First Nations rally against provincial government

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More than 2,000 Aboriginal people from all over British Columbia who are tired of having their rights ignored marched up to the B.C. legislature and held a rally on May 20.

Participants protested changes to provincial forest legislation and agreements that are being offered by the government to the First Nations, agreements they say would compromise Aboriginal peoples' rights in exchange for limited economic benefits.

One of the organizers, Chief Stewart Phillip of the Penticton Indian Band, said there were hundreds of drum groups present, and many Elders spoke at what he called a "very historic and emotional experience."

"I'm very excited, I'm very overwhelmed. I can't begin to describe the feelings the leaders had when they looked out over the people that had assembled outside the legislature," said Phillip, who is also the president of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs and a member of the Title and Rights Alliance Steering Committee.

"What concerns us the most here in British Columbia is that the Gordon Campbell government is consumed with the notion of privatizing land and resources to third-party interests and we cannot allow that to happen," he said. "It represents a gross and unacceptable violation of our Aboriginal title interests, not to mention our responsibilities of stewardship to the land."

Phillip added that the provincial government and Forestry Minister Michael de Jong are using stall tactics and proposing agreements that offer little to the First Nations. He said Indians are suffering through escalating poverty problems that when combined with drawn-out negotiations, may cause some to sign unfavourable agreements.

De Jong held a press conference in his office before the rally took place.

The minister said that some bands have come to the bargaining table and that 48-about a third-signed five-year agreements that provide access to timber land and a share of $55.6 million in forestry revenue.

De Jong also said that these agreements in no way take away their Aboriginal rights. There are another 12 agreements pending, but De Jong commented that many First Nation groups in British Columbia do not want to come to the bargaining table.

"I think for some First Nations it's much easier just to fight and hurl words of abuse. It's just an easier way to lead. It's easier to pick an external enemy and say, 'Those guys don't care about this,' when the evidence is very much to the contrary," said de Jong.

"I think there are some First Nations and some First Nations leaders, unfortunately, who are mired in the old ways of confrontation. Happily, there are in increasing numbers First Nations and leaders who are saying 'No, let's find a new way; let's actually work together to try and find a better way and employment for our people'."

"The agreements that have been signed are nothing but trinkets and beads," said Chief Liz Logan in a press release put out by the Title and Rights Alliance.

Logan is a chairperson of the Treaty 8 Tribal Association.

"We own the resources. Treaty 8 and all First Nations want to be part of decision-making about land and resources."