International court completes first stage in case against Canada

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There is "overwhelming evidence" to support the charge that the

Canadian government has violated First Nations rights in Canada, an

international panel of Indigenous judges has ruled.

After a three-day preliminary hearing, judges at the First Nations

International Court of Justice recommended that the court proceed to

trial with a three-count indictment against the federal government next

fall.

The preliminary hearing held April 2 to 4 at a downtown Ottawa hotel,

was the first sitting of the court, which was launched by the Chiefs of

Ontario last autumn.

Canada was charged with unlawfully interfering with the internal

affairs of First Nations, unlawfully imposing its laws on First Nations

peoples and territories, and the unlawful seizure of First Nations

lands, resources and tax revenues.

The seven judges, representing First Nations from Canada, the U.S.,

Mexico, Australia and New Zealand, pulled no punches when releasing

their final judgments on the last day of hearings.

"Massive genocide has been carried out... and continues," Okanagan

judge Jeanette Armstrong said.

"(It's) a crime against humanity that cries out for redress," said

judge Moana Jackson, a New Zealand Maori. "The (Canadian) legal system

itself is a violation of Indigenous peoples and their rights."

Five witnesses testified on behalf of the Onoondaga, Hnahnu, Haida,

Dene and Cherokee nations. All spoke about the environmental devastation

of water, land and other natural resources by governments and mining

companies. Elders from six First Nations also observed the hearing and

acted as advisors to the court.

The defense table sat empty throughout the hearing, since no

representatives of the Queen or the federal government showed up to

present a case for the defense. Prime Minister Jean Chretien and

Governor General Romeo LeBlanc were served with the indictment last

September, but did not respond.

For many observes and participants in the court, it was something they

had never seen before: rather than a courtroom overwhelmingly populated

by non-Native faces, it was a court in which every witness, lawyer and

judge was a member of a First Nation.

The Chiefs of Ontario set up the Court because Canadian and

international legal systems (like the U.N.) are unfair to Aboriginal

peoples and do not recognize their ways of life, Ontario Regional Chief

Gordon Peters said.

"It's time that First Nations simply started to exercise their

sovereignty," Peters said. "(The court) is an expression of our

jurisdiction."

The court followed recommendations of the Report of the Royal

Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, which recently suggested a separate

justice system of Aboriginal Canadians, Peters said. The First Nations

International Court of Justice is completely independent of government

influence and is funded entirely by donations.

Court organizers received letters of support from Nobel Peace Prize

winner Rigoberto Menchu Tum, the Navajo nation in Arizona, the Grand

Council of the Crees of Quebec, the U.N. Centre of Human Rights and the

National Association of Friendship Centres, as well as donations from

the Mohawk council of Kahnawake, the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian

Nations and several individual Manitoba bands.

But representatives from many well known Aboriginal organizations, such

as the Assembly of First Nations, were noticeably absent. The AFN and

other groups did not give official support to the court because they see

it as "a pie-in-the-sky kangaroo court" with no real legal

jurisdiction, Peters said. They see the court as a useless publicity

stunt because its findings and sentences will never be recognized by the

Canadian government, he added.

Although the court operates outside recognized international legal

forums like the International Court of Justice, supporters hope it will

become an on-going mechanism for jurisdictional disputes involving

Indigenous peoples around the world.

"We're laying the groundwork for a Indigenous legal system" said lawyer

haron Venne, who presented the prosecution case.

The court is a step by First Nations toward creating and controlling

their own legal system and institutions, Peters added.

The next sitting of the court will take place in September at a date

and venue to be announced.

The judges' panel recommended that a friend of the court be appointed

to represent the federal government if it does not send a defense team

to the next round of hearings. The indictment may be expended to

include charges against other governments.