient communities.
The “new™’ UBCIC is silent on these
things and treats them, as you say, as
“dead issues’’. The lack of these two
basic snercivents was the main weak-
ness of the “old UBCIC and they still
are the weakness. Nothing has really
changed. We're still stuck in the same
old rut. We'll end up by getting an
Indian bureaucracy, a mini-DIA that
makes a lot. of noise about Indian
rights, but never has any intention of
dealing head-on with racism and
colonialism. It’s still the Union of
Chiefs, not a Union of Indians.
lt can be seen that the
non-recognition of our land, resources,
and aboriginal r'- (ts, and the division
of our people are the two fundamental
props of the system that oppresses us.
To defeat this system we must strike
against these two props. The tragedy
facing us today is that we have the
tools (the Declaration and the 14
ancestry pginciple) to use, hut no
organization that will use them. We
are staring a sell-out settlement and
termination in the face, yet we have no
leadership that will use these tools and
that will put our ideas into action.
l agree with your suggestion that the
UBCIC is avoiding these issues -and
then not having to do anything about
them or to take any serious action. But
I disagree when you call them “‘dead
Our existence as one people
will never be a “dead: issue’. -Our
Indianness whether “‘status’’ or “non
status’’ will never be a “dead issue’.
Our basic and deep belief that “B.C. is
Indian Land”* will never be a “‘dead
issue’. Our declaration that we are
sovereign Indian peoples who have
never given up our land will never be a
“dead issue’. These things are our
hearts and minds, They are part of
being Indian.
No, the “dead issue” is any leader
or organization that refuses to deal
with these facts and denies our basic
Indian position. The “old UBCIC™
refused and became a “dead issue”. If
the “new UBCIC” also refuses, it too
will become a “dead issue™
a an
IsSULS -.
Hoigsk
New Westminster
How many others?
NESIKA:
It was a few days after last
Christmas. | dialed Homicide, Van-
couver Police, identified myself, and
said | hoped to give some help to the
Indian Homemaker’s Association.
[ read a small item in the paper. It
said: an Indian woman had been
murdered on Skid Road. Sexually
assulted with a blunt instrument. She
had died of massive internal bleeding.
The officer confirmed this fact. He
seemed pleased thal someone was
interested.
I believe it was Christmas Eve that I
stopped at Carroll and Cordova. I saw
her and her companions and for some
reason [ paid particular attention to
her.
I recognized her immediately in the
news item. She was nicely-dressed,
not drunk; a nice-looking, friendly
lady. She would die horribly before
‘Christrvas Day. No one would notice.
any more wie : vine ited said a stray
dog had been run over and thrown in a
garbage truck. However, if the stray
dog had died like the Indian woman,
there would have been hell to pay.
saw her about a week ago - a young
Indian woman born with'a badly-twist-
ed face. She had just gotten out of the
hospital after a severe beating by a
white man.
These two incidents came to my
attention by chance - how many dozens
more in the intervening six months?
John Post
Vancouver
Beautiful Moments
NESIKA:
Some of the most beautiful mo-
ments of the U.N.N. Assembly, to me,
was listening to the interpreters. We
needed car. .od Cree interpreters.
I'm sure none of us felt it was a waste
of time listening to them. It was a good
sim. I hope next time we need
interpreters from many more Nations.
It struck me that the Carrier Nation
came as a strong group, organized and
confident that the UNN would listen to
their problems regarding traplines and
act upon them. We listened and now
we must not let them down.
At this assembly we opened the
doors to. afl people of Indian ancestry.
And closed the doors to bureaucrats.
When we succeed in the Indian
Movement, | believe it will be because
we all succeeded, not because our
leaders succeeded.
The camping arrangement was a
good idea. The rain was not. But,
‘because we are Indian people, we
improvised, survived and continued on
with our work. | wonder if the white
man could have done as well, or would
they have run to their motels and
homes and given up? | personally hope
we have the same camping arrange-
menis next year, because if it rains
again, we will improvise, survive, and
continue to work again.
Louise Campo
Mission
Hello, you the reader!
If you are a citizen/Native of North
America, you are Indian Culture and
we need your help.
Who are “we"’ and what kinds of
help do we need?
We are Native inmates in Matsqui
Penitentiary, “Natives from all over
Canada, and some from across the
border. Natives from the reservations,
from the high and low of many cities,
Natives from deep within bush and
mountain country, as well as the
prairies. We are more than just
Natives. We are people. We are
human beings!
Monday evenings from 7:30 p.m. to
9:30 p.m., here at Matsqui Peniten-
tiary, the United Native Brotherhood
holds an “Indian Culture’ night.
Indian Culture is NOW! If you are an
Indian, vou are Indian Culture, and
vou can help us by lending your
interest and some of your time by
participating some Monday evening
when vou are free.
Spiritual Rebirth
NESIKA:
Why is a spiritual rebirth of the
native people of North America neces-
sary?
Some native people have found
peace and contentment in the new
environment of the Christian church
and the culture it ‘supports, but many,
many, others are still searching for
thal inner peace, and because of the
social and economic problems, under
which ninety percent of the native
people have been forced to exist, the
younger native people are looking for
spiritual help and grace that will
improve their lot and return some of
the values of their ancestors.
Spiritually is not a question of being
withdrawn and pious in our attitude
toward society.
We cannot place the world of
spiritual concerns in a different com-
partment from the world of business
affairs, work, play, or politics. Our
spiritual being is a part of the real
world.
Doing and Being can be the trans-
formers of your inner spiritual streng-
th and awareness. By being a person
who moves by spiritual awareness you
will be a living example of spiritual
rebirth. By doing the acts necessary to
bring about the social change that will
make life more tolerable for those who
are suffering from want in a world of
plenty, you will be expressing your
faith in the power that is concealed in
your spiritual being.
Each of us has a power - within call
it God, call it the Great Spirit, call it
Bhudda, call it Love - it is the will to
live and to have purpose in living.
Whar is more rewarding’ than the
knowledge that you are helping to
creale a better environment for the
generations of the future; and what
other way is there to leave such a rich
legacy than through spiritual aware-
ness and growth?
There are many young people
among our tribes who are lonely,
passive, and apathetic. They are
lnoking for something better to-sustain
them and to give meaning to their lives
than the rewards that are immediately
apparent. They are attempting to build
new values and lifestyles. They are
locked in a struggle with our modern
day materialistic society trving to find
’ God within themselves, and in others,
in the world, ,
We do not need a special language
lo discuss spiritual experience, Just
"tell it dike it is”. Tell your close
[rivcnds, or vour discussion group,
about the moving experiences that you
have had in vour life. Speak of matters
of concern and depth to other mem-
bers of the group. Sharing, giving, and
rusting, are the necessary require-
ments for spiritual growth. We must
talk about the events, the people, the
pain. the jov, the presener or absence
of the Great Spirit in your life, and the
values and attitudes of your frends,
Spiritual growth must be a part of
the reluikling of the native American
people ax a nation. Secial change and
altitudinal chavge must go hand in
hand with spiritual growth. How can’
we influcnee others to seck spiritual
anareness and growth? How can we
harness the energy of our spiritual
being to influence the polities of the
das in order to bring about social
Dave George change? These are the vilal questions.
fran Duncan Butch Smitheram
Matsqui Kelowna
NESIKA Summer/ Early Fall Issue 1977 ee
Makes
A major breakthrough, described as
the first and only one of its kind in
Canada in government/Indian relat-
ions, has been achieved after a
year-long struggle by the Native
Courtworkers and Counselling Assoc-
iation (NCCA).
A working relationship between the
NCCA and the provincial Attorney-
General's Department has been a-
chieved that will give the Courtwork-
ers Association control over all discret-
ionary funding, with one notable
exception, in the area of native
programs in the justice field. The
NCCA’s accomplishment has meant
that proposals sent to the Attorney-
Genral for funding for native programs
are referred instead to the Board of
Directors of the NCCA for a decision.
NCCA President George Watts call-
ed the breakthrough “the thin edge of
the wedge"’. He said “we now have a
recognized place in the Attorney-Gen-
eral’s Department as an alternative to
having white people making priorities
and decisions.””
"The most significant thing” he
added, “‘is that the Attorney-General
has recognized the importance of
having long-range goals and object-
ives’, and that “‘we have some
involvement in all aspects of the legal
it
system.
; Ie
A STORMY PAST YEAR
ts
‘The breakthrough achieved by the
Courtworkers organization over the
past year was /4von only after the
NCCA: 1) went through a major
reorganization: including several per-
sonnel changes; 2) developed a policy
paper with short and long-term object-
ives for improved legal services for
native people; and 3) convinced the
Provincial Government that imple-
menting the recommendations in the
policy paper would be the only way to
bring about change in the justice
system.
The NCCA was not without oppo-
nents in its struggle to convince the
Government as it had to overcome the
challenge of one branch in the Attor-
ney-General’s Department (the Legal
Services Commission), and a small
segment of very vocal native opposit-
ion led by the Indian Homemaker’s
Association (THA).
George Watts gives most of the
credit for the progress made during
the past year to a fellow Board
member, Bill Wilson, because Wilson
challenged the other Directors and
provided the spark for the policy
paper. Although Wilson's legal train-
ing was valuable, Watts states that the
important thing was that Wilson “was
prepared to be the bad guy to stir
things up and challenge the system.”
The key point in the short 4 year
history of the NCCA came at a “think
tank”’ held by the senior staff and
Board of Directors in June, 1976. As a
result of that session, a policy paper
outlining the future direction of the
NCCA was later adopted by the full
Board.
The “think tank” began by voicing
objection to the “band-aid” theory of
courtwork; that of merely explaining
the justice system to the accused.
The policy paper that was developed
said that “‘we end up helping people
through the system. The role descript-
ion does not recognize the need for
preventive work and the need to
resolve conflicts between North Amer-
ican Indian customs and the European
legal system.”
It added that the involvement of
native people in the administration of
justice “‘must be more significant than
assisting the present system to funct-
ion, more significant than dressing up
the present legal system so that it
involves native people.”
The paper notes that the govern-
3) Screening of applications to the
Attorney-General’s Department for
funding for native programs.
4) Development of priorities, fund-
ing policies, and evaluation procedur-
es for native programs within the
Attorney-General’s Department.”
OPPOSITION FOICED
The policy paper had been sent to all
Indian groups and organizations in the
province for criticism and/or approval.
It received written support from 22
bands (and lately, the Union of B.C.
Indian Chiefs), with only one letter
received that voiced objection.
The Indian Homemaker’s Associat-
ion (IHA) also disagreed with the
NCAA President George Watts, left; and Administrator Len Maracle, right
ments have tried to deal with the
problems native people have with the
justice system, and mentions the B.C.
Police Commission Advisory Commit-
tee, the Native Legal Task Force, the
Indian Advisory Committee, and the
Native Programs Branch of the Legal
Services Commission.
However, ‘for various reasons,
these bodies have never come to terms
with the problem, either because the
composition of the groups has been too
unwieldy, or because the group has
lacked experience and has not been
given the job of dealing with all
aspects of the problem”, the paper
stated. ,
It is then recommended “that the
Native Courtworker and Counselling
Association of B.C. be recognized as
having the responsibility and some of
the authority associated with a Justice
Development Commission for native
people."
A proposed Native Justice Develop-
ment Authority would then have four
major functions:
1) Identification and documentat-
ion of specific problems of native
people in their contact with the justice
svstem for discussion with the Attor-
nev-General’s Department.
2) De ‘velopment of specific proposals
for funding by the Attorney-General’s
Department and other government
departments.
4 Summer/ Early Fall Issue 1977
NESIKRA
policy paper, but they voiced their
complaints directly to the Attorney-
General's Department. Their letters
criticized the NCCA’s “grandiose
“pie-in-the-sky’ plans'’ because “we
would suggest that such an idea would
put our people back 10 years.””
They said that the paper’s theme
“must be rejected for what it is, a
rhetorical excuse for centralized con-
trol of legal service delivery by a small
clique who have not yet demonstrated
competence in training courtworkers
in the complexities of the law.”
The [HA also recommended that the
2 Directors representing the UBCIC
and the 5 representing the UNW all
resign, with the [HA to make all 5
UNN appointments amd make the 5
appointments for the UBCIC in con-
sultation with that organization.
Strong opposition to the policy paper
also came from the Legal Services
Commission (LSC), an agency created
by the former NDP Government. The
LSC is empowered to make all the
decisions on how the $15 million
budget is distributed for legal services
throughout the province to a number
of different agencies - the Legal Aid
Society, the John Howard Society, the
Native Courtworkers and others.
In addition to the usual problems of
a native organization dealing with a
government agency, the situation
was complicated by the fact that the
LSC has its own native programs
branch that it funds. So, for: the past
‘ law offices, are
Native Courtworkers Ass’n
ajor Breakthrough
few years, the NCCA has been forced
to compete for funds with a branch of
its own funding agency. The Court-
workers contend that LSC objections to
the policy are made only to protect
their own native programs empire.
(Although exact figures are not
provided by the LSC, it is estimated
that the LSC provides about $250,000
funding for native projects and its own
native adminstration, compared to the
$490,000 it provided the NCCA last
year.)
The LSC itself has come under
attack from several sources this past
year. The NCCA has blasted the
Commission for funding native pro-
jects with little or no native input in the
decision-making or evaluation process.
Replying to the LSC’s criticism of
the policy paper, Watts notes that the
NCCA has stated its goals and how it
plans to achieve them, while the LSC
has never announced any plans or
objectives and are just funding pro-
grams on the local level on a hit-or-
miss basis.
A major focus of LSC funding has
been directed to Community Law
Offices throughout the province, in-
cluding a few such offices oriented
primarily to native people. The Cui
Bono report states that the community
“controlled by the
people who have much to lose by any
genuine transfer of power’’ to, com-
munity groups they are intended to
serve. ft added that “unless the
political implications of (community
law offices) are recognized, the ser-
vices they offer will consist of an
endless supply of band-aids and
bandages.”’
AGREEMENT IS REACHED
A series of meetings between the
NCCA and the Policy and Planning
Division of the Attorney-General’s
Department were held early this year
to discuss the policy paper.
Objections by the IHA and the LSC
to the policy paper were over-ruled by
the Policy and Planning Division and
on May 10th, all but the final details
were agreed on whereby all the
divisions in the Attorney-General's
Department (the Police Commission,
the Corrections Branch, the Justice
Councils, and the Justice Development
Commission), with the exception of the
Legal Services Commission, agreed
that the Courtworkers Association
would have control over discretionary
funding for native programs and be
consulted in other areas as well.
George Watts notes that the agree-
ment is only a working relationship
with the administrative section of one
government department, but at the
same time, points out that “‘it is the
only place in Canada where native
people are at such a level.”’ He hopes
that eventually it will be accepted by
the provincial cabinet as government
policy. There may be a time, he added
when legislation will be required to
meet the long- range goals of the
NCCA, but with their “thin edge of the
wedge, there'll be no closing the door
now.”*
Now that the agreement has been
reached, Watts points out;."'we now
have to demonstrate responsibility and
show results and convince the Attor-
ney-General we are doing a good job.”’
THE FORK OF THE NCCA
The Courtworker’s Association per-
forms five major functions:
1) The major task of the staff, as the
name of the Association implies, is
providing a service to native people
appearing in court and assisting them
to communicate with lawyers, judges,
and prosecutors. The couttworkers
deal with cases involving criminal law,
family relation’ matters, and cases
involving apprehension of children by
the Province and the Superintendent
of Child Welfare.
2) The NCCA also provides basic
information on legal rights in matters
such as police complaints, landlord-
tenant disputes, human rights prob-
lems, ete.
3) Working in the area of legal
education, the NCCA also holds work-
shops throughout the province to
increase native people's awareness of
their rights and responsibilities under
the justice system.
4) The term “‘counselling’’ in the
name of the Association refers to the
._ time spent by the staff in general
counselling, counselling related to
alcohol or drug problems, and probat-
ion supervision.
5) The NCCA also acts asa referral
service, ensuring that clients are
directed to community services to
deal, for the most part, with drug and
alcohol, social assistance, or employ-
ment problems.
A chart in the NCCA’s Annual
Report gives a break-down of the
percentage of time that a courtworker
spends doing the different parts of the
job. The greatest amount. of time
(30%) is spent in court with cliems, or
spent preparing for court. General
counselling, alcohol counselling, and
referral work takes up another 20%,
while between 25% and 30% of a
courtworker's time is about evenly
divided between travelling and dealing
with adminstrative details.
ARE COURTWORKERS NEEDED?
Statistics contained in the NCCA"s
Annual Report show that while making
up only 5% of the province's populat-
oF
ion, native people made up 13.97 of |
the people sent to prison and correct-
ion centres in 1975, and and 10.8% of
the people placed on probation that
year. This, the report states, means
thaft “the proportion of native people
coming into conflict with the law is twe
to three times higherthan the proport-
ion of non-native people in conflict
with the law.”’
lt goes on to note that “while native
people represent 13.5% of people
admitted to prisons in: 1975, they
represent 18% of the people admitted
to prisons because they can not afford
to pay their fines’’, and ‘ ‘they only
represent 9.5% of the adults serving a
term of probation as an alternative to
prison.”
The report also notes that figures
supplied by the B.C. Corrections
Branch suggest that “at present native
people serve less of their prison
sentence in the community than other
people.” Those same surveys also
show that native people “tend to be in
conflict with the law for public order
and liquor-related offences, and for
failure to obey court orders’’ much
more often than non-native people.
In atypical 2 month period early this
vear; the report states that-an average
of 71% “of the native people we
worked with had alcohol problems
which were related to their appear-
ance in court’’, while the average was
10% for those with drug-related
problems.
Statistics contained in the NCCA’s
annual report, and which were provid-
ed by the B.C. Corrections Branch,
show that the rate at which native
Indians were sentenced to probation or
prison dropped from the year 1974 to
1975.
