Trust. Integrity. Reputation.
Trust. Integrity. Reputation.
Top News - August - 2001
Montana Wapass (left) and Redmond Bradfield took part in the Alexis Powwow held July 6 to 8 on the Alexis reserve in central Alberta.Photo Credit: Brad Crowfoot
AFN reeling, budget cut by half
Decision 'shocks'
Tensions bubble over in troubled B.C. brewArts easing racial, political tensions
Sandbox Indian Blues - Jeff Bear, Guest Column
As low as it gets and beyond- Editorial
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AFN reeling, budget cut by half
By Paul Barnsley
Windspeaker Staff Writer
OTTAWAThe Assembly of First Nations will have to operate this fiscal year on about half of the money it received last year. The Department of Indian Affairs (DIAND) has cuts AFN funding to $12 million from $19.8 million last year.
Sources say a variety of programs and positions are in jeopardy and morale is low. Several officials have said the quality of service provided to First Nations by the national organization is already suffering.
AFN staff believes the funding reduction is a direct response to the chiefs' decision to not participate in Indian Affairs Minister Robert Nault's governance consultations. Pressure created by the funding cuts has led to open political warfare on at least one front. Informed sources across the country expect a bitter debate on governance during the AFN's annual general meeting in Halifax from July 17 to 19.
Several reliable sources have confirmed the AFN turned down $2 million in funding when the chiefs refused to participate in the consultation process. It appears many members of the AFN executive are having second thoughts about that decision. The AFN executive is made up of the national chief, the regional vice-chiefs and the chairman of the AFN's Council of Elders, who serves in an advisory capacity.
When British Columbia vice-chief Herb Satsan George released his quarterly report to the chiefs in his region on June 25, it included a plea for support to back away from AFN resolution 15/2001, which called for the boycott of the governance consultation process.
"In B.C., many First Nations and First Nation organizations expressing considerable concern about the AFN's position have approached me. Some are even willing to dismiss the AFN completely in order to engage [DIAND] themselves in order to protect their interests. Not only could this result in dividing First Nations to the point where DIAND would quite successfully accomplish its objectives, it would render the AFN useless as an effective advocate and protectorate of our interests," George wrote. "As a result, I am working with the national executive, B.C. tribal leaders and provincial organizations to seek a way to resolve the difficult impasse that we have found ourselves in. An approach that we are pursuing is to seek approval from the chiefs at the Annual General Assembly in Halifax to have the national executive take some leadership by establishing a negotiations strategy on governance and directly engage the minister on this initiative."
Penticton Indian Band Chief Stewart Phillip, who is president of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs (UBCIC), delivered a sharp reprimand to the vice-chief in a letter dated July 4.
"In our opinion, you and possibly the entire AFN national executive, are in 'willful breach' of a national mandate as per the AFN Charter and could be subject to disciplinary measures," Phillip wrote to George. "[F]rom the content of your quarterly report, it is obvious that you are actively undermining and backtracking on AFN resolution 15/2001, regarding AFN's 'Response to Proposed First Nations Governance Act.'"
The only disciplinary measure described in the AFN Charter is removal from office.
Phillip was angered by what he saw as an attempt by the vice-chief to suggest in the report that the UBCIC was in favor of this initiative. The UBCIC president made it clear he expects the AFN executive, of which George is a member, to follow the political direction provided by the member chiefs at the May Confederacy of Nations, held on the Musqueam First Nation near Vancouver, and continue the boycott.
Phillip rejected George's assertion the boycott was failing, undermined by First Nations that have broken ranks and agreed to participate in the governance consultation process.
"Secondly, your quarterly report points to those First Nations/First Nation organizations that are participating in Minister Nault's consultation process, such as those from the Alberta and Saskatchewan regions, as 'diminishing the impact of a national boycott.'
"Our information is that not all of the First Nations in those regions are participating in Nault's process. In addition, you fail to mention those First Nations/First Nation organizations who have formally refused to participate in Nault's bogus consultations, such as the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, the Interior Alliance, the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, the Chiefs of Ontario and the Atlantic Policy Congress. In terms of numbers, those opposed to Nault's 'governance' consultations appear to be a significant bloc constituting a probable majority," he wrote. "In our view, your efforts to undermine AFN Resolution 15/2001, will only serve to help Minister Nault and not the First Nations you purport to represent. There is nothing stopping the First Nations Summit from approaching Minister Nault directly outside of AFN, and obviously there are already some First Nations/First Nation organizations that have no qualms about doing so. We know that Minister Nault has 'champions' for his legislative initiatives among us."
A legal opinion by Ottawa lawyer Dave Nahwegahbow, posted on the AFN Web site, advises against AFN participation in the consultations, Phillip reminded George.
"The greatest threats posed by this proposed legislation to Aboriginal and treaty rights are twofold: first, AFN or First Nation participation in its development and enactment could constitute or contribute to legal justification for infringement of such inherent rights; and secondly, it will divert focus from and pre-empt the actualization of, the inherent right of self-government," the lawyer wrote. "First of all, it is clear, that this process and potential legislative changes to the Indian Act have implications in regard to Section 35 existing Aboriginal and treaty rights. It is impossible to determine in advance, the exact impact of this legislation on First Nations. The nature and scope of Aboriginal and treaty rights are unique to each First Nation. The Supreme Court of Canada has concluded that each First Nation's Aboriginal and/or treaty right should be dealt with on a case-by-case basis. As a result, the proposed legislation may affect the rights of different First Nations differently."
In plain English, Nahwegahbow advised the chiefs that participation in the governance consultations could put First Nations in a position where they would provide the ammunition that would help the federal government score a decisive victory in the most fundamental area of dispute between First Nations and the Crown - the First Nations' inherent right to govern themselves.
