We're with you, prime minister

Page 5

Editorial

We've never been shy to publish opinion that is critical of the Liberal government and Prime Minister Jean Chretien. Often, the Liberal Party's approach to Indigenous issues just doesn't mesh with the way we, and many of our readers, believe things should be done.

So in the interests of fairness, we feel it's important and necessary to say there have been a couple of times recently when we've found ourselves saying-with a certain amount of amazement-that we're really proud of the position the prime minister has taken.

His stance (at least his public one) on the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq is a case in point.

While we agree that Saddam Hussein is someone who needs to be dealt with, we feel even more strongly that the United Nations must be the body that should decide which action needs to be taken to deal with him and when that action should be taken.

We believe that if any one nation decides it has a superior right to interfere with the internal affairs of any other sovereign nation without the clear support of the international community, well, that leads to disaster on a monumental scale.

Mr. Chretien showed incredible courage in making that same determination in the face of what must have been daunting pressures from many corners. Now that he's come to this determination, we hope he'll see the parallels between the situation in Iraq and the situation Indigenous peoples find themselves facing here at home in Canada.

Colonialism has been recognized as an out-dated, racist, immoral concept. The United Nations should be the place where conflicts between nations are mediated and settled by neutral third party nations. The United Nations should also be the place where the past violations against Indigenous nations-nations that still exist, albeit in many cases in reduced and desperate circumstances due to the on-going ravages of colonialism-be mediated in good faith.

The prime minister refused to be pressured into going along with a great friend and ally because of his belief in the high principle that the international rule of law must prevail. We feel he now has no choice but to decree that Canadian officials at the United Nations must stop short-circuiting the efforts of Indigenous nations trying to undo the damages of colonialism by seeking reparations and genuine self-rule.

All of our Indigenous contacts who attend the sessions dealing with Indigenous issues at the United Nations or the Organization of American States tell us they face highly organized opposition from Canada's external affairs department. They say that Canada, the United States and Australia, the three large modern nation states that were founded on Indigenous lands, have worked in concert at the international level to frustrate attempts by Indigenous peoples to regain some measure of control over their traditional homelands.

We're told that the basic goal of Canadian officials at these institutions is to ensure that no price is ever paid for the wrongs of the colonial period, that anything wrongfully taken from Indigenous peoples-whether it be rights of self-determination, land or resources-is never returned. It's a battle to maintain the status quo at all costs. A battle to preserve the gains realized when colonizing nations "discovered" lands where people were already living, and established nations where nations already existed.

Peace, order and good government at the international level requires that all nations be subject to the same rights, obligations and protections. No one nation is above the law. No one nation is better than any other nation.

Mr. Chretien, we salute you for standing up for that high ideal. Now bring it home to Canada.