Treaty commemorations focus on a brighter future

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Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) is paving the way to bring back wealth to its members a century after signing a treaty with Canada that many believe gave Aboriginal people in the region an unfair shake. Designed to ensure peace and resource sharing and that a fair share of riches would flow to Aboriginal people from their land, Treaty 9 was signed by NAN and the governments of Canada and Ontario 100 years ago.

But Aboriginal people have been thwarted from getting an equitable share of wealth out of industry development on their property during the past century, NAN Grand Chief Stan Beardy said in an interview last month.

NAN has 40,000 people in Northern Ontario situated on two-thirds of the province's land base.

"I am concerned that when you push people over the line, it's hard to contain the consequences," Beardy said.

He said the drain on their wealth has resulted in poorer communities in NAN compared to the rest of Canada and the world.

NAN ranks 63rd in the world for quality of life, while Canada ranks eighth, Beardy said. Living conditions across parts of NAN are not unlike the Third World, according to Ontario Regional Chief of the Assembly of First Nations Charles Fox and MPP Gilles Bisson (NDP-Timmins-James Bay).

A fundraising dinner was hosted by NAN in Thunder Bay on Jan. 20 to jump-start Treaty 9's 100th birthday commemoration and start shaping a vision for Aboriginal people for the next 100 years.

Beardy said making wealth sharing come true as required by the treaty is the vision for the area, which stretches from the Manitoba border to the Quebec border and north to James and Hudson bays.

A good start to make revenue sharing a go, he said, is Bill 97, which was introduced in Ontario's legislature by Bisson last year. The bill, which if passed will require resource companies to enter into resource-sharing agreements with the First Nations whose lands they are extracting natural resources from, has already been through two readings.

The outcome, Beardy warned, is bleak if industry keeps making $20 billion a year from Aboriginal land and Aboriginal people keep getting hardly anything.

"People can only get pushed for so long," he said.

As part of its plans to commemorate the centenary of Treaty 9, NAN will be presenting a treaty report card to the government, along with a set of expectations about what the treaty should bring to Aboriginal people during the coming century.

The time is ripe for talks to take place between NAN and Ontario to help shape the future, said Robert Rosehart, a former Ontario negotiator for Aboriginal self-governance who attended the dinner.

He said NAN could unfold into a co-managed area between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people in the next two decades, and eventually turn into a place a lot like Nunavut, but remaining part of Ontario and falling under the laws of the province.

It will be a struggle to achieve, Rosehart said, but strong visionaries in NAN could make it all come true.

"There are no quick fixes," he said.

The 15 First Nation communities commemorating the centennial of Treaty 9 signed on different dates, so a number of events will take place over the course of 2005 and 2006. The first main anniversary event will take place this summer at Mishkeegogamang First Nation, where the first adherents to Treaty 9 signed on July 12, 1905. Long Lake First Nation will host the final event in August 2006.

"My people are looking forward to gathering to commemorate the last 100 years, but more importantly to start thinking about the next 100 years and what needs to be done to improve the quality of life in our communities," Beardy said in announcing plans to commemorate the treaty signing.

"It will be a great experience for provincial and federal leaders to visit the sites of the two main commemorations and witness first-hand many of the improvements, but also the challenges our people are currently facing."