Day of commemoration is also a day of protest

As the Idle No More movement organizes nation-wide rallies to mark the 250th anniversary of the British Royal Proclamation as a “racist historical framework,” the Land Claims Agreement Coalition will host a symposium looking at that same document as “a very useful starting point for all of our negotiations.”

“There will be different perspectives coming from different groups,” said Clayton Thomas Muller, INM organizer of the Oct. 7 rallies. “There is no one single interpretation of Canada’s colonial history, certainly no one pan-Aboriginal voice that represents how to break that down in any way.”

The Royal Proclamation was issued by King George III in 1763. It states that Aboriginal title existed and would continue to exist “and whereas it is just and reasonable, and essential to our Interest, and the Security of our Colonies, that the several Nations or Tribes of Indians with whom We are connected, and who live under our Protection, should not be molested or disturbed in the Possession of such Parts of Our Dominions and Territories as, not having been ceded to or purchased by Us, are reserved to them, or any of them, as their Hunting Grounds.”

“For our community, the proclamation was an understanding that we had, an understanding that has not been lived up to,” said Chief Gilbert Whiteduck of Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg First Nation.
Whiteduck said the Royal Proclamation speaks of sharing the land, yet consistent encroachment, in particular through provincial laws, finds First Nations fighting costly legal battles.
It’s this unfulfilled promise and political and legal battles that upcoming INM rallies will bring attention to, said Thomas Muller.
One of the six “high-level priority objectives” set by INM and the Defenders of Land joint campaign is the “repealment of all those racist, historical legal frameworks that facilitated essentially the ongoing fact of occupation that our Indigenous nations in North America are currently living under,” he said, adding that the British Royal Proclamation is one such document.

“It’s mixed feelings in what strength lies in that Royal Proclamation,” said Union of Ontario Indians Grand Council Chief Patrick Madahbee. “There are some elements of it that say certain things, but there are other elements that kind of lend to the British and the Crown’s way of how they got access to the territory.”

Madahbee adds that the Crown has not lived up to the obligation set out in the Royal Proclamation. It continues “with ongoing treaty violations” that have brought First Nations to plead their cases not only at federal and provincial levels but also in the international realm.

He points to Sect. 35 in the Canadian Constitution which recognizes and affirms  “the existing Aboriginal and treaty rights of the Aboriginal peoples of Canada...”

“It is in the Constitution, yet there has been no significant movement in implementing treaties,” said Madahbee.

However, Kevin McKay, chairperson for the Nisga’a Lisims government and First Nations co-chair of the Land Claims Agreements Coalition, sees things differently.

“We view the importance of the promise made by the Royal Proclamation in terms of negotiating honourably with the Aboriginal peoples,” he said.

The coalition, formed 10 years ago, consists of 24 First Nations and Inuit governments, who have negotiated modern treaties with the Crown.

However, McKay is adamant there is no “cookie-cutter approach” when it comes to negotiating treaties and meeting the needs of Aboriginal groups.

“There is a diversity of situations as they pertain to unique and distinct sets of circumstances that various Aboriginal groups across Canada find themselves in,” he said.

And there also needs to be a willingness to compromise, McKay said. He is quick to point out that it was the Nisga’a Nation that compromised the most over the course of 113 years of negotiations.

While the coalition will host a symposium at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Gatineau commemorating “this valuable piece of Canadian history,” INM supporters will take to the streets across the nation.

October 7 was chosen for the INM action, not only because it marks the 250 anniversary of the British Royal Proclamation, but also because Sisters in Spirit vigils, calling for justice for missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls, takes place the previous weekend; UN Special Rapporteur James Anaya will be in Canada to look at the rights of Indigenous people; and the Speech from the Throne will be delivered on Oct. 16, after Parliament was prorogued for one month.

“This is a distributed day of non-violent direct action on the day this country was ushered in to facilitate a moment for people to really bring it back to how we are going to reconcile Canada’s scandalous and controversial colonial history; how we are going to move forward and take lessons from the past,” said Thomas Muller.