Questions need to be answered Bill C-31 blasted

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CALGARY - A Calgary city committee chairman is calling the federal government and the minister of the Department of Indian Affairs to task over Bill C-31 which he claims has created "two classes of Status Indians."

Andrew Bear Robe, a Blackfoot band member and Chairman of Calgary's Native Urban Affairs Committee (NUAC0 has written a strongly worded letter to Minister Bill McKnight, calling upon him to answer several questions on the controversial amendment to the Indian Act which returned Indian status to people who had lost status by either marrying a non-status person, taking script, joining the military, the priesthood or leaving the reserve to go to university.

The Native Urban Affairs Committee recently received an address by a locally based group called the New Status Indian Association of Alberta (NSIAA) who applied for a grant to allow them to set up their organization in the city. However, according to their president, Fred Fraser, allocation of the Bill C-31 monies were already allotted to

the Native Council of Canada (Alberta) (NCC(A). Fraser complained at the time that the NCC(A) had not set up an office south of Red Deer.

In his letter, a copy of which has been obtained by Windspeaker, Bear Robe asks where the $2.4 million made available for new status organizations had been allocated and why a request by NSIAA for $153,000 was rejected by the federal government.

"The Native Urban Affairs Committee must have this information in order to assist us in responding to the New Status Indian Association of Alberta," says Bear Robe

Bear Robe then goes on to berate the government over the controversial bill by pointing out that Bill C-31 undermines the upcoming "First Ministers' Conference," on Aboriginal self-government. "The determination of membership in a tribe or nation is a basic human right and no other nation or government can impose upon, except the Indians themselves. This is a fundamental international law principle...Therefore Bill C-31 clearly prejudiced current Aboriginal self-government discussions and negotiations at the First Ministers level and has produced a giant hiatus in Aboriginal policy development and departmental (DIAND) credibility.

Bear Robe then asks the minister "how the federal government intends to solve this current dilemma?"

Minister McKnight has previously stated that the federal government can make no distinctions between new or reinstated Indians and the existing Indian population. However, Bear Robe points out, that the minister himself makes distinctions when making recent statements on and off reserve Indians.

"You must acknowledge the fact that Bill C-31 has created two classes of status Indians," insisted Bear Robe. Those who possess a land base and those who have none and may never have a land base."

Bear Robe draws a parallel between the Indian situation here in Canada and the situation of the homeless Palestinians from the Middle-East.

"Pontifical statements such as 'my department will not become involved in disputes in this area' are simply legislatively irresponsible. The government of Canada and particularly your department got involved in 'disputes in this area' when it totally ignored the pleas of the Alberta Indian bands against the passage of Bill C-31.

"The federal government cannot now bury its head in the sand hoping that it will not be touched by the fallout of this ill-conceived legislation. Indians should no longer be made legislative puppets because they alone have to live with the dictates of someone else's priorities and not theirs," continued Bear Robe.

Bear Robe points out that all Aboriginal people in Canada desire true self-determination and an opportunity for a good standard of living similar to other Canadians.

"These principles of governance should be fully embraced by the federal government and the provinces and can no longer be denied to the first inhabitants of this country."

Bear Robe goes on to ask the minister when his govenment will drop its outdated and "anachronistic" policy which allows only Treaty Indians who live on reserves to attain all their treaty rights.

"The Indian Association of Alberta (IAA) and the Alberta bands have always maintained that treaty and Aboriginal rights are not restricted by jurisdictional or territorial boundaries, and that they are transportable rights notwithstanding wherever an Indian person may choose to live."

The Native Urban Affairs Committee was established nearly ten years ago to help the city's Native people liaise with the local government. Therefore, says Bear Robe in "submitting these questions to the minister, the committee is simply fulfilling its mandate to address the concerns raised by Aboriginal groups located in Calgary."

The committee, which is comprised of both Native and non-Native people, meets on the first Wednesday of each month in Calgary city hall.