Corbiere deadline upheld

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Alberta chiefs and National Chief Matthew Coon Come demanded more time, but the Supreme Court of Canada refused. The Corbiere decision went into effect on Nov. 20.

Earlier in the month, the Alberta chiefs held an emergency meeting to discuss the implications of the court's decision to extend voting rights to off-reserve residents, and made it clear they resented the imposition of the new Department of Indian Affairs election and referendum regulations.

Coon Come arrived at the meeting at about 11 a.m. on Nov. 1, making a stop while en route to Calgary. Within minutes of the national chief's arrival - and at his request, according to meeting chairman Leonard Bastien - reporters were asked to leave. After five hours of private discussion, Coon Come and the chiefs emerged to make a statement.

"We believe we have the right to self-determination," said Coon Come. "We have the right to establish our own political institutions, our own societies, to determine our own citizenship," he said. "And having come from that background, I fully support the enhancement of our own community-driven process, of our own forms of governance, of our own forms of codification in regards to our own customs and traditions, even as it relates to elections. I fully support the Alberta treaty chiefs that are presently sitting with me. We are demanding a moratorium on Corbiere. We feel that there is a unilateral imposition of regulations that were drafted governing the elections process. It was done without our consultation. It was done without our involvement. These rules as they are drafted will have serious impact on our people. The consequences of this process were not well thought out."

Coon Come charged that a significant part of the 18-month period provided by the Supreme Court for consultation by government with First Nations on the implementations of Corbiere was wasted by the government in planning the "so-called consultation process," he said. "We feel that what we are requesting [the moratorium] is reasonable given the implications, given the seriousness of this issue."

On Nov. 3, the Supreme Court ruled the deadline would be upheld.