Periodical
Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs Newsletter (March/April 1992)
- Title
- Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs Newsletter (March/April 1992)
- Is Part Of
- 1.06-01.08 Union of BC Indian Chiefs Newsletter
- 1.06.-01 Newsletters and bulletins sub-series
- Date
- March 1992
- Language
- english
- Identifier
- 1.06-01.08-03.01
- pages
- 9
- Table Of Contents
-
IN THIS ISSUE...
Messsage from the President............p. 2
Post-secondary Education Report... p. 3
Resource Centre Report...................p. 5
In-House Counsel Report.................p. 6 - Contributor
- Chief Saul Terry
- Stewart Philip
- Tim Atkinson
- Nancy Sandy
- Type
- periodical
- Transcription (Hover to view)
-
Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs
NEWSLETTER
MARCH/APRIL 1992
Provisional Government focus of Special Assembly
Sovereign government powers to protect gravesites, negotiate framework tre
On February 19,1992, the Chiefs' Council of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs directed that a multi-nation provisional
indigenous government be established in British Columbia as soon as possible.
The Chiefs' Council resolution was moved by Chief
Archie Jack (Okanagan Nation), seconded by Councillor Les
Williams (Shuswap Nation), and was passed unanimously.
Other indigenous nations represented at the meeting included
the Kwakiutl, Saanich, Nuxalk, Stl'Atl'Imx, Tsilhqot'in,
Gitksan and Wet'suwet'en. Chiefsfromthe Semiahmoo and
Skowkale bands were also present at the historic meeting.
The Chiefs Council decision is a response to three
factors: the recommendation in January from a conference on
graveyard claims that First Nation protective legislation be
drafted and implemented quickly to protect burial areas and
sacred sites; the need to negotiate a comprehensive framework
treaty on the Land Questionfroma clear, strong governmentto-government position; and the threat that the current
constitutional negotiations may undermine our nations'
sovereignty and limit our inherentrightof self-determination.
Chief Steven Point (Skowkale Band) explained the
reasons behind the Provisional Government concept in a strong
speech to the Chiefs Council meeting: "I remember George
Manuel talking about and working on the establishment of a
Provisional Government when we sat down and began to work
on our provincial Union of Chiefs Aboriginal Rights Position
Paper many years ago. I think the long-term objective at that
point was to do exactly what you are talking about now, and
that is to begin to make legislation as a Provisional
Government.
"I think at some point somebody, some native group —
and the Union of Chiefs is as good as any because it stood for
the sovereignty issue that we all fought for — somebody has to
stand up and say 'Yes, we are our government' and begin to
take steps towards actually establishing that government. Like
building a government house and making formal seats for our
chiefs to come in and sit down and actually begin to pass laws,
and actually demand that the federal and provincial government
recognize our jurisdiction in these areas. They don't have
jurisdiction in relation to gravesites and heritage sites. That's
our jurisdiction, but we can't exercise that jurisdiction until we
form our government.
MARCH/APRIL 1992
"[The federal and provincial governments] don't want
us to declare our Provisional Government, but we got to stand
on our legs now and do what the elders wanted us to do years
and years ago. That is, to form this government.
"They expect us to come to the table as beggars, that is
what they expect. They are going to say 'Alright, we will offer
you self-government in our constitution.' They don't want us to
come to that table as equals.
"The sooner we move in this direction [establishing a
provisional government] the faster we can move and the
stronger our position is going to be when we sit down and
really negotiate our aboriginalrights— government-togovernment, not as an Indian organization but as a selfgovernment.
Continued Page 7
SPECIAL
EDITION
IN THIS ISSUE...
Messsage from the President
p. 2
Post-secondary Education Report... p. 3
Resource Centre Report
p. 5
In-House Counsel Report
p. 6
Page 1
MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT:
Beyond Decolonization
S
ince the Royal Proclamation
of 1763, the Indian Nations
have been awaiting a proper, respectful
living arrangement with the Crown in
the Right of Britain and Canada.
Although treaties were concluded with
various Indian Peoples the Crown has
chosen to disregard these agreements.
T o this day, treaties have not been
concluded with the Indian Nations in
what is now called British Columbia.
The situation which our people face within our respective homelands
is that of a low level war. The Federal Crown, with the complicity
of the Provincial Crown, is doing everything within its powers to
try to perfect the Crown's title over our homelands through
A national office, as represented by the N A T I O N A L
INDIAN B R O T H E R H O O D , was established and in 1973 the
national
position on I N D I A N C O N T R O L O F I N D I A N
E D U C A T I O N was announced.
Also in 1973, the N I S G A ' A (Calder) decision came down
from the Supreme Court. This decision changed Trudeau's mind
about our rights and out of this was born the current federal
extinguishment policy for 'land claims.' Once again, we had raised
the land title issue up another notch.
Through the years to 1975, the Union of B . C . Indian Chiefs
continued to work on its mandate. Its budget and office manpower
continued to grow. Much work was accomplished to strengthen
and educate band administrations.
However, budgets at the band level were also becoming an
issue. As a result of the need for more funding at the community
trickery and coercion. They seek to acquire our consent in order
once and for all to eliminate the "Indian Problem."
O f course, eliminating the "Indian Problem" has been
attempted many times since the Royal Proclamation of 1763. Just
as consistently our Indian Nations have resisted and have attempted
honourably to settle the land question, especially here in British
Columbia. Our nations' counter-measures is what I am calling our
incremental approach to decolonization.
I would like to sketch
this history for you briefly.
level, eyes were cast in the direction of U B C I C and its relatively
large budget. The opportunity presented itself at the 1975 Chilliwack
Conference. While the events at Chilliwack were primarily an
emotional response, the decision at the conference to reject
government funds opened up U B C I C ' s funding as an easy target
for bands wishing to acquire more dollars. That became a fact in
1978, when Secretary of State began decentralizing and redirecting
its core funding to tribal councils, who had been lobbying to
acquire those funds since the rejection of funds, or soon thereafter.
It was the politicization of our leadership and our people
that culminated in the rejection of funds. What then emerged was
a different political and philosophical attitude on the Land Question
and the rights of our peoples within our respective territories. A
new political language came to the fore, clearly demonstrated in
the D E C L A R A T I O N O F T H E U N I O N O F B . C . INDIAN CHIEFS,
1976. That conference at Kamloops showed a real movement
toward decolonization. Over the next four years we witnessed
heightened, feverish activity on Indian rights in all our communities.
For example, in 1975 the W O R L D C O U N C I L O F
INDIGENOUS P E O P L E S was founded at Port Alberni largely
through the efforts of George Manuel. George was to become the
first elected President of U B C I C two years later. In 1978, the
passive resistance by our people became an active resistance when
the Bridge River people, led by Chief Saul Terry, stated with their
fishing actions that no permit was required from the Department
of Fisheries and Oceans. Joined by the chiefs and people of the
Stl'Atl'Imx tribe, the "fish-in'' ended finally with charges being
laid against Bradley Bob. The court case concluded a year later
with the decision that we, as Indian peoples, did have an exclusive
right to fish. The right could only be touched by conservation
needs.
In 1979, after ten years of research and consultation with
the people, the A B O R I G I N A L T I T L E A N D RIGHTS POSITION
OF T H E U N I O N O F B . C . INDIAN CHIEFS was adopted in
principle. It was unanimously adopted by the Chiefs in Assembly
the following year.
In 1884 the potlatch was outlawed. Many people ignored
the prohibition and paid the price of going to jail.
Through the years our leaders continued to make
representations to the Crown in Ottawa and London, England.
Because of our leaders persistence and consistency the
Federal Crown decreed in 1927 that any further pursuit of the land
title question was unlawful. As with the people who ignored the
anti-potlatch law, the 1927 anti-Indian rights law simply drove the
issue underground.
In the late 1940's the federal crown once again stated that
they would eliminate the Indian Problem once and for all within
the next twenty years.
In 1951 the Government of Canada rescinded their racist
colonial statutes of 1884 and 1927. Our leaders were quickly on the
road to acquire the recognition their fathers had so consistently
sought. Consultations were still going on when in 1969 the Liberal
Government of Pierre Trudeau announced the W H I T E P A P E R
POLICY. This initiated the contemporary resistance movement
with the founding of the Union of B . C . Indian Chiefs.
The Union was mandated to fight the W H I T E P A P E R
POLICY, to seek a resolution to the L A N D Q U E S T I O N ISSUE
and to remedy the E D U C A T I O N A L and E C O N O M I C situation of
our peoples.
These the Union quickly addressed. In 1972, the Union's
B R O W N P A P E R was presented to the government of Canada as
the response to Trudeau's "White Paper." Very quickly, the
Union's office staff grew in order to address the issues at the
reserve level. Local control by our people had begun.
Continued page 8
Page 2
MARCH/APRIL 1992
POST SECONDARY EDUCATION REPORT
The Steering Committee on Indigenous Peoples
Education met in Vancouver on February 27th. What follows
is a report of it activities to date, the names and addresses of
committee members for contact, and an outline of our strategy
in relation to the three major issues that face us in education:
(1) the funding crisis for older students, especially those in post
secondary education, (2) the expiry of the Master Tuition
Agreement in June, 1992 and (3) local Indigenous control of
the public education of our people.
Post Secondary Education
Adult students and education workers alike are in a
funding crisis because the federal government is reducing the
flow of moneyfromOttawa. In many communities, First
Nations have decided to maintain then students by deficitfinancing. Where that cannot be afforded, Education
Coordinators or Directors have been obliged to advise their
students to seek other support or to return home.
If you are a student who is being affected by those cuts,
we want you to know that we are hard at work in your support
and that we are determined to succeed, not only in restoring
your funding but in a good deal more. Would you like to join
us? Work with us?
The Master Tuition A g r e e m e n t
By this agreement, Canada pays each year for
Indigenous children to attend provincial schools. On average,
almost $6,000.00 was paid for each child in 1990-91; in
comparison, the per capita payment in 1978 was $1,800.00.
Payment is also made for the capital costs of building a new
school in which Indigenous children are expected to enroll and
for support and administrative services. Under this agreement,
some $53.6 million was paid by the Department of Indian
Affairs (DIA) to B.C. in 1990-91 for some 9,000 students.
The agreement has never had the consent of Indigenous
people, nor has that consent been sought since the first
agreement was made in the 1960's. The current agreement,
signed in 1988, is due to expire in June, 1992: it provided, for
thefirsttime, for local agreements between Indigenous
communities and provincial school boards. This arrangement
is unacceptable: our First Nations are not municipalities but
NATIONS and our principal relationship is with Canada, not
with School Districts that have been established by authority of
the province of B.C.
Consequently, we want the new agreement to be one
between Canada and the Indigenous Nations or the national or
tribal organizations which they appoint to represent them.
Local Control
In 1972, the National Indian Brotherhood published a
policy paper entitled Indian Control of Indian Education which
proposed just that. It was accepted by the federal government
in 1973 but has been implemented only very slowly and hardly
at all in B.C. The Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs helped to write
that policy paper and has always upheld its principles.
MARCH/APRIL 1992
Consequently, the Steering Committee on Indigenous
Peoples Education pursues the principles adopted by the
Assembly of First Nations and intends to achieve that end by
having all funds required for education — as for everything else
— transferredfromOttawa to our local communities. Whether
the transfer shall be through a tribal or national organization or
any other agency (including DIA) is to be the decision of each
local community. Local communities will hold all authority,
except for that which they delegate to another jurisdiction or
level of government.
The Steering C o m m i t t e e
A series of meetings on education have been held during
the past few months, out of which — by popular demand emerged the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs' Steering Committee
on Indigenous Peoples Education. Ray Hance was asked to
chair the meetings and so the Tsilhqot'in Tribal Council is
coordinating the work. For your information, Ray is the
Natural resources Advisor to the Tsilhqot'in Nation, former
Chief of Toosey Indian Band and former Vice President of
U.B.C.I.C. He led the lobby of the British Parliament in
London during the constitutional crises in 1981-82, visited
Continued Page 4
CALL TO ALL CITIZENS OF
SOVEREIGN INDIGENOUS NATIONS
SPECIAL A S S E M B L Y
on the establishment of a
PROVISIONAL
GOVERNMENT
APRIL 29, 30, MAY 1, 1992
St. Mary's Centre, Mission, B.C.
For information contact:
Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs
Phone: 684-0231; Fax: 684-5726
Page 3
E D U C A T I O N REPORT
Continued
several European countries and spoke to a number of
ambassadors and ministers.
Like the international work of ten years ago, the work of
the Steering Committee is being funded by its participating
members. The U.B.C.I.C. is paying for our meeting facilities,
mail-outs, and faxing but receives no funding from the
government to work on Indian education. It is our position that
all future funding should go directly to Indian communities.
The Steering Committee has decided to combine the
three issues outlined above and to tackle them all as one. Here
is a record of our work accomplished since the committee was
formed late in January, 1992.
letters to all Indigenous communities and tribal councils
outlining the problems and inviting participation. A
questionnaire was enclosed;
letters to the Assembly of First Nations, the Native
Council of Canada and Indigenous organizations in the
provinces and territories inviting support and parallel action;
a letter to the DIA Regional Director-general for B.C.
telling him (and thus Canada) that all First Nations must be
party to a renewed master tuition agreement and that it must
carry our consent. The new agreement is to be between the
federal government and Indigenous governments. The letter
also asked for statistics and information.
a letter to the Minister of Education for B.C., informing
the provincial government of the above position (with copies to
the Ministers of Advanced Education and Aboriginal Affairs).
D.I.A.'s policies, rules and regulations governing postsecondary education are unworkable and unacceptable. Our
students and education workers have identified the following
problem:
June 15th deadline for registrations is "impossible";
the living allowance is, at $625.00 per month,
inadequate and causes hardship and stress;
no provision is made for damage deposits or day-care
costs, making difficulties for students and young families;
no provision is made for the costs of administering the
post-secondary programme in our community offices; the work
has to be handled by workers who are already underpaid for the
work that they do; many of these jobs are only part time.
tuition fees are sometimes not paid in full;
allowances for new books, travel, tutoring and typing are
all too low;
allowances are not indexed to inflation, the cost of living
or G.S.T.;
budgets are not indexed to population increase
(including the influx of Bill C-31 's) or to the growing demand
for post-secondary education.
Work Load For the Steering Committee
Develop a province-wide data base:
letters to the First Nations Congress, the First Nations'
Schools Association and the Home School Coordinators'
Association inviting cooperation;
Jane Dick, Box 156, Mount Currie, VON 2K0 (894-5149/5224);
Vancouver Island, south-west to Nuxalk, the Kootenays.
letters to selected opposition Members of Parliament in
Ottawa, requesting help and information.
Wayne Bobb: Seabird Island, RR #2, Agassiz, V0M 1 AO (7962512): central-southern interior.
a request to the Standing Committee of the House of
Commons on Aboriginal Affairs (in Ottawa) for a hearing;
Stewart Phillip: Penticton Band, RR#2, Site 80, Comp. 19,
Penticton, V2A 6J7 (493-0048), fax# 493-2882: the south-west
(except Kootenays).
analysis and review of the Master Tuition Agreement;
discussion of possible legal action;
information-gathering for data base.
D e p a r t m e n t o f Indian A f f a i r s
The Minister of Indian Affairs is saying that education is
not an aboriginalright,nor does the federal government bear
the responsibility to pay for it. He maintains that there has
been no decrease in funding for post-secondary education, but
an increase. He says that the situation would be better with
improved management in the local communities but denies that
he is suggesting local mismanagement of funds.
Ray Hance: Tsilhqot'in Nation, 102-383 Oliver Street,
Williams Lake, V2G 1M4 (392-3918) fax# 398-5798: northern
B.C.
Draft Tuition Agreement. Development of Legal Position
Nancy Sandy (UBCIC) and Louise Mandell, and others.
Action Coordination
Stewart Phillip, Pierre Kruger
Political Position. Quality Control. Negotiations
Ray Hance
Continued Page 8
Page 4
MARCH/APRIL 1992
RESOURCE CENTRE REPORT
The Library of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs has now
been reopened for six months. Many tasks have been undertaken
in that time and continue to be carried out.
and the subject headinglist for clippings has been updated. A
volunteer has been coming into the library once a week to
assist with subject heading the backlog and placing items into
the correct files.
Acquisitions
Legal acquisitions have continued to be the focus for
additions to the collection. Overview materials such as
"Native Law" by Jack Woodward have been added, as have
many shorter publications, particularly in the area of land claim
history and international law as it relates to indigenous people.
