Fifty western chiefs refuse to give up rights

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An alliance of 50 Alberta and Saskatchewan Indian chiefs are refusing to bow to Canadian government policies and tactics designed to alter or remove what they consider their base Treaty rights.

The chiefs who make up the Treaty 6 Chiefs Forum, recently sponsored a delegation to meet with support groups and government in London, England. According to Allen Jacob of Cold Lake, the group is looked upon as "rebels" because of the strong stand they took by not participating in the constitutional talks.

Jacob explains that their predecessors made treaties with Great Britain and not the Dominion of Canada. Therefore, he argues, it is Britain with whom Indians should be dealing. For this reason, he says, Treaty 6 chiefs continue to oppose such things as Bill C-31 and membership codes which reinstate former Treaty Indians.

The delegation to London consisted of Chief Alphonse J. Lameman and councillor Gabe Cardinal of the Beaver Lake Tribe number 131 who met with Shridath Ramphal, Secretary General of the Commonwealth Secretariat.

Lameman was delegated to the United Kingdom (U.K.) to remind the British government of their moral responsibilities to ensure that Aboriginal and Treaty rights are not suspended by the Canadian government.

In 1982, the High Court in the U.K., in a case launched by Alberta chiefs, ruled that Treaty rights still continued even though the Canadian Bill transferred full independence to Canada.

According to Lameman, Canada has violated the basic human rights of the First Nations by denying them the right to exercise, through their own institutions, their culture.

"Canada says it is bound by international human rights treaties like the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, but has denied that we are indigenous peoples with our own culture and land rights," says Lameman. "This denial of our right to self-government is racist," he adds.

"Look how easy it was to recognize the right of the Quebecois, who are white, to be a distinct society in Canada, but when we, the First Nations, make the same claim, we are shut down," professes Lameman.

Chief Lameman says: "It looks as though the current government (of Canada) has taken us off the national agenda, but our international lobby will ensure that other states and peoples are reminded of Canadian racist oppression of the First Nations."

Lameman, speaking on behalf of the Treaty 6 chiefs, was critical of the imposition of the Indian Act's new provisions on Indian status and membership.

"In no other country are the indigenous people classified by race, only in Canada you say! The imposition of people into our communities who have a racial, but no other connection ? in some cases one-sixteenth Indian blood, to our communities is a blatant attempt to undermine our land base."

In support of his claim, Lameman cites the case of the Klamath and Menominee tribes in the United States who voted to sell their reserves following pressure from non-Indian tribal members.

Speaking on behalf of Lameman at the Saddle Lake band office, Wallace Many Fingers said that the constitutional talks regarding Indian rights are "a dead issue as far as the Conservatives are concerned."

In reference to bands' membership codes, he reported, "bands have rejected the whole framework. The government has tried to shove it down their throats."

Indians from Treaty 6 do not take the matter lightly and promise to continue to oppose such impositions.

Many Fingers charges the Canadian government with fostering an attitude which says, in no uncertain terms "take it or leave it." He argues, "if you take ? then you do it the way they want." On the other hand, if you leave it, they will implement whatever policy they wish to, he adds.

There is something to be said for the decision-making process on the part of Indian people, says Many Fingers, who pointed to the extremely low numbers who have met the now-past deadline for bands to submit their membership codes.

Only si Alberta bands have had their codes accepted and "out of 550 bands in Canada, there wouldn't be more than 15 nationally," he stated.

The issue is far from being dead as far as Treaty 6 chiefs are concerned say Many Fingers and Jacob, who promise to pursue not just their treaty rights, but their very "survival."