The report states “the percentage
of people admitted to prisons who
were native dropped from 14.2% to
13.5% and the percentage of people
admitted to probation who were native
dropped from ‘12.5% to 10.8%. This
drop in percentage occurred despite
the fact that the rate of increase of the
native population has been generally
greater than the rate of increase of the
population in the province.”
The drop may have been caused in
part by the increase in the average
number of courtworkers that year from
16 to Sl.
ties in the following areas:
1) Native Justice Councils: lt is hoped
that Native Justice Councils can be
developed in each area where court-
workers are located, with representat-
ion on the Council from all native
groups and organizations in the area.
It is expected that the Councils could
perform a number of functions, in-
cluding: screening of local employees
for the NCCA; or acting as a focal point
for the justice concerns of native
people on any topics related to the
justice system (child neglect, police-
community relations, etc.).
The Justice Councils could also help
develop projects such as community
courts, diversion projects, and com-
munity work service projects.
2| Community Courts [Lay Panels or
Tribal Courts]: The NCCA will be
researching the possible locations for
community courts to be established
3] Community Diversion and Com-
munity Service Work: Diversion
means that young people and those
charged with less serious offences are
not taken to_court, but are given the
LOWER POST ®
Locations of Native Courtworkers
— (34)
MT. CURRIE
*
_ cour VERNON
worth - j
MISSION KELOWNA
FORT NELSON @ ;
- PORTST.JOHN®
DAWSON CREEK @/
" WILLIAMS
*LAKE(2)
el TTTON
PR AMLOOPS (2)
CHILLIWACK PEN TIC TON
*
CRANBROOK
NCCA figures show that an average
of 1,050 native people appear in court
every month on some charge and that
only 3.5% are represented in court by
a lawyer from a community law office,
6% pay for their own lawyer, 36%
have a lawyer paid for by Legal Aid,
and over half, 53%, “of the native
people have we worked with were
unrepresented except for the assist-
ance of the Native Courtworker.”
NEW DIRECTIONS
Watt's President's Report states
that the NECA “now has to develop
programs to deal with the conflict
between native people and the justice
system. Instead of helping to process
people through the justice system, we
have to develop prevention programs
to deal with the conflicts before native
people go into the courts.”"
The policy paper and the annual
report state that the NCCA is “‘provid-
ing leadership’ in the development of
justice services run-by local communt-,
choice of accepting counselling from
village elders and/or some work in the
community.
A diversion project
has. been
underway for the past 6 months in the
Duncan-Nanimo area and band coun-
cils, police, and prosecutors have all
supported and co-operated in the
project. Other projects will be devel-
oped in other areas of the province
alter the Duncan project is evaluated.
4] Workshops Involving Native People
and Justice System Officials: A num-
ber of such workshops have already
been held with native people, judges,
a officers, and correctional offic-
3} Rehabilitation Projects:
Alcohol - the NCCA is working to
develop a large-scale native alcohol
treatment centre similar to the Pound-
maker's Lodge in Alberta, and also
encourages and will assist in. the
development of self-help alcohol pro-
frams in native communities.
The NCCA currently administers the
Mike Rufus House in Coquitlam
which has a capacity of 30 people and
is usually full. A 6 week dry-out
program with a heavy dose of A.A. and
other activities are the main features.
i
Prison and Parole - The NCCA
presently has 4 prison liaison workers
whose job is to: help new inmates
adjust to prison life; assist and provide
counselling. It is hoped that the
courtworkers will in future be able to
act as parole officers for native
parolees.
6] Legal Education:
For courtworkers - A total of 8 law
students, in co-operation with up to 15
different government agencies and the
Vancouver Peoples Law School, are
developing a full training course and
materials for courtworkers and other
para-legal workers.
For communities - Edited versions of
the courtworker training material will
be made available to the public. In
addition, the NCCA has already
produced six-14 hour slide- ‘tape shows
for use in community meetings. The
titles: Arrest and Your Rights; Family
Court; Protection of Children’s Act;
Criminal Court; Alcohol Abuse (2
shows). The shows can be obtained by
making arrangements with any court-
_ worker.
?| Police-Community Relations: The
NCCA has acted on behalf of a number
of native people with com piniols
against the police: and resolved ‘
significant number of them ( a few
cases resulted in the firing and
demotion of police officers).
A handbook was produced and is
available through the NCCA that
details the steps to be followed to
; wae and resolve a complaint against
a police officer. The handbook was
| ‘prepared in co-operation with the
RCMP and the B.C. Police Commiss-
ion and has been distributed to all
courtworkers and RCMP detachments.
8] Child Neglect : Between 20 and 28%
of the children under the care of the
Superintendent of Child Welfare are
native Indians. The NCCA will be
assisting communities to develop
group homes and forms of community
assistance for children who are not
being adequately cared for by their
will
own
own
parents to ensure that they
continue to be raised in their
community according to their
traditions and ways.
9) Evaluating Community Needs: The
NCCA “is in an ideal position to study
the problems of native people and
develop preventative strategies! The
solutions must be implemented at. the
local level.’ The NCCA is therefore
researching:
a) the quality and type of justice
services received by native people;
b) new forms of services that have to
be developed;
c) traditional methods of social control
in native communities that might be
revived;
d) mative customs that should. be
protected and developed as part of the
legal system;
e) a legal advice service to Indian
groups and organizations.
10) Federal Involvement: Federal Jus-
tice Minister Ron Basford and Depart-
ment officials have agreed to increase
the level of federal funding for the
courtworker program. They have also
informally endorsed the policy paper
and are waiting for specific funding
proposals to be submitted.
NESIKA
Suitimer/Early Fallissue 1977 - iS
Federal Government Takes
Hard Line as Inuit, Metis,
& Dene Present Proposals
The sudden death of the Mackenzie
Valley Pipeline and the equally sudden
birth of the Alcan Pipeline in the
Yukon marks the end of the high level,
high-pressure, high stakes confrontat-
ion between native groups and the
Federal Government over a land
claims setthement in the Northwest
Territories.
The switch in pipelines took off the
pressure on the Government to reach a
speeded-up agreement. The lack of
pressure and national attention has
allowed the Government to take an
increasingly hard-line attitude toward
the northern natives with the result
that negotiations could likely drag on
for years.
The pipeline switch has also taken
| (wo major participants out of what had
been a free-for-all wrestling match for
control of the land, resources and
political power in the N.W.T. These
two participants - the oil, gas, and
business interests that had been allied]
with the Government on the one hand,
and environmentalists, unions, chur-
ches, and public interest groups that
had supported the Dene on the other -
will now have much less influence on
the outcome of the negotiations. Their
departure now leaves only the original
participants - the Government and the
different native groups - to continue
their battle without the glare of
publicity focused on them, their sup-
porters, and the two-year Berger
Inquiry, by the national news media.
The Dene, Metis, and Inuit groups
have all submitted a proposal for
settlement to a government that in
recent months continues to show less
and less sympathy for their concerns.
What follows is a review of the
participants and their positions in the
struggle for control of Canada’s North:
The Dene people are the members
of the five original tribes in the NWT -
the Hare, Slave, Chipewyan, Dogrib,
and Loucheux. In the early 1970's they
organized themselves into the Indian
Brotherhood of the NWT (IBNWT).
Treaties 8 and Il were always
regarded by the Dene as treaties of
peace and friendship only. Dene elders
who were present al the treaty
negotiations al the turn of the century
state that they never agreed lo give up
their rights or tithe to the land.
Although they were eventually un-
successful in getting control of the
land returned to them in their efforts
to file a caveat in 1973, the Dene
leaders continued to organize.
In 1974 the IBNWT and the Metis
Association held a joint assembly in
Fort Good Hope. The assembled Dene
declared that their aboriginal title had
never been extinguished or surrender-
ed and that recognition of aboriginal
title would be necessary, before any
development in the north could take
place.
A joint assembly of the two native
organizations the following year in
Fort Simpson saw the Dene Declarat-
ion passed.
The Declaration stated that the
Dene “insist on the right to self-deter-
mination as a distinct people and the
recognition of the Dene Nation’*. It
concluded with the statement thal
“what we seek then is independence
and self-determination in the country
of Canada. This is whal we mean when
we call for a just land settlement for
the Dene Nation.”
The Dene Declaration was branded
by many, including DIA Minister
Buchanan, as a “separatist docu-
ment’ and several changes in the
united Dene front began to appear in
the following year.
The split in the Dene Nation began
when the Metis. leadership said they
no longer agreed with the Dene
Declaration, that it was too radical a
position. At the same time, the
then-leader of the IBNWT, James
Wah-shee, was dumped in mid-term of
the President of the organization. A
struggle for control of the organization
that lasted several months finally saw
Georges Erasmus elected as President
of the IBNWT in 1976. Erasmus was
Dene leader Georges Erasmus
considered the more “radical” of the
two, and the “moderate’’ Wah-shee
later went to work for the Metis
Association.
The split between the two organizat-
ions became even wider when, in the
late stages of the Berger Inquiry, the
Metis leadership announced support
for the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline.
Supporters of the Dene and the
IBNWT state that the stand of the
Metis leadership on the Dene Declar-
ation and the pipeline has meant a
large percentage of the Metis people
no longer support the Metis Associa-
tion.
A pamphlet issued by the B.C,
Working Group for Moratorium this
summer states that 128 of 135 families
in Fort Smith, where over half the
Metis and “‘non status” people live,
have openly declared support for the
“the Indian Brotherhood in seeking
self-determination for Dene people.”
There are other reports stating that
fully half the 700 people at this year’s
IBNWT assembly were Metis or
“non status”, compared to the 70
delegates that attended the Metis
Association's assembly that approved
the Land Claims presentation.
After receiving the proposed Agree-
ment-in-Principle, then-Minister of
Northern Development Allmand asked
the IBNWT for a more detailed
proposal on the political development
of the north to help him prepare a
working paper to present to the
Federal Cabinet as a_ basis for
government policy.
On July 1l4th, 1977, the Dene
presented him with such a proposal
which was later shot down by. the
Cabinet, causing loud celebration in
the DLAND bureaucracy.
The major points of the Dene’s July
14th proposal:
* That the present NWT be divided
into three seperate geographical boun-
dary territories - one where the Dene
are a majority, one where the [nuit are
a majority, and finally one where the
non-native people are a majority.
* The powers of each new territory
would resemble the present federal/
proviicial division of powers in the
south, including a direct relationship
with the Federal Government.
* There would be no more single
On October 25, 1976, the IBNWT
presented the Federal Government
with an Agreement -in- Principle for
negotiations on a new trealy between
the Dene and Canada based on the
following principles:
I] The Dene. have the right to
recognition, self-detemination, and
on-growing growth, and development
as a People and as a Nation.
2] The Dene,-as aboriginal people,
hare a special status under the
constitution of Canada,
3] The Dene, as ahoriginal peaple,
here the right to retain ownership of se
much of their traditional lands, and
under such terms, as to ensure their
independence and self-reliance, tradil-
tonally, economically and socially, and
the maintenance of whatever rights
they have. whether specified in this
agreement or nol.
4] The definition of the Dene is the
right of the Dene. The Dene know who
Agreement-in-Principle Proposal by
they are.
5] The Dene have the right to
practise and preserve their languages,
traditions, customs and values.
6] The Dene have the right to
develop their own institutions and
enjoy their rights as a People in the
framework of their own institutions.
7) There will be therefore be within
Confederation, a Dene Government
with jurisdiction over @ geographical
area and over subject matters now
within the jurisdiction of either the
Gorernment of Canada or of the
Gorernment of the N¥'T.
&| The Government of Canada
hereafter in the exercise of matters
within its jurisdiction [and following a
settlement with the Dene] will:
[a] abandon the “last frontier™
mentality and all attempts to colonize
and setile Dene lands: and
[4] do everything in its power to
assist in the recognition, survival, and
6 Summerc/ Early Falldssuce 1977
NESIKA |
the Indian Brotherhood of the NWT
devlopment of the Dene as a People.
9] The Government of Canada will
finance the establishment of new Dene
communilies in cases where existing
communities are inhabited by signifi-
cant members of non-Dene and a
significant proportion of the Dene
wishes to re-establish themselves else-
where.
!0) The Dene will be compensated
by the Government of Canada for past
use of Dene land by non-Dene:
l]] Within 6 months of the signing
of this agreement negotiations will
commence for a final agreement or
treaty, and within six months of the
signing of the final agreement, legis-
lation incorporating the terms of the
final agreement will be submitted to
Parliament.
12) It is recognized and accepted
that negotiations must allow for the
on-going involument of all Dene.
13) In the interim period between
the signing of this agreement and the
| passing af legislation by Parliament,
the parties hereto will not take any
actions which violate either the terms
or the spirit of this agreement.
14] The Dene agree that non-Dene
have the right to self-determination
and the use and development of their
own institutions; and the Dene people
pledge their support to the non-Dene
in the pursuit of their rights,
15] The Government of Canada will
establish a regime to compensate all
non-Dene who suffer hardship because
of, or non-Dene who wish to leave the
NT because they are unable to
adjust to, changes ensuring the viabil-
ity of the principles herein contained
and particularly measures introduced
to guarantee the recognition, self-de-
termination, and development of the
Dene as a People.
16) The Dene agree that non-Dene
holding lands in estate fee simple as of
October 15, 1976, will not be deprived
of their property rights, but after that
date all lands will be subject to the
.ferms of this agreement...
DENE cont’d
governing structure like the NWT
Council surviving the recognition of
self-determination of northern people.
* Instead of the NWT Council, we
would propose a form of government
that could still exist for the whole of
the north. We would propose that
a metro, or United Nations model, of
government be organized by the three
new governments to deal with matters,
issues, and programs of common
COnCETE
The Dene proposal added that “the
most important element of our propos-
al for government of the whole of the
NWT through a metro or U.N. type of
government is that now the relations
between the peoples of the north need
not be oppressive - but liberated
through negotiated relationship.
“Thus we fully endorse the recent
proposal made public by the Inuit
NWT Land Claims Commission, call-
ing for an Inuit Territory governed by
an Inuit Government.”’
The Dene stress that their proposal
can be accomplished within the frame-
work of Canadian Confederation and is
not separatism. They point out that
Canada is governed by the British
prohibit such special relationships
between native people and the Federal
Government.
Speaking about the Dene position at
a recent United Nations conference in
Geneva, Switzerland, Georges Eras-
mus said:
“Tt was seen as imperative that a
jurisdiction be created which ~ made
sense to the Dene, that was compatible
with their traditions and from where
they could wage the struggle to
recover responsibility for themselves.
Moreover, the Dene required a firm
power base from where they could
force their recognition and acceptance
of themselves as equals.
“Similarly, the additional level of
government, where representatives
of all three territories would come
together, would force recognition by
all three peoples of each others
existence and facilitate the coming
together in the spirit of equality and
the elimination of the colonial relation-
ship.
“Moreover, with the possibility of .
the three peoples coming together and
joining forces, there existed the real
possibility of recovering power fronr
Ottawa, which could never happen
while the people of the north were
div ided. A
North America Act which does not
tl
The Metis Association of the NWT
was formed in the early 70's to
organize metis. and “non status’
Indians in the territory.
Until their much-publicized split
with the Indian Brotherhood over the
Dene Declaration, the two groups
formed a united front against the
Mackenzie Valley Pipeline.
The-split widened after the Metis
Association and then-President Rick
Hardy, announced its support for the
pipeline, citing the need for jobs and
economic developement.
At about the same time the Indian
Brotherhood was presenting the Gov-
ernment with its proposed agreement-
in-principle last October 25th, the
then-Minister of Northern Develope-
ment, Warren Allmand, agreed to the
Metis Association's demands for fund-
ing to present their own proposal for
settlement.
On September 28th, 1977, the Metis
Association presented the Government _
with a ‘Proposed Agreement on
Objectives between the . Aboriginal
Peoples of the Mackenzie Corridor and
the Government of Canada for the
entrenchment of rights to Our Land,
Our Culture, Our Future.”
The preamble to the Metis present-
ation states:
"In order for us to make a contribut-.
ton to Canada...we must have...land
and investment capital. We must also
have an opportunity to participate
more fully in the government of the
region at all levels and have a greater
share of the responsibility in determin-
ing how we shall be governed.
“There are basically three options
which we believe must be pursued
simultaneously: a special program
inplemented with realistic financial
support for those who wish to follow
hunting, fishing and trapping as a
viable occupation; an employment
program for those who do not wish to
live off the land but who wish to work
in the North in government, business
or industry as these develop; and more
realistic educational assistance pro-
gram for those who may wish to leave
the area in search of career opportun-
ities in any part of Canada or the world
for that matter.”
Metis leader Charles Overvold
After making the presentation on
behalf of the Metis Association, Pres-
ident Charles Overvold said that the
proposal was similar to the Dene
proposal in many respects and that it
could be the basis for an eventual
unified position. Although Overvold
said the Metis and Dene proposals
were similar, a careful examination
shows several minor and major differ-
ences between the two.
The Metis presentation is notable
because:
* Although prepared and presented
by the Metis Association, the proposal
speaked for a/! the native people in the
Mackenzie Valley.
* The term Metis - which most Metis
groups proudly use to point up their
mixed-blood heritage - has been
replaced by the term aboriginal which
is used throughout the proposal.
“The Mackenzie River Valley is
never referred to in the proposal as a
valley but as a corridor. The term
corridor was widely used in referring
to the pipeline plans for the Mackenzie
Valley.
*The proposal’s objectives do not
state whether aboriginal title to the
land will be extinguished by a settle-
ment,
*Except for one brief mention in the
preamble, the term aboriginal rights
does not appear in the proposal, and
nothing ts said about .whether the
settlement will protect, enshrine, gua-
rantee, or perpetually recognize these
rights, as other settlement proposals
usually state. This omission is signifi-
cant since the metis people do not have
even the minimal protection of hunting
and fishing rights that the Dene do
under the Indian Act.
“It calls for the Territory to be split
in two and the government to be
decentralized, unlike the Dene and
Inuit proposals for the abolishment of
the Territorial Government and the
institution of traditional forms of
self-government.