Still to be added (once suitable titles are located) are materials
on administrative and family law.
Government publications have also been added to the
collection, including the report of the public inquiry into the
Manitoba justice system, all of the government reports on the
constitutional proposals, as well as land claims agreements in
principle documents.
The collection has also now acquired 287 new
microfilmsfromthe National Archives in Ottawa. These films
will fill some of the gaps in the microfilm collection and mean
that the library now holds approximately 1100 Department of
Indian Affairs microfilms.
Research
Materials of special interest continue to be identified and
set aside in a special collections area. These have included
declarationsfromvarious Indian Nations, a petition to Ottawa
from the 1940's concerning conscription, and a set of archival
British Government documents relating to British Columbia.
The inventory has continued and a number of items have
been identified as missingfromthe collection. Areas
particularly hard hit with missing items have been targets for
regeneration and money from donations etc. has been used to
purchase some new materials.
A 500 dollar grant was given to the libraryfromthe
Koerner Foundation for use in converting deteriorating
periodicals to microfiche. This project has been started and is
anticipated to be complete by the end of April.
Library Maintenance
Cataloguing: Cataloguing materials has continued to
be a major priority. Much of the backlog has been reduced, but
more uncatalogued materials keep appearing. Reducing this
backlog will remain a focus. In addition a subject heading list
has been prepared and this will make for more standard
application of subject headings being used in the library.
Binding: Many reports and unpublished papers come
into the library unbound. These have been set aside and are
now being bound using a coil binding machine. As they are
bound they are placed into the cataloguing holding area and
eventually placed into the collection.
Clippings:
The clippings file has been reorganized
MARCH/APRIL 1992
Periodicals: The library has continued to receive
periodicals and they are placed into appropriate areas as they
arrive. The latest legal subscription was for "Lawyers
Weekly'' and these are being routed to appropriate staff as
they arrive.
Government Publications: Statutes of British
Columbia had not been updated for the past four years. These
updates were ordered and only one year remains to be filed.
Hansard continues to arrive, and as part of the library service,
items of interest are noted on the front cover and routed to
the appropriate staff members.
Equipment: Broken equipment has been repaired and
all library machines are now functional.
Tours: A total of seven tours have now been
completed. These have been for member bands, students,
and prison inmates. Each of the tours was very successful
and people who have come for tours have returned for
individual research.
Special Projects: A revised classification scheme is
being worked on for the library. This scheme attempts to
remove the anglicized versions of Indian names and replace
them with what Indian people themselves recognize. This
has been a consultative process with staff and various people
from the bands and is an ongoing long term project.
A large number of historical photographs were
discovered and these have been sorted and cataloguing of the
individual pieces has started.
Popular video materials have been catalogued and a
print copy of holdings has been made available to member
bands upon request.
A Book Sponsor Program has been started through
Chiefs Mask Bookstore. Through this program interested
people donate needed materials to the library. The library
has already acquired seven new items and hopefully more
will come.
Reference
More than 100 questions from outside sources have been
handled by the library. These have continued to be from
band researchers, lawfirms,students, and the general public.
Staff have also increased their use of the librarian as a source
of information. With computer access by modem to various
library catalogues, internal use is likely to increase further.
Tim Atkinson
Librarian
Page 5
IN HOUSE COUNSEL REPORT
1(b) Funding for the Union's Intervention
A.
Legal Cases
1 (a) Delgamuukw v. A.G.B.C. Update
After Delgamuukw was handed down on March 8, 1991,
the Union decided at a Special Assembly held in Kamloops,
B. C. to intervene in the appeal. Subsequently, ten native
lawyers began meeting to discuss strategy. The work was
divided among the legal team according to areas of expertise
and their work schedule. The Union was granted intervenor
status on August 8, 1991 along with the Assembly of First
Nations, the Massett Band and Old Massett Village Council.
Since then there have been numerous pre-appeal hearings
dealing with administrative matters and two hearings before the
full five judge panel.
Beginning in September of 1991 there have been six
major fishing and hunting cases heard at the B.C. Court of
Appeal before the same judges who will be hearing the
Delgamuukw appeal.
On January 15, 1992 the province applied for a six
month adjournment of the appeal in order for the parties to
commence negotiations to settle out of court. The province
proposed negotiations under the B.C. Claims Task Force Treaty
Commission which was to have been established within a six
month time period. In the meantime the Union wrote to
Premier Harcourt asking how his government planned to
reconcile their political position, which claimed to recognize
aboriginal title and rights and the right to self-government, with
their legal position in Delgamuukw which stated the contrary.
The Appellants had been in negotiation with the provincial
government for a concession that the province did recognize
their title and that it was proprietary in nature and that it had
not been extinguished. The Appellants opposed the province
application to adjourn on the basis that there was no reason for
the legal action to proceed while negotiations were taking
place. The Appellants said as long as the B.C. Supreme Court
stood the decision was being used against aboriginal people in
the lower courts and they were committed to overturning the
decision. The Union supported the Appellants opposition but
were not called upon to make submissions. However, our
Comprehensive Framework Treaty was introduced into court
through the Affidavit of Don Ryan as an alternative to the B.C.
Claims Task Force Treaty Commission. The province's
application was dismissed.
The province it's legal team, fired Russell & DuMoulin
and on March 4, 1992 the province retained Brian Williams of
Swinton & Company as new counsel. On March 18, 1992 the
province again applied for a one month adjournment because
they anticipated substantial changes would be made to their
original factum filed January 20, 1992. Both parties agreed to
the adjournment and the application was granted. The new start
date for the appeal is May 4,1992; the closing date remains at
the end of June 1992.
To date the Union has been covering all costs of the
intervention i.e. salary for in house counsel, copying,
telephone, fax, courier, filing fees and any other
disbursements.
We applied to the United Church for funding but have
not received a favourable reply. Test Case funding will not
be available to us since the aboriginal peoples are being
heard in court through the Appellants. As a result we have
no funding to cover the costs for this intervention. Aside
from in house counsel there are two of our legal team who
have expended a considerable amount of time in preparing
the Union's factum and in the application for intervenor
status. Other members of our team are in private practice
and the amount of time they can volunteer has been limited
accordingly. We do have a bank account set up and will
gladly accept financial donations to cover our legal fees.
You can make your cheques payable to the Union of B.C.
Indian Chiefs Intervenor Team and send them to the attention
of Nancy Sandy at the Union's Vancouver office. We will
issue you a receipt and will continue to keep you updated on
the appeal.
2) Morton Peters. Wildlife A c t Appeal
A year and a half after a trapline hearing before the
Wildlife Branch of the Ministry of Environment the Acting
Director determined that a trapline held by a native woman
had been lawfully transferred to a non-Indian trapper. In the
same case the Regional Manager was found to have acted
within the law in determining the status of the traplines and
had taken reasonable steps to make the former registrants and
their heirs aware of his own efforts to register the traplines
before offering them up for auction. The same non-Indian
trapper obtained the second trapline by auction and then
amalgamated the two. Those two traplines had been in the
native family for generations. An appeal to the
Environmental Appeal Board was filed on September 16,
1991.
3) M t Currie Roadblock
A group known as the Lil'wat Peoples Movement set up
a roadblock on the Lillooet Lake Road. The government
obtained that part of the road which had granted public
access through a right-of-way by expropriation. An interim
injunction was granted and members of the Lil'wat Peoples
Movement were arrested and jailed. At one point their
lawyer had attempted to argue that the court had no
jurisdiction to hear the matter. He was unable to continue
with his sovereignty argument since the judge would only
hear the matter with respect to the contempt charges. I
attended the court to monitor the conduct of the case. It was
Continued Next Page
Page 6
MARCH/APRIL 1992
IN HOUSE COUNSEL REPORT Continued
significant that the people were allowed to sing their song and
use sweetgrass in the courtroom. To listen to them sing in the
courtroom was a very moving and powerful experience. The
people werefinallyreleased after being jailed for
approximately a month. In this case there were two seperate
hearings, one with the Lillooet Peoples' Movement and the
other filed by the elected Mt. Currie Band Council. The Band
Council had appealed the interim injunction. The matter was
dealt with by a five member panel before the Court of Appeal
and was sent back to trial to determine the validity of O.I.C.
1036.
B.
Legal S e r v i c e s a n d Requests
As the Union's In House Counsel I have not spent an
inordinate amount of time in the courtroom. I've found that the
majority of our clients, aside from member bands, are band
members or off-reserve residents living in the city who require
legal assistance of some sort which does not necessarily require
litigation.
Requests for assistance can rangefroma request for
trapline information - how to obtained them and how does a
person find who is registered to a given trapline; band
membership under Bill C-31 and the benefits; how does one get
their car out of the city pound; family tracing services and
assistance in drawing personal service contracts which take
advantage of tax exemptions on reserve to the requirements of
sending home-canned salmon overseas to Japan. Wherever
possible I do the research and provide the answer. When I
know of another agency or person who has the answer readily
available I then make a referral. Where a client is able I
encourage the individual to do the requisite footwork
themselves.
C.
N e n q a y D e n i Yajelhtig
Law Centre Society
In the spring of 1990 the Chilcotin Justice Council
requested the Union's assistance in setting up a Law Centre in
the Chilcotin territory. After a year of negotiating a contract
with the Ministry of Attorney General and drafting a set of bylaws which met with the approval of the Council the Law
Centre was finally opened on February 1, 1991 on the Anaham
Reserve. The Centre will service seven bands in the Chilcotin
and Carrier territory with any matter that requires legal assistance.
D.
Public Education
The Union receives many requestsfromthe general
public for presentations on aboriginal issues. As a result I've
gone out to church groups; the Native Education Centre; the
University of B.C. and fundraisers held by the African National
Congress. Topics for discussion usually centre around what is
currently being reported in the news; for instance, the Delgamuukw decision; fishingrights;roadblocks; environmental
MARCH/APRIL 1992
concerns; education; and the effects of residential schools. As
a fundraiser, these presentations do not raise substantial
amounts of money, but they are a valuable service we make
availble for the education of not only our people but to the
general public as well.
E.
Community Participation
As a single parent and a woman native lawyer I value
my time outside of the office. But, at the same time I realize
the importance of keeping our organization's name in the
public eye. As a result, I am an active member of the B.C.
Native Lawyer's Association; I attend the Canadian Bar
Association's Native Justice Section Committee monthly
meetings - both these groups meet to discuss native law issues;
the former is a group wholly made up of native lawyers; the
latter is a group of lawyers, native and non-native who
specialize in native law. In the spring of this year I was elected
to sit on the board of the YWCA. They have requested a
presentation on aboriginal title andrights- and the education
goes on!
I have been invited to sit on the Burnaby Correctional
Centre for Women Advisory Board. As with other institutions
this centre has a large population of native women. My role as
a board member would be to provide support for native inmates
whether they are attempting to resolve personal concerns (i.e.,
parole) or are requesting programs which will assist in rehabilitation (i.e. cultural and other education programs).
NANCY SANDY.
In House Counsel
PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT
Continued from page 1
"I think what we are worried about is this chicken and egg
concept. Do we wait for them to recognize us and our authority
for self-government? Or do we assert our jurisdiction and form
our self-government and say 'This is what we are doing and we
don't give a damn whether you recognize it or not?' That is
what I think self-government means, and that is what I think
sovereignty means."
After passing the resolution, the Chiefs' Council
established a small working group to develop a draft
constitution and a process for establishing the Provisional
Government.
The working group met on March 6 and decided to call a
Special Assembly for April 29, 30 and May 1 to give direction
on establishing the Provisional Government. The working
group also discussed development of a Charter of Indigenous
Rights that would be the basis of the Constitution of the
Provisional Government of a Confederacy of Sovereign
Indigenous Nations in British
Columbia.
Page 7
PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE Continued from page 2
20. The effort was attempted before but we were not ready. Are we
ready now to establish our PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT OF
SOVEREIGN INDIGENOUS NATIONS, with which any and all
governments must deal? That is the question I invite all citizens of
our respective nations to answer at a SPECIAL ASSEMBLY to be
held April 29, 30 and May 1, 1992.
In 1980, Trudeau and his government were aggressively
moving to patriate the Canadian Constitution. Observing this, the
Indian Nations took action by going across the country in a train
which was dubbed THE CONSTITUTION EXPRESS. At the time
the train left B.C. Indian people were not permitted to be heard in
the parliamentary committee sessions. Before the train arrived in
INDIGENOUS EDUCATION Contiued
Winnipeg, Manitoba, parliament agreed to accept representations
Student Contact & Organization
by our people.
Not satisfied with simply being heard by a lowly committee
Nancy & Helen Sandy (UBCIC), Alex Jamieson (fax# 363of parliament, plans were put in place to continue on to New York
0428) in Victoria.
and the United Nations. Another delegation followed through with
an initiative called the EUROPEAN EXPRESS. This delegation
Support Group Co-ordination
went on to London England to mount an aggressive lobby in which Nancy Sandy, Millie Poplar (UBCIC), Theo Collins (Open
Learning Agency, 4355 Mathissi Place, Burnaby, V5G 4S8) Ph
the debate was won but, in the end, the vote was lost in the British
#: 431-3300 or fax# 431-3333.
House of Commons.
While the vote in Britain's Parliament may have been lost,
Media
another battle was won in Britain's Privy Council, bringing
Stewart Phillip
decolonization another step closer. Speaking for the Privy Council,
Britains highest court of appeal, Lord Denning told the government
Letter Writing. Public Education
of Canada that the treaty rights of the indigenous peoples must be
Theo Collins, Brian Mayne, Tsilhqot'in Nation, 102-383 Oliver
respected and where there were no treaties yet concluded, the
Street, Williams Lake, V2G 1M4 (392-3918 or fax# 398-5798).
honour of the crown had to be maintained through equitable
negotiations. Should there be any questions in interpreting Indian
rights, decisions should come down on the side of the Indians.
Presentation to Standing Committee
Theserightswere to be respected and recognized by the Crown for
Brian Mayne
as long as the sun shines and the rivers flow.
In the brief— but for many of our people very long—months
Volunteers are welcome!
of the Constitution Express and the European Express, the issue of
Conclusion
our nations' sovereignty rose in stature. The measure of our
During the course of a meeting between the Chiefs of
peoples' success can be seen in Canada's constitution today.
the Tsilhqot'in and the Minister of Indian Affairs, held at
Canada recognizes our treaty and aboriginalrights.From then to
Toosey on March 3rd, Ray Hance was able to put to Mr.
now, it has been in our hands to complete the journey to
Siddon the three questions listed at the beginning of this letter.
decolonization.
The minister said nothing about local control. He said he did
Since April 17,1982, several constitutional initiatives were
not know that there was no provision in the Master Tuition
put forward to define ourrightsmore specifically. All failed. So
Agreement for the recovery of the fee of a student who leaves
we have been forced to fight rear-guard actions, especially since
school before the end of the school year: he pretended to be
the election of the Conservative government in 1984 and the onset
surprised, even shocked, but the question is: why didn't he
of the its' 'BUFFALO JUMP'' DEVOLUTION- TERMINATION
know, after all this time as Minister? He denied that he had
AGENDA. Since then, we have achieved notable victories: the
accused the local communities of mismanaging funds for adult
defeat of the MEECH L A K E ACCORD, largely through the heroic
education and said that although he recognized there was a
effort of Elijah Harper in the Manitoba Legislature; and the OKA
great increase in demand for post-secondary education CRISIS which exposed the true character of the Conservative
enrollment has more than tripled since 1984 - the government
government — colonialist, manipulative, deceitful and arrogant.
could not afford to pay for it.
For the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, the Oka Crisis brought
on stream the COMPREHENSIVE TREATY FRAMEWORK
This is simply unacceptable. We are not going to allow
PROPOSAL four months earlier than had been planned. The
the government to plead poverty. The great prosperity that
Federal Government, represented by Indian Affairs Minister Tom
Canada has enjoyed since 1945 was derivedfromour lands and
Siddon, seeing the far-reaching implications of our treaty proposal,
resources. If it turns out to be true that Canada really cannot
refused to consider the offer. Instead, the Minister tried to choose
afford the costs of Indigenous education, that does not release
a path for us that would mire us in confusion, frustration and put
themfromtheir responsibility: it obliges them to support us in
us on the verge of civil war amongst ourselves. He has almost
our application for such supplementary funding as may be
succeeded.
neededfromagencies for international aid and development.
