Prime Minister/ First Nations singing from different songbooks

To help re-set the relationship between the Crown and First Nations people within Canada, leaders of the Anishinabek Nation offered up a symbolic gesture. Just before the opening ceremonies of the Crown First Nations Gathering on Jan. 24, a wampum belt was set on the stage, backwards, then righted immediately following the smudging, prayers and gift exchange.

Anishinabek Nation Grand Council Chief Patrick Madahbee said they had brought the Treaty of Niagara belt, which sets out the nation-to-nation relationship Anishinabek has with the Crown, in backwards to signify “there’s unfinished business and there’s problems in the relationship.”

First Nations throughout the country were specific about the many issues in the relationship that are problematic and that required discussion at the gathering. It was a long list of complaints and included treaty rights, education, jurisdiction over lands, a moratorium on legislation not agreed upon by First Nations, resource revenue sharing, housing and infrastructure, economic development, as well as respect for the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

High on the agenda was the push for the Indian Act to be scrapped, something Assembly of First Nations (AFN) National Chief Shawn Atleo had included in his political platform.

In his opening remarks to participants of the Crown/First Nations Gathering, Prime Minister Stephen Harper addressed that issue.

“Our government has no grand scheme to repeal or to unilaterally rewrite the Indian Act,” he said. “After 136 years, that tree has deep roots; blowing up the stump would just leave a big hole. However, there are ways, creative ways, collaborative ways, ways that involve consultation between our government, the provinces and First Nations leadership and communities, ways that provide options within the act, or outside of it, for practical, incremental and real change.”

Former AFN National Chief Ovide Mecredi also addressed the Indian Act issue. He spoke after the opening ceremonies and remarks by Atleo and Harper. Mecredi talked about the limitations of the Indian Act.

“When you become a chief, you sure learn that even though you want to remain an Indian, the Indian Act is in the way. It stands in the way of economic progress. It stands in the way of our own self-determination as a people. It stands in the way of even defining who we are as a people and who can belong to our nations. It’s not just a big hole. It’s an obstacle.”

Right from the start, it seemed the Prime Minister and First Nations were on different pages about the relationship, and that fact didn’t go unnoticed by Madahbee.

“The Prime Minister… he’s still talking at a different level from what we’re talking about.”

Madahbee wasn’t the only chief to notice the different paths the chiefs and Prime Minister were walking. In an afternoon press conference, Nishnawbe-Aski Nation Grand Chief Stan Beardy said “I came here hoping that Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the government of Canada, would make some commitment and have fundamental discussions with Treaty 9 and Treaty 5, but instead, this morning, I heard discussions on training my young people to have jobs, and minor amendments to the Indian Act.”

Beardy doesn’t just want to see his people being trained in the resource industry, but rather see First Nation communities become equal partners in the opportunities available in a resource rich economy.

Many treaty chiefs went to the gathering wanting to see respect from the government over treaty rights, to see the agreements implemented so First Nations can enjoy the benefits the treaties were meant to provide.

“I want to have a fundamental discussion with Canada because we are a treaty partner. We agreed to a relationship 100 years ago. We agreed to peaceful co-existence. We agreed to share the land… But most importantly, we agreed to share in the benefits derived from our homelands, and that’s not happening at all.”
There were a few chiefs who walked out of the meetings, unhappy with what was being said.

Eli Mandamin, the chief of Shoal Lake First Nation of Treaty 3, was one of those chiefs. He left the meeting early in the afternoon. His community straddles the Ontario/Manitoba border. The community has filed a court injunction to stop the City of Winnipeg from selling water and sewer services. Since the city draws its water from Shoal Lake, the same source of water for the First Nation, the community leadership has felt it necessary to send Winnipeg a monthly water bill.

Mandamin thought there was something seriously wrong with the discussions at the gathering.

“These ministers are proudly announcing all these minerals that they’re exporting and selling here. And those are our minerals, they don’t realize.”

Mandamin wants them to stop signing free trade agreements, and wants respect for the treaties.
Like Beardy, Mandamin didn’t hear the proper respect for the prospect of resource sharing or substantial investment in education.

Mandamin also said economic opportunities should be made available in First Nations, and implementing treaties would pave the way to positive economic development in First Nations.

While there was a lot of talk inside the gathering at 111 Sussex, outside there were more than 100 protestors demonstrating. They walked to Parliament Hill and back again. But while the demonstrators were gone from the site, a handful of people stayed behind with their purple Haudenosaunee flags. The group, representatives of the Mohawk Traditional Council of Kahnewake, refused to budge from their spots near the building. Carole McGregor with the group said the action was inside the building on Sussex, not at the Hill.

Stewart Miyo Jr., spokesperson for the Mohawk Traditional Council, said the people inside the building were selling themselves out, “…this conference is designed by the British Crown to suck in Native people into the system of where they will now be benefitting from the destruction of our Mother Earth. You see this by many Native leaders asking for their cut or share, saying we want to benefit from the sharing of our resources.” The council is against resource development, especially with Native participation.

The Gathering ended with few commitments around education, self-government or common ground on resource sharing.

The day after the event, AFN National Chief Shawn Atleo gave a press conference.

“Right now, government feels that through their actions and through their regulatory processes and licences that First Nations are simply stakeholders. That simply is not the case. The treaty relationship said that we would be full partners in designing and determining what would happen within our respective territories and that First Nations would benefit from the wealth and from the resources of the land.”

Atleo also referenced the section in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples that speaks to free, prior and informed consent from First Nations on any developments in their territories.

In his speech the day before, the Prime Minister acknowledged the United Nations document saying “And, of course, we endorsed the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People. This reaffirms our aspiration and our determination to promote and protect the rights of Indigenous people at home and abroad.
These things we have done, Ladies and Gentlemen, as a down-payment on what we wish to achieve.”

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is joined by His Excellency
David Johnston, Governor General of Canada participate in  a smudging ceremony at the Crown-First Nations Gathering.  Chiefs from across Canada gathered in Ottawa on  Jan. 24, 2012 hoping to reset the relationship between  First Nations and the Crown.