Inherent rights should be exercises

Page 4

I'm a little confused about the meaning of "inherent rights." This term continues to arise in discussions and negotiations on rights concerning the Indian people of Canada.

The dictionary definition suggests that inherent means existence as a natural or inseparable quality, something that is not adjustable. However, the true definition is generally misconstrued and misunderstood.

This confusion in use of terminology arouses some suspicion in whether our governing body truly negotiates in terms of "inherent" rights.

According to the term "inherent," we are not to subject to governing any body other than ourselves yet we wait for a constitution that gives us the right that already exists. I suppose that's the part that is confusing. It's no wonder the constitution is so long in the making!

Perhaps definition, as it is understood, is the key here. We declare that we have inherent rights as a nation simply because we are the people Indigenous to this country, yet we hesitate to exercise those rights. Does that declaration belong in the minds of the government or ruling class that have made the rules, or in the minds, of the people who live the rules?

When our national chief suggested that we move away from the Indian Act, I think he had a valid point. Perhaps hundreds of years of paternalism and indoctrination of rules has desensitized us to the value of freedom.

The act said if an Indian woman married a white or non-status man, she lost her rights as an Indian under the confines of the Indian Act. She believed and accepted that. Isn't that a violation of her inherent right?

That same governing body presented legislation (Bill C-31) to rectify that particular discrimination and some of us accept it, some of us question it and the rest of us simply deny it.

Determination is defined as a firm intention. Do First Nations possess that determination? Do we have the ability to govern ourselves?

I don't imagine we'll see a constitution that gives Indian people inherent rights.

A declaration like that gives away part of the government's control.

Perhaps it's time we quit debating and just exercised those inherent rights.