Given the fact that the voice of our people has still not been
We shall be looking for such assurances during our campaign.
heard by the governments, it is time to take OUR NEXT STEP IN
This concludes our report to you on our work to date.
PROGRESS TOWARD DECOLONIZATION. That next step
Your participation is encouraged, your comments welcomed
was directed by the UBCIC Chiefs' Council on February 18,19and
and your action encouraged.
Page 8
MARCH/APRIL 1992
Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs
NEWSLETTER
MARCHIAPRIL 1992
Provisional Government focus of Special Assembly
Sovereign government powers to protect gravesites, negotiate framework treaty
On February 19, 1992, the Chiefs’ Council of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs directed that a multi-nation provisional
indigenous government be established in British Columbia as soon as possible.
The Chiefs’ Council resolution was moved by Chief
Archie Jack (Okanagan Nation), seconded by Councillor Les
Williams (Shuswap Nation), and was passed unanimously.
Other indigenous nations represented at the meeting included
the Kwakiutl, Saanich, Nuxalk, Sti’ Atl’Imx, Tsilhqot’in,
Gitksan and Wet’suwet’en. Chiefs from the Semiahmoo and
Skowkale bands were also present at the historic meeting.
The Chiefs Council decision is a response to three
factors: the recommendation in January from 2 conference on
graveyard claims that First Nation protective legislation be
drafted and implemented quickly to protect burial areas and
sacred sites; the need to negotiate a comprehensive framework
treaty on the Land Question from a clear, strong government-
to-government position; and the threat that the current
constitutional negotiations may undermine our nations’
sovereignty and limit our inherent right of self-determination.
Chief Steven Point (Skowkale Band) explained the
reasons behind the Provisional Government concept in a strong
speech to the Chiefs Council meeting: ‘‘I remember George
Manuel talking about and working on the establishment of a
Provisional Government when we sat down and began to work
on our provincial Union of Chiefs Aboriginal Rights Position
Paper many years ago. I think the long-term objective at that
point was to do exactly what you are talking about now, and
that is to begin to make legislation as a Provisional
Government.
**T think at some point somebody, some native group --
and the Union of Chiefs is as good as any because it stood for
the sovereignty issue that we all fought for -- somebody has to
stand up and say “Yes, we are our government’ and begin to
take steps towards actually establishing that government. Like
building a government house and making formal seats for our
chiefs to come in and sit down and actually begin to pass laws,
and actually demand that the federal and provincial government
recognize our jurisdiction in these areas. They don’t have
jurisdiction in relation to gravesites and heritage sites. That’s
our jurisdiction, but we can’t exercise that jurisdiction until we
form our government.
**lThe federal and provincial governments] don’t want
us to declare our Provisional Government, but we got to stand
on our legs now and do what the elders wanted us to do years
and years ago. That is, to form this government.
‘‘They expect us to come to the table as beggars, that is
what they expect. They are going to say ‘Alright, we will offer
you self-government in our constitution.’ They don’t want us to
come to that table as equals.
‘*The sooner we move in this direction [establishing a
provisional government] the faster we can move and the
stronger our position is going to be when we sit down and
really negotiate our aboriginal rights -- government-to-
government, not as an Indian organization but as a self-
government.
Continued Page 7
SPECIAL EDITION
IN THIS ISSUE ...
Messsage from the President p. 2
Post-secondary Education Report ... p. 3
Resource Centre Report ————___—_ p. 5
In-House Counsel Report ———— p. 6
MARCH/APRIL 1992
Page 1
MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT:
Beyond Decolonization
ince the Royal Proclamation
of 1763, the Indian Nations
have been awaiting a proper, respectful
living arrangement with the Crown in
the Right of Britain and Canada.
Although treaties were concluded with
various Indian Peoples the Crown has
chosen to disregard these agreements.
To this day, treaties have not been
concluded with the Indian Nations in
what is now called British Columbia.
The situation which our people face within ourrespective homelands
is that of a low level war. The Federal Crown, with the complicity
of the Provincial Crown, is doing everything within its powers to
try to perfect the Crown’s title over our homelands through
trickery and coercion. They seek to acquire our consent in order
once and for all to eliminate the ‘‘Indian Problem.,”’
Of course, eliminating the ‘‘Indian Problem’’ has been
attempted many times since the Royal Proclamation of 1763. Just
as consistently our Indian Nations have resisted and have attempted
honourably to settle the land question, especially here in British
Columbia. Our nations’ counter-measures is what I am calling our
incremental approach to decolonization. I would like to sketch
this history for you briefly.
In 1884 the potlatch was outlawed. Many people ignored
the prohibition and paid the price of going to jail.
Through the years our leaders continued to make
representations to the Crown in Ottawa and London, England.
Because of our leaders persistence and consistency the
Federal Crown decreed in 1927 that any further pursuit of the land
title question was unlawful. As with the people who ignored the
anti-potlatch law, the 1927 anti-Indian rights law simply drove the
issue underground.
In the late 1940’s the federal crown once again stated that
they would eliminate the Indian Problem once and for all within
the next twenty years.
In 1951 the Government of Canada rescinded their racist
colonial statutes of 1884 and 1927. Our leaders were quickly on the
toad to acquire the recognition their fathers had so consistently
sought. Consultations were still going on when in 1969 the Liberal
Government of Pierre Trudeau announced the WHITE PAPER
POLICY. This initiated the contemporary resistance movement
with the founding of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs.
The Union was mandated to fight the WHITE PAPER
POLICY, to seek a resolution to the LAND QUESTION ISSUE
and to remedy the EDUCATIONAL and ECONOMIC situation of
our peoples.
These the Union quickly addressed. In 1972, the Union’s
BROWN PAPER was presented to the government of Canada as
the response to Trudeau’s ‘‘White Paper.’’ Very quickly, the
Union’s office staff grew in order to address the issues at the
reserve level. Local control by our people had begun.
RI,
A national office, as represented by the NATIONAL
INDIAN BROTHERHOOD, was established and in 1973 the
national position on INDIAN CONTROL OF INDIAN
EDUCATION was announced.
Also in 1973, the NISGA’A (Calder) decision came down
from the Supreme Court. This decision changed Trudeau’s mind
about our rights and out of this was born the current federal
extinguishment policy for ‘land claims.’ Once again, we had raised
the land title issue up another notch.
Through the years to 1975, the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs
continued to work on its mandate. Its budget and office manpower
continued to grow. Much work was accomplished to strengthen
and educate band administrations.
However, budgets at the band level were also becoming an
issue. As a result of the need for more funding at the community
level, eyes were cast in the direction of UBCIC and its relatively
large budget. The opportunity presented itselfat the 1975 Chilliwack
Conference. While the events at Chilliwack were primarily an
emotional response, the decision at the conference to reject
government funds opened up UBCIC’s funding as an easy target
for bands wishing to acquire more dollars. That became a fact in
1978, when Secretary of State began decentralizing and redirecting
its core funding to tribal councils, who had been lobbying to
acquire those funds since the rejection of funds, or soon thereafter.
It was the politicization of our leadership and our people
that culminated in the rejection of funds. What then emerged was
adifferent political and philosophical attitude on the Land Question
and the rights of our peoples within our respective territories. A
new political language came to the fore, clearly demonstrated in
the DECLARATION OF THE UNION OF B.C. INDIAN CHIEFS,
1976. That conference at Kamloops showed a real movement
toward decolonization, Over the next four years we witnessed
heightened, feverish activity on Indian rights in all our communities.
For example, in 1975 the WORLD COUNCIL OF
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES was founded at Port Alberni largely
through the efforts of George Manuel. George was to become the
first elected President of UBCIC two years later. In 1978, the
passive resistance by our people became an active resistance when
the Bridge River people, led by Chief Saul Terry, stated with their
fishing actions that no permit was required from the Department
of Fisheries and Oceans. Joined by the chiefs and people of the
Stl’ Atl’Imx tribe, the ‘‘fish-in’’ ended finally with charges being
laid against Bradley Bob. The court case concluded a year later
with the decision that we, as Indian peoples, did have an exclusive
right to fish. The right could only be touched by conservation
needs.
In 1979, after ten years of research and consultation with
the people, the ABORIGINAL TITLE AND RIGHTS POSITION
OF THE UNION OF B.C. INDIAN CHIEFS was adopted in
principle. Jt was unanimously adopted by the Chiefs in Assembly
the following year.
Continued page 8
Page 2
MARCH/APRIL 1992
POST SECONDARY EDUCATION REPORT
The Steering Committee on Indigenous Peoples
Education met in Vancouver on February 27th. What follows
is a report of it activities to date, the names and addresses of
commiitee members for contact, and an outline of our strategy
in relation to the three major issues that face us in education:
(1) the funding crisis for older students, especially those in post
secondary education, (2) the expiry of the Master Tuition
Agreement in June, 1992 and (3) local Indigenous control of
the public education of our people.
Post Secondary Education
Adult students and education workers alike are in a
funding crisis because the federal government is reducing the
flow of money from Ottawa. In many communities, First
Nations have decided to maintain their students by deficit-
financing. Where that cannot be afforded, Education
Coordinators or Directors have been obliged to advise their
students to seek other support or to return home.
If you are a student who is being affected by those cuts,
we want you to know that we are hard at work in your support
and that we are determined to succeed, not only in restoring
your funding but in a good deal more. Would you like to join
us? Work with us?
The Master Tuition Agreement
By this agreement, Canada pays each year for
Indigenous children to attend provincial schools, On average,
almost $6,000.00 was paid for each child in 1990-91; in
comparison, the per capita payment in 1978 was $1,800.00.
Payment is also made for the capital costs of building a new
school in which Indigenous children are expected to enroll and
for support and administrative services. Under this agreement,
some $53.6 million was paid by the Department of Indian
Affairs (DIA) to B.C. in 1990-91 for some 9,000 students.
The agreement has never had the consent of Indigenous
people, nor has that consent been sought since the first
agreement was made in the 1960’s. The current agreement,
signed in 1988, is due to expire in June, 1992: it provided, for
the first time, for local agreements between Indigenous
communities and provincial school boards. This arrangement
is unacceptable: our First Nations are not municipalities but
NATIONS and our principal relationship is with Canada, not
with School Districts that have been established by authority of
the province of B.C.
Consequently, we want the new agreement to be one
between Canada and the Indigenous Nations or the national or
tribal organizations which they appoint to represent them.
Local Control
In 1972, the National Indian Brotherhood published a
policy paper entitled Indian Control of Indian Education which
proposed just that. It was accepted by the federal government
in 1973 but has been implemented only very slowly and hardly
at all in B.C, The Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs helped to write
that policy paper and has always upheld its principles.
Consequently, the Steering Committee on Indigenous
Peoples Education pursues the principles adopted by the
Assembly of First Nations and intends to achieve that end by
having all funds required for education -- as for everything else
-- transferred from Ottawa to our local communities. Whether
the transfer shall be through a tribal or national organization or
any other agency (including DIA) is to be the decision of each
local community, Local communities will hold all authority,
except for that which they delegate to another jurisdiction or
level of government.
The Steering Committee
A series of meetings on education have been held during
the past few months, out of which -- by popular demand --
emerged the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs’ Steering Committee
on Indigenous Peoples Education. Ray Hance was asked to
chair the meetings and so the Tsilhqot’in Tribal Council is
coordinating the work. For your information, Ray is the
Natural resources Advisor to the Tsilhqot’in Nation, former
Chief of Toosey Indian Band and former Vice President of
U.B.C.I.C. He led the lobby of the British Parliament in
London during the constitutional crises in 1981-82, visited
Continued Page 4
CALL TO ALL CITIZENS OF
SOVEREIGN INDIGENOUS NATIONS
SPECIAL ASSEMBLY
on the establishment of a
PROVISIONAL
GOVERNMENT
APRIL 29, 30, MAY 1, 1992
St. Mary’s Centre, Mission, B.C.
For information contact:
Union of B.C, Indian Chiefs
Phone: 684-0231; Fax: 684-5726
MARCH/APRIL 1992
Page 3
=
EDUCATION REPORT
Continued
several European countries and spoke to a number of
ambassadors and ministers.
Like the international work of ten years ago, the work of
the Steering Committee is being funded by its participating
members. The U.B.C.I.C. is paying for our meeting facilities,
mail-outs, and faxing but receives no funding from the
government to work on Indian education. It is our position that
all future funding should go directly to Indian communities.
The Steering Committee has decided to combine the
three issues outlined above and to tackle them all as one. Here
is a record of our work accomplished since the committee was
formed late in January, 1992.
-- letters to all Indigenous communities and tribal councils
outlining the problems and inviting participation. A
questionnaire was enclosed;
-- letters to the Assembly of First Nations, the Native
Council of Canada and Indigenous organizations in the
provinces and territories inviting support and parallel action;
-- a letter to the DIA Regional Director-general for B.C.
telling him (and thus Canada) that all First Nations must be
party to a renewed master tuition agreement and that it must
carry our consent. The new agreement is to be between the
federal government and Indigenous governments. The letter
also asked for statistics and information.
-- a letter to the Minister of Education for B.C., informing
the provincial government of the above position (with copies to
the Ministers of Advanced Education and Aboriginal Affairs).
-- letters to the First Nations Congress, the First Nations’
Schools Association and the Home School Coordinators’
Association inviting cooperation;
- letters to selected opposition Members of Parliament in
Ottawa, requesting help and information.
oe a request to the Standing Committee of the House of
Commons on Aboriginal Affairs (in Ottawa) for a hearing;
-- analysis and review of the Master Tuition Agreement;
discussion of possible legal action;
-- information-gathering for data base.
Department of Indian Affairs
The Minister of Indian Affairs is saying that education is
not an aboriginal right, nor does the federal government bear
the responsibility to pay for it. He maintains that there has
been no decrease in funding for post-secondary education, but
an increase. He says that the situation would be better with
improved management in the local communities but denies that
he is suggesting local mismanagement of funds.
D.I.A.’s policies, rules and regulations governing post-
secondary education are unworkable and unacceptable. Our
students and education workers have identified the following
problem:
a June 15th deadline for registrations is ‘‘impossible’’;
-- the living allowance is, at $625.00 per month,
inadequate and causes hardship and stress;
-- no provision is made for damage deposits or day-care
costs, making difficulties for students and young families;
-- no provision is made for the costs of administering the
post-secondary programme in our community offices; the work
has to be handled by workers who are already underpaid for the
work that they do; many of these jobs are only part time.
-- tuition fees are sometimes not paid in full;
-- allowances for new books, travel, tutoring and typing are
all too low;
-- allowances are not indexed to inflation, the cost of living
orGs.T;
-- budgets are not indexed to population increase
(including the influx of Bill C-31’s) or to the growing demand
for post-secondary education.
Work Load For the Steering Committee
Develop a province-wide data base:
Jane Dick, Box 156, Mount Currie, VON 2K0 (894-5 149/5224);
Vancouver Island, south-west to Nuxalk, the Kootenays.
Wayne Bobb: Seabird Island, RR #2, Agassiz, VOM 1A0 (796-
2512): central-southern interior.
Stewart Phillip: Penticton Band, RR#2, Site 80, Comp. 19,
Penticton, V2A 6J7 (493-0048), fax# 493-2882: the south-west
(except Kootenays).
Ray Hance: Tsilhqot’in Nation, 102-383 Oliver Street,
Williams Lake, V2G 1M4 (392-3918) fax# 398-5798: northern
B.C.
Draft Tuition Agreement, Development of Legal Position
Nancy Sandy (UBCIC) and Louise Mandell, and others.
Action Coordination
Stewart Phillip, Pierre Kruger
ualit mntrol, Negotiation
Political Position
Ray Hance
Continued Page 8
|
|
Page 4
MARCH/APRIL 1992
RESOURCE CENTRE REPORT
The Library of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs has now
been reopened for six months. Many tasks have been undertaken
in that time and continue to be carried out.
Acquisitions
Legal acquisitions have continued to be the focus for
additions to the collection. Overview materials such as
**Native Law’’ by Jack Woodward have been added, as have
many shorter publications, particularly in the area of land claim
history and international law as it relates to indigenous people.
Still to be added (once suitable titles are located) are materials
on administrative and family law.
Government publications have also been added to the
collection, including the report of the public inquiry into the
Manitoba justice system, all of the government reports on the
constitutional proposals, as well as land claims agreements in
principle documents.
