J11 is now history!
Prior to J11, there were great expectations, some skepticism (myself
included, see lsawatsky.blogspot.com, Jan. 4, 2013) and demands were made. Chief Theresa Spence’s hunger strike deserves
a significant portion of the credit for getting the Harper Government to agree
to the meeting on J11, and the #IdleNoMore (INM) movement deserves the rest of
the credit. Forcing Harper to have a
meeting on First Nations issues is a noteworthy accomplishment and I wholeheartedly
applaud both Chief Spence and INM for achieving this.
Despite misgivings on my part, it is necessary to recognize
and respect the attempts on National Chief Shawn Atleo’s part to get consensus
of First Nations Chiefs and even for going to the meeting to tell Harper face
to face what the Chiefs and INM are demanding.
The option to not attend was also a reasonable and respectable choice
but Grand Chief Atleo did what he was elected to do within the colonized
framework of First Nations governance under the Indian Act.
But what were the expectations and demands of Chief Spence
and INM prior to J11? Chief Spence
wanted
- A meeting with Harper, the Governor-General and the Ontario Premier all present
- Discussion
on the implementation of the Treaties, the nation to nation relationship
between First Nations and
Contrary to mainstream media reports, the INM has been very
clear about their expectations:
- Withdrawal of sections of both Omnibus bills that affect First Nations
- Protection of land, water and air, and resource sharing
- Implementation of historic treaties on a nation-to-nation basis
- Self-determination for First Nations, the original inhabitants, as full-fledged Nations
- Support for Chief Theresa Spence and her demands.
I ask forgiveness from Chief Spence and the INM if I have
failed to word these expectations appropriately or missed some key
demands.
What has become clear one day after J11 is that none of
these expectations or demands have been met:
- Harper designed the meeting so that Chief Spence would have to boycott the meeting, if for no other reason than to retain her integrity. As predicted, Harper still has not met with Chief Spence, nor will he.
- The Governor-General was not part of the meeting of Harper and First Nations Chiefs
- The Government clearly refused to rescind anything in the Omnibus bills
- There was no assurance about environmental protection, resource-sharing or sovereignty for First Nations
- Despite the agreement to discuss Treaty relationships, Harper and First Nations are on a completely different page when they use the word “treaty”. In fact, they are in a different book.
If Harper agreed to modernize the historic, numbered
Treaties on J11, what he has in mind is a similar template as is currently being
used by the Government of Canada in making treaties with First Nations in B.C.,
most of whom do not have Treaties.
Essentially what the treaty-making process in B.C. amounts to is
extinguishment of indigenous rights – termination. Already in the first such settlement with the
Nishga in B.C. 10 years ago, they are soon running out of the money they
settled for and are now put in a position where they have to sell land on the
reserve to non-native buyers. This suits
the Harper government and their corporate bosses just fine.
Many of the initial signers of the historic Treaties were
held hostage simply because they did not understand the language or importance
placed on the written word by John A. MacDonald and his cronies, nor did
MacDonald or his cronies understand the importance First Nations placed on oral
tradition. If the First Nations leaders stay
true to their position that the historic Treaties are sacred and based on true
Nation to Nation relations, then I am convinced these discussions with the
Harper government will come to nothing.
So what does the rejection of all key demands of IdleNoMore
and Chief Spence mean for the future?
For INM, it clearly means that this movement will have a long life
because considerable public pressure will have to be exercised to bring about
the fundamental transformational change required to achieve its aims. For Chief Spence, the prognosis is not so
good. The Harper government is in power
for another two years, and I do not see any possibility of the corporations
that control Harper letting him off the hook and allowing him to do the humanly
and morally sensible thing, whether Chief Theresa Spence is with us or
not. If the choice between the existence
of the Harper government and meeting Chief Spence’s demands were up to me, I
would choose Theresa Spence in a heartbeat.
What we need is transformation of the whole way of doing
things in Canada :
true and sincere Nation to Nation relations with First Nations, Metis and
Inuit, but also economically, politically, democratically, ecologically and
culturally for the rest of us. The
Nation to Nation transformation (see my next blog) must happen immediately, not
only for the sake of historical justice but also for Chief Spence’s life. And frankly, I for one, cannot wait another
2-3 years until the next charade of an election either.