The 12 objectives of an agreement-
in-principle that the Metis hope to
reach with Government are:
| 1] To secure the ownership and use
and enjoyment of the lands needed by
the aboriginal peoples for preserving,
protecting and enhancing the native
traditional lifestyle and land economy;
such lands to be known as “aboriginal
lands”.
2| To ensure that the game, fish,
timber, and the like are harvested
laccording to sound conservation princ-
iples, and that the environment be
adequately protected.
3| To develop political institutions
for the effective participation of abori-
ginal peoples in governing “aboriginal
lands"”.
We will have our own local com-
munity council in each community in
the Mackenzie Corridor. We propose
that there also be a “‘Senate of the
Mackenzie Corndor” which will give
the local councils a single voice in
vetoing any rules or regulations which
adversely affect “aboriginal lands”’
4] To reconstitute the present Fore
torial Government so that it has the
greater authonty and jurisdiction to
respond to the real needs of the
aboriginal peoples of the Mackenzie
Corridor.
We propose that the residency
requirement for voting and holding
office in the Territorial Government be
increased beyond the present six
month requirement.
3] To be compensated for the poi
exploitation of aboriginal lands and the
loss of the use and enjoyment of them,
with an advance payment of such
compensation for the older aboriginal
people. We propose
that there should be an advance
payment for the aboriginal people of
$5 vears or older. Part of the remaining
compensation monies shall be used for
a one-time payment for the rest of the
aboriginal peoples, and the other part
invested in trust for future generations
with a payment of dividends from time
to hime.
6) To be compensated for the future
exploitation of the non-renewable re-
sources of aboriginal lands to provide
an economic base for preserving,
protecting and enhancing “‘our land,
our culture, our future”.
A “Heritage Fund” will be used for
special educational, economic and
cultural programs for aboriginal peo-
ples, and for special programs design-
ed to stabilize fishing, hunting and
trapping.
7) To_achieve political unity among
Mackenzie aboriginal peoples that
recognizes their cultural diversity.
We propose that efforts toward
restoring political unity among the
Mackenzie aboriginal peoples be made
by establishing a Mackenzie Native
Council. This Council should be devel-
oped similarly to the structure of the
Council for Yukon Indians and should
have as its initial objective the
divclopment, negotiation and settle-
ment_of land claims within the |:
Agreement-in-Principle Proposal by the Metis Association of the NWT
Mackenzie Corridor.
&| To establish the right of the
aboriginal peoples of the Mackenzie
Corridor to determine who will be a
beneficiary of any negotiated agree-
ment. 2
9) To secure the recognition that
any negotiated agreement on the
previous objectives shall not, unless
specifically agreed, adversely affect,
reduced or be charged to existing
services and programs of either the
Federal or Territorial Government.
10) To ensure that certain revenues
and lands covered by the negotiated
agreement on these objectives shall
enjoy tax concessions.
11) To initiate by appropriate federal
legislation the implementation of the
previous objectives to guarantee the
continued recognition of the rights of
the aboriginal peoples of the Mackenz-
ie Corridor.
CONCLUSION - We respectfully
request that the Government of Can-
ade immediately appoint a special
representative for negotiating land
clam agreements in the Mackenzie
Corridor, and that the special repre-
sentative be located in Yellowknife,
NLT.
Inuit
Most of the 15,000 Inuit-living in the
NWT are concentrated in-the central
| and eastern Arctic. Otherwise known
as the ““Eskimo’’, the Inuit (meaning
“the people” in their language) neier
signed any treaties with government
and still hold aboriginal title to the
730,000 square miles of land and
300,000 square miles of ocean north of
the treeline in the NWT.
The Inuit have organized them-
selves into six regional associations
stretching from the Yukon-NWT bord-
er in the west to the shores of
Labrador, Newfoundland in the east:
1} Committee of Original People’s
Entitlement (COPE); 2) Central Arctic
Inuit Association (CALA); 3) Keewatin
Inuit Association (KLA); 4) Baffin Inuit
Association (BIA); 5) Northern Quebec
Inuit Association; 6) Labrador Inuit
Assoctalion.
The regional Inuit groups have also
formed a national body - the Inuit
Tapirisat of Canada (ITC).
On behalf of the four Inuit groups in
the NWT, the ITC submitted a
settlement proposal to the Federal
Government on February 26, 1976.
The 61 page proposal was a detailed
offer to the government that they are
willing to share their traditional lands
with the rest of Canada; with the Inuit
contd next pase
“SELSIRA
Summer: barks!
“all Issue: PUT? ar
INUIT cont’d
keeping 43 and the government gett-
ing title to 34 of the land in the NWT.
The major points in the ITC propos-
al:
* Each of the 33 Inuit villages will
form a non-profit corporation and
receive title to a minimum of 2,500 and
' ee of 8,500 square miles of
and.
* A new territorial government
called “Nunavut” will be formed with
the same powers and financial support
as the Yukon and the NWT, and with
their own Member of Parliament.
* There would be a 10 year
residency requirement for voting in
Nunavut elections.
* The Inuit will receive a 3% royalty
on all minerals found in the Nunavut
Territory more than 1,500 feet below
the surface and normal royalties on
minerals mined on village lands less
than 1,500 feet below the surface.
* The Inuit will control the hunting
of certain animals; and restrictive
hunting laws are to be repealed.
* The ITC will receive 30% of the
oil, gas and mineral royalties,
* Exploration permits, licenses, and
leases will be valid until 1991 when
they will have to be re-negotiated with
the Inuit.
* The government will be respons-
ible for funding socio-economic pro-
grams
Although more than 100 people from
32 Arctic communities spent six days
discussing and ratifying the settlement
proposal in late 1975, wide dissatis-
faction and protest from the commun- | self-determination;
ities forced the ITC Executive to
withdraw the proposal after it was
submitted in 1976.
Unhappy with the delay and anxious
for a quick settlement, COPE decided
to submit its own settlement proposal,
and on May 13, 1977, presented the
Federal Government with a western
arctic version of the original Nunavut
proposal.
There has been no response from
the Government on the COPE propos-
Inuit Settlement Proposal
The agreement that the ITC hopes to
reach with the Government is based on
the following principles:
I] The right of the Inuit to political-
2) The formation of a Nunavut
Government within Canadian Confed-
eration along the lines of Inuit political
institufions;
3] The right of the Inuit to own their
traditional lands and waters, including
subsurface;
4] The right of the Inuit to practise
avd preserve their language and
culture;
3) The right of the Inuit to preserve
and practise their traditional hunting,
_ trapping and fishing rights;
6] The Inuit have the right to define
whe is an Inuk:
7] The Inuit shall be compensated
for past, present and future use by
continued assurance of the right, of
non-Inutt of land, waters and resourc-
es;
8] The Government of Canada and
the Inuit agree that neither party will
take any action contrary to the
intention of this agreement during the
period leading to the legislation final-
izing this agreement;
9| Non-Inuit rights within Nunavut
will be protected in accordance with
the Bill of Rights;
!0] Any third party [non-Inuit]
whose interest in land is jeopardized
by the terms of this agreement will be
compensated by the Government of
Canada; |
1) The Inuit require amendment to
the B.N.A. Act which will provide for
the constitutional recognition, and
the Inuit to exist as an independent
culture within Canada.
al.
After the ITC proposal was with-
drawn, the remaining three regional
districts of the ITC - the CALA, KIA,
and BIA formed the Inuit Land Claims
Commission,
A lengthy series of community
meetings and-consultation finally led
to the development of a proposed
agreement-in-principle, which the ITC
will discuss in convention beginning
October 18th. If the proposed agree-
ment-in-principle is adopted, it will be
then be presented to government.
The new ITC proposal is much
different from the first one submitted a
year and a half ago, and is very similar
to the present Dene position. Whereas
the original proposal was very detailed
and specific, this one is very general.
- It is expected that the details will be
worked out in the course of community
consultations and negotiations.
(Covernment
As the Mackenzie Valley route was
dying a slow death in mid-summer,
and as Canada prepared to begin
negotiations with the Americans over a
route through the Yukon, Trudeau
gave his answer to-the Dene and Inuit
proposals for self-government in the
NWT. Completely rejecting the pro-
posals, the statement issued by the
Prime Minister's Office said that the
native proposals were “well beyond
the policy the Federal Government is
prepared to follow.”
It added that “unless the Indian and
Inuit claimants are seeking the estab-
lishment of reserves under the Indian
Act, as in the south, the Government
does not favour the creation in the north
of new political divisions, with bound-
aries and governmental structures
based essentially on distinctions of
race and involving a direct relationship
with the Federal Government.”
The statement said that it would
consider the possible division of the
NWT into two or three territories and a
transfer of more powers to the
‘Territorial Government.
lt also said that the Government
intends to retain control and owner-
ship of non-renewable resources in the
NWT. As for renewable resources and
some lands, they will be transferred to
the Territorial Government and to
northern native people upon settle-
ment.
An advisory commission on native
affairs is to be established to protect
native rights, with proportionate na-
live representation on government
boards and committees responsible for
surface land use, conservation and
environmental protection, game man-
agement and education.
Trudeau appointed C.M. "Bud"
Drury as his Special Representative for
constitutional Development in the
NWT. Drury, a former M.P. and
Cabinet Minister, is to establish an
office in Yellowknife and consult with
the leaders of the Territorial Govern-
ment and native groups and is to
report directly to Trudeau.
Dene leader Georges Erasmus quic-
kly blasted the government's policy as
being “hypocritical”. A press state-
ment said that “on one hand, the
possibility of a Dene government is
dismissed because ethnic government-
s are viewed as un-Canadian. On the
other hand, the Dene are welcomed to
take reserves. It appears that ethnic
governments are not un-Canadian as
long as they are powerless and
impoverished,””
“The obvious, but undisclosed rat-
ional of this paper is to preserve the
strangehold of the Federal Govern-
ment over northern resources and to
make impossible the exercise of self-
determination by native and non-nat-
ive residents of the NWT... The
Federal Government is entrenching
colonialism and preserving the power
of a puppet clique - the Territorial
Council.”
Inuit leader Michael Amarook was
also strongly critical of the paper and
thought it alarming that the issue of
political reform in the NWT was taken
away from Northern Affairs Minister
Warren Allmand. He noted that
Allmand was very sympathetic to
. hative causes and asked: “was it this
sympathetic attitude which caused the
me Minister to pull the rug from
under Allmand? Obviously there has
been a backlash within the cabinet.”
Trudeau's policy did receive a
favourable response, though, from
Metis leader Charles Overvold who
said that the Metis Association of the
NWT agrees with the concept of
regional government in the NWT, and
that it would not conflict with their
claim.
8 Summers Earls Fall lssuc 1977
NESIKA
A number of eastern newspapers
responded to the policy paper, but
concentrated their criticism on Drury
himself. The Montreal Star said the
appointment “smacks of a straight
forward make-work project for a
retired cabinet minister and long-term
friend of Prime Minister Trudeau.”
The Ottawa Journal said “‘fresh
thinking on the native problem in the
north is imperative...(Drury’s) train-
ing as a federal bureaucrat in the "50's
and old-line cabinet minister makes
him a voice from the past.”
The Montreal Gazette added that
Drury’s appointment was “‘little more
than an insult.”
DIA Minister Hugh Faulkner
When Canada signed the Alcan
pipeline deal with the American
government scarcely a month after the
Drury announcement, the issue of
native claims and self-determination in
the NWT was automatically assigned
to back pages and minor items in the
news media.
The Government’s next move came
when Trudeau transferred Warren
Allmand out of the Indian and North-
ern Affairs portfolio with a demotion to
Minister of Consumer and Corporate
Affairs. Allmand, who held the touchy
post less than a year, complained
about being “shafted’” by Trudeau
and many native leaders were quick to
agree.
In his short term on the job,
Allmand managed to gain the admirat-
ion of most native leaders for his
sympathetic attitude and his efforts to
reform the Department.
Taking over from him is Hugh
Faulkner, who is said to be likeable
enough, but a weak minister with little
control over his department and little
power in the federal cabinet. Faulkner
already is walking into the portfolio
with his hands tied in the NWT
because of the Drury appointment.
In other matters, it’s still business
as usual for the oil, gas and mining
industries as the government contin-
ues to give them free reign to
“develop” the north and exploit its
resources and ignore the advice and
wishes of native and environmental
groups. A clear example is the test
drilling that was permitted in the
Beaufort Sea this year, even though
there were several near-misses and
blow-outs on the drilling platforms and
an oil spill there could last for months
or years before it could be plugged.
Lastly, the natives have learned they
can not count on the courts to rule in
favour of aboriginal rights. The Canad-
ian Supreme Court chose not to make a
ruling on the issue on several oceas-
ions in the past year. They did so in the
Derricksan case, the Kruger/Manuel
case, and on December 20th, 1976, in
the N¥F'T caveat case. In a unanimous
decision, the court ruled that the Dene
could not file a caveat - a claim of prior
interest - to 400,000° square miles of
land in the Mackenzie Valley. The
court did not consider the arguments
concerning aboriginal rights and de-
cided the case on a technical and
unrelated legal point.
By doing so, the Supreme Court lefi
the matter to be resolved in the
political arena.
The eventual resolution of who, and
under what conditions, will control the
land, resources and government in the
north will now likely take much longer
to determine now that the political
positions of the Dene, the Metis, the
Inuit, and the Government are set and
beginning to harden in an atmosphere
of suspicion and ill-will.
CYI, Government Agree on
Yukon
The Federal Government and the
Council for Yukon Indians (CYI) have
reached agreement on the second of a
four stage process of resolving the
Yukon negotiations.
The first stage in what has been
called “‘co-operative planning pro-
cess’, was the identification of mutua-
lly agreed-on settlement goals. This
stage, the adoption of a settlement
model, relates the goals to the
methods of achieving them.
With the settlement model now in
place, the third and final stages are an
agreement-in-principle and a final
agreement.
The details of the settlement model
were released July 15th, and at that
time, then-Minister of Indian Affairs
Warren Allmand said he was optimist-
ic that an agreement in principle could
be reached by the end of the year.
Federal negotiator John Naysmith
said_in late September that the
pipeline agreement could lead to a
draft agreement in principle being
reached -with the CYI by the end of
October.
As an example, he cited programs
ach as education and training or
community development could be
cablished and transferred to the
huwian corporation for implementation.
Sitting on the other side of the
mgotiating table, however, is CYI
Chairman Daniel Johnson who is not
as optimistic 4s Naysmith or Allmand
aheut reaching a quick agreement in
principle.
CYI Chairman Daniel Johnson
Johnson said that the CYI will be
holding two more general assemblies
in the next 244 months to discuss and
ratify a draft agreement in principle.
Johnson expects that a draft agree-
ment in principle will be presented to
government by the end of the year but
was unsure whether the government
would agree to the terms.
The draft agreement, Johnson said,
wold probably follow the form of the
settlement model but may have a few
minor variations.
There is a strong likelihood that the
$50 million advance payment on a
settlement that was recommended by
the Lysyk Inquiry will be paid. Privy
Council President Allan MacEachen
said the federal government is consid-
ering making the payment before
pipeline construction begins and be-
fore a settlement is reached.
When asked about the pre-payment,
Johnson said that the government
seems prepared to do it, but the details
have not been worked out.
ettlement Model
3 GOAL 1
Restore, protect, preserve and gua-
rantee the identity of Yukon Indians
| and their freedom to choose a way of
life in harmony with their cultural
heritage.
I) Beneficiaries: Eligibility for enrol-
ment and benefits from the settlement
of the claim shall be based on the
ancestral concept as agreed upon in
Planning Council Document #3.
Participants will be enrolled accord-
ing to accreditation and appeal proced-
ures to be established.
Participants in the settlement will have
certain rights with respect to hunting
and fishing as a means of preserving
their traditional way of life and
livelihood.
3) Programs: Social, Cultural and
Education programs shall be provided
by government that will reinforce
Indian cultural identity and ensure
that the imbalance of opportunity and
participation which currently exists
between Indians and non-Indians of
the Yukon is overcome.
4) Corporate Structures: These stru-
ctures, controlled by the Indian peo-
ple, shall be established to receive
administer and manage the proceeds
of the settlement. These: would. include
lands, monies and certain programs,
for example - cultural/education cen-
tres.
GOAL £2
Provide land and other forms of
compensation to the Yukon Indian
people, to compensate them for the
loss of lands traditionally used and
given up under the settlement, so that
they may have the opportunity to build
an economic base equal with that of
other Yukon cilizens.
5) Lands: The rights to which the
[Yukon Indian people refer to as
“aboriginal rights"’ shall, with respect:
to lands, be redistributed and applied
to specific land areas allocated to the
Yukon Indian people for their resident-
ial use, traditional pursuits, historic
AMALGAMATION PLANNED
There are three major native orgami-
zations in the Yukon: the Yukon Native
Brotherhood (YNB) representing “‘sta-
tus”’ Indians; the Yukon Association of
Non Status Indians (Y ANSI) represent-
ing “non status”’ Indians; and the
Council for Yukon Indians (CYT) which.
is formed of representatives of both
the YNB and YANSI and which has the
mandate to negotiate a land claims
settlement with the government.
All three organizations have agreed
that there are no significant differ-
ences between them and have agreed
to begin work on forming just one
organization out of the three. A joint
commission was appointed at the July
general assembly of the CYI to identily
the problems and recommend solut-
ions for the amalgamation at the
community and provincial level.
2) Traditional Wildlife Harvesting:
YUKON SETTLEMENT MODEL
preservation and economic develop-
ment. These “rights” shall also be
safeguarded in specific social, cultural
and economic provisions as agreed to
in a final settlement of their claim.
Lands so allocated shall be selected
by the claim beneficiaries subject to a
selection process and critieria to be
determined by the Planning Council.
There shall be provisions for Plann-
ing Council to identify specific comm-
unity lands which may require protect-
ion in advance of a final settlement.
Recommendations for withdrawl may
then be made to the Minister by the
Planning Council for possible selection
and inclusion in a final settlement.