The collection has also now acquired 287 new
microfilms from the National Archives in Ottawa. These films
will fill some of the gaps in the microfilm collection and mean
that the library now holds approximately 1100 Department of
Indian Affairs microfilms.
Research
Materials of special interest continue to be identified and
set aside in a special collections area. These have included
declarations from various Indian Nations, a petition to Ottawa
from the 1940’s concerning conscription, and a set of archival
British Government documents relating to British Columbia.
The inventory has continued and a number of items have
been identified as missing from the collection. Areas
particularly hard hit with missing items have been targets for
regeneration and money from donations etc. has been used to
purchase some new materials.
A 500 dollar grant was given to the library from the
Koerner Foundation for use in converting deteriorating
periodicals to microfiche. This project has been started and is
anticipated to be complete by the end of April.
Library Maintenance
Cataloguing: Cataloguing materials has continued to
be a major priority. Much of the backlog has been reduced, but
more uncatalogued materials keep appearing. Reducing this
backlog will remain a focus, In addition a subject heading list
has been prepared and this will make for more standard
application of subject headings being used in the library.
Binding: Many reports and unpublished papers come
into the library unbound. These have been set aside and are
now being bound using a coil binding machine. As they are
bound they are placed into the cataloguing holding area and
eventually placed into the collection.
Clippings: The clippings file has been reorganized
MARCH/APRIL 1992
and the subject headinglist for clippings has been updated. A
volunteer has been coming into the library once a week to
assist with subject heading the backlog and placing items into
the correct files.
Periodicals: The library has continued to receive
periodicals and they are placed into appropriate areas as they
arrive. The latest legal subscription was for ‘‘Lawyers
Weekly’’ and these are being routed to appropriate staff as
they arrive.
Government Publications: Statutes of British
Columbia had not been updated for the past four years. These
updates were ordered and only one year remains to be filed.
Hansard continues to arrive, and as part of the library service,
items of interest are noted on the front cover and routed to
the appropriate staff members.
Equipment: Broken equipment has been repaired and
all library machines are now functional.
Tours: A total of seven tours have now been
completed. These have been for member bands, students,
and prison inmates. Each of the tours was very successful
and people who have come for tours have returned for
individual research.
Special Projects: A revised classification scheme is
being worked on for the library. This scheme attempts to
remove the anglicized versions of Indian names and replace
them with what Indian people themselves recognize. This
has been a consultative process with staff and various people
from the bands and is an ongoing long term project.
A large number of historical photographs were
discovered and these have been sorted and cataloguing of the
individual pieces has started.
Popular video materials have been catalogued and a
print copy of holdings has been made available to member
bands upon request.
A Book Sponsor Program has been started through
Chiefs Mask Bookstore. Through this program interested
people donate needed materials to the library. The library
has already acquired seven new items and hopefully more
will come.
Reference
More than 100 questions from outside sources have been
handled by the library. These have continued to be from
band researchers, law firms, students, and the general public.
Staff have also increased their use of the librarian as a source
of information. With computer access by modem to various
library catalogues, internal use is likely to increase further.
Tim Atkinson
Librarian
Page 5
IN HOUSE COUNSEL REPORT
A. Legal Cases
l(a) Delgamuukw v. A.G.B.C. Update
After Delgamuukw was handed down on March 8, 1991,
the Union decided at a Special Assembly held in Kamloops,
B.C. to intervene in the appeal. Subsequently, ten native
lawyers began meeting to discuss strategy. The work was
divided among the legal team according to areas of expertise
and their work schedule. The Union was granted intervenor
status on August 8, 1991 along with the Assembly of First
Nations, the Massett Band and Old Massett Village Council.
Since then there have been numerous pre-appeal hearings
dealing with administrative matters and two hearings before the
full five judge panel.
Beginning in September of 1991 there have been six
major fishing and hunting cases heard at the B.C. Court of
Appeal before the same judges who will be hearing the
Delgamuukw appeal.
On January 15, 1992 the province applied for a six
month adjournment of the appeal in order for the parties to
commence negotiations to settle out of court. The province
proposed negotiations under the B.C. Claims Task Force Treaty
Commission which was to have been established within a six
month time period. In the meantime the Union wrote to
Premier Harcourt asking how his government planned to
reconcile their political position, which claimed to recognize
aboriginal title and rights and the right to self-government, with
their legal position in Delgamuukw which stated the contrary.
The Appellants had been in negotiation with the provincial
government for a concession that the province did recognize
their title and that it was proprietary in nature and that it had
not been extinguished. The Appellants opposed the province
application to adjourn on the basis that there was no reason for
the legal action to proceed while negotiations were taking
place. The Appellants said as long as the B.C. Supreme Court
stood the decision was being used against aboriginal people in
the lower courts and they were committed to overturning the
decision. The Union supported the Appellants opposition but
were not called upon to make submissions. However, our
Comprehensive Framework Treaty was introduced into court
through the Affidavit of Don Ryan as an alternative to the B.C.
Claims Task Force Treaty Commission. The province's
application was dismissed.
The province it's legal team, fired Russell & DuMoulin
and on March 4, 1992 the province retained Brian Williams of
Swinton & Company as new counsel. On March 18, 1992 the
province again applied for a one month adjournment because
they anticipated substantial changes would be made to their
original factum filed January 20, 1992. Both parties agreed to
the adjournment and the application was granted. The new start
date for the appeal is May 4, 1992; the closing date remains at
the end of June 1992.
1(b) Funding for the Union's Intervention
To date the Union has been covering all costs of the
intervention i.e. salary for in house counsel, copying,
telephone, fax, courier, filing fees and any other
disbursements.
We applied to the United Church for funding but have
not received a favourable reply. Test Case funding will not
be available to us since the aboriginal peoples are being
heard in court through the Appellants. As a result we have
no funding to cover the costs for this intervention. Aside
from in house counsel there are two of our legal team who
have expended a considerable amount of time in preparing
the Union’s factum and in the application for intervenor
status. Other members of our team are in private practice
and the amount of time they can volunteer has been limited
accordingly. We do have a bank account set up and will
gladly accept financial donations to cover our legal fees.
You can make your cheques payable to the Union of B.C.
Indian Chiefs Intervenor Team and send them to the attention
of Nancy Sandy at the Union’s Vancouver office. We will
issue you a receipt and will continue to keep you updated on
the appeal.
2) Morton Peters, Wildlife Act Appeal
A year and a half after a trapline hearing before the
Wildlife Branch of the Ministry of Environment the Acting
Director determined that a trapline held by a native woman
had been lawfully transferred to a non-Indian trapper. In the
same case the Regional Manager was found to have acted
within the law in determining the status of the traplines and
had taken reasonable steps to make the former registrants and
their heirs aware of his own efforts to register the traplines
before offering them up for auction. The same non-Indian
trapper obtained the second trapline by auction and then
amalgamated the two. Those two traplines had been in the
native family for generations. An appeal to the
Environmental Appeal Board was filed on September 16,
1991,
3) Mt. Currie Roadblock
A group known as the Lil’wat Peoples Movement set up
a roadblock on the Lillooet Lake Road. The government
obtained that part of the road which had granted public
access through a right-of-way by expropriation. An interim
injunction was granted and members of the Lil’ wat Peoples
Movement were arrested and jailed. At one point their
lawyer had attempted to argue that the court had no
jurisdiction to hear the matter. He was unable to continue
with his sovereignty argument since the judge would only
hear the matter with respect to the contempt charges. I
attended the court to monitor the conduct of the case. It was
Continued Next Page
]
L
Page 6
MARCH/APRIL 1992
L
IN HOUSE COUNSEL REPORT Continued
significant that the people were allowed to sing their song and
use sweetgrass in the courtroom. To listen to them sing in the
courtroom was a very moving and powerful experience. The
people were finally released after being jailed for
approximately a month. In this case there were two seperate
hearings, one with the Lillooet Peoples’ Movement and the
other filed by the elected Mt. Currie Band Council. The Band
Council had appealed the interim injunction. The matter was
dealt with by a five member panel before the Court of Appeal
and was sent back to trial to determine the validity of O.I.C.
1036.
B. Legal Services and Requests
As the Union’s In House Counsel I have not spent an
inordinate amount of time in the courtroom. I’ve found that the
majority of our clients, aside from member bands, are band
members or off-reserve residents living in the city who require
legal assistance of some sort which does not necessarily require
litigation.
Requests for assistance can range from a request for
trapline information - how to obtained them and how does a
person find who is registered to a given trapline; band
membership under Bill C-31 and the benefits; how does one get
their car out of the city pound; family tracing services and
assistance in drawing personal service contracts which take
advantage of tax exemptions on reserve to the requirements of
sending home-canned salmon overseas to Japan. Wherever
possible I do the research and provide the answer. When I
know of another agency or person who has the answer readily
available I then make a referral. Where a client is able I
encourage the individual to do the requisite footwork
themselves.
C. Nengay Deni Yajelhti
Law Contre Society :
In the spring of 1990 the Chilcotin Justice Council
requested the Union’s assistance in setting up a Law Centre in
the Chilcotin territory. After a year of negotiating a contract
with the Ministry of Attorney General and drafting a set of by-
laws which met with the approval of the Council the Law
Centre was finally opened on February 1, 1991 on the Anaham
Reserve. The Centre will service seven bands in the Chilcotin
and Carrier territory with any matter that requires legal assis-
tance.
D. Public Education
The Union receives many requests from the general
public for presentations on aboriginal issues. As a result I’ve
gone out to church groups; the Native Education Centre; the
University of B.C. and fundraisers held by the African National
Congress. Topics for discussion usually centre around what is
currently being reported in the news; for instance, the Delga-
muukw decision; fishing rights; roadblocks; environmental
concerns; education; and the effects of residential schools. As
a fundraiser, these presentations do not raise substantial
amounts of money, but they are a valuable service we make
availble for the education of not only our people but to the
general public as well.
E. Community Participation
As a single parent and a woman native lawyer I value
my time outside of the office. But, at the same time I realize
the importance of keeping our organization’s name in the
public eye. Asa result, I am an active member of the B.C.
Native Lawyer’s Association; I attend the Canadian Bar
Association’s Native Justice Section Committee monthly
meetings - both these groups meet to discuss native law issues;
the former is a group wholly made up of native lawyers; the
latter is a group of lawyers, native and non-native who
specialize in native law. In the spring of this year I was elected
to sit on the board of the YWCA. They have requested a
presentation on aboriginal title and rights - and the education
goes on!
I have been invited to sit on the Burnaby Correctional
Centre for Women Advisory Board. As with other institutions
this centre has a large population of native women. My role as
a board member would be to provide support for native inmates
whether they are attempting to resolve personal concerns (i.e.,
parole) or are requesting programs which will assist in rehabili-
tation (i.e. cultural and other education programs).
NANCY SANDY.
In House Counsel
PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT
Continued from page |
**T think what we are worried about is this chicken and egg
concept. Do we wait for them to recognize us and our authority
for self-government? Or do we assert our jurisdiction and form
our self-government and say ‘This is what we are doing and we
don’t give a damn whether you recognize it or not?’ That is
what I think self-government means, and that is what I think
sovereignty means.’’
After passing the resolution, the Chiefs’ Council
established a small working group to develop a draft
constitution and a process for establishing the Provisional
Government.
The working group met on March 6 and decided to call a
Special Assembly for April 29, 30 and May 1 to give direction
on establishing the Provisional Government. The working
group also discussed development of a Charter of Indigenous
Rights that would be the basis of the Constitution of the
Provisional Government of a Confederacy of Sovereign
Indigenous Nations in British Columbia. 6
r=
MARCH/APRIL 1992
Page 7
L
PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE Continued from page 2
In 1980, Trudeau and his government were aggressively
moving to patriate the Canadian Constitution. Observing this, the
Indian Nations took action by going across the country in a train
which was dubbed THE CONSTITUTION EXPRESS. Atthe time
the train left B.C. Indian people were not permitted to be heard in
the parliamentary committee sessions. Before the train arrived in
Winnipeg, Manitoba, parliament agreed to accept representations
by our people.
Not satisfied with simply being heard by alowly committee
of parliament, plans were put in place to continue on to New York
and the United Nations. Another delegation followed through with
an initiative called the EUROPEAN EXPRESS. This delegation
went on to London England to mount an aggressive lobby in which
the debate was won but, in the end, the vote was lost in the British
House of Commons.
While the vote in Britain’s Parliament may have been lost,
another battle was won in Britain’s Privy Council, bringing
decolonization another step closer. Speaking for the Privy Council,
Britains highest court ofappeal, Lord Denning told the government
of Canada that the treaty rights of the indigenous peoples must be
respected and where there were no treaties yet concluded, the
honour of the crown had to be maintained through equitable
negotiations. Should there be any questions in interpreting Indian
rights, decisions should come down on the side of the Indians.
These rights were to be respected and recognized by the Crown for
as long as the sun shines and the rivers flow.
In the brief -- but formany ofour people very long -- months
of the Constitution Express and the European Express, the issue of
our nations’ sovereignty rose in stature. The measure of our
peoples’ success can be seen in Canada’s constitution today.
Canada recognizes our treaty and aboriginal rights. From then to
now, it has been in our hands to complete the journey to
decolonization.
Since April 17, 1982, several constitutional initiatives were
put forward to define our rights more specifically. All failed. So
we have been forced to fight rear-guard actions, especially since
the election of the Conservative government in 1984 and the onset
of the its ‘“BUFFALO JUMP’’ DEVOLUTION- TERMINATION
AGENDA. Since then, we have achieved notable victories: the
defeat ofthe MEECH LAKE ACCORD, largely through the heroic
effort of Elijah Harper in the Manitoba Legislature; and the OKA
CRISIS which exposed the true character of the Conservative
government -- colonialist, manipulative, deceitful and arrogant.
For the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, the Oka Crisis brought
on stream the COMPREHENSIVE TREATY FRAMEWORK
PROPOSAL four months earlier than had been planned. The
Federal Government, represented by Indian Affairs Minister Tom
Siddon, seeing the far-reaching implications of our treaty proposal,
refused to consider the offer. Instead, the Minister tried to choose
a path for us that would mire us in confusion, frustration and put
us on the verge of civil war amongst ourselves. He has almost
succeeded.
Given the fact that the voice of our people has still not been
heard by the governments, it is time to take OUR NEXT STEP IN
PROGRESS TOWARD DECOLONIZATION. That next step
was directed by the UBCIC Chiefs’ Council on February 18, 19 and
20. The effort was attempted before but we were not ready. Are we
ready now to establish our PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT OF
SOVEREIGN INDIGENOUS NATIONS, with which any and all
governments must deal? That is the question I invite all citizens of
our respective nations to answer at a SPECIAL ASSEMBLY to be
held April 29, 30 and May 1,1992. ©
INDIGENOUS EDUCATION Contiued
nt Contact ganization
Nancy & Helen Sandy (UBCIC), Alex Jamieson (fax# 363-
0428) in Victoria.
Support Group Co-ordination
Nancy Sandy, Millie Poplar (UBCIC), Theo Collins (Open
Learning Agency, 4355 Mathissi Place, Burnaby, V5G 488) Ph
#: 431-3300 or fax# 431-3333.
Media
Stewart Phillip
Letter Writing, Public Education
Theo Collins, Brian Mayne, Tsilhgot’in Nation, 102-383 Oliver
Street, Williams Lake, V2G 1M4 (392-3918 or fax# 398-5798).
Presentation t mmitt
Brian Mayne
Volunteers are welcome!
Conclusion
During the course of a meeting between the Chiefs of
the Tsilhqot’in and the Minister of Indian Affairs, held at
Toosey on March 3rd, Ray Hance was able to put to Mr.
Siddon the three questions listed at the beginning of this letter.
The minister said nothing about local control. He said he did
not know that there was no provision in the Master Tuition
Agreement for the recovery of the fee of a student who leaves
school before the end of the school year: he pretended to be
surprised, even shocked, but the question is: why didn’t he
know, after all this time as Minister? He denied that he had
accused the local communities of mismanaging funds for adult
education and said that although he recognized there was a
great increase in demand for post-secondary education -
enrollment has more than tripled since 1984 - the government
could not afford to pay for it.
This is simply unacceptable. We are not going to allow
the government to plead poverty. The great prosperity that
Canada has enjoyed since 1945 was derived from our lands and
resources. If it turns out to be true that Canada really cannot
afford the costs of Indigenous education, that does not release
them from their responsibility: it obliges them to support us in
our application for such supplementary funding as may be
needed from agencies for international aid and development.
