Haida protest "a good thing"

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I think Miles Richardson has stumbled on to a good thing. He's the president of

the Council of the Haida Nation. Along with most of the Haidas (and a lot of other people besides), he's fighting the loggers on Lyell Island.

Lyell Island, of course, is a jewel of unspoiled beauty in the unique environment

of the Queen Charlotte Islands and since the Haida say the island is theirs, they want to protect it from clear-cut logging.

In fact, 72 people have already been arrested trying to stop the chain saws.

But the province says the loggers won't damage the fragile landscape and its allowed the logging to resume. The next step in the Haida campaign is unclear. In the meantime, Miles Richardson and eight other Haidas have written a telegram to the Prime Minister telling him they want to renounce their Canadian citizenship. They say that any travelling they do from now on will be done on a homemade Haida passport.

"The rejection of Canadian citizenship is apparently not intended to force the province to stop the logging - just a simple statement to let Ottawa know that the nine Haidas intend to be known as Haidas and not Canadians.

That got me thinking the other day - what if all the Native people in Canada did the same thing? Not to protest land claims, treaty violations, constitutional treachery or the lack of self-government - just a simple statement that a million Native people sent to be known as Mohawks, Micmacs, Metis or whatever.

Why, we can start up our own little cottage industry just making our own pass-ports. And think of the other advantages!

We wouldn't have to stand at attention for the playing of Oh Canada at the movies or at a hockey game. If it's done legally it probably means no jury duty either. It definitely means you wouldn't have to trudge to the polls and line up to vote on election day. As for July the 1st, you'd still have a holiday - if you had a job that is - but you wouldn't have to go on a drunken, flag-waving patriotic binge.

There would be a downside, but I think that even it would have its own advantages. If you renounced your Canadian citizenship, it means that you would not be eligible to work for Indian Affairs or any other government department. Just think of all those government offices unable to hire a new crop of token Native people for token jobs.

Our educated elite, the best and the brightest supposedly, could begin working for the Native movement instead of for the government.

But enough daydreaming. What happens if the Haida move is carried to its logical conclusion? Doesn't it mean that if you reject Canadian citizenship, you should also reject the benefits?

That would mean no more cheques for welfare, baby bonus or unemployment insurance; no more medical benefits, no more education money and no more grants. In short, can we really have our cake and eat it too? That raises an even tougher question that Native people must answer. Namely, what do we really mean when we talk about

the Mohawk, Micmac or Metis Nation?

Are we Indians first and Canadians second? Or is it the other way 'round? Just how should we relate to the government in Ottawa?

Well, the cold hard fact of life probably means that we, as a people, can't really afford to give up Canadian citizenship, especially since it costs $40 to submit a legal application to do so.

But maybe we could do something that might serve as a statement of national Native protests without endangering our day-to-day survival - and I think "I've got just the idea.

The next time you're in a hockey arena and the crowd stands up for "OH Canada," stand up too, but instead of singing about standing on guard, I think we should start sing-ing our own national Native anthem.

And since Native people haven't agreed on one yet, how about everyone instead belting out a rousing chorus of Kaw-liga?