6) Commercial Wildlife Harvesting:
Special consideration shall be given to
Yukon Indian people involved in
commercial fishing, trapping and oth-
er wildlife harvesting, consistent with
good management practises and laws
of general application.
7) Monetary Compensation: In order
to pay Indian people for lands given up
and for past grievances, monetary
compensation will be provided which
may include cash as well as a share of
royalties accruing from resource devel-
opment.
8) Texation: Certain lands retained
by claim beneticiaries will be exempt
from taxation according to terms, set
out in the final agreement. Compens-
alion monies and resource revenues
shared with government will be ex-
empt from taxation. However, those
revenues subsequently derived from
resource development and property
interest shall be taxable to the same
extent as such revenues are by the
laws of general application.
The question of eligibility of benefic-
iaries for exemption from personal
income tax will be considered at the
final agreement stage.
GOAL23
Provide the Yukon Indian people
with the incentive and opportunity to
have their rightful say, within the
context of a one-government structure,
in the decision-making process.
‘\
9) Government and Political Partici-
pation: The Yukon Indian people shall
be provided with incentives and guar-
anteed opportunities for their particip-
ation in the political and administrat-
ive institutions of a one-gowernment
structure, and in the decision-making
process.-
The guaranteed participation of
Yukon Indians in the adminstration
and management of the natural re-
sources of the Yukon is an important
example of the above.
Subject to terms to be set out in a
Final Agreement, an Advisory Plann-
ing Council, comprising an equal
number of Indian and government
representatives, shall be established.
This Council, meeting on a regular
basis, would advise governments on
matters of policy and planning regard-
ing general Yukon development, spec-
ially on relationship between such
development and the Yukon Indian
people.
10) Final Settlement: The terms of a
final agreement to conclusively settle
the Yukon Indian Claim shall be
developed and agreed to by the.
Planning Council, and embodied in
appropriate Federal and Territorial
legislation. :
11) The final agreement shall recog-
nize the fact that Claim settlements
may vary according .to the particular
needs of the native group concerned as
well as regional characteristics, and
reflect federal government policy that
the settlements need not adhere to a
single and rigid set of standards or
elements.
12) The rights of the Yukon Indian
people as Canadian citizens shall in no
way. be prejudiced by a settlement of
their claim, and they shall continue to
be entitled to the rights and benefits
available to all other citizens.
13) The special rights of the Yukon
Indian people shall be identified and
accommodated while ensuring that the
rights and interests of other Yukon
residents are taken into account and
protected. ie
Chief Elected in Indian Act Protest
A chief has recently been elected on
the Tobique Indian Reserve who had
supported a group of women who had
occupied the band offices for a month
prior to the band elections over the
lack of community property regulat-
ions in the Indian Act.
Vaughan Nicholas was elected chief
of the Tobique Band near Maliseet,
New Brunswick, on October 3rd in a
contest with the incumbent chief,
George Francis.
The women objected to a section in
the Indian Act that allows husbands to
own the family home on the reserve
and allows them to order wives and
children out of the home. Since the
house is not in their name, the women
have no legal recourse.
In early September, the women
began their occupation when then-
chief Francis refused to meet with
them. At first, the offices were only
occupied ul night, allowing normal
business to be carried on during the
das. Frustrated) over the lack of
response, however, the wane began
occupying the building full-time. Of-
fice employees were then foreed to
work at home and Chief Francis
retaliated by shutting off hydro and
telephone service to the building.
Candidate Nicholas supported the
women in the dispute, reported to be
as few as lwo and as many as eight in
number. He agrees, he said, that
women and children on the reserve
should be protected from the whims of
NESIKA
their husbands and that property
should be in both names.
[Thanks to C.NLN.S.]
Summer/ Early Fall Issue 1977 9
The United Native Nations’ Ist
Annual Assembly was billed as a
“Cultural gathering , a spiritual re-
vival, and a political meeting’.
It proved to be all that and more.
The five-day “political meeting”,
held from July 8th through 12th in
Prince George, recorded several a-
chievements:
1) It changed the nature of the
assembly from a delegate system to
one in which any member is entitled to
speak and vote on all the issues - a
people's assembly.
2) It lowered the age for full
membership from 16 to 12.
3) [It increased the number of
regions in the UNN (and the number of
Directors) from 10 to 15.
4) lt resulted in smashing first-ballot
re-election victories for UNN President
Bill Wilson and Vice-President Ron
George over a large field of contend-
ers.
Members there shared the songs,
dances, foods, languages, legends and
wisdom of other native nations as part
of the “cultural gathering”.
And the entire assembly, with ite
many different aspects, provided a
spiritual uplift for all who attended. It
was the almost-unanimous opinion of
everyone, including veteran confer-
ence go-ers, that the UNN assembly
was the best they had ever attended.
It ended with almost everyone
vowing to return again next year with
more friends and family to share in the
unique experience. The likelihood that
-he next year’s assembly will be two,
or maybe three, times a large seems,
at this time, to be a very real
possibility.
Our report:
CAMP OUT
Our feature that made the assembly
unique and a success was the camp-
out. Instead of people staying at
different hotels scattered throughout —
the city. It was planned that everyone
would stay together and camp out on
the site on the infield of the Prince
George Exhibition Grounds’ race
track. For that purpose, 200 tents were
bought and set up in the infield along
with 50 other tents, trailers, and one
tipi brought by other members to the
assembly.
What had been a bare and empty
field was transformed in less than 12
hours to a village of one thousand
Indian people. For five days, the camp
site was one of the largest Indian
communities in the province, with a
population larger than all but a few of
the biggest reserves.
In addition to staying and living
together on the site, it was planned
that everyone would eat their meals
together, rather than eating separately
in different restaurants. The job of
providing three meals a day to the ©
people attending the assembly proved
to be a major problem, but a staff
totalling dozens of UNN members
working as volunteers, under the
direction of June Lewis, managed the
heroic task of preparing and serving
over 10,000 meals during the assemb-
ly.
; Huge quantities of food were prepar-
ed and consumed on any given day -
150 dozen eggs for breakfast, 100
gallons of coffee during the day, and
for the banquet, a whole moose, 100
salmon, 30) pounds of chicken, and
hundreds of pounds of potatoes and
other vegetables.
One feature of the camp-out that
was not planned was the rain that
flooded tents, cancelled a number of
social events, and threatened the
future of the assembly.
Eseryone woke up at the camp site
Most of the 1.000 people that attended the assembly lived in the tent village t
only a few hours before had been an empty field.
| acy eb
2 day morning in - flood
wet sleeping bags, and wet clothes,
from a heavy downpour the previous
night that continued on throughout the
day. However, the rain did challenge
the people to begin working together
to overcome the rain-related problems
and deal with the growing pains of the
brand-new community. A community
spirit and sense of responsibility
quickly developed as people pitched in
everywhere to deal with the problems
the rain caused, which included clean-
ing and drying several hundred blank-
ets anc sleeping bags and making
arrangements for meals to be served
indoors.
Because all members had the right
to speak and vote on all issues and in
the elections, unlike other native
assemblies based on the delegate
system, everyone felt very much a part
of the assembly and the UNN.
And because all the work at the
assembly - meals, policing, clean-up,
and a thousand other details - had to
be done, not by paid hotel or
restaurant staff, but by UNN members
as volunteers, everyone felt that they
were also a member of an Indian
community that was learning how to
feed, police, work, and govern itself.
The open and friendly attitude that
everyone displayed and that grew out
of the sense of community were the
most commented-on features of the
camp-out reported by many who
attended.
a5
hal
ON THE BUSES
Another departure from the usual
manner in which the assembly was
held was the transportation - everyone
travelled by bus.
_Ordinarily, the few people repre-
senting a Band or Local travel by
themselves to the assembly site (us-
ually by plane), and stay together as a
small group at the same hotel and
restaurants and return on the plane
without meeting or getting to know
very many other people.
Since the UNN assembly was not an
ordinary assembly, a total of 11 buses
were chartered to bring members to
the assembly from all corners of the
province - the north coast, the Koot-
enays, the Peace River area, and
Vancouver Island. Since it was the first
time that something of this nature had
been tried, tt wasn’t surprising that
some of the buses were jam packed
with people standing, and that one -
from Kootenay region - had only one
person on board.
However, using buses for the major
Iransportation achieved several ob-
jectives:
1) It was cheaper than any other
method of transporting large numbers
of people to the site.
2) It allowed any member who so
wished, to attend the assembly, just by
producing a valid membership card.
3) Although tiring, the trip allowed
the members from one region to meet
and get to know other members in
their area to talk about the assembly
A stroll through the tent village shows how
problems caused by a
ie Por
a oud
and plan their own regional assembl-
les.
4) The buses also had the advantage
of keeping everyone in the meeting
hall right through the end of the
assembly. In most other assemblies,
the hall is usually empty on the last
alternoon as the last items of business
and resolutions are being debated.
This time, though, there were still
several hundred people in the hall
discussing the final resolutions as the
assembly ended.
The use of Greyhound buses became
an issue in itself after Donna Tyndall
of the Courtenay Local protested their
use because of the treatment that she
and another native woman received at
the hands of the Greyhound bus driver
earlier this year. She reported that-she
and her friend were subjected to hours
of verbal abuse and racist remarks,
ordered off the bus and assaulted
by the driver.
Her complaints, letters of protest
from the NN, and-an investigation by
the Human Rights Commision were
unable to get the apology from
Greyhound that she was requesting.
As the very last item of business at the
assembly, a resolution was proposed
that the bill for the chartered Grey-
hound buses not be paid until a proper
apology was received.
During the debate that followed, Bill
Wilson stated that the UNN had
already written letters of protest to
Greyhound and that the matter would
be pursued after the assembly. In an
angry blast he also warned the
members that if they approved the
resolution, they should each be pre-
pared to pay $10 to help pay for the
buses because the UNN would be sued
by Greyhound and ordered by the
courts to pay up.
Apparently on the strength of
Wilson's assurances that the matter
would be dropped by the incoming
Executive and Board of Directors, the
assembly voted to defeat the resolut-
ion by a narrow margin.
A PEOPLE'S ASSEMBLY
The first day of the assembly was
scheduled to deal with only two items.
of business - the consideration of two
extraordinary cesolutions that would
drastically change the nature of the
assembly and the UNN.
The first- resolution was to formally
open up the membership of the UNN
to include any _person of native
ancestry, “"status”” or “non status’, as
full member, The UNN/BCANSI had
always. been identified as the “‘non
status organization’’, but in fact, the
open membership was approved as a
matier of policy at the 1975 assembly
and this vear was approved with little
dehate and ric Opposition and only
formalized the policy into the by-laws.
The second resolution dealt wih
voting rights at the annual assemblies.
Previously, only the authorized. dele-
gates from the recognized UNN Locals
were allowed to vote on the basis: of
one delegate for every 25 members of
a Local, up to a maximum of four. The
voting change now meant that any
UNN member could attend the assem-
blies with full voting powers.
The reason for the change, a5 stated
in the pre-conference publicity by the
past Board of Directors, was “we hope
the days will
‘professional delegates’ and conter-
ence go-ers can make decisions for the
people in isolation from the conditions
that the people are living in. We say
that the individual Indian person who
is suffering the problems has to come
to the assembly and help make the
decisions on how to solve them.”
Atthe time the resolution was being
debated, only authorized delegates
under the old system were allowed to
vote, and they agreed to change from a
delegate’s assembly to a people's
assembly.
The resolution also contained a
controversial section that lowered the
age for full membership from 16 to 12;
a change that was’ strongly promoted
by Bill Wilson. The reasoning behind
the change was to allow the majority of
the Indian population that is 17 and
less to have a greater voice in the
elections and the formation of policy of
a major native organization. It was also
expected that the move would lead to a
preater involvement from the young
people, not-only in the UNN, but in
other aspects of native affairs.
An amendment to change the age to
14 was defeated and although there
- was still some opposition, the resolut-
ion was easily adopted by the necess-
rary 34 majority, : - eee nth Pt
The change resulted in an ebaied
40-40 young people being registered
as full members with full voting
| privileges, (about 5% of the total
registration), and it also resulted in
some complaints that some of the
young members didn’t -understand
what the various motions, the elections
and the assembly was all about.
Once the resolutions were adopted
the delegate assémbly adjourned anda
re-registration process involving all
full members of the UNN began that
eventually saw 635 members register-
ed.
One complaint that is usually voiced
about” open assemblies is that the
people in. the area in which the
meeting | is being held can “pack the
meeting” and control the outcome of
the elections and the assembly. That
complaint did not hold true at this
assembly as the attendance records
point. out, The Prince George and
surrounding district was third in
attendance (108 members) behind the —
lower mainland (130) and the Peace
River area (137).
A proposal was put forth during the
assembly to change the nature of the
UNN leadership by having the Vice-
President be an unpaid position,
leaving only one full-time Executive.
(The UNN's Secretary-Treasurer 1s
hired by the Board of Directors and is
not meant to be a “political position’ .)
Bill Wilson actively supported the
change and admitted during the
assembly that his many differences
with Ron George during the previous
year ‘almost led at one time, to a
physical fight between the two.
However, many members spoke out
strongly against the plan and it was
defeated by a wide margin.
soon be over when |
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The U.N.N. Executive
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ELECTIONS
Although the results were fairly
predictable, the elections provided
more excitement and interest than any
in recent memory.
The major challenge to Wilson came
from Fred House who had actively
campaigned for the post for several
months. House had been the President
of BCANSI for four years winning each
election against litthe opposition. He
resigned the BCANSI Presidency in
1975 to run in the provincial election as
Liberal candidate. After his defeat, he
returned to Alberta to work in his home
Metis colony in Paddle Prairie.
His absence from the province saw
many changes made - the BCANSI
changed its name to the United Native
Nations: and had withdrawn from the
Native Council of Canada (NCC).
Daniels, then hired House in January,
1977 to begin work on founding a new
Metis organization that would rejoin
the NCC. House was unable to gain
much support for the idea for the
several months he was employed by
the NCC, and seeing some merit in the
“if you can’t beat’em join’em”’ philos-
_ phy, House announced his intention to
run for the President of the UNN on
the basis that the name be changed
back to BCANSI and that land claims
be handed over to the UBCIC.
What followed was a two month
debate in the northern media between
House and Wilson which increased in
yolume after Wilson himself announc-
ed that he was seeking re-election and
thereby passing up his last chance to
use his law degree to begin work as an
articled law student.
Another late entry into the field
came with the. announcement. that
Butch Smitheram was joining the
fray. Smitheram was the founding
father of the BCANSI organization, its
first President, and now a civil servant
in the Secretary of State Department.
Once on the assembly floor, two
-other latecomers also agreed to accept
nominations - George Brown, a past
candidate for the BCANSI Presidency,
and Clarence Dennis.
At Wilson's request, the assembly
gave House permission to run as a
candidate in the election because
House did not meet the one year
residency requirement for being a full
member.
A major plank in Smitheram’s
platform was to work on the develop-
ment of the Native Economic Self-De-
velopment Corporation, to develop
Indian-run businesses employing na-
tive people.
ent. Harry |
c
Vice-President Rea George
in
J
ie ee ee ee dd |
He added that ie was a taunted
believer in the equality of men and
women’ and he would “assist our
native women in their fight for equal
rights even though it may be contrary
to the wishes of some of the native
leaders.”
Complimenting Wilson in one
breath and knocking House in another,
Smitheram said that the LUNN in the
last year “has regained much of the
credibility and integrity that was lost
under the former BCANSI leader-
ship.”’ He later knocked Wilson too,
when he said that Wilson was the
“thorn in the side’ of the Union of
BC. Indian Chiefs and that the
UBCIC *‘must be a part of any land
claims presentation’’ and that he
would “make a sincere effort to bring
their leaders back to the council fires."
Clarence Dennis, the vocal activist
who had been involved with a number
of “radical”? causes - the Fred Quilt
Committee, the Cache Creek blockade,
the Native Caravan to Ottawa
surprised most observers with a calm,
reasoned speech that warned against
“falling into'the trap of bigotry”
Reterring to the land claims issue,
Dennis said that “‘this is not our land.
It is not ours to seek compensation. It’s
not ours to sell. [t's not ours to barter
with."
“What Lhave been told is that we're
only passing through here and that our
home lies on theéther side. Our main
task is to protect what surrounds us
and I’m said to say we're failing in
that.”
“We're not protecting our resourc-
es. We've been sitting back and letting
a lot of businessmen rip our land apart
and we've not raised one voice against
it.”
He said that the reason for the loss
of the fish and natural resources was
because “our elders have sat back and
done nothing to fight for what we're
supposed to be fighting for. We're not
supposed to fight against each other."
In a slap against Wilson's cultural
presery ation theme, Brown said that
"we've got to start economic develop-
ment along with social development
and cultural appreciation is going to
come around,”
Brown had lost out to House in the
1975 BCANSI election and House's
turn came when he said that House
and the old BCANSI had asked for
100%. of the timber in the Burns Lake
project, but that Brown and others had
taken their 8% share of the project.
Smitheram got knocked for his
statement that DIA was willing to
supply him with seed money for his
cont'd next page,
U.N.N. cont’d
PRESIDENT
candidate voles cast %
Bill Wilson 303 aT
Fred House B7 19
George Brown 29 6
Clarence Dennis 17 4
Butch Smitheram 4 3
TOTALS 450 100
Other candid fo eeeee
: _PRE Nr lther candidates in the election, clockwise
andar ee oe Smitheram, Clarence Dennis, George Brown, Fred House
Ron George 204 52
Fred House Q2 23
George Brown 21 3
Larry Seymour 19 5
Ken Dennis 18 5
John Graham 9g 7
Lena Johnson 9 2
Marcella Boake 8 2
Joe Mercredi 7 2
Edith Trump 4 |
Clarence Dennis | -
TOTALS 392 100 ae
=."
from. top left: Butch |
George Brown, who brought several
economic development projects to the
Burns Lake area, jumped into the
contest at the last minute but quickly
began’ taking shots at the other
candidates.