We shall be looking for such assurances during our campaign.
This concludes our report to you on our work to date.
Your participation is encouraged, your comments welcomed
and your action encouraged. -@
{
Page 8
MARCH/APRIL 1992
-
Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs
NEWSLETTER
MARCH/APRIL 1992
Provisional Government focus of Special Assembly
Sovereign government powers to protect gravesites, negotiate framework tre
On February 19,1992, the Chiefs' Council of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs directed that a multi-nation provisional
indigenous government be established in British Columbia as soon as possible.
The Chiefs' Council resolution was moved by Chief
Archie Jack (Okanagan Nation), seconded by Councillor Les
Williams (Shuswap Nation), and was passed unanimously.
Other indigenous nations represented at the meeting included
the Kwakiutl, Saanich, Nuxalk, Stl'Atl'Imx, Tsilhqot'in,
Gitksan and Wet'suwet'en. Chiefsfromthe Semiahmoo and
Skowkale bands were also present at the historic meeting.
The Chiefs Council decision is a response to three
factors: the recommendation in January from a conference on
graveyard claims that First Nation protective legislation be
drafted and implemented quickly to protect burial areas and
sacred sites; the need to negotiate a comprehensive framework
treaty on the Land Questionfroma clear, strong governmentto-government position; and the threat that the current
constitutional negotiations may undermine our nations'
sovereignty and limit our inherentrightof self-determination.
Chief Steven Point (Skowkale Band) explained the
reasons behind the Provisional Government concept in a strong
speech to the Chiefs Council meeting: "I remember George
Manuel talking about and working on the establishment of a
Provisional Government when we sat down and began to work
on our provincial Union of Chiefs Aboriginal Rights Position
Paper many years ago. I think the long-term objective at that
point was to do exactly what you are talking about now, and
that is to begin to make legislation as a Provisional
Government.
"I think at some point somebody, some native group —
and the Union of Chiefs is as good as any because it stood for
the sovereignty issue that we all fought for — somebody has to
stand up and say 'Yes, we are our government' and begin to
take steps towards actually establishing that government. Like
building a government house and making formal seats for our
chiefs to come in and sit down and actually begin to pass laws,
and actually demand that the federal and provincial government
recognize our jurisdiction in these areas. They don't have
jurisdiction in relation to gravesites and heritage sites. That's
our jurisdiction, but we can't exercise that jurisdiction until we
form our government.
MARCH/APRIL 1992
"[The federal and provincial governments] don't want
us to declare our Provisional Government, but we got to stand
on our legs now and do what the elders wanted us to do years
and years ago. That is, to form this government.
"They expect us to come to the table as beggars, that is
what they expect. They are going to say 'Alright, we will offer
you self-government in our constitution.' They don't want us to
come to that table as equals.
"The sooner we move in this direction [establishing a
provisional government] the faster we can move and the
stronger our position is going to be when we sit down and
really negotiate our aboriginalrights— government-togovernment, not as an Indian organization but as a selfgovernment.
Continued Page 7
SPECIAL
EDITION
IN THIS ISSUE...
Messsage from the President
p. 2
Post-secondary Education Report... p. 3
Resource Centre Report
p. 5
In-House Counsel Report
p. 6
Page 1
MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT:
Beyond Decolonization
S
ince the Royal Proclamation
of 1763, the Indian Nations
have been awaiting a proper, respectful
living arrangement with the Crown in
the Right of Britain and Canada.
Although treaties were concluded with
various Indian Peoples the Crown has
chosen to disregard these agreements.
T o this day, treaties have not been
concluded with the Indian Nations in
what is now called British Columbia.
The situation which our people face within our respective homelands
is that of a low level war. The Federal Crown, with the complicity
of the Provincial Crown, is doing everything within its powers to
try to perfect the Crown's title over our homelands through
A national office, as represented by the N A T I O N A L
INDIAN B R O T H E R H O O D , was established and in 1973 the
national
position on I N D I A N C O N T R O L O F I N D I A N
E D U C A T I O N was announced.
Also in 1973, the N I S G A ' A (Calder) decision came down
from the Supreme Court. This decision changed Trudeau's mind
about our rights and out of this was born the current federal
extinguishment policy for 'land claims.' Once again, we had raised
the land title issue up another notch.
Through the years to 1975, the Union of B . C . Indian Chiefs
continued to work on its mandate. Its budget and office manpower
continued to grow. Much work was accomplished to strengthen
and educate band administrations.
However, budgets at the band level were also becoming an
issue. As a result of the need for more funding at the community
trickery and coercion. They seek to acquire our consent in order
once and for all to eliminate the "Indian Problem."
O f course, eliminating the "Indian Problem" has been
attempted many times since the Royal Proclamation of 1763. Just
as consistently our Indian Nations have resisted and have attempted
honourably to settle the land question, especially here in British
Columbia. Our nations' counter-measures is what I am calling our
incremental approach to decolonization.
I would like to sketch
this history for you briefly.
level, eyes were cast in the direction of U B C I C and its relatively
large budget. The opportunity presented itself at the 1975 Chilliwack
Conference. While the events at Chilliwack were primarily an
emotional response, the decision at the conference to reject
government funds opened up U B C I C ' s funding as an easy target
for bands wishing to acquire more dollars. That became a fact in
1978, when Secretary of State began decentralizing and redirecting
its core funding to tribal councils, who had been lobbying to
acquire those funds since the rejection of funds, or soon thereafter.
It was the politicization of our leadership and our people
that culminated in the rejection of funds. What then emerged was
a different political and philosophical attitude on the Land Question
and the rights of our peoples within our respective territories. A
new political language came to the fore, clearly demonstrated in
the D E C L A R A T I O N O F T H E U N I O N O F B . C . INDIAN CHIEFS,
1976. That conference at Kamloops showed a real movement
toward decolonization. Over the next four years we witnessed
heightened, feverish activity on Indian rights in all our communities.
For example, in 1975 the W O R L D C O U N C I L O F
INDIGENOUS P E O P L E S was founded at Port Alberni largely
through the efforts of George Manuel. George was to become the
first elected President of U B C I C two years later. In 1978, the
passive resistance by our people became an active resistance when
the Bridge River people, led by Chief Saul Terry, stated with their
fishing actions that no permit was required from the Department
of Fisheries and Oceans. Joined by the chiefs and people of the
Stl'Atl'Imx tribe, the "fish-in'' ended finally with charges being
laid against Bradley Bob. The court case concluded a year later
with the decision that we, as Indian peoples, did have an exclusive
right to fish. The right could only be touched by conservation
needs.
In 1979, after ten years of research and consultation with
the people, the A B O R I G I N A L T I T L E A N D RIGHTS POSITION
OF T H E U N I O N O F B . C . INDIAN CHIEFS was adopted in
principle. It was unanimously adopted by the Chiefs in Assembly
the following year.
In 1884 the potlatch was outlawed. Many people ignored
the prohibition and paid the price of going to jail.
Through the years our leaders continued to make
representations to the Crown in Ottawa and London, England.
Because of our leaders persistence and consistency the
Federal Crown decreed in 1927 that any further pursuit of the land
title question was unlawful. As with the people who ignored the
anti-potlatch law, the 1927 anti-Indian rights law simply drove the
issue underground.
In the late 1940's the federal crown once again stated that
they would eliminate the Indian Problem once and for all within
the next twenty years.
In 1951 the Government of Canada rescinded their racist
colonial statutes of 1884 and 1927. Our leaders were quickly on the
road to acquire the recognition their fathers had so consistently
sought. Consultations were still going on when in 1969 the Liberal
Government of Pierre Trudeau announced the W H I T E P A P E R
POLICY. This initiated the contemporary resistance movement
with the founding of the Union of B . C . Indian Chiefs.
The Union was mandated to fight the W H I T E P A P E R
POLICY, to seek a resolution to the L A N D Q U E S T I O N ISSUE
and to remedy the E D U C A T I O N A L and E C O N O M I C situation of
our peoples.
These the Union quickly addressed. In 1972, the Union's
B R O W N P A P E R was presented to the government of Canada as
the response to Trudeau's "White Paper." Very quickly, the
Union's office staff grew in order to address the issues at the
reserve level. Local control by our people had begun.
Continued page 8
Page 2
MARCH/APRIL 1992
POST SECONDARY EDUCATION REPORT
The Steering Committee on Indigenous Peoples
Education met in Vancouver on February 27th. What follows
is a report of it activities to date, the names and addresses of
committee members for contact, and an outline of our strategy
in relation to the three major issues that face us in education:
(1) the funding crisis for older students, especially those in post
secondary education, (2) the expiry of the Master Tuition
Agreement in June, 1992 and (3) local Indigenous control of
the public education of our people.
Post Secondary Education
Adult students and education workers alike are in a
funding crisis because the federal government is reducing the
flow of moneyfromOttawa. In many communities, First
Nations have decided to maintain then students by deficitfinancing. Where that cannot be afforded, Education
Coordinators or Directors have been obliged to advise their
students to seek other support or to return home.
If you are a student who is being affected by those cuts,
we want you to know that we are hard at work in your support
and that we are determined to succeed, not only in restoring
your funding but in a good deal more. Would you like to join
us? Work with us?
The Master Tuition A g r e e m e n t
By this agreement, Canada pays each year for
Indigenous children to attend provincial schools. On average,
almost $6,000.00 was paid for each child in 1990-91; in
comparison, the per capita payment in 1978 was $1,800.00.
Payment is also made for the capital costs of building a new
school in which Indigenous children are expected to enroll and
for support and administrative services. Under this agreement,
some $53.6 million was paid by the Department of Indian
Affairs (DIA) to B.C. in 1990-91 for some 9,000 students.
The agreement has never had the consent of Indigenous
people, nor has that consent been sought since the first
agreement was made in the 1960's. The current agreement,
signed in 1988, is due to expire in June, 1992: it provided, for
thefirsttime, for local agreements between Indigenous
communities and provincial school boards. This arrangement
is unacceptable: our First Nations are not municipalities but
NATIONS and our principal relationship is with Canada, not
with School Districts that have been established by authority of
the province of B.C.
Consequently, we want the new agreement to be one
between Canada and the Indigenous Nations or the national or
tribal organizations which they appoint to represent them.
Local Control
In 1972, the National Indian Brotherhood published a
policy paper entitled Indian Control of Indian Education which
proposed just that. It was accepted by the federal government
in 1973 but has been implemented only very slowly and hardly
at all in B.C. The Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs helped to write
that policy paper and has always upheld its principles.
MARCH/APRIL 1992
Consequently, the Steering Committee on Indigenous
Peoples Education pursues the principles adopted by the
Assembly of First Nations and intends to achieve that end by
having all funds required for education — as for everything else
— transferredfromOttawa to our local communities. Whether
the transfer shall be through a tribal or national organization or
any other agency (including DIA) is to be the decision of each
local community. Local communities will hold all authority,
except for that which they delegate to another jurisdiction or
level of government.
The Steering C o m m i t t e e
A series of meetings on education have been held during
the past few months, out of which — by popular demand emerged the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs' Steering Committee
on Indigenous Peoples Education. Ray Hance was asked to
chair the meetings and so the Tsilhqot'in Tribal Council is
coordinating the work. For your information, Ray is the
Natural resources Advisor to the Tsilhqot'in Nation, former
Chief of Toosey Indian Band and former Vice President of
U.B.C.I.C. He led the lobby of the British Parliament in
London during the constitutional crises in 1981-82, visited
Continued Page 4
CALL TO ALL CITIZENS OF
SOVEREIGN INDIGENOUS NATIONS
SPECIAL A S S E M B L Y
on the establishment of a
PROVISIONAL
GOVERNMENT
APRIL 29, 30, MAY 1, 1992
St. Mary's Centre, Mission, B.C.
For information contact:
Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs
Phone: 684-0231; Fax: 684-5726
Page 3
E D U C A T I O N REPORT
Continued
several European countries and spoke to a number of
ambassadors and ministers.
Like the international work of ten years ago, the work of
the Steering Committee is being funded by its participating
members. The U.B.C.I.C. is paying for our meeting facilities,
mail-outs, and faxing but receives no funding from the
government to work on Indian education. It is our position that
all future funding should go directly to Indian communities.
The Steering Committee has decided to combine the
three issues outlined above and to tackle them all as one. Here
is a record of our work accomplished since the committee was
formed late in January, 1992.
letters to all Indigenous communities and tribal councils
outlining the problems and inviting participation. A
questionnaire was enclosed;
letters to the Assembly of First Nations, the Native
Council of Canada and Indigenous organizations in the
provinces and territories inviting support and parallel action;
a letter to the DIA Regional Director-general for B.C.
telling him (and thus Canada) that all First Nations must be
party to a renewed master tuition agreement and that it must
carry our consent. The new agreement is to be between the
federal government and Indigenous governments. The letter
also asked for statistics and information.
a letter to the Minister of Education for B.C., informing
the provincial government of the above position (with copies to
the Ministers of Advanced Education and Aboriginal Affairs).
D.I.A.'s policies, rules and regulations governing postsecondary education are unworkable and unacceptable. Our
students and education workers have identified the following
problem:
June 15th deadline for registrations is "impossible";
the living allowance is, at $625.00 per month,
inadequate and causes hardship and stress;
no provision is made for damage deposits or day-care
costs, making difficulties for students and young families;
no provision is made for the costs of administering the
post-secondary programme in our community offices; the work
has to be handled by workers who are already underpaid for the
work that they do; many of these jobs are only part time.
tuition fees are sometimes not paid in full;
allowances for new books, travel, tutoring and typing are
all too low;
allowances are not indexed to inflation, the cost of living
or G.S.T.;
budgets are not indexed to population increase
(including the influx of Bill C-31 's) or to the growing demand
for post-secondary education.
Work Load For the Steering Committee
Develop a province-wide data base:
letters to the First Nations Congress, the First Nations'
Schools Association and the Home School Coordinators'
Association inviting cooperation;
Jane Dick, Box 156, Mount Currie, VON 2K0 (894-5149/5224);
Vancouver Island, south-west to Nuxalk, the Kootenays.
letters to selected opposition Members of Parliament in
Ottawa, requesting help and information.
Wayne Bobb: Seabird Island, RR #2, Agassiz, V0M 1 AO (7962512): central-southern interior.
a request to the Standing Committee of the House of
Commons on Aboriginal Affairs (in Ottawa) for a hearing;
Stewart Phillip: Penticton Band, RR#2, Site 80, Comp. 19,
Penticton, V2A 6J7 (493-0048), fax# 493-2882: the south-west
(except Kootenays).
analysis and review of the Master Tuition Agreement;
discussion of possible legal action;
information-gathering for data base.
D e p a r t m e n t o f Indian A f f a i r s
The Minister of Indian Affairs is saying that education is
not an aboriginalright,nor does the federal government bear
the responsibility to pay for it. He maintains that there has
been no decrease in funding for post-secondary education, but
an increase. He says that the situation would be better with
improved management in the local communities but denies that
he is suggesting local mismanagement of funds.
Ray Hance: Tsilhqot'in Nation, 102-383 Oliver Street,
Williams Lake, V2G 1M4 (392-3918) fax# 398-5798: northern
B.C.
Draft Tuition Agreement. Development of Legal Position
Nancy Sandy (UBCIC) and Louise Mandell, and others.
Action Coordination
Stewart Phillip, Pierre Kruger
Political Position. Quality Control. Negotiations
Ray Hance
Continued Page 8
Page 4
MARCH/APRIL 1992
RESOURCE CENTRE REPORT
The Library of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs has now
been reopened for six months. Many tasks have been undertaken
in that time and continue to be carried out.
and the subject headinglist for clippings has been updated. A
volunteer has been coming into the library once a week to
assist with subject heading the backlog and placing items into
the correct files.
Acquisitions
Legal acquisitions have continued to be the focus for
additions to the collection. Overview materials such as
"Native Law" by Jack Woodward have been added, as have
many shorter publications, particularly in the area of land claim
history and international law as it relates to indigenous people.
Still to be added (once suitable titles are located) are materials
on administrative and family law.
Government publications have also been added to the
collection, including the report of the public inquiry into the
Manitoba justice system, all of the government reports on the
constitutional proposals, as well as land claims agreements in
principle documents.
