Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs Newsletter (March/April 1992)

1.06-01.08 Union of BC Indian Chiefs Newsletter

1.06.-01 Newsletters and bulletins sub-series

March 1992

english

1.06-01.08-03.01

9

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

Chief Saul Terry

Stewart Philip

Tim Atkinson

Nancy Sandy

periodical

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