Grassroots get a say at conference

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For three days in January, people from across Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) territory gathered in Thunder Bay to learn about Treaty 9 and to share their ideas about how to realize the rights guaranteed by the treaty document.

"Treaty 9 has two versions," explained NAN Grand Chief Stan Beardy. "One, the written text that was brought by the commissioners when they came to do a treaty with us, with explicit directions from Canada and Ontario not to alter it. So there was no negotiations whatsoever of that written text. However, a hundred years ago ... none of our people could read English, could not talk English, weren't familiar with the values of the outside world, the materialism of the outside world. And then they had to rely on their understanding of the verbal translations by the interpreters. So as a result, it became very important 100 years later that we develop our positions on that treaty making from our perspective. And that's what we did ... to clarify that for our purposes right across the Nishnawbe Aski Nation."

The conference, Beardy said, was about helping NAN set its agenda for achieving the rights guaranteed not in the written version of the treaty, but in the First Nation understanding of the spirit and intent of the treaty. That involved looking at political and legal options, and trying to come up with ways to mobilize the Nishnawbe Aski people to begin to assert those rights.

The conference was well attended, with a wide cross section of people taking part-youth, Elders, women and chiefs among them. Those who couldn't attend the conference still had an opportunity to listen in on the first day of proceedings, which were broadcast live on Wawatay Radio.

That first day included an overview of Treaty 9, a session on Aboriginal and treaty rights, and information about the impact recent court cases will have on NAN's efforts to have its treaty rights recognized.

Day two featured group discussions about the treaty, with participants talking about the benefits gained from the treaty, shortcomings in treaty implementation, historic interpretation of the treaty and what should be done to realize implementation of treaty rights.

On the third day of the conference, a draft treaty statement was drawn up, incorporating the input received from conference participants. That statement will be fine-tuned, then presented to NAN chiefs in assembly in March.

Participants, particularly the young people, were excited by what they learned at the conference, Stan Beardy said.

"I think people were amazed that we have so many rights and yet we've never been in a position to begin to implement those rights. And that's what we're trying to do here, is reaffirm amongst ourselves what those rights are and inform and educate our own people as well as the general public that those are rights, legal rights that are recognized in the Constitution as well as reaffirmed by the Supreme Court rulings recently. It's us, then, it's our responsibility as First Nations people to begin to implement them. They cannot be done for us. It's something that we have to take responsibility for."