The collection has also now acquired 287 new
microfilmsfromthe National Archives in Ottawa. These films
will fill some of the gaps in the microfilm collection and mean
that the library now holds approximately 1100 Department of
Indian Affairs microfilms.
Research
Materials of special interest continue to be identified and
set aside in a special collections area. These have included
declarationsfromvarious Indian Nations, a petition to Ottawa
from the 1940's concerning conscription, and a set of archival
British Government documents relating to British Columbia.
The inventory has continued and a number of items have
been identified as missingfromthe collection. Areas
particularly hard hit with missing items have been targets for
regeneration and money from donations etc. has been used to
purchase some new materials.
A 500 dollar grant was given to the libraryfromthe
Koerner Foundation for use in converting deteriorating
periodicals to microfiche. This project has been started and is
anticipated to be complete by the end of April.
Library Maintenance
Cataloguing: Cataloguing materials has continued to
be a major priority. Much of the backlog has been reduced, but
more uncatalogued materials keep appearing. Reducing this
backlog will remain a focus. In addition a subject heading list
has been prepared and this will make for more standard
application of subject headings being used in the library.
Binding: Many reports and unpublished papers come
into the library unbound. These have been set aside and are
now being bound using a coil binding machine. As they are
bound they are placed into the cataloguing holding area and
eventually placed into the collection.
Clippings:
The clippings file has been reorganized
MARCH/APRIL 1992
Periodicals: The library has continued to receive
periodicals and they are placed into appropriate areas as they
arrive. The latest legal subscription was for "Lawyers
Weekly'' and these are being routed to appropriate staff as
they arrive.
Government Publications: Statutes of British
Columbia had not been updated for the past four years. These
updates were ordered and only one year remains to be filed.
Hansard continues to arrive, and as part of the library service,
items of interest are noted on the front cover and routed to
the appropriate staff members.
Equipment: Broken equipment has been repaired and
all library machines are now functional.
Tours: A total of seven tours have now been
completed. These have been for member bands, students,
and prison inmates. Each of the tours was very successful
and people who have come for tours have returned for
individual research.
Special Projects: A revised classification scheme is
being worked on for the library. This scheme attempts to
remove the anglicized versions of Indian names and replace
them with what Indian people themselves recognize. This
has been a consultative process with staff and various people
from the bands and is an ongoing long term project.
A large number of historical photographs were
discovered and these have been sorted and cataloguing of the
individual pieces has started.
Popular video materials have been catalogued and a
print copy of holdings has been made available to member
bands upon request.
A Book Sponsor Program has been started through
Chiefs Mask Bookstore. Through this program interested
people donate needed materials to the library. The library
has already acquired seven new items and hopefully more
will come.
Reference
More than 100 questions from outside sources have been
handled by the library. These have continued to be from
band researchers, lawfirms,students, and the general public.
Staff have also increased their use of the librarian as a source
of information. With computer access by modem to various
library catalogues, internal use is likely to increase further.
Tim Atkinson
Librarian
Page 5
IN HOUSE COUNSEL REPORT
1(b) Funding for the Union's Intervention
A.
Legal Cases
1 (a) Delgamuukw v. A.G.B.C. Update
After Delgamuukw was handed down on March 8, 1991,
the Union decided at a Special Assembly held in Kamloops,
B. C. to intervene in the appeal. Subsequently, ten native
lawyers began meeting to discuss strategy. The work was
divided among the legal team according to areas of expertise
and their work schedule. The Union was granted intervenor
status on August 8, 1991 along with the Assembly of First
Nations, the Massett Band and Old Massett Village Council.
Since then there have been numerous pre-appeal hearings
dealing with administrative matters and two hearings before the
full five judge panel.
Beginning in September of 1991 there have been six
major fishing and hunting cases heard at the B.C. Court of
Appeal before the same judges who will be hearing the
Delgamuukw appeal.
On January 15, 1992 the province applied for a six
month adjournment of the appeal in order for the parties to
commence negotiations to settle out of court. The province
proposed negotiations under the B.C. Claims Task Force Treaty
Commission which was to have been established within a six
month time period. In the meantime the Union wrote to
Premier Harcourt asking how his government planned to
reconcile their political position, which claimed to recognize
aboriginal title and rights and the right to self-government, with
their legal position in Delgamuukw which stated the contrary.
The Appellants had been in negotiation with the provincial
government for a concession that the province did recognize
their title and that it was proprietary in nature and that it had
not been extinguished. The Appellants opposed the province
application to adjourn on the basis that there was no reason for
the legal action to proceed while negotiations were taking
place. The Appellants said as long as the B.C. Supreme Court
stood the decision was being used against aboriginal people in
the lower courts and they were committed to overturning the
decision. The Union supported the Appellants opposition but
were not called upon to make submissions. However, our
Comprehensive Framework Treaty was introduced into court
through the Affidavit of Don Ryan as an alternative to the B.C.
Claims Task Force Treaty Commission. The province's
application was dismissed.
The province it's legal team, fired Russell & DuMoulin
and on March 4, 1992 the province retained Brian Williams of
Swinton & Company as new counsel. On March 18, 1992 the
province again applied for a one month adjournment because
they anticipated substantial changes would be made to their
original factum filed January 20, 1992. Both parties agreed to
the adjournment and the application was granted. The new start
date for the appeal is May 4,1992; the closing date remains at
the end of June 1992.
To date the Union has been covering all costs of the
intervention i.e. salary for in house counsel, copying,
telephone, fax, courier, filing fees and any other
disbursements.
We applied to the United Church for funding but have
not received a favourable reply. Test Case funding will not
be available to us since the aboriginal peoples are being
heard in court through the Appellants. As a result we have
no funding to cover the costs for this intervention. Aside
from in house counsel there are two of our legal team who
have expended a considerable amount of time in preparing
the Union's factum and in the application for intervenor
status. Other members of our team are in private practice
and the amount of time they can volunteer has been limited
accordingly. We do have a bank account set up and will
gladly accept financial donations to cover our legal fees.
You can make your cheques payable to the Union of B.C.
Indian Chiefs Intervenor Team and send them to the attention
of Nancy Sandy at the Union's Vancouver office. We will
issue you a receipt and will continue to keep you updated on
the appeal.
2) Morton Peters. Wildlife A c t Appeal
A year and a half after a trapline hearing before the
Wildlife Branch of the Ministry of Environment the Acting
Director determined that a trapline held by a native woman
had been lawfully transferred to a non-Indian trapper. In the
same case the Regional Manager was found to have acted
within the law in determining the status of the traplines and
had taken reasonable steps to make the former registrants and
their heirs aware of his own efforts to register the traplines
before offering them up for auction. The same non-Indian
trapper obtained the second trapline by auction and then
amalgamated the two. Those two traplines had been in the
native family for generations. An appeal to the
Environmental Appeal Board was filed on September 16,
1991.
3) M t Currie Roadblock
A group known as the Lil'wat Peoples Movement set up
a roadblock on the Lillooet Lake Road. The government
obtained that part of the road which had granted public
access through a right-of-way by expropriation. An interim
injunction was granted and members of the Lil'wat Peoples
Movement were arrested and jailed. At one point their
lawyer had attempted to argue that the court had no
jurisdiction to hear the matter. He was unable to continue
with his sovereignty argument since the judge would only
hear the matter with respect to the contempt charges. I
attended the court to monitor the conduct of the case. It was
Continued Next Page
Page 6
MARCH/APRIL 1992
IN HOUSE COUNSEL REPORT Continued
significant that the people were allowed to sing their song and
use sweetgrass in the courtroom. To listen to them sing in the
courtroom was a very moving and powerful experience. The
people werefinallyreleased after being jailed for
approximately a month. In this case there were two seperate
hearings, one with the Lillooet Peoples' Movement and the
other filed by the elected Mt. Currie Band Council. The Band
Council had appealed the interim injunction. The matter was
dealt with by a five member panel before the Court of Appeal
and was sent back to trial to determine the validity of O.I.C.
1036.
B.
Legal S e r v i c e s a n d Requests
As the Union's In House Counsel I have not spent an
inordinate amount of time in the courtroom. I've found that the
majority of our clients, aside from member bands, are band
members or off-reserve residents living in the city who require
legal assistance of some sort which does not necessarily require
litigation.
Requests for assistance can rangefroma request for
trapline information - how to obtained them and how does a
person find who is registered to a given trapline; band
membership under Bill C-31 and the benefits; how does one get
their car out of the city pound; family tracing services and
assistance in drawing personal service contracts which take
advantage of tax exemptions on reserve to the requirements of
sending home-canned salmon overseas to Japan. Wherever
possible I do the research and provide the answer. When I
know of another agency or person who has the answer readily
available I then make a referral. Where a client is able I
encourage the individual to do the requisite footwork
themselves.
C.
N e n q a y D e n i Yajelhtig
Law Centre Society
In the spring of 1990 the Chilcotin Justice Council
requested the Union's assistance in setting up a Law Centre in
the Chilcotin territory. After a year of negotiating a contract
with the Ministry of Attorney General and drafting a set of bylaws which met with the approval of the Council the Law
Centre was finally opened on February 1, 1991 on the Anaham
Reserve. The Centre will service seven bands in the Chilcotin
and Carrier territory with any matter that requires legal assistance.
D.
Public Education
The Union receives many requestsfromthe general
public for presentations on aboriginal issues. As a result I've
gone out to church groups; the Native Education Centre; the
University of B.C. and fundraisers held by the African National
Congress. Topics for discussion usually centre around what is
currently being reported in the news; for instance, the Delgamuukw decision; fishingrights;roadblocks; environmental
MARCH/APRIL 1992
concerns; education; and the effects of residential schools. As
a fundraiser, these presentations do not raise substantial
amounts of money, but they are a valuable service we make
availble for the education of not only our people but to the
general public as well.
E.
Community Participation
As a single parent and a woman native lawyer I value
my time outside of the office. But, at the same time I realize
the importance of keeping our organization's name in the
public eye. As a result, I am an active member of the B.C.
Native Lawyer's Association; I attend the Canadian Bar
Association's Native Justice Section Committee monthly
meetings - both these groups meet to discuss native law issues;
the former is a group wholly made up of native lawyers; the
latter is a group of lawyers, native and non-native who
specialize in native law. In the spring of this year I was elected
to sit on the board of the YWCA. They have requested a
presentation on aboriginal title andrights- and the education
goes on!
I have been invited to sit on the Burnaby Correctional
Centre for Women Advisory Board. As with other institutions
this centre has a large population of native women. My role as
a board member would be to provide support for native inmates
whether they are attempting to resolve personal concerns (i.e.,
parole) or are requesting programs which will assist in rehabilitation (i.e. cultural and other education programs).
NANCY SANDY.
In House Counsel
PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT
Continued from page 1
"I think what we are worried about is this chicken and egg
concept. Do we wait for them to recognize us and our authority
for self-government? Or do we assert our jurisdiction and form
our self-government and say 'This is what we are doing and we
don't give a damn whether you recognize it or not?' That is
what I think self-government means, and that is what I think
sovereignty means."
After passing the resolution, the Chiefs' Council
established a small working group to develop a draft
constitution and a process for establishing the Provisional
Government.
The working group met on March 6 and decided to call a
Special Assembly for April 29, 30 and May 1 to give direction
on establishing the Provisional Government. The working
group also discussed development of a Charter of Indigenous
Rights that would be the basis of the Constitution of the
Provisional Government of a Confederacy of Sovereign
Indigenous Nations in British
Columbia.
Page 7
PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE Continued from page 2
20. The effort was attempted before but we were not ready. Are we
ready now to establish our PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT OF
SOVEREIGN INDIGENOUS NATIONS, with which any and all
governments must deal? That is the question I invite all citizens of
our respective nations to answer at a SPECIAL ASSEMBLY to be
held April 29, 30 and May 1, 1992.
In 1980, Trudeau and his government were aggressively
moving to patriate the Canadian Constitution. Observing this, the
Indian Nations took action by going across the country in a train
which was dubbed THE CONSTITUTION EXPRESS. At the time
the train left B.C. Indian people were not permitted to be heard in
the parliamentary committee sessions. Before the train arrived in
INDIGENOUS EDUCATION Contiued
Winnipeg, Manitoba, parliament agreed to accept representations
Student Contact & Organization
by our people.
Not satisfied with simply being heard by a lowly committee
Nancy & Helen Sandy (UBCIC), Alex Jamieson (fax# 363of parliament, plans were put in place to continue on to New York
0428) in Victoria.
and the United Nations. Another delegation followed through with
an initiative called the EUROPEAN EXPRESS. This delegation
Support Group Co-ordination
went on to London England to mount an aggressive lobby in which Nancy Sandy, Millie Poplar (UBCIC), Theo Collins (Open
Learning Agency, 4355 Mathissi Place, Burnaby, V5G 4S8) Ph
the debate was won but, in the end, the vote was lost in the British
#: 431-3300 or fax# 431-3333.
House of Commons.
While the vote in Britain's Parliament may have been lost,
Media
another battle was won in Britain's Privy Council, bringing
Stewart Phillip
decolonization another step closer. Speaking for the Privy Council,
Britains highest court of appeal, Lord Denning told the government
Letter Writing. Public Education
of Canada that the treaty rights of the indigenous peoples must be
Theo Collins, Brian Mayne, Tsilhqot'in Nation, 102-383 Oliver
respected and where there were no treaties yet concluded, the
Street, Williams Lake, V2G 1M4 (392-3918 or fax# 398-5798).
honour of the crown had to be maintained through equitable
negotiations. Should there be any questions in interpreting Indian
rights, decisions should come down on the side of the Indians.
Presentation to Standing Committee
Theserightswere to be respected and recognized by the Crown for
Brian Mayne
as long as the sun shines and the rivers flow.
In the brief— but for many of our people very long—months
Volunteers are welcome!
of the Constitution Express and the European Express, the issue of
Conclusion
our nations' sovereignty rose in stature. The measure of our
During the course of a meeting between the Chiefs of
peoples' success can be seen in Canada's constitution today.
the Tsilhqot'in and the Minister of Indian Affairs, held at
Canada recognizes our treaty and aboriginalrights.From then to
Toosey on March 3rd, Ray Hance was able to put to Mr.
now, it has been in our hands to complete the journey to
Siddon the three questions listed at the beginning of this letter.
decolonization.
The minister said nothing about local control. He said he did
Since April 17,1982, several constitutional initiatives were
not know that there was no provision in the Master Tuition
put forward to define ourrightsmore specifically. All failed. So
Agreement for the recovery of the fee of a student who leaves
we have been forced to fight rear-guard actions, especially since
school before the end of the school year: he pretended to be
the election of the Conservative government in 1984 and the onset
surprised, even shocked, but the question is: why didn't he
of the its' 'BUFFALO JUMP'' DEVOLUTION- TERMINATION
know, after all this time as Minister? He denied that he had
AGENDA. Since then, we have achieved notable victories: the
accused the local communities of mismanaging funds for adult
defeat of the MEECH L A K E ACCORD, largely through the heroic
education and said that although he recognized there was a
effort of Elijah Harper in the Manitoba Legislature; and the OKA
great increase in demand for post-secondary education CRISIS which exposed the true character of the Conservative
enrollment has more than tripled since 1984 - the government
government — colonialist, manipulative, deceitful and arrogant.
could not afford to pay for it.
For the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, the Oka Crisis brought
on stream the COMPREHENSIVE TREATY FRAMEWORK
This is simply unacceptable. We are not going to allow
PROPOSAL four months earlier than had been planned. The
the government to plead poverty. The great prosperity that
Federal Government, represented by Indian Affairs Minister Tom
Canada has enjoyed since 1945 was derivedfromour lands and
Siddon, seeing the far-reaching implications of our treaty proposal,
resources. If it turns out to be true that Canada really cannot
refused to consider the offer. Instead, the Minister tried to choose
afford the costs of Indigenous education, that does not release
a path for us that would mire us in confusion, frustration and put
themfromtheir responsibility: it obliges them to support us in
us on the verge of civil war amongst ourselves. He has almost
our application for such supplementary funding as may be
succeeded.
neededfromagencies for international aid and development.
Given the fact that the voice of our people has still not been
We shall be looking for such assurances during our campaign.
heard by the governments, it is time to take OUR NEXT STEP IN
This concludes our report to you on our work to date.
PROGRESS TOWARD DECOLONIZATION. That next step
Your participation is encouraged, your comments welcomed
was directed by the UBCIC Chiefs' Council on February 18,19and
and your action encouraged.
