Natives say: Give us Control

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Native people want more control over their own lives, whether dealing with governments, the legal system or their own political organizations, a royal commission was told.

"What we feel is, we're powerless. We are asking the royal commission to set

up a mechanism that will at least allow us to discuss it," Richard Long, executive director of the Native Council of Canada's Alberta wing, told the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples during hearings in Edmonton.

Long's comments were directed at a bureaucratic move in December that transferred responsibility for social services from the federal to the provincial government. Though the move affects program delivery for Alberta's off-reserve population, it was made without consulting off-reserve organizations like the Native council.

But while the remarks represented a specific group's concerns, they also reflected

a general theme that has emerged during the first set of public hearings in the commission's three-year mandate.

"The issues brought before us have to do with exercise of control of the individual or the group," said commission member Paul Chartrand, a Metis professor at the University of Manitoba.

"Self-government is the big-sized way of expressing that," he said during a break at the hearings. "The issues brought before us have to do with the exercise of control over the individual or the group."

Dozens of groups and individuals have addressed the commission on its recent swing through Alberta. Issues raised have included attacks on the Indian Act and the Indian affairs department, accountability of Native government, women's rights, the just system and racism.

Edward Morin, a former band councillor with the Enoch band near Edmonton, said that federal control of communities has kept Native people "oppressed and depressed."

Morin said land issues are at the heart of many problems and called on the movement not to let financial matters stand in the way of fair settlements.

"The aboriginal people of North America are the biggest pre-paid taxpayers on the continent," he said, referring to the treaty process.

Indian Association of Alberta president Regena Crowchild blamed colonialization as the source of Native problems. She said Ottawa's Native policies are "racist" because they invariably demand Native people prove their rights in land and benefits disputes.

"We never sold or alienated our lands. Why? Because the Creator put us here," she said.

In a strong criticism of the constitutional process, Women of the Metis Nation spokesman Marge Friedel said Ottawa treats self-appointed interest groups like elected governments. She said this process leads to a loss of political control by grassroots community members.

"The organizations say they represent us. They don't tell us what is going on,"

she said, adding that her organization only gets news on constitutional developments by reading newspapers.

The seven-member commission was appointed by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney last year to conduct a wide-ranging review of all issues affecting Native people and communities.

Although the group intends to bring forward "solution-oriented" recommendations, it has run into criticism that it has come too late to be effective.

Roy Louis, a former Samson band councillor from Hobbema - a predominantly Native community about 100 km south of Edmonton - said "too many" other issues have been put forward by the government.

Louis raised concerns that the commission may not reflect the concerns of treaty Natives because although four of the seven members are aboriginal, none are from treaty nations.