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Who speaks for First Nations?

Author

Letter to the Editor

Volume

21

Issue

2

Year

2003

Page 5

Dear Editor:

re March, 2003 editorial ("Shelve the Governance Package").

The record of the last four national chiefs is instructive: when one comes on as too strong against the federal government, he is cut down by the "benefactor" and labeled militant or aggressive; when they appear to be too weak in dealing with the federal master, they are repudiated by his electorate.

First Nations depend on federal support for so much of what they do. Because that is the case, the federal government calls the shots and controls all aspects of First Nations peoples lives. And for that matter the federal government is doing a good job. The only thing that remains is argument-begging and pleading for fairness and justice or resorting to the courts where, eventually their rights, sovereignty, and self-governance are reaffirmed. But how many battalions do the courts have? Who will enforce those decisions and make them real so that treaty rights can be properly effected and settlements achieved?

We exist, not because Canada gave us rights, but because we inhabited, owned and occupied this land long before the Europeans arrived. We signed treaties that conferred rights on Canada and gave Europeans the right to live among us in peaceful co-existence. It's not the other way round, but we keep saying things that make it appear as if it is. We are the Indigenous peoples of North America. It is clearly up to us.

We must create an organization that can carry that argument and its political consequences forward. We must restructure, reform or terminate the AFN. If we continue to allow the AFN to speak on our behalf, we must reasonably expect that the persons elected will be responsible enough to represent the rights of Indigenous peoples. We need an organization that reflects who we are now; an organization that is relevant to Indigenous peoples' needs.

Let's begin at the level of the individual: the First Nation voter. The one who should be voting for the national chief and the regional vice chief. An electorate of individuals will avoid the claims of bias, loaded deck, unfairness, lack of accountability, while at the same time deal with the Corbiere decision and those other national organizations that purport to represent our First Nation membership. Let's be sure to include everyone, on and off the reserve.

The result: the leader and national council so elected would have legitimacy and clout, not only with our own people, but with governments at every level in Canada.

We would then have to structure the new national organization so that the national chief has certain powers, the council has some and the people have others. It would be up to us to establish institutions that are open, accessible and effective. There would be no abuse of power, misuse of funds, exclusion.

We don't need a federal bureaucracy to oversee us and to suck up the finances that should be devoted to our needs and requirements. After we restructure our own organizations, we can approach the federal government and inform it that, carrying out its fiduciary responsibilities toward us, it need only hand over what is rightfully ours. Our institutions would be transparent, responsible and, in fact, a model all Canada can emulate.

Then we would move on to settling outstanding claims. Those settlements are crucial for us to have the financial capital so that we can carry out the economic development, the job-training, education, investment and all the rest to start making us whole again. We would not care about such things as C-7, C-19 or C-whatever. The federal government cannot ever legislate for us. Only we can determine what is right for us. We not only have to say it, we must believe it.

In the present circumstances of crisis for First Nations, what I see all around me is a lot of well-intentioned people trying to do the right thing but not knowing which way to turn.

I have to ask: do we really believe in ourselves? If we don't, we will continue to be depndent, slaves to the European master. It is, in the end, up to us, each and every one of us.

The federal government can legislate all it wants. We are sovereign peoples. If we believe this, then we must act as the sovereign nations that our treaties guarantee us to be.

If we don't, we will look back at this time as the ending of the existence of First Nations in Canada. We will leave this shameful heritage to our children and grandchildren.

Sincerely,

Larry Sault

Mississaugas of New Credit First Nation

Hagersville, Ontario