Page 8
MARCH/APRIL 1992
Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs
NEWSLETTER
MARCHIAPRIL 1992
Provisional Government focus of Special Assembly
Sovereign government powers to protect gravesites, negotiate framework treaty
On February 19, 1992, the Chiefs’ Council of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs directed that a multi-nation provisional
indigenous government be established in British Columbia as soon as possible.
The Chiefs’ Council resolution was moved by Chief
Archie Jack (Okanagan Nation), seconded by Councillor Les
Williams (Shuswap Nation), and was passed unanimously.
Other indigenous nations represented at the meeting included
the Kwakiutl, Saanich, Nuxalk, Sti’ Atl’Imx, Tsilhqot’in,
Gitksan and Wet’suwet’en. Chiefs from the Semiahmoo and
Skowkale bands were also present at the historic meeting.
The Chiefs Council decision is a response to three
factors: the recommendation in January from 2 conference on
graveyard claims that First Nation protective legislation be
drafted and implemented quickly to protect burial areas and
sacred sites; the need to negotiate a comprehensive framework
treaty on the Land Question from a clear, strong government-
to-government position; and the threat that the current
constitutional negotiations may undermine our nations’
sovereignty and limit our inherent right of self-determination.
Chief Steven Point (Skowkale Band) explained the
reasons behind the Provisional Government concept in a strong
speech to the Chiefs Council meeting: ‘‘I remember George
Manuel talking about and working on the establishment of a
Provisional Government when we sat down and began to work
on our provincial Union of Chiefs Aboriginal Rights Position
Paper many years ago. I think the long-term objective at that
point was to do exactly what you are talking about now, and
that is to begin to make legislation as a Provisional
Government.
**T think at some point somebody, some native group --
and the Union of Chiefs is as good as any because it stood for
the sovereignty issue that we all fought for -- somebody has to
stand up and say “Yes, we are our government’ and begin to
take steps towards actually establishing that government. Like
building a government house and making formal seats for our
chiefs to come in and sit down and actually begin to pass laws,
and actually demand that the federal and provincial government
recognize our jurisdiction in these areas. They don’t have
jurisdiction in relation to gravesites and heritage sites. That’s
our jurisdiction, but we can’t exercise that jurisdiction until we
form our government.
**lThe federal and provincial governments] don’t want
us to declare our Provisional Government, but we got to stand
on our legs now and do what the elders wanted us to do years
and years ago. That is, to form this government.
‘‘They expect us to come to the table as beggars, that is
what they expect. They are going to say ‘Alright, we will offer
you self-government in our constitution.’ They don’t want us to
come to that table as equals.
‘*The sooner we move in this direction [establishing a
provisional government] the faster we can move and the
stronger our position is going to be when we sit down and
really negotiate our aboriginal rights -- government-to-
government, not as an Indian organization but as a self-
government.
Continued Page 7
SPECIAL EDITION
IN THIS ISSUE ...
Messsage from the President p. 2
Post-secondary Education Report ... p. 3
Resource Centre Report ————___—_ p. 5
In-House Counsel Report ———— p. 6
MARCH/APRIL 1992
Page 1
MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT:
Beyond Decolonization
ince the Royal Proclamation
of 1763, the Indian Nations
have been awaiting a proper, respectful
living arrangement with the Crown in
the Right of Britain and Canada.
Although treaties were concluded with
various Indian Peoples the Crown has
chosen to disregard these agreements.
To this day, treaties have not been
concluded with the Indian Nations in
what is now called British Columbia.
The situation which our people face within ourrespective homelands
is that of a low level war. The Federal Crown, with the complicity
of the Provincial Crown, is doing everything within its powers to
try to perfect the Crown’s title over our homelands through
trickery and coercion. They seek to acquire our consent in order
once and for all to eliminate the ‘‘Indian Problem.,”’
Of course, eliminating the ‘‘Indian Problem’’ has been
attempted many times since the Royal Proclamation of 1763. Just
as consistently our Indian Nations have resisted and have attempted
honourably to settle the land question, especially here in British
Columbia. Our nations’ counter-measures is what I am calling our
incremental approach to decolonization. I would like to sketch
this history for you briefly.
In 1884 the potlatch was outlawed. Many people ignored
the prohibition and paid the price of going to jail.
Through the years our leaders continued to make
representations to the Crown in Ottawa and London, England.
Because of our leaders persistence and consistency the
Federal Crown decreed in 1927 that any further pursuit of the land
title question was unlawful. As with the people who ignored the
anti-potlatch law, the 1927 anti-Indian rights law simply drove the
issue underground.
In the late 1940’s the federal crown once again stated that
they would eliminate the Indian Problem once and for all within
the next twenty years.
In 1951 the Government of Canada rescinded their racist
colonial statutes of 1884 and 1927. Our leaders were quickly on the
toad to acquire the recognition their fathers had so consistently
sought. Consultations were still going on when in 1969 the Liberal
Government of Pierre Trudeau announced the WHITE PAPER
POLICY. This initiated the contemporary resistance movement
with the founding of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs.
The Union was mandated to fight the WHITE PAPER
POLICY, to seek a resolution to the LAND QUESTION ISSUE
and to remedy the EDUCATIONAL and ECONOMIC situation of
our peoples.
These the Union quickly addressed. In 1972, the Union’s
BROWN PAPER was presented to the government of Canada as
the response to Trudeau’s ‘‘White Paper.’’ Very quickly, the
Union’s office staff grew in order to address the issues at the
reserve level. Local control by our people had begun.
RI,
A national office, as represented by the NATIONAL
INDIAN BROTHERHOOD, was established and in 1973 the
national position on INDIAN CONTROL OF INDIAN
EDUCATION was announced.
Also in 1973, the NISGA’A (Calder) decision came down
from the Supreme Court. This decision changed Trudeau’s mind
about our rights and out of this was born the current federal
extinguishment policy for ‘land claims.’ Once again, we had raised
the land title issue up another notch.
Through the years to 1975, the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs
continued to work on its mandate. Its budget and office manpower
continued to grow. Much work was accomplished to strengthen
and educate band administrations.
However, budgets at the band level were also becoming an
issue. As a result of the need for more funding at the community
level, eyes were cast in the direction of UBCIC and its relatively
large budget. The opportunity presented itselfat the 1975 Chilliwack
Conference. While the events at Chilliwack were primarily an
emotional response, the decision at the conference to reject
government funds opened up UBCIC’s funding as an easy target
for bands wishing to acquire more dollars. That became a fact in
1978, when Secretary of State began decentralizing and redirecting
its core funding to tribal councils, who had been lobbying to
acquire those funds since the rejection of funds, or soon thereafter.
It was the politicization of our leadership and our people
that culminated in the rejection of funds. What then emerged was
adifferent political and philosophical attitude on the Land Question
and the rights of our peoples within our respective territories. A
new political language came to the fore, clearly demonstrated in
the DECLARATION OF THE UNION OF B.C. INDIAN CHIEFS,
1976. That conference at Kamloops showed a real movement
toward decolonization, Over the next four years we witnessed
heightened, feverish activity on Indian rights in all our communities.
For example, in 1975 the WORLD COUNCIL OF
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES was founded at Port Alberni largely
through the efforts of George Manuel. George was to become the
first elected President of UBCIC two years later. In 1978, the
passive resistance by our people became an active resistance when
the Bridge River people, led by Chief Saul Terry, stated with their
fishing actions that no permit was required from the Department
of Fisheries and Oceans. Joined by the chiefs and people of the
Stl’ Atl’Imx tribe, the ‘‘fish-in’’ ended finally with charges being
laid against Bradley Bob. The court case concluded a year later
with the decision that we, as Indian peoples, did have an exclusive
right to fish. The right could only be touched by conservation
needs.
In 1979, after ten years of research and consultation with
the people, the ABORIGINAL TITLE AND RIGHTS POSITION
OF THE UNION OF B.C. INDIAN CHIEFS was adopted in
principle. Jt was unanimously adopted by the Chiefs in Assembly
the following year.
Continued page 8
Page 2
MARCH/APRIL 1992
POST SECONDARY EDUCATION REPORT
The Steering Committee on Indigenous Peoples
Education met in Vancouver on February 27th. What follows
is a report of it activities to date, the names and addresses of
commiitee members for contact, and an outline of our strategy
in relation to the three major issues that face us in education:
(1) the funding crisis for older students, especially those in post
secondary education, (2) the expiry of the Master Tuition
Agreement in June, 1992 and (3) local Indigenous control of
the public education of our people.
Post Secondary Education
Adult students and education workers alike are in a
funding crisis because the federal government is reducing the
flow of money from Ottawa. In many communities, First
Nations have decided to maintain their students by deficit-
financing. Where that cannot be afforded, Education
Coordinators or Directors have been obliged to advise their
students to seek other support or to return home.
If you are a student who is being affected by those cuts,
we want you to know that we are hard at work in your support
and that we are determined to succeed, not only in restoring
your funding but in a good deal more. Would you like to join
us? Work with us?
The Master Tuition Agreement
By this agreement, Canada pays each year for
Indigenous children to attend provincial schools, On average,
almost $6,000.00 was paid for each child in 1990-91; in
comparison, the per capita payment in 1978 was $1,800.00.
Payment is also made for the capital costs of building a new
school in which Indigenous children are expected to enroll and
for support and administrative services. Under this agreement,
some $53.6 million was paid by the Department of Indian
Affairs (DIA) to B.C. in 1990-91 for some 9,000 students.
The agreement has never had the consent of Indigenous
people, nor has that consent been sought since the first
agreement was made in the 1960’s. The current agreement,
signed in 1988, is due to expire in June, 1992: it provided, for
the first time, for local agreements between Indigenous
communities and provincial school boards. This arrangement
is unacceptable: our First Nations are not municipalities but
NATIONS and our principal relationship is with Canada, not
with School Districts that have been established by authority of
the province of B.C.
Consequently, we want the new agreement to be one
between Canada and the Indigenous Nations or the national or
tribal organizations which they appoint to represent them.
Local Control
In 1972, the National Indian Brotherhood published a
policy paper entitled Indian Control of Indian Education which
proposed just that. It was accepted by the federal government
in 1973 but has been implemented only very slowly and hardly
at all in B.C, The Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs helped to write
that policy paper and has always upheld its principles.
Consequently, the Steering Committee on Indigenous
Peoples Education pursues the principles adopted by the
Assembly of First Nations and intends to achieve that end by
having all funds required for education -- as for everything else
-- transferred from Ottawa to our local communities. Whether
the transfer shall be through a tribal or national organization or
any other agency (including DIA) is to be the decision of each
local community, Local communities will hold all authority,
except for that which they delegate to another jurisdiction or
level of government.
The Steering Committee
A series of meetings on education have been held during
the past few months, out of which -- by popular demand --
emerged the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs’ Steering Committee
on Indigenous Peoples Education. Ray Hance was asked to
chair the meetings and so the Tsilhqot’in Tribal Council is
coordinating the work. For your information, Ray is the
Natural resources Advisor to the Tsilhqot’in Nation, former
Chief of Toosey Indian Band and former Vice President of
U.B.C.I.C. He led the lobby of the British Parliament in
London during the constitutional crises in 1981-82, visited
Continued Page 4
CALL TO ALL CITIZENS OF
SOVEREIGN INDIGENOUS NATIONS
SPECIAL ASSEMBLY
on the establishment of a
PROVISIONAL
GOVERNMENT
APRIL 29, 30, MAY 1, 1992
St. Mary’s Centre, Mission, B.C.
For information contact:
Union of B.C, Indian Chiefs
Phone: 684-0231; Fax: 684-5726
MARCH/APRIL 1992
Page 3
=
EDUCATION REPORT
Continued
several European countries and spoke to a number of
ambassadors and ministers.
Like the international work of ten years ago, the work of
the Steering Committee is being funded by its participating
members. The U.B.C.I.C. is paying for our meeting facilities,
mail-outs, and faxing but receives no funding from the
government to work on Indian education. It is our position that
all future funding should go directly to Indian communities.
The Steering Committee has decided to combine the
three issues outlined above and to tackle them all as one. Here
is a record of our work accomplished since the committee was
formed late in January, 1992.
-- letters to all Indigenous communities and tribal councils
outlining the problems and inviting participation. A
questionnaire was enclosed;
-- letters to the Assembly of First Nations, the Native
Council of Canada and Indigenous organizations in the
provinces and territories inviting support and parallel action;
-- a letter to the DIA Regional Director-general for B.C.
telling him (and thus Canada) that all First Nations must be
party to a renewed master tuition agreement and that it must
carry our consent. The new agreement is to be between the
federal government and Indigenous governments. The letter
also asked for statistics and information.
-- a letter to the Minister of Education for B.C., informing
the provincial government of the above position (with copies to
the Ministers of Advanced Education and Aboriginal Affairs).
-- letters to the First Nations Congress, the First Nations’
Schools Association and the Home School Coordinators’
Association inviting cooperation;
- letters to selected opposition Members of Parliament in
Ottawa, requesting help and information.
oe a request to the Standing Committee of the House of
Commons on Aboriginal Affairs (in Ottawa) for a hearing;
-- analysis and review of the Master Tuition Agreement;
discussion of possible legal action;
-- information-gathering for data base.
Department of Indian Affairs
The Minister of Indian Affairs is saying that education is
not an aboriginal right, nor does the federal government bear
the responsibility to pay for it. He maintains that there has
been no decrease in funding for post-secondary education, but
an increase. He says that the situation would be better with
improved management in the local communities but denies that
he is suggesting local mismanagement of funds.
D.I.A.’s policies, rules and regulations governing post-
secondary education are unworkable and unacceptable. Our
students and education workers have identified the following
problem:
a June 15th deadline for registrations is ‘‘impossible’’;
-- the living allowance is, at $625.00 per month,
inadequate and causes hardship and stress;
-- no provision is made for damage deposits or day-care
costs, making difficulties for students and young families;
-- no provision is made for the costs of administering the
post-secondary programme in our community offices; the work
has to be handled by workers who are already underpaid for the
work that they do; many of these jobs are only part time.
-- tuition fees are sometimes not paid in full;
-- allowances for new books, travel, tutoring and typing are
all too low;
-- allowances are not indexed to inflation, the cost of living
orGs.T;
-- budgets are not indexed to population increase
(including the influx of Bill C-31’s) or to the growing demand
for post-secondary education.
Work Load For the Steering Committee
Develop a province-wide data base:
Jane Dick, Box 156, Mount Currie, VON 2K0 (894-5 149/5224);
Vancouver Island, south-west to Nuxalk, the Kootenays.
Wayne Bobb: Seabird Island, RR #2, Agassiz, VOM 1A0 (796-
2512): central-southern interior.
Stewart Phillip: Penticton Band, RR#2, Site 80, Comp. 19,
Penticton, V2A 6J7 (493-0048), fax# 493-2882: the south-west
(except Kootenays).
Ray Hance: Tsilhqot’in Nation, 102-383 Oliver Street,
Williams Lake, V2G 1M4 (392-3918) fax# 398-5798: northern
B.C.
Draft Tuition Agreement, Development of Legal Position
Nancy Sandy (UBCIC) and Louise Mandell, and others.
Action Coordination
Stewart Phillip, Pierre Kruger
ualit mntrol, Negotiation
Political Position
Ray Hance
Continued Page 8
|
|
Page 4
MARCH/APRIL 1992
RESOURCE CENTRE REPORT
The Library of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs has now
been reopened for six months. Many tasks have been undertaken
in that time and continue to be carried out.
Acquisitions
Legal acquisitions have continued to be the focus for
additions to the collection. Overview materials such as
**Native Law’’ by Jack Woodward have been added, as have
many shorter publications, particularly in the area of land claim
history and international law as it relates to indigenous people.
Still to be added (once suitable titles are located) are materials
on administrative and family law.
Government publications have also been added to the
collection, including the report of the public inquiry into the
Manitoba justice system, all of the government reports on the
constitutional proposals, as well as land claims agreements in
principle documents.
The collection has also now acquired 287 new
microfilms from the National Archives in Ottawa. These films
will fill some of the gaps in the microfilm collection and mean
that the library now holds approximately 1100 Department of
Indian Affairs microfilms.
Research
Materials of special interest continue to be identified and
set aside in a special collections area. These have included
declarations from various Indian Nations, a petition to Ottawa
from the 1940’s concerning conscription, and a set of archival
British Government documents relating to British Columbia.
