Gun laws will make criminals of Northerners

Page 5

Gun-control laws designed to solve the southern urban problem of

escalating violent crime will turn the people of the North into

criminals, said Attawapiskat First Nation chief Ignace Gull.

The laws proposed by federal Justice Minister Allan Rock do not take

into consideration the needs and traditions of the people who live in

Canada's remote Native communities, he said. Their way of life becomes

against the law.

Gull joins Aboriginal leaders from across the county in their

condemnation of the proposed Bill C-68. Assembly of First Nations Chief

Ovide Mercredi calls the amendments to Canada's Criminal Code

unconstitutional infringements on the right of Aboriginal people.

The Inuit Tapirisat of Canada, a group which represents ;more than

40,000 people, says the proposal will violate the Inuit's close

relationship with the land, waters and animals of the north.

Hunters say the laws discriminate against Native people whose lives

depend on the game animals they hunt.

If approved, Bill C-68 will make it illegal to buy or be given a

firearm without first obtaining a firearms acquisition certificate and

passing a firearms safety course. It would also be illegal to lend a

firearm to anyone who doesn't have a certificate and who is not under

the supervision of the lender. The difficulties arising from these laws

as they relate to Aboriginal people are many.

In a presentation made April 24 to the House of Commons standing

committee on justice and legal affairs, Jim Antoine, member of the

territorial legislature for Nahendeh, explained that, while restricting

the sharing of firearms may make sense in the South, it is at odds with

northern survival and the people's sense of community.

"What would you have me do when my brother Gerry -- the grand chief of

the Deh Cho First Nation council -- tells me that there are caribou

nearby and that he needs my .300 Savage to bring some meat for his

family?" he asked. "Do I refuse? Do I tell him that he must first wait

for the appropriate forms to be processed? Do I behave in the

'honorable way' let him use my rifle and then have the RCMP and the

courts say I am a criminal because I offended your Bill C-68?"

Antoine appealed to the committee to understand the concerns of

northerners and to ensure that the bill is amended to make it more

compatible with regional diversities.

The economic burden Bill C-68 places on Aboriginal people is also of

great consideration. Unsalaried hunters who can neither afford the

licences and registation fees nor wait out the 28-day gun-application

approval period will also have to choose between abiding by the law and

feeding their families.

The cost of hunting is already prohibitive, said Gull in an interview

in the Globe and Mail. The existing firearm acquisition fee is $50. A

five-year licence for two firearms would be renewed at a cost of between

$60 and $100.

In Attawapiskat, where the unemployment rate is 90 per cent, hunters

cannot afford the certificates, especially if more than one member of

the family needs them, Gull said. He also can't make much sense out of

the required passing of a firearms safety test -- it may cause problems

for the Elders of his community.

"I trained and taught my four boys at the age of five to handle a

shotgun and a rifle," he said. "Everybody does that. And now a 60-,

65- year-old man, who's been hunting all his life, all of sudden he has

to take a gun-safety course. It doesn't make sense."

It may not be easy to accomplish either. Many northern communities

would have to fly in a qualified firearms instructor to hold the courses

or send a band member south to qualify in a training course so he could

return and instruct others. They would also have to find a way to

accommodate Elders who are unable to train in a language they can

neither speak nor write.

Some Aboriginal leaders are trying to work within the federal system to

have the bill delayed for amendment. But others, such as Chief Francis

Flettt of the Opaskwyak Cree Nation in Manitoba, are calling for

members to disregard the law, even if it means going to jail. Flett

said hunting and trapping is a means of survival for band members and

the tribal council won't sit back and see it taken away.

"This legislation does not recognize the inherent right to

self-government," he said. "Or the jurisdiction of First Nations to

develop laws and policies on issues such as gun control and safety.

The legislation is typical of the government attitude toward First

Nations treaties, he said. He will not allow the government to force

Native people into a position that compromises treaty rights.