Starting with Wilson, Brown said
that the ability to organize people at
the grass-roots level has got to be one
‘of the priorities 6f the new President,
but “we've been led...by downtown
Indians who have had very little contact
“with the grass-roots people, and as a
grass-roots person myself", Brown
then offered his services to the UNN
“based on. his ‘@xperience’ with the
multi-million dollar Burns Lake project
that He said was on the way to
self-sufficiency."
Native Corporation plans. Brown said
that when you're dealing with DIA,
“you're not writing your own terms of
reference and you're selling yourself
down the river.”’
Using the Burns Lake. project as an
example, Brown said that the core-
funding from Secretary of State should
be used as seed money to get more
money from other seurces.
As President, he said he would
begin establishing land claims and
aboriginal rights by talking to “the big
industries, the multi-nationals, the
provincial and federal governments.”’
Early in his remarks, Fred House
said that he wanted to clear his name
of allegations that he made off with
large sums of money while he was the
BCANSI President. He defended his
record and stated that all the financial
and audit records were readily avail-
able to refute any such accusations.
He also denied accusations that he
had “quit on the B.C. Indians’ when
he left BCANSI and the province. He
said that he had consulted with the
then-BCANSI Board of Directors and
that it was felt to be in the best interest
of everyone if he resigned to run in the
1975 provincial election.
He said that he ran in the election
“to back up the words that I had been
stating for so many years, to say that
native people should get involved. in
the political system in order to make
changes.”
House said that the name
““BCANSI”™ was well-respected by
government and the public, but that he
couldn’t change the name of the UNN
back to BCANSI by humself. If elected,
he said he would conduct a poll at all
the regional assemblies on a name
change and would be willing to stand
by the results whatever the outcome.
House translated a portion of his
speech in Cree to other Cree-speaking
members.
The Alaskan Highway pipeline pro-
ject was mentioned and House said
that the UNN should “‘make sure that
our people get the land claims move-
ment going inthe direction-of the land
claims to make sure that our people
be employed there; to make sure
they're given the skilled training to
become employees at the top level
jobs, not only power-saw operators,
but also good wages for those pow-
er-saw operators.”
Although he said he viewed the land
claims issue as being “‘very, very
important”’, he said the issue properly
belongs in the hands. of the tribal
councils - Nishga, Haida, ete.-- and
should be co-ordinated by the Union of
B.C. Indian Chiefs. He added that the
UNN “would ensure that your rights
are being protected.”’
In a brief speech that was interrupt-
ed twice by applause, Bill Wilson
continued the theme of cultural preser-
vation and “land claims means surviv-
al” that has come to be his trademark.
He said the aboriginal rights quest-
ion ‘is a question of survival. It's a
question of whether or not a hundred
years from now, the descendants of
the kids you see walking in this. hall
will be allowed to survive in the
country that rightfully belongs to
them.”
In aslap at Fred House, Wilson said
that “‘it’s not enough to talk’ about
economic development and its not
enough to talk about talking to white
politicians or running for white offices.
We have got to find out who we are
and where we came from and make
sure our children have the right to
make a choice to be Indians if they
want to be.”’
Wilson said that over the past year
the UNN had begun work to bring
about a new attitude involving Indians
designing the solutions to their prob-
lems and not “the lousy bureaucrats in
the DIA’. He added that “we've got
72
Summer/ Early Fall lssuc 1977
NESIKA
to get rid of that welfare attitude so
that: we don't breed generations of
wellare recipients.”
The issue of BCANSI vs. the UNN
must be settled “once and for all’, he
said, and challenged the assembly by
asking: "De we go back to the old
welfare and — sit-on-your-ass-and-rot
philosophy, orare you willing to accept
the challenge to stand up on your own
two feet and make°a fight for the
rightful place for your children in this
Harris, Kaien Island, and Leonard George, Carrier Dancers, below.
province?”
The standing ovation that Wilson
received for his tough and emotional
speech was an early indication of the
election results.
In the elections for Vice-President,
Ron George won a huge vote of
confidence as he was re-elected,
handily defeating ten other candidates
including House, Brown, and Dennis,
in a first-ballot victory.
Wilson’s and George's victory cele-
brations were only briefly soured as
House, having been badly beaten
twice that day, took’ to the airwaves
and complained that the elections were
unfairly conducted and threatened to
sue the UNN. (No lawsuit has yet been
filed.)
HISTORIC NIGHT
Historic Night, held Sunday evening
to honour the work and memory of a
number of native elders, proved to be
the major social event of the assembly
as over 1,200 people jammed into the
Exhibition Hall to mark the occasion.
The evening began with dancers
from three different tribal groups- the
Carrier Dancers, the Kaien Dancers,
and the Quesnel Dancers - each
performing separately. The footsteps
of the dancers representing the coast,
the interior, and the prairies, were
soon merged into one as they joined
together and followed the beat of one
drum before a very appreciative
crowd. +
The dancers then invited everyone
to take part ina round dance and close
to 500 people accepted the invitation,
Dancing itself became impossible and
Fie pie . che
Dancers at Historic Night: Kaien Island youngsters, top; a
nd Margaret
the huge, turning circles became
instead, one throbbing, clapping, sing-
ing, joyful mass of celebration; making
the shared feelings of oneness for over
a thousand people, an emotional high
point of the assembly.
The awards and presentation hon-
ouring the elders took place after a
salmon and moose meat banquet,
where more than a dozen people were
recognized and presented with a
certificate that acknowledged their
“contribution to the Aboriginal Rights
fight and the building of a better place
in British Columbia society for all
Native Indian peoples.”
Those honoured in person that night
with the awards were: Butch Smith-
eram, the founding member of the
B.C. Association of Non Status Indians
(the fore-runner to the UNN); Jacob
Kruger, the UBCIC’s Chief's Council
Member for the Okanagan District;
Bill Mitchell, Chief of the Klahoose
Band; Margaret Orford, the UNN
Board of Director for the Peace River
area; and Ethel Pearson.
The memories of others who played
a significant role in the history of
B.C.*s native peoples were also hon-
oured. Among them: long-time activist
Andrew Paull; premier artist and
carver Mungo Martin; educator Geo-
rge Wilson; Nishga leader An-
thony Robinson; Tsimpshian grand-
mother and leader Maude Helin.
Certificates will also be awarded to
Johnny Clifton, President of the Native
Brotherhood; James Gosnell, Presi-
dent of the Nishga Tribal Council; and
Frank Calder, past-President of the
Nishga Tribal Council and now the
MLA for the Atlin riding in the
Legislature.
ABORIGINAL RIGHTS
A discussion paper was distributed
at the assembly that had been prepar-
ed by Bill Wilson at the request of the
Board of Directors to help formulate a
UNN policy on the subject of aborigin-
al rights and land claims for the native
residents of B.C. It was prepared on
the basis of discussions held at various
UNN regional land claims workshops
in the past year.
A total of 16 areas and other
concerns related to the aboriginal
rights issue-were listed as possible
items for discussion in small-group
assembly workshops. In addition to
being the basis for assembly resolut-
ions, the paper is to be discussed at
various local and regional meetings
throughout the year to bring together a
provincial position on the subject in
one or two year’s time for presentation
lo government.
UNN volunteers prepare the moose and salmon banquet for Historic Night
A major section of the introduction
spelt out the reasons for the UNN’s
position of including all native people
in the aborginal rights struggle, and it
also included a taunting and inflamm-
atory attack on the Union of B.C. In-
dian Chiefs.
Some excerpts:
“We have on the one hand, the
position of the status Indian organizat-
ion in B.C. that says only status Indian
people are allowed to participate in the
whole question of aboriginal rights
despite the fact that one-third of the
status Indian people in the province
have absolutely no Indian blood in
them...
“The issue of the sharing and
participation in whatever - proceeds
may accrue from the aboriginal rights
settlement is in reality a white
concept. It is being argued by leaders
who have sold-out to the Federal
Government... .
“The aboriginal rights question is
not a simple question of land...of
financial resources or compensation, It
is not a simple question of a certain
group of people who have ancestral or
indigenous roots in the province
benefitting from some kind of out-
standing grievance...(it) goes far and
away beyond the simple legal concept
of aboriginal title...
(it) is a simple matter of survival of
native Indian people of their own
terms, with their own cultures within
the context of British Columbian and
Canadian society...
“Certain details will inevitably have
to be worked out in regard to tribal
government and tribal lands, The
large question of the relationship of
native Indian people to their tribal
backgrounds or to their traditional
tribal territories is one that obviously
Intense concentration shows on the faces of workshop participants.
has to be considered...
“The native Indian people who have
roots in the province should welcome
all of the native Indian people who
chose B.C. as their permanent home.
These peole should be more welcome
than the European intruders who have
come and taken our land, stolen our
resources, and polluted the environ-
ment...
“We welcomed the intruders; we
nurtured them back to health: we
allowed them to create the kind of
society that is presently in control of
B.C. Now we have the audacity to turn
our backs on the descendants of those
who fought with Gabriel Dumont,
Louis Riel, Sitting Bull and other
Indian heroes .. .
“The aboriginal rights question
reduces to a simple question: ‘what
kind of place are we going to leave for
our children 100 years or 1,000 years
from now?’ ™
WORKSHOP RESOLUTIONS
All but a few of the resolutions
adopted during the assembly came
about as a result of the workshops
organized to discuss the various
concerns related to the 16 items listed
in the aboriginal rights discussion
paper.
The several hundred members still
present on the last day of the assembly
broke up into three workshops. One
dealt with legal and organizational
concerns (aboriginal rights definition;
qualification process; tribal/ regional,
provincial organization; negotiations
process; federal and provincial legis-
lation). A second workshop dealt with
programs and social concerns (hous-
ing; social assistance; the justice
system; health services; education;
and economic development). The third
workshop covered resources (land;
forestry; minerals; wildlife; fishing
rights).
A POST-CONFERENCE ANALYSIS
On the basis of the number of
people it attracted and the wide-rang-
ing support it received, the UNN
Assembly certainly has to be consider-
ed the most successful gathering of
native people in years.
More than 600 native people from a
variety of backgrounds and political
persuasions registered and participat-
ed in the meeting.
A number of Band Chiefs who had
participated in the UBCIC Assembly in
the same city just 2) months earlier
were taking part in the assembly.
District Vice-Presidents of the In-
dian Homemakers Association were
present and voicing support for the
UNN.
A large number of “grass-roots
people”, mainly Carriers and Crees,
were at a native assembly for the first
time, and required lengthy explanat-
ions to be translated into those
languages regarding the elections and
other major issues.
The “AIM faction’’ was represented
by some two dozen young people, but
unlike other assemblies, however,
they took an active role, speaking on
most of the issues and even sponsoring
their own candidates in the elections.
The government representatives
present were clearly impressed with
the way the assembly was carried off
and several stated that they would be
submitting a very favourable report to
their respective departments.
So, despite the many different
problems (accomodations, travel, ex-
penses, security, meals, and the
political decisions) that may have
connected with the assembly, this
first-ever attempt at such a major
gathering has to be called a success.
Unfortunately, there was a general
“post-conference let-down”’ in the 244
month period following the assembly
and there was little action taken to
build on the spirit and enthusiasm that
the assembly produced.
This may have been partly due to
problems with the regional assemblies
and partly due to the vacations that the
Executive, the senior staff, some of the
ficldworkers, and many of the mem-
bers took, all at virtually the same time
in July and August. Also, what had
been a heavy and regular flow of
information to the membership before
the assembly came to a complete halt
with the end of the assembly, but is
said to be resumed in October.
The election of 15 Directors was to
take place at regional assemblies
around the province within two months
of the end of the UNN assembly.
However, the scheduling of the region-
al assemblies became mass confusion
because of the chicken-and-egg situ-
ation in which the Directors couldn't
be elected until the new regional
boundaries were approved, and the
boundaries couldn’t be approved until
the new Board was elected.
Regional assemblies for all 15
districts will be held but won't be
completed until early November, with
the first UNN Board of Dhtrectors -
meeling tentatively scheduled — for
mid-November,
NESIKA
Summer/ Early Fall Issue 1977
13
qT
ompson Inquiry to Decide
on West Coast Oil Port ~
The Federal Inquiry that will deter-
mine the conditions under which oil
tankers will travel the often-treacher-
ous waters of the B.C. coast is well
‘underway.
The problem, as far as native people
and environmental groups are con-
cerned, is that there no longer seems
to be any question of whether there
will be an oil port to handle increased<
tanker traffic in our waters, including
the huge supertankers, because the
general feeling everywhere is that an
oil port_at Kitimat, B.C., or at Cherry
Point or Port Angeles in Washington is
inevilable.
The Canadian Government's policy
of completely phasing out exports of
Alberta oil to U.S. refineries by 1981,
along with the completion of the
Alaskan pipeline in August of this
year, have combined to produce a
number of proposals to solve the
problems of what to do about the
demand for crude oil from American
refineries, primarily in the midwest,
and what to do withthe supply of more
than one million barrels of crude oil
that will be arriving at the port of
Valdez, Alaska every dey from the
North Slope through the Alaska pipe-
line.
Since there already is a pipeline
network connecting Edmonton with
American refineries in the midwest, one
logical Solution to the problem would
be to build a pipeline from the Pacific
coast to Edmonton to connect with the
American refineries and thus solve the
supply and demand problems of the oil
industry.
The plan ioc build“snpoil: port at
Kitimat and a pipeline to Edmonton
generated a great deal of protest from
native and environmental groups in
late 1976 when it became public that
year. The protest became louder and
more widespread after there were
several major oil tanker disasters on
both coasts of the U.S. early this year.
The Federal Government responded
to the protest and announced the
appointment of Dr. Andrew Thompson
as the Commissioner for a Federal
Inquiry into the Kitimat plan on March
Oth. -
In June of this year, however, the
Kitimat Pipeline Company said it was
no longer interested in building the
project and would instead support the
Trans Mountain proposal. The terms
of reference for the Thompson Inquiry
were then changed on June Wth to
investigate the social, environmental
and economic impacts related to the
construction and operation of an oil
peor and tanker traffic affecting Can-
ada’s west coast, not just the Kitimat
area.
The Inquiry will be holding formal
and community hearings throughout
the province on six different phases of
au west coust oi port:
!| Lesislative and Regulatory Aspects
- laws regarding the construction and
operation of oil terminals and tankers;
Canada’s 200) mike limit:
sal perce “aD To
cnvironment-
liability ane
eorpetmatton for dimage= Irom ter
controls:
naneeel cegiel Qseeekerr appa real bibs.
2| Supply and Demand Aspects - the
need for a west coast oil port and
whether the proposals meet the need;
the number and size of port and
pipeline facilities and the number and
size of tankers.
3) Martine Aspects - navigational
advantages and disadvantages of each
port and the possible contlitts with
other shipping traffic.
4] Environmental Aspects - the impact
of oil spills on the coast and the
effectiveness of clean-up procedures.
3] Fishing Aspects - the impact of oil
ports and tanker traffic on commercial
Fe
; ee at\, \
Ree ete a
In beginning the Inquiry, Dr. Thom-
pson noted that the Berger, the Lysyk,
and now the Thompson Inquiries, are a
“new phenomenon’’ in Canadian
polities. He said that the new approach
to public decision-making has only
heen in existence since the late 1960's
and that the job of the Inquiry was to
“examine all the direct and indirect ©
consequences: economic, social and
environmental’, and that it also must
“strive to identify and evaluate long
term effects as well as immediate
impacts.”"
am
+
Port tans NN
WASHINGTON
and sport fishing; the nature and size
of Native commercial and food fishing;
and potential losses to Native fishing
from oil spills.
6] Social and Economic Aspects -
including the short and long term
social economic impacts of oil ports
and tanker traffic.
lt is expected that the hearings will
be held throughout the fall and winter
and will likely end about April, 1978,
with a report being delivered to the
Federal Government in the summer of
that year. [/nformation about the
schedule of hearings can be obtained
through the Inquiry’s Fancouver of-
fice: 666-2251.)
Belore being appointed to head the
Inquiry, Dr. Thompson was a Law
Professor at U:B.C., and before- that,
was the Chairman of the B.C. Energy
Commission, which regulates energy
ulilitie= in the province and advises the
provincial government on energy pol-
ny halher=,
Sumner « barrky ball
14
NESIKA
Issane. LOTT
FIRST TESTIMONY HEARD
The opening round of hearings in
the Thompson Inquiry, held in Van-
couver during the week of July 18th,
heard presentations of the preliminary
views of the representatives of the
Provincial Government, the District of
Kitimat, Native groups, environmental
groups; labour groups, and other
interesls.
PROFINCE OF B.C.
A letter from Jack Davis, the B.C.
Minister of Energy, Transport and
Communications, to Dr. Thompson
formed the basis of the Province’s
position at the Inquiry:
“The Province of B.C. does not
intend to adopt any formal policy or to
support any particular proposal under
consideration by the Inquiry until more
information on the myriad tssues
involved ts available."
UFARUL
Juck Nichel spoke for the United
Fishermen's and Allied Workers’ Un-
ion which strongly opposes the oil port
and tanker traffic:
“Today, the B.C. fishing industry is
a multi-million dollar industry, em-
pleying more than 25,000 people.. It
represents an important source of
protein, especially in a world in which
two-thirds of the population are starv-
ing. To propose an action that could
destroy a means of alleviating this
hunger ts unthinkable. [t is even more
unthinkable in view of the fact that the
fisheries resource could contribute ta
world protein supplies long after the
last drop of oil is wrung from the
depths of the earth”
DISTRICT OF KITIMAT
George Thom, the mayor of Kitimat,
spoke on behalf of the -District of
4 Kitimat which strongly supports an oil
port in that city:
“Although the people of Kitimat
have a high regard for the environ-
ment, Aitimat is by no means an
“environmental wonderland’.
