Agreement raises queries, concerns

Page 4

Pikiskwe

This past week the first ministers and Native leaders finally reached a constitutional agreement.

It doesn't matter that last week the same leaders were espousing negativity and had reached an impasse on several key issues.

I, for one, can't help but feel that we've all been had, just a little.

Time will tell if that same feeling will transpose over to the constitutional agreement, itself.

In Alberta, Premier Getty is pleased. He has his Triple E Senate, though his next task may be to work on the disparity in the House of Commons as a result.

Alberta Native leaders are split on the deal. Larry Desmueles, President of the Metis Association of Alberta, was elated.

"The Metis received what they wanted and more," he said. In the future, Metis in Alberta will be able to negotiate land and resource rights.

Over all, Indian leaders have not endorsed the agreement. Percy Potts, vice-president of the Indian Association of Alberta, said the agreement will not apply to them. Northern chiefs have said that they remain suspicious of the process used to reach the constitutional agreement.

It's really difficult to assess what was decided upon because currently there are

no written texts.

However, judging from newspaper reports, there seems to be a number of questions that Indian people should be prepared to study.

The first is "inherent right to Native self-government." What does this mean, if all Native laws must conform with federal and provincial laws?

And secondly, when they included the clause, Peace, Order and Good Government, are they suggesting the residuary power of the federal government will be given to Indian government?

The legal interpretation of this term may be much different than the literal meaning of the words.

How will the agreement effect current cases now before the courts? If a dispute is not resolved by negotiations, will the five-year wait place the Native litigants at a disadvantage? How will this affect current land claims?

There are many questions that Native leaders will have about the new agreement.

Chief Mercredi would be best advised to begin a national tour to explain the details of the agreement. The agreement still must be ratified, and the provincial and federal governments have yet to agree on the process.

I think this time is it unlikely the powers that be will allow an eagle feather to determine their will.