The inventory has continued and a number of items have
been identified as missing from the collection. Areas
particularly hard hit with missing items have been targets for
regeneration and money from donations etc. has been used to
purchase some new materials.
A 500 dollar grant was given to the library from the
Koerner Foundation for use in converting deteriorating
periodicals to microfiche. This project has been started and is
anticipated to be complete by the end of April.
Library Maintenance
Cataloguing: Cataloguing materials has continued to
be a major priority. Much of the backlog has been reduced, but
more uncatalogued materials keep appearing. Reducing this
backlog will remain a focus, In addition a subject heading list
has been prepared and this will make for more standard
application of subject headings being used in the library.
Binding: Many reports and unpublished papers come
into the library unbound. These have been set aside and are
now being bound using a coil binding machine. As they are
bound they are placed into the cataloguing holding area and
eventually placed into the collection.
Clippings: The clippings file has been reorganized
MARCH/APRIL 1992
and the subject headinglist for clippings has been updated. A
volunteer has been coming into the library once a week to
assist with subject heading the backlog and placing items into
the correct files.
Periodicals: The library has continued to receive
periodicals and they are placed into appropriate areas as they
arrive. The latest legal subscription was for ‘‘Lawyers
Weekly’’ and these are being routed to appropriate staff as
they arrive.
Government Publications: Statutes of British
Columbia had not been updated for the past four years. These
updates were ordered and only one year remains to be filed.
Hansard continues to arrive, and as part of the library service,
items of interest are noted on the front cover and routed to
the appropriate staff members.
Equipment: Broken equipment has been repaired and
all library machines are now functional.
Tours: A total of seven tours have now been
completed. These have been for member bands, students,
and prison inmates. Each of the tours was very successful
and people who have come for tours have returned for
individual research.
Special Projects: A revised classification scheme is
being worked on for the library. This scheme attempts to
remove the anglicized versions of Indian names and replace
them with what Indian people themselves recognize. This
has been a consultative process with staff and various people
from the bands and is an ongoing long term project.
A large number of historical photographs were
discovered and these have been sorted and cataloguing of the
individual pieces has started.
Popular video materials have been catalogued and a
print copy of holdings has been made available to member
bands upon request.
A Book Sponsor Program has been started through
Chiefs Mask Bookstore. Through this program interested
people donate needed materials to the library. The library
has already acquired seven new items and hopefully more
will come.
Reference
More than 100 questions from outside sources have been
handled by the library. These have continued to be from
band researchers, law firms, students, and the general public.
Staff have also increased their use of the librarian as a source
of information. With computer access by modem to various
library catalogues, internal use is likely to increase further.
Tim Atkinson
Librarian
Page 5
IN HOUSE COUNSEL REPORT
A. Legal Cases
l(a) Delgamuukw v. A.G.B.C. Update
After Delgamuukw was handed down on March 8, 1991,
the Union decided at a Special Assembly held in Kamloops,
B.C. to intervene in the appeal. Subsequently, ten native
lawyers began meeting to discuss strategy. The work was
divided among the legal team according to areas of expertise
and their work schedule. The Union was granted intervenor
status on August 8, 1991 along with the Assembly of First
Nations, the Massett Band and Old Massett Village Council.
Since then there have been numerous pre-appeal hearings
dealing with administrative matters and two hearings before the
full five judge panel.
Beginning in September of 1991 there have been six
major fishing and hunting cases heard at the B.C. Court of
Appeal before the same judges who will be hearing the
Delgamuukw appeal.
On January 15, 1992 the province applied for a six
month adjournment of the appeal in order for the parties to
commence negotiations to settle out of court. The province
proposed negotiations under the B.C. Claims Task Force Treaty
Commission which was to have been established within a six
month time period. In the meantime the Union wrote to
Premier Harcourt asking how his government planned to
reconcile their political position, which claimed to recognize
aboriginal title and rights and the right to self-government, with
their legal position in Delgamuukw which stated the contrary.
The Appellants had been in negotiation with the provincial
government for a concession that the province did recognize
their title and that it was proprietary in nature and that it had
not been extinguished. The Appellants opposed the province
application to adjourn on the basis that there was no reason for
the legal action to proceed while negotiations were taking
place. The Appellants said as long as the B.C. Supreme Court
stood the decision was being used against aboriginal people in
the lower courts and they were committed to overturning the
decision. The Union supported the Appellants opposition but
were not called upon to make submissions. However, our
Comprehensive Framework Treaty was introduced into court
through the Affidavit of Don Ryan as an alternative to the B.C.
Claims Task Force Treaty Commission. The province's
application was dismissed.
The province it's legal team, fired Russell & DuMoulin
and on March 4, 1992 the province retained Brian Williams of
Swinton & Company as new counsel. On March 18, 1992 the
province again applied for a one month adjournment because
they anticipated substantial changes would be made to their
original factum filed January 20, 1992. Both parties agreed to
the adjournment and the application was granted. The new start
date for the appeal is May 4, 1992; the closing date remains at
the end of June 1992.
1(b) Funding for the Union's Intervention
To date the Union has been covering all costs of the
intervention i.e. salary for in house counsel, copying,
telephone, fax, courier, filing fees and any other
disbursements.
We applied to the United Church for funding but have
not received a favourable reply. Test Case funding will not
be available to us since the aboriginal peoples are being
heard in court through the Appellants. As a result we have
no funding to cover the costs for this intervention. Aside
from in house counsel there are two of our legal team who
have expended a considerable amount of time in preparing
the Union’s factum and in the application for intervenor
status. Other members of our team are in private practice
and the amount of time they can volunteer has been limited
accordingly. We do have a bank account set up and will
gladly accept financial donations to cover our legal fees.
You can make your cheques payable to the Union of B.C.
Indian Chiefs Intervenor Team and send them to the attention
of Nancy Sandy at the Union’s Vancouver office. We will
issue you a receipt and will continue to keep you updated on
the appeal.
2) Morton Peters, Wildlife Act Appeal
A year and a half after a trapline hearing before the
Wildlife Branch of the Ministry of Environment the Acting
Director determined that a trapline held by a native woman
had been lawfully transferred to a non-Indian trapper. In the
same case the Regional Manager was found to have acted
within the law in determining the status of the traplines and
had taken reasonable steps to make the former registrants and
their heirs aware of his own efforts to register the traplines
before offering them up for auction. The same non-Indian
trapper obtained the second trapline by auction and then
amalgamated the two. Those two traplines had been in the
native family for generations. An appeal to the
Environmental Appeal Board was filed on September 16,
1991,
3) Mt. Currie Roadblock
A group known as the Lil’wat Peoples Movement set up
a roadblock on the Lillooet Lake Road. The government
obtained that part of the road which had granted public
access through a right-of-way by expropriation. An interim
injunction was granted and members of the Lil’ wat Peoples
Movement were arrested and jailed. At one point their
lawyer had attempted to argue that the court had no
jurisdiction to hear the matter. He was unable to continue
with his sovereignty argument since the judge would only
hear the matter with respect to the contempt charges. I
attended the court to monitor the conduct of the case. It was
Continued Next Page
]
L
Page 6
MARCH/APRIL 1992
L
IN HOUSE COUNSEL REPORT Continued
significant that the people were allowed to sing their song and
use sweetgrass in the courtroom. To listen to them sing in the
courtroom was a very moving and powerful experience. The
people were finally released after being jailed for
approximately a month. In this case there were two seperate
hearings, one with the Lillooet Peoples’ Movement and the
other filed by the elected Mt. Currie Band Council. The Band
Council had appealed the interim injunction. The matter was
dealt with by a five member panel before the Court of Appeal
and was sent back to trial to determine the validity of O.I.C.
1036.
B. Legal Services and Requests
As the Union’s In House Counsel I have not spent an
inordinate amount of time in the courtroom. I’ve found that the
majority of our clients, aside from member bands, are band
members or off-reserve residents living in the city who require
legal assistance of some sort which does not necessarily require
litigation.
Requests for assistance can range from a request for
trapline information - how to obtained them and how does a
person find who is registered to a given trapline; band
membership under Bill C-31 and the benefits; how does one get
their car out of the city pound; family tracing services and
assistance in drawing personal service contracts which take
advantage of tax exemptions on reserve to the requirements of
sending home-canned salmon overseas to Japan. Wherever
possible I do the research and provide the answer. When I
know of another agency or person who has the answer readily
available I then make a referral. Where a client is able I
encourage the individual to do the requisite footwork
themselves.
C. Nengay Deni Yajelhti
Law Contre Society :
In the spring of 1990 the Chilcotin Justice Council
requested the Union’s assistance in setting up a Law Centre in
the Chilcotin territory. After a year of negotiating a contract
with the Ministry of Attorney General and drafting a set of by-
laws which met with the approval of the Council the Law
Centre was finally opened on February 1, 1991 on the Anaham
Reserve. The Centre will service seven bands in the Chilcotin
and Carrier territory with any matter that requires legal assis-
tance.
D. Public Education
The Union receives many requests from the general
public for presentations on aboriginal issues. As a result I’ve
gone out to church groups; the Native Education Centre; the
University of B.C. and fundraisers held by the African National
Congress. Topics for discussion usually centre around what is
currently being reported in the news; for instance, the Delga-
muukw decision; fishing rights; roadblocks; environmental
concerns; education; and the effects of residential schools. As
a fundraiser, these presentations do not raise substantial
amounts of money, but they are a valuable service we make
availble for the education of not only our people but to the
general public as well.
E. Community Participation
As a single parent and a woman native lawyer I value
my time outside of the office. But, at the same time I realize
the importance of keeping our organization’s name in the
public eye. Asa result, I am an active member of the B.C.
Native Lawyer’s Association; I attend the Canadian Bar
Association’s Native Justice Section Committee monthly
meetings - both these groups meet to discuss native law issues;
the former is a group wholly made up of native lawyers; the
latter is a group of lawyers, native and non-native who
specialize in native law. In the spring of this year I was elected
to sit on the board of the YWCA. They have requested a
presentation on aboriginal title and rights - and the education
goes on!
I have been invited to sit on the Burnaby Correctional
Centre for Women Advisory Board. As with other institutions
this centre has a large population of native women. My role as
a board member would be to provide support for native inmates
whether they are attempting to resolve personal concerns (i.e.,
parole) or are requesting programs which will assist in rehabili-
tation (i.e. cultural and other education programs).
NANCY SANDY.
In House Counsel
PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT
Continued from page |
**T think what we are worried about is this chicken and egg
concept. Do we wait for them to recognize us and our authority
for self-government? Or do we assert our jurisdiction and form
our self-government and say ‘This is what we are doing and we
don’t give a damn whether you recognize it or not?’ That is
what I think self-government means, and that is what I think
sovereignty means.’’
After passing the resolution, the Chiefs’ Council
established a small working group to develop a draft
constitution and a process for establishing the Provisional
Government.
The working group met on March 6 and decided to call a
Special Assembly for April 29, 30 and May 1 to give direction
on establishing the Provisional Government. The working
group also discussed development of a Charter of Indigenous
Rights that would be the basis of the Constitution of the
Provisional Government of a Confederacy of Sovereign
Indigenous Nations in British Columbia. 6
r=
MARCH/APRIL 1992
Page 7
L
PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE Continued from page 2
In 1980, Trudeau and his government were aggressively
moving to patriate the Canadian Constitution. Observing this, the
Indian Nations took action by going across the country in a train
which was dubbed THE CONSTITUTION EXPRESS. Atthe time
the train left B.C. Indian people were not permitted to be heard in
the parliamentary committee sessions. Before the train arrived in
Winnipeg, Manitoba, parliament agreed to accept representations
by our people.
Not satisfied with simply being heard by alowly committee
of parliament, plans were put in place to continue on to New York
and the United Nations. Another delegation followed through with
an initiative called the EUROPEAN EXPRESS. This delegation
went on to London England to mount an aggressive lobby in which
the debate was won but, in the end, the vote was lost in the British
House of Commons.
While the vote in Britain’s Parliament may have been lost,
another battle was won in Britain’s Privy Council, bringing
decolonization another step closer. Speaking for the Privy Council,
Britains highest court ofappeal, Lord Denning told the government
of Canada that the treaty rights of the indigenous peoples must be
respected and where there were no treaties yet concluded, the
honour of the crown had to be maintained through equitable
negotiations. Should there be any questions in interpreting Indian
rights, decisions should come down on the side of the Indians.
These rights were to be respected and recognized by the Crown for
as long as the sun shines and the rivers flow.
In the brief -- but formany ofour people very long -- months
of the Constitution Express and the European Express, the issue of
our nations’ sovereignty rose in stature. The measure of our
peoples’ success can be seen in Canada’s constitution today.
Canada recognizes our treaty and aboriginal rights. From then to
now, it has been in our hands to complete the journey to
decolonization.
Since April 17, 1982, several constitutional initiatives were
put forward to define our rights more specifically. All failed. So
we have been forced to fight rear-guard actions, especially since
the election of the Conservative government in 1984 and the onset
of the its ‘“BUFFALO JUMP’’ DEVOLUTION- TERMINATION
AGENDA. Since then, we have achieved notable victories: the
defeat ofthe MEECH LAKE ACCORD, largely through the heroic
effort of Elijah Harper in the Manitoba Legislature; and the OKA
CRISIS which exposed the true character of the Conservative
government -- colonialist, manipulative, deceitful and arrogant.
For the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, the Oka Crisis brought
on stream the COMPREHENSIVE TREATY FRAMEWORK
PROPOSAL four months earlier than had been planned. The
Federal Government, represented by Indian Affairs Minister Tom
Siddon, seeing the far-reaching implications of our treaty proposal,
refused to consider the offer. Instead, the Minister tried to choose
a path for us that would mire us in confusion, frustration and put
us on the verge of civil war amongst ourselves. He has almost
succeeded.
Given the fact that the voice of our people has still not been
heard by the governments, it is time to take OUR NEXT STEP IN
PROGRESS TOWARD DECOLONIZATION. That next step
was directed by the UBCIC Chiefs’ Council on February 18, 19 and
20. The effort was attempted before but we were not ready. Are we
ready now to establish our PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT OF
SOVEREIGN INDIGENOUS NATIONS, with which any and all
governments must deal? That is the question I invite all citizens of
our respective nations to answer at a SPECIAL ASSEMBLY to be
held April 29, 30 and May 1,1992. ©
INDIGENOUS EDUCATION Contiued
nt Contact ganization
Nancy & Helen Sandy (UBCIC), Alex Jamieson (fax# 363-
0428) in Victoria.
Support Group Co-ordination
Nancy Sandy, Millie Poplar (UBCIC), Theo Collins (Open
Learning Agency, 4355 Mathissi Place, Burnaby, V5G 488) Ph
#: 431-3300 or fax# 431-3333.
Media
Stewart Phillip
Letter Writing, Public Education
Theo Collins, Brian Mayne, Tsilhgot’in Nation, 102-383 Oliver
Street, Williams Lake, V2G 1M4 (392-3918 or fax# 398-5798).
Presentation t mmitt
Brian Mayne
Volunteers are welcome!
Conclusion
During the course of a meeting between the Chiefs of
the Tsilhqot’in and the Minister of Indian Affairs, held at
Toosey on March 3rd, Ray Hance was able to put to Mr.
Siddon the three questions listed at the beginning of this letter.
The minister said nothing about local control. He said he did
not know that there was no provision in the Master Tuition
Agreement for the recovery of the fee of a student who leaves
school before the end of the school year: he pretended to be
surprised, even shocked, but the question is: why didn’t he
know, after all this time as Minister? He denied that he had
accused the local communities of mismanaging funds for adult
education and said that although he recognized there was a
great increase in demand for post-secondary education -
enrollment has more than tripled since 1984 - the government
could not afford to pay for it.
This is simply unacceptable. We are not going to allow
the government to plead poverty. The great prosperity that
Canada has enjoyed since 1945 was derived from our lands and
resources. If it turns out to be true that Canada really cannot
afford the costs of Indigenous education, that does not release
them from their responsibility: it obliges them to support us in
our application for such supplementary funding as may be
needed from agencies for international aid and development.
We shall be looking for such assurances during our campaign.
This concludes our report to you on our work to date.
Your participation is encouraged, your comments welcomed
and your action encouraged. -@
{
Page 8
MARCH/APRIL 1992
Part of Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs Newsletter (March/April 1992)