“B.C. needs the kind of investment
represented by the Kitimat develop-
ment. It would expand the economy of
the entire northwest and would add
approximately $1.6 million per year in
property taxes to the revenues of the
District of Kitimat."
KITIMAAT FILLAGE
Speaking on behalf of the Kitimaat
Band Council which strongly opposes
an oil port development was. Maxine
Pape:
“Mayor Thom’s remarks that. the
environmental risks in the Kitimat
region are not as high as elsewhere,
without considering the Native interest
is insilting. His statement that Kiti-
mat is ‘no environmental wonderland’
is very disturbing to the Haisla people.
Once out of sight and smell of the
industries of Kufimat, the region ts
astonishingly beautiful and very pro-
ductive...
“Kitimat Council's concern for the
environment seems to be expressed
largely in financial terms. But how
does one assess the financial value of a
lost way of life? How can one mend a
shattered culture with a dollar?”
URCIC
As President, George Manuel voic-
ed the opposition of the Union of B.C.
Indian Chiefs to the project.
“We are opposed to any oil port on
our coast for two main reasons:
“First, we object to any consideration
of such large developments. until we
have obtained a just settlement of our
land claims.
"Second, we believe that oi port
development offers no advantage nor
fills any need of B.C. or Canada...:
“This Inquiry will undoubtedly re-
ceive evidence that there are safe-
guards to keep spills from happening,
ortolessen damages in the event of
a spill. It is the history of the Indian
people in this province . that the
agencies of Government established to
protect our resources have been a total
and dismal failure.
lt makes little sense to us to. see the
Federal Government spend hundreds
af millions of dollars for salmon
enhancement on one hand, and enter-
tain allowing supertankers to invade
Dr. Andrew Thompson
those same fishgrounds on the other.’
B.C. WILDLIFE FEDERATION
Speaking for the Federation, an
association of 144 clubs and 24,000
members throughout the province was
David Anderson:
“We are now reluctantly of the
opinion that there is mo practical
alternative to a Pacific northwest port
and pipeline. We therefore support the
concepl, endorsed by the- State of
Washington, ofa terminal at or west
of Port Angeles as a single terminal for
the entire northwest."
HAIDA NATION
Lavina Lightbown, the President of
the Council of the Haida Nation, spoke
for the Haida people who strongly
oppose oil tanker traffic on the west
coast:
“We have some grave doubts as to
the validity of the energy crisis
relating to oil. We resent the ail
companies’ attempt to brainwash the
public into believing that our lights
will cease to shine, our motor vehicles
cease to run, and our industry come to
a grinding halt ifthe northern oil is not
brought immediately to market. We |
the Haida people would rather go back
to sails before we let oil spills damage
our sea resource, the backbone of our
culture.
“The Natives of the north can nat be
asked to give up their culture and way
of life, which they have maintained for
so many generations, so that the
wasteful energy users in the south may
maintain their luxurious lifestvle. And
as for the compensation so often
mentioned in the last few days, we ask
‘how does one put a dollar value on a
heritage that began at the time of
creation and continues to the end of
time?’ There are alternatives for
energy, not so for our culture.”
The Berger Report made several
recommendations strongly supporting
the native peoples and the environ-
ment after a lengthy Inquiry.
Hopefully, the Thompson Inquiry
will also take a strong stand on behalf
of the environment and native people
alter its work is completed and these
concerns are answered:
*How much oil does Canada have
and how long will it last?
*Does Canada really need an oil port
on the west coast?
*Should the project be built before
land claims are settled?
* Are new laws going to be needed to
deal with an oil port and increased
tanker traffic?
*What equipment and clean-up
measures will be needed to deal with a
major spill that the oil companies
admit is bound to happen?
“Who will pay for.oil spill clean-ups,
losses to individuals, and increased
patrols and inspections?
“Lastly, what will happen if an oil
spill causes environmental disaster
and ruin to a native community?
Change in Plans
A law passed by the U.S. Congress
on October Sth bans supertanker
traffic from Puget Sound in Washing-
ton State.
The U.S. law, which was supported
by all the State’s Congressmen and
which is expected to be signed soon
by President Carter, will no doubt
bring an end to the plans for an oil
superport al Cherry Point and the
Trans Mountain Pipeline project.
With the Trans Mountain project all
but dead, the Kitimate project is now
very much alive again. Earlier this
their plans.
a Pp
year, the Kitimate Pipeline cant
ium had withdrawn their application
to build the expensive project in
favour of supporting the cheaper
Trans Mountain proposal.
As a result of the ban at Cherry
Point, one of the six companies
behind the Kitimate proposal has
announced its withdrawal from the
consortium, citing delays in receiving
government approval to build the
Kitimat project. Although the comp-
any that withdrew from the consort-
ium was going to finance 25% of the
project, the remaining partners have
stated the withdrawal will not affect
Kitimat
The oil companies behind the Kiti-
mat proposal originally planned to ship
‘oil from the Alaska pipeline and the
Persian Gulf through the treacherous
waters of Hecate Strait, Dixon En-
trance, and Douglas Channel to an oil
port they would build six miles south
of Kitimat. The oil port and oil tank
|storage area would be located directly
across Douglas Channel from the
Haisla Indian village of Kitimat.
At full operation, the project would
see 13 tankers, up to 320,000 tons (the
supertanker class), arrive in Kitimat
harbour every month.
A 753-mile pipeline would be built
from Kitimat to Edmonton where the
oil would be transferred to an already
existing pipeline system for final
delivery to the midwestern United
States. The total capacity of the
| pipeline would be over 600,000 barrels
Native Media
A series of meetings held during
August and September has resulted in
the formation of a native communi-
cations society centred in the lower
mainland.
A core group of roughly thirty
people, most of them with a back-
ground in communications, formally
founded the Native Media Society on
September 20th at the Squamish Band
Office in North Vancouver.
The aims of the society as stated in
the constitution are:
a) to co-ordinate and strengthen the
existing nalive communications media ;
b) to improve communications and
the flow of information to native
people and native communities;
c) lo promote greater communicat-
ion between native people and the
general public;
d) to provide educational, social,
cultural, historic, and current infor-
mation to native people, native com-
munities, and the general public;
e) to provide information on histori-
cal and current events regarding the
of oil per dav. The estimated cost of
the oil port, storage tanks and pipeline
would be $494 million.
Trans Mountain
In this proposal, the Trans Mountain
Pipeline Company and the Atlantic
Richfield Company (ARCO), plan to
add to the present ARCO storage and
pumping facilities at Cherry Point,
Washington. The present system now
pumps Alberta oil from Edmonton to
refineries in Vancouver and at Cherry
Point. Under the Trans Mountain plan,
the oil flow in the pipeline would be
reversed and an average of 180,000
barrels of oil per day from Alaska and
overseas would be pumped to Edmon-
ton where il, would enter a pipeline
system now serving oil refineries in
the northern and midwestern United
States and in eastern Canada. The
plan would also allow the Trans
Mountain pipeline to continue pump-
ing 130,000 barrels of Alberta to
aboriginal rights and land claims issue
to nalive people, native communities,
and the general public.
An application to the Secretary of
State for interim funding has already
been submitted and a small office is
expected to be opened in Vancouver by
December Ist,
Even though there are several
native newspapers being printed, the
society points oul that there are large
gaps in the service being provided as
all of the papers have either a
restricted field of interest, a limited
circulation, or are published irregular-
ly.
The communications needs of the
more than 300 local and regional
native organizations are clearly not
~ being met since there are fewer than
12 local or regional newspapers and
newsletters being published to serve
native people on the local or regional
level.
The proposal notes that the situation
in the area of radio and TV is even
worse, since “there is a grand total of
Vancouver refineries.
An average of seven tanker arrivals
per month through Straits of Juan de
Fuca would be needed to fill the
pipeline, compared to the present of 94
tanker arrivals per month.
The cost of the Trans Mountain plan
would total $140 million.
*
Northern Tier
A total of eight companies are
behind the Northern Tier proposal that
would develop an oil port at Port
Angeles, Washington and build a
41 mile ane from there to
Clearbrook, Minnesota. Northern Tier
proposes to ship oil from Alaska and
overseas through the Straits of Juan de
Fuca in tankers up to 300,000 tons.
The large-diameter pipeline would
have an initial capacity of 600,000
barrels of oil per day with an eventual
capacity of almost | million barrels per
day.
The estimated cost of the oil
lety
only two hours of nalive programming
on all the radio and TV outlets’’-in the
province. lt adds that “the most native
programming available to any person
living anyw here i in the province is one
hour per week.’
The society's praposal stated that
“in all likelihood, only a minority of
native people in British Columbia are
actually reached by one of the native
media’, but that with the establish-
ment of a wide-ranging communical-
ions network, the society would be
reaching oul, “for the first time, to
native people and nalive groups whose
communications needs will likely nev-
er be met under the present system.”’
Long-range plans for the society
include newspaper production, radio
news and’ programming, video pro-
gramming, and the establishment of
a media resource centre. Interim
‘ funding for the society will be used to
research and catalogue the present
terminal, storage tanks and pipeline
system would be $987 million.
Others
A number of oil companies have
proposed other plans to deliver Alask-
an crude oil to American refineries,
but which will not be studied by the
Thompson Inquiry.
The proposals include: an oil port at
Long Beach, California with a pipeline
to the midwest; shipping oil from
Alaska across Central America
through the Panama Canal or a new
pipeline through Guatemala for deliv-
ery to U.S. ports on the Gulf of
Mexico; trading to Japan for them to
deliver an equal amount of oil from the}
Persian Gulf to U.S, ports on the east
coast and the Gulf of Mexico; and a
similar trading arrangement with Can-
ada involving Alberta oil going to the
midwestern U.S. in exchange for
eastern Canadian cities receiving o
from the southern U.S.
formed
native media; plan and schedule future
training and productions; secure a
wider base of native support and the
loan or denation of material, equip-
ment, or other resources; and secure
additional outside funding for the
society.
Referring to the Northern Native
Communications Society, R.A.V.E.N.,
and the Indian Foice, which all receive
funding from the native communica- ,
lions program of the Secretary of
State, the Native Media Society made
a recent statement thal it does not
want to receive any funding at the
expense of the existing programs or
operations of other native groups.
Elected to head the nine person
Board of Directors until the society's
First Annual Mecting in May, 1978
were Brian Maracle, President; Fred
Favel, Vice-President; and Trudy
Mowry, Secretary-Treasurer,
-NESIKA
Summer? Early Fall Issuc 1977
15
Treaty 9 Indians Declare
Following the patriotic celebrations
of independence by the governments
of Quebec, Canada, and the U.S. in
mid-summer, the chiefs of the Treaty
#9 area in northern Ontario made a
formal declaration of their indepen-
dence to the Ontario and Canadian
governments on July 7th.
The presentation, made by Chief
Andrew Rickard, stated that the
Ojibway and Cree people were “‘a free
and sovereign Nation’. Ontario Prem-
ier William Davis, and on July 11th,
Privy Council President Allan Mac-
Eachen, were presented with a Declar-
ation of Nishnawbe-Aski. Nishnawbe
is the Ojibway word for people and
Aski is the Cree word for land and its
resources, so the declaration was one
of “the people and the land”’.
A later press release said that,
independence to the Ojibway and Cree
people of Treaty 9 meant aufonomy
within the existing Canadian State, but
that the local self-government that is
developed will be shaped by the
spiritual and cultural background of
the Nishnawbe-Aski.
The Declaration was asking the
senior governments to return to the
Ojibway and Cree people the right to
govern their own cultural, social, and
economic affairs. In order to regain
control of these affairs, the Treaty 9
chiefs say that Treaty 9 will be
re-negotiated since government “has
refused to live up to the terms and
ndepent
ence
spirit of the treaty.”
Nishnawbe-Aski independence will
mean local self-government along the
lines of muncipal and provincial gov-
ernment powers, and the Declaration
states that enabling legislation is
needed to bring this about.
are “absurd” and a “gross misre-
presentation”’ say the chiefs.
Fred Plain, who is working on the
Indian Act revisions and is a spokes-
man for the Treaty Council, said
recently that there has not been any
official response to the declaration
from either government. He added
that the Council is not waiting for a
response, but instead is encouraging
the bands in the treaty to take on
self-government. One example cited
“The right to deal with our problems
must rest with our people. We will
regain our independence only through
legislation that recognizes and sup-
ports our form of local government. ”’
Chief Rickard later said in a press
statement that “‘it is our inalienable
right to cultural and social independ-
ence. We say that we shall and must
control our education... We realistical-
ly declare that the right to make laws
which govern our people must he
returned to the people. This is.not a
subversive activity, neither is it separ-
atism. /t is a declaration of aboriginal
rights.
Although Treaty 9 covers more than
200,000 square miles of land in
northern Ontario, the Treaty 9 chiefs
emphasize that they are not “‘staking a
claim” to the land with their declarat-
ion, as has been stated by a Thunder
Bay newspaper. Such newspaper re-
ports and other reactionary responses
by Plain was holding band council
elections without referring to the
Indian Act.
A press release states that there are
over 20,000 “‘status’’ Indians living in
40 communities in the Treaty 9 area,
as well as “‘many people of native
ancestry that are not recognized by the
government.”
When asked about the “non-status"’
issue, Plain said that “‘all laws that
interfere with our sovereignty must be
re-examined’. He added that al-
though the treaty council is only
mandated to speak for the “‘status’’
Indian, “in the long term, we must
give consideration”’ to the issue.
Plain noted that the declaration was
some four years in the making, and
was the result of many staff trips and
consultation meetings in the field.
The meetings brought forth many
elders, Plain said, that remembered
the actual treaty negotiations carried
on in 1905 before it was actually signed
the next year. They remember that the
treaty allowed whites to make use of
the resources but did not relinquish
their rights to the land.
The-Ojibway and Cree elders feel
that Treaty 9 was imposed on their
people and not negotiated fairly since
the province had already enacted
hunting and fishing laws and the
‘federal treaty was seen as an alterna-
tive to the erosion of their rights from
provincial laws.
The Declaration urges the Treaty 9
people to “fill the courtrooms in our
fight for aboriginal rights”’ by hunting,
fishing and trapping al any time and
anywhere in the treaty area for their
own consumption. Plain reports that at
least two people have already been
charged under the Migratory Birds
Convention Act and there may well be
others.
Plain also stated that the plans
announced by Reed Paper Company in
1976 to clear-cut an area of Treaty 9
that would be larger than New
Brunswick had no influence on the
Council’s Declaration. Since then, he
noted, the Ontario Government had
agreed to native demands for an
inquiry and that hearings on Reed's
plans in the form of an official
government inquiry would be held
later this year.
Some excerpts from the July 7th
Declaration of Nishnawbe-Aski:
“We the people and the land,
declare our nationhood. We, of the
Cree and Ojibway Nation who come
from within your boundaries of On-
tario, Manitoba and Quebec, and who
live in the Ontario north at the height
of land known as the Arctic watershed,
declare ourselves to be a free and
sovereign Nation. We bring you a
declaration of independence.
“We say to you that we have the
right to govern our own spiritual,
cultural, social and economic affairs.
We will describe to you how we are
going to secure our sovereignty. We
are also here because we want your
government to play a role in our return
to our form of self-government. We
ask that you become involved in our
right to develop our individual com-
munities. We intend to make them as
viable as they were before the white
man came...
"On having regained the ability to
govern ourselves we will insist that
Treaty #9 be re-negotiated. Your
government has refused to live up to
the terms, and the spirit of the treaty.
This treaty reads in part, that ‘His
Mayesty the Aing hereby agrees with
the said Indians that they shall have
the right to pursue thetr usual vocat-
ions of hunting, trapping and fishing
throughout the land’.
“We agreed to share. We lived up
to the-terms of our agreement. We
kept peace, paid honour to the
The Nishnawbe-Aski Declaration
European sovereign, allowed the
white man to settle and live according
to his laws, and permitted his religions
and cultures to be introduced to’ our
people...
“You did not live up to the
agreement. You took most of our land,
outlawed our religious beliefs and
practices, destroyed much of our
animal life and forest, restricted our
movements, stopped us from using
our languages, and tried to convince
us that our music, dances, and arts
were barbaric...
“Your cultural genocide is about to
end. In order to regain our freedom we
must establish our own control, and
return to our traditional philosphy of
life. We recognize only one ruler over
our Nation - the Creator. He made us
part of Nature. We are one with
Nature, with all that the Creator has
made around us. We have lived here
since time immemorial, at peace with
the land, the lakes and the rivers, the
animals, the fish, the birds and all of
Nature. We live today as part of
yesterday and tomorrow in the great
cycle of life.
“Unlike you, we have sacred respect
for the land. You have alienated life
and land, by the exploitation of the
natural resources. As a result of your
greed there is a real possibility that
our environment will be destroyed. If it
is, we also will be destroyed because
we are part-of Nature...
“In your rush for material gain, you
are threatening Nature's very limits.
Now, it is our sacred duty to slow you
‘16
Summer/ Early Fall Issue 1977
NESIKA
down before she is destroyed...
**This is asad day, but we have been
asad people for many years. However,
to our people, today is also an
historical day. It is not often that a
Nation makes a formal Declaration of
independence.
"We are not a new Nation like you.
“Only a few days ago we watched as
you celebrated your Canada Day, and
as we did, we thought what Canada
Day meant to us. To the Treaty #9 Cree
and Ojibway, 110 years of your
Confederation have meant 110 years of
our disintegration, While you celebra-
ted we felt anger, frustration, regret
and tolerance.
"We can no longer permit the
progressive rape of our Mother Earth,
and its life-giving forces. We have our
children to save. The continued exis-
tence of our race is a sacred mandate
passed on to us by our ancestors.
“Today our relationship with you
must change. We will only accept your
meaningful involvement. It will be on
our terms, or not al all.
"To ensure our survival on the land
we say that our aboriginal hunting and
fishing rights will never be taken
away. We do not recognize the fish
and game laws which have eroded our
way of life. We encourage and support
our people; (A) to hunt and fish in any
part of Treaty #9 for their own
consumption during any season; (B) to
trap anywhere in the Treaty #9 area;
and (C) to trap without the infringe-
ment of tax regulations. If necessary,
we will encourage our people to fill
your courtrooms in our fight for our
aboriginal rights...
