Alberta government and media blasted by writer

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The position of the Government of Alberta, municipal governments, as

well as numerous non-Native columnists and editorial writers, that First

Nation governments and citizens of First Nations must follow the same

rules as every other citizen of Alberta, completely ignores the fact

that First Nations governments are only subject to provincial

legislation in the most limited of circumstances.

To say that First Nation governments and citizens of First Nations who

reside on First Nations territory must follow the laws of the province

of Alberta also ignores the fact that Indian governments are a separate

order of government with their own unique constitutional jurisdiction.

To say that First Nation governments should not be allowed to make their

own laws with regard to gaming within their own territory smacks of

paternalism and racism.

Why is it that First Nation governments are less competent to legislate

in these areas than the Government of Alberta? The premier of the

province is less well educated than numerous First Nation government

representatives and officials. Any arguable authority that the

Government of Alberta has to control gaming on Indian reserves arises

further to the federal legislation, specifically, the Criminal Code of

Canada, and is a matter of legislative accident not in keeping with the

current Constitutional status of First Nations.

First Nations governments have jurisdiction in a number of areas

identical to the provincial government: finance, highway traffic laws,

wildlife, environment and natural resource development, to name a few.

It is troubling that the premier seeks to pass judgement of the

competence of First Nation governments to make their own decisions with

regard to activities which take place within their own territory. The

positions being taken by the Government of Alberta and municipalities

such as Calgary are self-serving and only take into account the needs of

their own constituents.

The simple fact of the matter is that it all comes down to two issues

-- money and power. Provincial and municipal governments don't want to

allow First Nation governments the same ability to make decisions which

will benefit their communities.

It is said time and time again by the province and non-Native media

that if the "Indians" have so-called "for profit" casinos that this will

severely cut into the revenues of provincially-licensed gambling. When

it comes right down to it, the First Nations, in a time honored Canadian

tradition, are being subject to the whims and greed of non-Native

governments, who make decisions on the basis of the best interest of

people other than the citizens of First Nations and who seek to impose

their will on First Nations on the basis of some perverted notion of

divine right to rule.

The Government of Alberta does not purport to have the authority to

pass laws which have application within other provinces such as

Saskatchewan and British Columbia. Why then do they purport to have the

jurisdiction to make laws which apply to the territories of First

Nations? The continued parroting of the refrain that "First Nation

governments must be subject to the same rules as everyone else"

conveniently ignores the fact that they are not everyone else and have

Constitutional rights and their own unique and inherent jurisdiction

which makes them unlike everyone else.

The whining and complaining of the more "red-necked" elements of our

population that "Indians" should be subject to the same laws as everyone

else is not going to turn the clock back to the Constitution Act of 1982

and the numerous Supreme Court of Canada victories of First Nations

people since that time. Canadian politicians need to wake up and accept

their obligations to First Nation governments and commit to negotiate in

good faith to resolve these issues as opposed to unilaterally setting

down rules for them to live by.

All of us who do not have First Nation citizenship should be deeply

ashamed by the paternalistic hypocritical and racist propaganda being

spouted by the Government of Alberta and even more shamefully by

non-Native journalists, columnists and editorialists who are supposed

to be able to look at these issues objectively.