"Today we are here to tell you who
we are. We, the Nishnawbe-Aski have
ance and its local control.” -
inalienable rights they are:
1) The right to self-government.
2) The right to receive compensation
for our exploited natural resources.
3) The right to receive compensation
for the destruction and abrogation of
our hunting and fishing rights.
4) The nght to re-negotiate our
treaty.
5) The right to negotiate with the
elected governments of your society,
through appropriate levels of repre-
sentation.
6) The right to approach the judical,
governmental and business institut-
ions of your society in our quest for
self-determination and local control.
7) The right of our elected chiefs to
deal with your society's elected cabi-
nets on an equal basis.
8) The right to approach other world
Nations to further the aim of the Cree
and Ojibway Nations of Treaty 29.
9) The right to use every necessary
alternative to further the cause of our
people.
10) The right to use all that the
Creator has given us to help all of
mankind.
“The solutions to our problems
must come from within our. local
communities. The right to deal with
those problems must rest with our
people. We will regain our independ-
ence only through legislation that
recognizes and supports our form of}
local government.
"Our Nationhood itself is sacred and
can not be negotiated. However, we
are ready to start negotiating the
implementation of this Nationhood.
For any Nation to exist, it must have
legislation that enhances its self-reli-
Ly
Stuart-Trembleur:
Railway Talks Drag On
It has now been more than two years
since negotiations began between the
Stuart-Trembleur Band and the Prov-
incial Government over the Band’s
long-standing dispute with the B.C.
Railway, and the end is still not in
sight.
The parties are’ negotiating because
the Band has never been compensated
for the loss of more than 300 acres of
reserve lands and the damages caused
by the extension of the B.C.R. through
their territory in 1972.
The Government's «slowness and
uncaring attitude in resolving the issue
finally provoked the Band to blockade
the railroad on April 28th, 1975,
thereby shutting down all traffic on the
line to Dease Lake. The blockade
stayed up for almost four months and
wasn't taken down until August loth
when the Province agreed to begin
negotiations instead of continuing to
give the Band a “‘take-it-or-léave-it”
offer.
The dispute began in early 1967
when the B.C.K. wrote to DIA asking
for a right-of-way through seven of the
Band's reserves. The Band Council in
February of 1969 agreed to allow the
BCR to survey a rmght-of-way, in
exchange for ‘a three-for-one land
exchange. However, the BCR quickly
sent in construction crews. Construct-
ion on the line was completed in the
spring’ of 1973, but because of the
pollution and eavirtamental damages
caused by the construction, the Band
decided to add a claim for cash
compensation to the understanding of
the land exchange.
After the railway was completed,
the BCR hired a consulting firm to
study the effects of the railway on the
Band. The study showed that $29,000
worth of timber was lost as a result of
construction but more importantly, the
losses of hunting, fishing, and trapp-
The Band originally demanded 944
acres and $7 million. They now state
they will consider as compensation,
ithe following (with Labour Minister
Allan Williams’ response in italics):
plus an island that ts used by two band
members as a base for their guiding
business.
No response
2) An additional 7 acres for each
acre lost to the railway, making the
land exchange ten acres for one with
the Band to select the acreage from
unoccupied Crown lands.
The Province stands by the original
3 for I exchange with the lands to
become reserve land, and before
considering additional lands, “the
Band must indicate which parcels it
desires, and to what use they may be
| put to ensure that are real benefit to
the Stuart-Trembleur people”.
3) That Provincial Order-in-Council
11036 not apply to present or future
reserve lands.
No response.
4) Compensation in the amount of
$144,000 for the railway's trespass on
{the reserves for the past 8 years at the
rate of $18,000 per year.
The Government offers $100,000 as
eomprasetion fon damages. [The .or-
a =
1) The 944 acres presently agreed-
es
ing resources to Band members aver-
aged $50,000 per year.
The study's most significant finding
was the large reduction in the moose
population in the area. “About 125 of
these animals are required annually,
and this number was obtained easily
before the advent of the railroad’’ the
study noted.
Although the road allowed white
hunters to come into the area more
easily, the study states, “the timing of
events strongly suggests that the
railroad effect has been the greater of
the two.”
By November of 1974, the Govern-
ment was trying to get the Band to
accept an économic development pack-
age including a marina and a shopping
centre instead of the $7 million it was
demanding.
In mid-summer of 1975, with the
blockade still in place, the Government
made their "‘final offer’’ of the
three-for-one land exchange and
$50,000.
~The negotiations which began in
September, 1975 after the blockade
was taken down, were quickly stalled
by the provincial election of that year
and the changeover to a Social Credit
Government from- NDP. With Labour
Minister Allan Williams in charge, the
Government's position remained es-
sentially unchanged in 1976 and P97TT-
The Band shifted its position ‘on July
lSth of this year, however, and
dropped its demand for at million, in
place ‘of a new demand for more land,
and an undetermined amount of
funding for a logging operation,
housing, a sewer system, 4 recreation
complex, road maintenace, “and
$144,000 cash.
In their counter-offer, the Band
noted that there are 178 Band mem-
bers who are- either employed or
looking for work out of a total Band
Williams’ Response to Stuart-Trembleur Demands
iginal offer was 330,000.)
3) Timber-eutting rights for the
Band to total 50,000 units of timber per
year for 30 years.
The Government is “sympathetic to
this request” and proposes that the
Band apply to ARDA to establish a
logging operation with the Govern-
ment to support the application and
ensuring that the Band “‘will have
access to sufficient timber to sustain a
logging operation.”
db). Exclusive hunting nghts in the
Stuart-Trembleur area:
The Province’s Fish and Wildlife
Branch “plans to eliminate much of
the red tape from the sustenance
permil system".
6) Provincial funding to establish the
logging operation and a sawmill; and
funding to help get the 100 houses that
will be needed by Band members over
the next ten years.
Forestry experts recommend that a
sawmill not be established due to
“high start-up costs and ‘existing
unused capacity al the Appollo saw-
mill," The Band ts referred ta ARDA
for funding for the logging operations.
7) Government grants to off-set
costs for proper communily sewage
systems for the three villages - Tache,
Binche, and. Portage, -. with the
a adie ee
J esika
ee of 827. Of those 178 people,
only 20% are employed year-round,
40% are employed less than 4% the -
year, and 30% are completely unem-
ployed.
Their statement to Williams also
said “there must be planning for
future generations. There is a high
percentage of Band members in school
who are about to come onto the job
market. Planning must start now so
that they can remain a part of their
cultural community and earn a living
in their community. We do. not want
our children and people to become a
part of the failures that are a drain on
the welfare system and a burden on
the corrections system.”
The Band’s proposal noted that
although their members pay many
provincial taxes, they receive little in
the way + of provincial services. They
point out that although Tache and
Binche have running water, a sewer
system is badly needed because septic
tanks are not. permitted. and toilet
facilities have to be outdoors.
Their statement concludes by saying
the Band wants to obtain ‘the
economic base necessary to sustain the
community and to provide — the facilit-
ies necessary to’ ensure that the
reserves will develop as an. attractive
place for Stuart-Trembleur, people to
live.”
Labour Minister Allan Williams
replied to their counter-offer on Sep-
tember 6th and said “that few of the
demands made by the Band. are
directly related to the use bythe B.C.
Railway of certain reserve lands.
Rather, the demands reflect the aspir-
ations of the Band for improved living
conditions on their reserves and forthe
creation of jobs through the establish-
ment of a forestry industry operation.”
In his reply, Williams doubled the
money offer, agreed to road mainten-
ance, and said that additional lands
would be considered.
Nishgas Not Worried About
Williams’ Statement that Province
Not Committed to Settlement =
A press release from the Nishga
Tribal Council says that a recent
statement by Labour Minister Allan
Williams tothe effect that the provin-
tial gove Fee nt wisn’ Committed to
negotiating a a final ‘seiilchient with the
Nishgas 15 no cause for alarm.
~ Williams” statement came from a
letter he had written to the Kitimat:
Stikine Regional District on August
loth. He was responding to a regional
district resolution asking that details of
the negotiations be made public and
that the regional district be allowed to
take part in the negotiations since the
“
estimated cost for the Tache system,
the largest of the Bands v illages, being
$800,000.
If the Band incorporates Tache
Villages as a village municipality, the
Band will become eligible for a grant
covering up to foto of the cast of the
construction of a sewer system-on the
reserve.
8) Homes for the elderly need to be
built and staffed by trained personnel
on a regular basis.
For a group care home on the
reserve the Band must first form .a
non-profit society to plan the home and
apply to CMHC for a long-term
mortgage. Or, the Band may persuade
the town of Fort St. James [40 miles
auty| to form such a soctety and
operate such a facility there.
9) A recreation and cultural centre
complex is needed since only a small
community hall and the elementary
school are available to meet these
needs,
Nea response,
10) Road maintenance is needed
during all seasons in the villages of
Tache, Binche, and in future, Portage.
“There will be no Base in
fulfilling this request.”
wl
‘Summer/Early Fall Issue, 1977
Nisha territory is in = regional
district. —
Williams’ letter read in part that: “‘l
wish to advise you that’ the Province is
nol engaged “in land | Clainr?*negoria-
tions with the Nishg’ Tribat! Council:
Last vear the Provitice agreed, with
the FedéraP Government, to Take part
in discussions oer identifving the
elements of the Nis y claim: It is not
correct, however, for any of the parties
involved: to describe: Uiese discussions
as ‘land claims negolitations’...
~ Al line: has the Province
committed) itself to negotiations lead-
ing to an inevitable settlement.”
The Nishga statement said that the
letter was a “‘fair assessment of the
achievements to date regarding land
claims negotiations with the Nishga
Tribal Council.”
Flic press release said that Will-
ams” statement that the Province had
never committed itself te negotiating a
settlement “vould certainly mislead
thase who are not totally familar with
the Government's commitment: as
expressed in the Legislature, the
press, and to the two other parties at
the negotiating table."’
The release concluded, by saying
that Williams’ letter “‘appears to be an
internal explanation of procedure to
Provincial local government represent-
alives, rather than a significant change
in policy direction.”*
A spokesman for the Tribal Council
said the letter was meant to tell the
regional district to “mind its own
business’, and that talks were suill
continuing with the Council and the
Government.
The Nishgas also announced that
they would be gathering for the 20th
annual convention of the Nishga Tribal
Council, to be held this year from
November 2-4 in New Aiyansh. The
convention's theme this year will ‘be
“Self-Determination’’.
Thak
7
Canada Ap
roves Pipeline
Through Yukon & B.C.
While the Mackenzie Valley Pipe-
line had a history stretching back
several years and the consortium
behind the project spent $140 million
researching, planning and promoting
the it, the planning for the rival Alcan
route began less than a year ago.
It was then that Bob Blair, the
President of Foothills Pipeline Ltd.,
pulled the company out of the Canad-
ian Arctic Gas consortium, the promot-
ers.of the Mackenzie Valley route, and
submitted his.own proposal for the
Alaskan Highway route in February of
‘this year. His plan call for a natural
gas pipeline to follow the route of the
Alaskan oil pipeline to..Fairbanks,
Alaska; down the Alaskan Highway
through the Yukon, British Columbia,
and Alberta where it would enter the
present pipeline system for delivery to
the United States.
BERGER’S RECOMMENDATIONS
Justice Berger had spent almost two
years hearing evidence and testimony
on the social, environmental, and
economic impact of a Mackenzie
Valley pipeline and was in the final
stages of preparing his report when
the Foothills application was submitt-
ed.
The major recommendations in his
report were that:
1) There be no pipeline across the
northern Yukon or the Mackenzie
River Delta, leaving only the small gas
reserves in the Canadian Delta to be
tapped by the project when the major
gas fields were in Alaska;
2) No pipeline should be built until
native claims are settled and imple-
mented, a period of ten years;
3) Ifthe pipeline was built now down
the Mackenzie Valley, the social
impact would be “‘devastating’’; it
would “do enormous damage to the
social fabric of the North’’, and would
stand in the way of a just settlement of
native claims.
The few references to the Alcan
route that Berger made were favour-
able. He noted that the route follows
an existing highway and pipeline
corridor and that it would not threaten
any major populations of any wildlife
species, most notably, the northern
caribou herds.
NLELB. REPORT
The National Energy Board (NEB)
made its report on a northern natural
gas pipeline on July 4th. It too,
recommended against the Mackenzie
Valley route and approved the Alcan
route along the Alaskan Highway.
The NEB recommended, though,
that the route of the Alcan pipeline be
moved north of the Alaskan Highway
to go through Dawson City were a
connecting pipeline could be built
along the Dempster Highway, to link
up with Canadian gas reserves in the
Mackenzie Delta.
The Council for Yukon Indians (CYT)
immediately reacted to the NEB report
with “shock and disappointment”’,
and charged the NEB with blatantly
ignoring CY! concerns for a just land
claims settlement.
The CYI statement also said it would
be impossible for the Foothills Com-
pany to make the necessary studies on
the Dempster Highway pipeline to the
Mackenzie Delta.
Work on the Dempster Highway
connecting Dawson City with Inuvik in
the Mackenzie Delta began in 1959
and is still not complete.
An evironmental impact study on
the Dempster Highway’s construction,
and commissioned by the Federal
Government in 1972, showed that a
pipeline following the highway route
able limits” if the government accepts
and implements four major recom-
mendations, and that no approval for a
pipeline should be given unless the
conditions were met.
The recommendations in the August
2nd report were:
1) Construction of a pipeline should
be delayed until August 1981, to avoid
prejudicing a just land claims settle-
ments and to allow for the terms of a
settlement to be implemented. The
commissioners reported that they had
no doubt that a just settlement and
usld cause leaks -lerm environmental
damage. lt stated that the route would
cross extremely unstable land that is
subject to landslides and erosion.
LYSYA'S REPORT
The Federal Government gave Ken-
neth Lvsvk three months to investigate
report, and make recommendations on
the social economic impact of the
Alaska Highway Pipeline, as compar-
ed to the nearly three years that were
piven to Berger.
Lysvk, the Dean of the law school at
U.B.C., was appointed to head the
inquiry which also included Willard
Phelps, a lawyer nominated by the
Yukon Territorial Government, and
Edith Bohmer, a Yukon Indian ap-
pointed by the Council for Yukon
Indians.
The three-person commission unan-
imously agreed that the “undesirable
social and economic consequences of
the project can be kept within accept-
18
~ Sunvater/ Eark Fall lssue 1977
. NESIKA
implementation of the Yukon land
claim “is much more important to the
fulure of the Yukon than any pipe-
lime"”,
2) A new regulatory agency should
be created to plan, control, and
monitor all aspects of pipeline activity
io minimize the undesirable social,
econémic and environmental impacts.
Lysyk suggested that the agency
should only operate in a narrow
pipeline corridor in the southern
Yukon and possible B.C. and Alberta,
and that it be given special supervisory
and regulatory powers.
3) Foothills Pipelines Ltd. - the
company that has applied to build the
project - should pay at least $200 |
million into a special Yukon Heritage
Fund which would be used to compen-
sale the negative impact of a pipeline
in the communities.
4) The Federal Government should
make an advance payment of $50
million on a future land -claims
settlement. The interest on the pay-
‘ment ‘could be used to begin imple-
mentation of a settlement.
OTTAWA & WASHINGTON
NEGOTIATIONS
A week after the Lysyk report was
released, the Federal Cabinet met and
gave Foothills Pipelines Lid. a condit-
ional approval to build the project.
Cabinet Minister Allan MacEachen
was then sent to Washington as
Canada’s top negotiator to convince
the Americans to build the Canadian
route rather than a much more
expensive all-American route through
Alaska. ;
The CYI and its Chairman, Daniel
Johnson, angrily blasted the Cabinet
when its decision was announced.
Johnson said that Yukon Indians did
not want a pipeline through their lands
for at least seven years, preferably
ten, and no pipeline ever along the
Dempster Highway.
Calling the decision “‘cultural-geno-
cide warfare”, a press release said “if
the pipeline is built as proposed, the
fires of racial conflict which are
already heating up in the Yukon will be
fanned to produce even more devastat-
ing consequences,”
The release said the Lysyk report
was a political set-up to justify the
sell-out of Yukon Indians. It also said
the report misrepresented the CYI
position on the ten year delay.
A month of hurried negotiations
wer the complicated financial and
routing details resulted in an agree-
ment being reached between Canada
and the U.S. on the Alcan route.
The agreement, reached September
Sh, allows construction on the line to
start in January 1981: a vear and a half
alter Foothills proposed start-up date;
sacen menths seoner than neoom-
merilod bow the Lasvk Inquiry; and 3b
vours sooner than the minimum time
frame of the CVE.
The agreement does contain the
Lasvk recommendation that the Foot-
hill company be requiterdd te pas S200
million to offset disruptions caused by
thie: poupren Larne int tha lerrilory. However,
the Yuko Heritage Fund that Lysyk
recommended is apparently nol going
to be established. The money will be
paid by Foothills over the next few
years as a form of pre-payment on the
taxes that will have to be paid to the
Territorial Government, and the sum
will be deducted from the company's
tax bills in future years.
The recommendation by the NEB
that the pipeline be re-routed through
Dawson City, to make it closer to
Canadian gas fields in the Mackenzie
Delta, was dropped from the agree-
ment. Instead, the pipeline will still
follow the Alaska Highway route and
the Americans will pay most or all of
the later cost of building a pipeline to
Dawson City.
A PIPELINE CRITIQUE
A pipeline to bring northern Alaska
gas to southern U.S. markets has been
described as the biggest project ever
attempted by private enterprise and
the statistics bear that out. The Alcan
pipeline, for example, will be almost
5,000 miles long. Of the: total, 2,000
miles will be in Canada (not including
a 737 mile-long connecting link to the
Mackenzie Delta) with 439 miles of
that to be in B.C. There will be 731
miles of pipe in Alaska and an
additional 2,000 miles in the continent-
al U.S.
The estimated cost of the entire
project is said to be $10 billion; the
Canadian section to cost between $3.8
and $4.4 billion.
The pipeline will generate an es-
timated $1 billion in land taxes for the
Yukon Government and buy $1 billion
of pipe from Ontario steel mills.
The project will result, directly and
indirectly, in close to 100,000: man-
years of employment, including about
200 permanent jobs in the Yukon.
All the advantages aside, though the
question remains; should Canada have
given the permission for the Alcan
route, or any pipeline for that matter,
when this country does not have
a national energy policy; when na-
tive land claims are unsettled: and
when the environmental effects hav-
en’t even been studied?
The project, first of all, is meant to
meet American gas shortages with an
American source of supply on the
north slope of Alaska. There was a
proposal from El Paso Natural Gas to
build an all-American route through
Alaska with the gas to be liquified
and shipped in tankers to the southern
U.S. The El Paso proposal was
supported by environmental groups,
by native groups including the CYT,
and by the U.S. Federal Power
Commission. Liquifying and shipping
the gas by tanker however, would have
made it much ‘more expensive than a
Canadian pipeline.
~ But there are Canadian alternatives
to the Alcan pipeline. In the words of
Ottawa ‘columnist’ Richard Gwyn:
“Suppose Canada allowed the U.S. to
bring its own gas southward on its own
(by tanker). We then could apply all
that money, men and materials to
alternative energy projects that would
directly benefit us - such as a third tar
sands oil plant...or a pipeline to carry
Alberta gas to Montreal and the
Maritimes.””
It could be money spenton isulation,
alternative and renewable energy re-
search and development, and other
conservalion measures
save more energy and create more jobs
than pipelines can provide.
GATT-Fly, A Canadian church pro-
ject flyer, states that what pipeline
companies don't borrow abroad has to
be raised in Canada and that every
dollar loaned by Canadian banks and
other sources, is not available “‘for
investment in industries producing
goods and services and permanent
jobs...[t also means that less money is
available at higher interest rates for
household mortgages.”’
But did Ottawa study these other
alternatives? Again Richard Gwyn:
“In a word, no. Ottawa, which has
studied every aspect of the northern
pipeline, from its effect upon: white
whales to the effect upon it- of frost
heave, has not done a ane study to
determine whether we'd
build the Alcan pipeline for the
Americans or to build ae else
for ourselves.”’
Huge energy development projects
such as these usually end up costing
several times the original estimate.
The Alaska pipeline for example,
ended up costing fen times the original
estimated cost - about $10 million per
square mile.
Foothills says it can build its section
of the line for between $3 million and
$4 million per mile. How much
higher the final figure will be is
unknown, but the Americans are now
predicting that the cost over-run will
be 40% .
Although the agreement ered by.
the U.S. and Canda says that there will
“be no government financial guaran-—
tees, the NEB has expressed its doubts:
about the ability of Foothills to
fianance their end of the project. Given
the recent history of projects like
Syncrude and the Olympics, it is a very
likely possibility that the Federal
Government (the taxpayers) will have
to bail out the corporations because of
which can :
o better to ~
much higher than anticipated costs
threatening the future of the project.
While the U.S. obviously needs
Canadian gas, what are this country’s
needs? The answer, according to
many independent estimates, is that
Canada has enough to last for another
20 years, if it is properly distributed,
before new gas is needed.
In fact, there is relatively little gas in
the Mackenzie Delta. Present gas
reserves in the Delta would only be
able to meet Canada’s needs for 244
years, and if Delta gas were brought
south before the 1990's, most of it
would probably be exported to the
U.S. :
Not only does Canada not get any of
the American gas for tearing up the
northern landscape, but the building
of the pipeline may actually lead to
additional Canadian gas exports to the
U.S.! That was the hope expressed by
US Energy Secretary James Schlesing-
er who said that about 800 million
cubic feet a day of Alberta gas should
begin moving in the southern part of
the new pipeline by the winter of
- While the preceding criticisms can
be applied to any northern pipeline;
there are several that relate specifical-
ly to the Alcan proposal.
Firstly, this country has approved a
pipeline with a route to generally
follow the Alaska Highway, but with
the exact position not yet decided.
More importantly, though, there have
been no environmental field studies
tarried out on more than half this
section of the line.
While two hurried and last-minute
government inquiries have attached a
number of conditions to the building of
--a- pipeline in the Yukon; there have
been no such recommendations made
about the 439 mile section of the
pipeline that will cross B.C. (a section
longer than the one in the Yukon).
The Berger report noted that the
consortium applying to build the
Mackenzie Valley line did not really
know what to do about problems in
building a line across discontinous
permafrost (frost heaves, for examp-
le). The technical data supplied. with
the Foothills application was even
more vague about this problem.
A major NEB recommendation was
for the line to be re-routed through
Dawson City so that a connecting link
could be, built along the Dempster
Highway to reach the gas fields in the
Mackenzie Delta. ‘However, no gas
company has even proposed to build
such a line! There have been no
studies made of the Dempster link
which will cut across the migration
routes of two major caribou herds. The
route will also cut through the territory
of the people of Old Crow in the
northern Yukon, and Berger ruled
against a northern Yukon pipeline to
protect those caribou and that village.
Even if the Dempster link is not
built, the entire Alcan project becomes
just what it is right now - a plan to
carry American gas to the U.S. across
Canada. It ‘is a plan whose environ-
mental consequences are still not fully
understood; a plan that ties up several
billion Canadian investment dollars; a
plan that will cause significant social
upheavals; and a plan that makes a
just land claims settlement all but
impossible.
A just settlement, and it implement-
ation, even it it does take ten years,
should be the first priority for the
development of Canada’s north. Once
again, though, it looks like the rights
of the northern native people will be
_ sacrificed, this time in the name of a
make-work project for the one million
unemployed people in Canada.
Labour Minister John Munro called
the project “‘the light at the end of the
tunnel” for Canada’s unemployed.
However, a government that had a
planned national energy policy and a
genuime commitment to protect the
environment and Fecognize native
rights, could have taken care of this
country's unemployed with ‘a quite
different - andJar brighter- light at the
end of the same energy tunnel.
Inuit F ight Lan uage Law
The election of a separatist govern-
ment in Quebec began the battle over
national unity that has raged in the
press and the media for much of the
past year. It is a battle, however, in
which the Inuit people of northern
Quebec do not intend to become its
victims or innocent bystanders.
Outside opportunists saw the Inuit’s
resistance to Quebec's language law
as a chance to do battle with the
separatists. To the Inuit, however, the
issue is not separatism or national
* unity, but their opposition to the
language law, Bill 101, and more
importantly, the right to determine
their own future.
The Inuit objected to Bill 101 when it
was first introduced because they
feared they would be forced to learn
another European language while
their own, Inuktitut, was being crush-
ed by the forces of increasing white
contact and northern development.
They were also worried that ‘the law
will result.in them being cut off ‘rom
other Inuit people in-Labrador ans the
N.W.T. who also happen te be
English-speaking.
The Inuit leaders state they agree
CiWith bre: goal ‘of Bill, 10);., arid: are
> willing: to:introducé and team EFrégch
in their business and other dealings,
but they stress they want to a 50 at
their own pace.
Their opposition to the law saw the
leaders of the Northern Quebec Inuit
Association (NQIA) demand that all
provincial police and employees leave
the Inuit communities and return to
the south. The leaders followed up the
demand by replacing the provincial
flag with the Canadian flag in all the
communities and shutting off the
waler, sewage, and garbage: services
to the homes and offices of provincial
employees and police.
The provincial government respond-
ed dramatically with two heavily-arm-
ed 25 man squads of riot police being
sent into Fort Chimo and Great Whale
River.
The response from outside the
province was just as dramatic and
immediate. ‘Scores of reporters. flew
intothe tiny community of Fort Chimo
to relay the latest developments.
Politicians began focusing on_ the
dispute in speeches.around the count-
ry. And a Toronto businessman enter-
ed the fray, offering to finance a court
case over the language law,
+ NQIA leader-Gharlie, Watt-met with
aReadalnadarclores Camillo. Milani and
returned to his village disappointed
that the southern businessman had
little concern for the Inuit themselves.
“He seemed to have some other cause
- saving Canada. That's not our fight
al the moment’, said Watt.
Camille Latrin, the government
. Minister responsible for the language
law, began meeting with Watt and
other Inuit leaders. He told them that
native language rights would be
protected under Bill 101, and seemed
anxious to convince the Inuit of his and
the government's good intentions. The
Inuit point out, however, that what
Laurin was speaking about were
“exemptions from the law, and: not
the “guarantees”’ they were seeking.
The Inuit object to the fact that Inuit
from other parts of Canada who move
into northern Quebec will not be able
to educate their children in English
under the terms of Bill 101. The Inuit
also object to being forced. to use
French in the businesses they will
establish as part of the James. Bay
setilement.
Bill C-9, the federal law dealing with
the settlement has been passed, but
not yet put into effect as the Inuit have
campaigned to get language and
cultural guarantees-from Quebec be-
fore it is enacted.
At community meetings held dur-
ing the period of open confrontation,
several Inuit leaders warned that they
would separate from Quebec if the
province left Confederation. They
stated that the Inuit living north of the
doth papralel would seek territorial
status from Canada, taking 24 of the
resource-rich northern territories with
them.
The Inuit complain that Quebec has
historically paid little attention to the
native people until the early 1960's.
Before that, almost all contact with the
south was. in English through the
Anglican Church, the Hudson’s Bay
Company, and the Indian Affairs
Department.
At present, the dispute still simmers.
The riot police, a third of the teachers,
and the reporters have all returned to
the south, and the provineral schools
serving O00 students remain closed,
/ NESIKA
‘Summet/ Early Fall Issue £977
349
Becoming whole once again
The following arricle was submitted
by Don Whiteside (sin a paw), a
long-time supporter of the NESIKA ,
and is based on a speech he gave: in
fpril at Concordia University in Mon:
ireal:
When | think about the situation of
aboriginal people today in Canada, an
image formsin my mind: an image of a
broken mirrorin which one ean not see
clearly. what it is supposed to reflect.
The: pieces of the mirror-obviously fit
together, but atthe same time, the
glass is faulted at such odd angles that
each small piece of glass appears to be
unique. In addition, the shattered
mirror is of little practical use-and it ts
even harder to look at for verv long.
Like the broken murror, the Indian
Nations today appear shattered into
such small and-unique groups that it ts
difficult-to see the unity and beauty
that they once reflected so proudly,
Today our people are badly divided
and this fragmentation makes us sad
and worried about the prospects for
our children. and grandchildren. Yet,
in addition to the shattered mirror that
aboriginal people present, | also see
the elements which will help the
picture: become whole once again.
I am notone of the romantics who
see the past, before the coming of the
Europeans, as a peaceful paradise. |
am enough a realist to believe that .
people in the past were motivated by
similar desires as exist today.
With the coming of the Europeans,
however, the basic umity or wholeness,
began to crack. The Europeans, in the
quest of riches, encouraged competit-
ion between the various Indian Nations
as well as within each Indian Nation,
when such competition was to their
benefit. Thus Europeans - the Dutch,
the French, and the English - each
armed “its Indians’ to raid or destroy
the others. As the Indians became
more dependent on the Europeans for
trade items and new essentials such as
rifles and powder, the competition
became more widespread and bloody.
The sacred hoops became endangered
as the unity, wholeness, and beauty of
the Indian Nations slowly shattered.
When the Europeans thought that
they had exhausted the economic
resources and occupied the continent
in such numbers that Indian allies
were no longer needed, the Indian
Nations began to crumble even more.
Disposed from their land and pushed
further and further westward and
northward away from their traditional
homelands and economic pursuits,
Indian people were once again reduced
to an elementary struggle for survival,
but against more sinister forces than
just the weather and the hunt. Now
they had to struggle against the
colonizers who wanted to destroy any
semblance of tribal power and Indian
culture.
You know how Indian Nations were
systematically split apart, and how
they became totally irrelevant to the
Europeans who saw themselves as
both superior and with a manifest
destiny to insure that the “new world”
would be a.model for their view of
social progress. If this challenge were
not enough to hear, Indians quickly
discovered thal to become relevant
once again meant participation. with
the European society on their terms.
Thus, individual Indians began the
struggle to become “‘successful’’.
Kinsmen who valued the traditional
wavs or could not compete were left to
is it accidental that the federal
government allows its senior staff to
be seconded to native associalions to
assist these organizations in the
preparation of land claims which: will
then be submitted back to the federal
accupy what was left of the vast land
base of the Indian Nations. As. time
went by, even these reserves, these
havens of security, were torn by. strife
as people became destructively com-
petitive in order to curry the good will
of the Indian Agents or other powerful
people from the colonial government.
Little wonder that as we look around
us today, we see the aboriginal world
shattered like the broken mirror.
Today we have Indians: who are of
every colour of the rainbow, almost
every religious denomination on the
face of the earth; those who speak only
an Indian language and those who
speak only French or English. We
have Indians who have never lived off
a reserve and others who have never
seen a reserve. We have Indians who
are thoroughly “‘modern”’ and others
who believe only in traditional ways.
We have Indians who want to form
their own political life inthe European
sociely. We -have Indians who do not
drink, others who drink some, and
others who drink a lot. We have rich
Indians and poor Indians. The whole-
ness of the past has heen broken, and
to many people, Indian and non-In-
dian, it is becoming increasingly
difficult 10 see the basic unity which
still exists between Indian people m
Canada. Yet, to me, despite this bleak
situation, there are definite signs in
which point to a better future.
I] should quickly add here, before
discussion of the elements which may
hold promise for our future, that the
strategy of trying fo splinter the unity
of aboriginal people has not stopped.
Today we see the colonial govern-
ments actively encouraging dissension
among our people Lo reach or maintain
their objectives.
It is not accident, for example, thal
some native political associations were
formed hastily in northern Quebec just
to sign the James Bay Agreement. Nor -
fe ee ee oe ee a ce ee ee
Sauer Ears Fall Issuc 1977
NESIKA
eet
= Weed al __ a, a Sige ang
government for approval. | do not
understand how secondments are de-
signed to benefit native people when
their input is’ usually limited to. the -
signing of the final documents. Also, I
do not believe it is accidental that we
now have two. native associations in
the Northwest Territories, one which
demands a halt to -the Mackenzie
Valley Pipeline until land claims are
settled, and the other demanding the
immediate building of the pipeline.
Anvone want to wager money on which
group the government will listen to
most attentively?
In short the historical tradition of
dividing and conquering continues. In
addition, the historical tradition of
using Indians to fight battles which are
not ours also continues. In fact, in
Quebec, as the fight for control of the
province heats up, I will not be
surprised to see the French and
Enghsh “mobilize their Indians” to
once again be fodder in the: struggle
tor control. Certainly, at the minimum,
one can expect the federal government
to use the Indians as an excuse to
further their national interests in
Quebec.
Perhaps enough has been said about
the situation today. Now | want to
-briefly outline what | consider to be the
elements for a better future.
No doubt the biggest element in
cementing our people together is the
acknowledgement of our aboriginal
title to the land mass now called
Canada. It is hard to imagine that only
a few years ago, the federal govern-
ment maintained that there was no
basis in law for any aboriginal claims
by-our people. Now it is generally
conceded that we have been deprived
of 78% of our land illegally, that is.
without benefit of any compensation.
In fact, today over ou‘ of the land
mass has been formally reclaimed by
aboriginal people and these claims are
under active consideration by the
Canadian government. The extent. of
‘times call
their people. Other
this change in attitude can also be seen
in the willingness of the federal
government to loan native associations
millions and millions of dollars against
the amount of monies to be awarded in
any land claim settlement. No doubt
the government hopes, in addition to
setthng the land question for all time,
that like the Crees in James Bay, the
Indians will become so indebted
because of the loans that they will
quickly sign over the land for a fraction
of its: worth.- Yet, I believe the
experience in- James Bay has been a
valuable lesson andother Indians may
not be so easily duped. More and more
Indians are not demanding money, or
even economic development, but rath-
er political power on a secure land
base. With political power and territor-
ial control, it is anticipated that the
economic benefits will follow.
Another important. element is the
urbanization of native people. While
this. process is causing a lot of social
problems, it also means an end to the
splintering of groups on small reserves
in isolated areas of the country. Today,
for example, there are almost 40,000
Indians in Winnipeg alone. This
change is reflected in the growth of-a
new political identity which we some-
“pan-Indianism'’, that is,
where the traditional animosities fade
out of existence in the face of more
immediate problems and is replaced
by a common awareness of Indianness.
A third element. is the increasing
tendency for Indian people te. control
the programs which effect their lives.
This element is the most tricky of the
new developments since the Canadian
government still controls the financial _
resources and desperately tries to-pit
Indian against Indian im~ order to
maintain. their position as controller
and arbitrator.
A fourth element is the gradual
elimination. of the native political
associations which were established
along provincial lines in favour of
organizations which are tribal in
nature. Certainly this change will be
resisted strongly by the governments
and even by leaders of existing
associations. The government will
resist because the change represents
the potential for real tribal power. The
current leaders will resist because the
change threatens their personal pow-
er. Yet, this movement is gaining
momentum and the future direction 1s
clear = we will re-create the power and
prestige of the Nations.
A final element is the education of
our people. For too long our people
were denied self-government and the
opportunity to be free because of a lack
of so-called “‘life skills’’. Now with the
repressive lid of social control being.
broken, our natural leaders are rising
and taking their rightful place amongst
people are being
educated in law and other practical
professions. Our children and ‘our
grandchildren will have positive imag-
esto imitate and our people will have
access to the process of administration
which has been hidden from us for so
lorie.
As these elements of change come
inte focus, one can only see a bright
future and the shattered people will be
whole and beautiful once more.
These are my words.
Sie -
—
Part of Nesika: The Voice of B.C. Indians -- Summer/Fall 1977