Phillip closed his letter by quoting from the AFN charter, reminding George that members of the executive can be removed from office if they fail to follow the instructions of the chiefs in assembly. Those instructions are given in the form of resolutions passed during chiefs' assemblies.
Five different sources have told this publication the AFN executive is bitterly divided over this issue. The same political contacts all mentioned the rumor that impeachment proceedings against the executive and/or the national chief may be raised at the Halifax annual meeting. Two of those sources say it's rumored the Atlantic Policy Congress (APC) will seek to launch the impeachment action.
J.J. Bear, communications officer for the APC, was asked to confirm or deny the rumor.
"I haven't heard anything personally. Actually, even if I did know something, it would be something that I'd maybe keep secret. But as far as I know, I haven't heard anything," he replied.
Reached by phone on July 10, Chief Phillip said he has no plans to start any kind of disciplinary action against George or any member of the AFN executive. He said he wrote the letter because he felt they needed to be reminded he - or any other chief - could do so if the executive members lose sight of their responsibilities to the chiefs.
"No, no, no. Absolutely not. Had we considered that, there would have been a draft resolution attached to the letter," he said. "Herb and I have enjoyed a friendly, cordial relationship for as long as I've known him. This isn't a personal issue. In a sense, it was Herb that attached his name to the proposal. But we suspect it was the brainchild of the executive. It's really the executive here that we're serving notice on."
This is not the first time the B.C. chiefs have felt the executive has failed to follow a resolution, he said.
"The focus isn't on discipline as much as raising the concern that springs not only from this particular instance," he explained. "You may recall back in '99 when the AGA was held in Vancouver in conjunction with the National Congress of American Indians. The Delgamuukw implementation strategy resolution was fiercely debated over the space of two days and it went through with over 70 per cent support. In the months that followed, Chief Art Manuel wrote (former national chief) Phil Fontaine a number of letters asking for action to be taken on that resolution and, basically, we were stonewalled. Here we are, three AGAs later, still talking about the Delgamuukw implementation strategy. It's been argued and debated through a number of Confederacy meetings and AGAs and yet the organization isn't prepared to resource it.
"If you look at the letter, that's the substance and essence of our complaint. We formulate resolutions through discussions with our constituents. We take those resolutions to the various meetings of the AFN. We put them on the floor and we debate and have succeeded in having the resolution passed. And it's at that point that we take issue with the actions of AFN, particular with the executive committee who seem to pick and choose what resolutions they want to support. We find it to be very inappropriate for the executive to tamper with resolutions and manipulate them and reshape them to their own liking."
Phillip believes the financial trouble the AFN is facing because of the budget reduction is the reason the executive members are looking to change the strategy.
"I think it is. Understand that the AFN is in dire financial straits. There's no question if they were authorized to involve themselves in the governance initiative they would be able to access substantial funding to undertake that involvement," he said.
Although he has not yet received a response from George or any member of the executive, Phillip has heard that the letter has had an effect.
"I heard through the grapevine that this letter hit the executive table last week and there was a lot of deep concern about it," he said.
The UBCIC president doesn't blame the national chief for this situation.
"Quite frankly, I think the entire organization needs to be tuned up. We've been struggling with this for a number of years. And when I talk about struggling with this, I'm referring to how the executive seems to have an inordinate amount of power," he said.
Many people believe the structure of the AFN makes the organization incapable of allowing the man the chiefs select as their national leader to actually lead. Phillip agrees.
"I know. It's really evident here. Matthew's statements have been completely consistent with the resolution that was passed at the Squamish rec centre in North Van and yet here we're getting this proposal put forward by the executive," he said.
Decision 'shocks'
By Paul Barnsley
Windspeaker Staff Writer
WEST VANCOUVERChief Robert Joseph, executive director of the Provincial Residential School Project, said he was deeply shocked and outraged by what he called "the disturbing decision" handed down July 10 by B.C. Chief Justice Brenner in the Alberni Indian Residential School (AIRS) civil case.
The three-year-old civil trial involved seven First Nations individuals who sought damages from the government of Canada and the United Church of Canada as a result of experiencing childhood sexual abuse in the federal and church-run residential institution on Vancouver Island, which was closed in 1973.
"Evident in his dismissal of one plaintiff's case, and the unusually low awards in the remaining six, the chief justice has profoundly failed to deliver proper recompense to these courageous individuals, who brought their horror-filled stories of childhood sexual abuse at the residential school into the halls of the Canadian justice system," Joseph said.
The awards to the six plaintiffs range from $12,000 to $190,000. Arthur Plint, the perpetrator of the crimes, is responsible in the range of 13 to 25 per cent in each.
The 82-year-old Plint is currently serving his 11-year sentence for more than 30 counts of physical and sexual abuse. Though he has served more than two-thirds of his sentence, he has been denied parole because he remained untreated and does not accept responsibility for his crimes.
"It is apparent some of these people will receive little or no compensation after paying their legal costs," Joseph said. "Thus, this judgment shows how little value this B.C. Supreme Court case places on the lives of these people and the potential they had ripped away from them. It is this particular aspect of the judgment which is extremely insulting to these plaintiffs, their families, their communities, and their nations and to all First Nations in Canada for the negative message it imparts."
But a strategy based on a questionable concept has played a role in the decision.
Joseph said the government of Canada and the United Church of Canada argued at trial that conditions at the school were so horrific the plaintiffs' past and present personal circumstances could not be avoided, whether or not they had been sexually assaulted.
"The application of this defence strategy in order to minimize their financial liability is depraved and morally indefensible," he added. "The fact that the chief justice seems to have bought into this argument is equally disturbing and shows that Canadian society at the highest levels has not abandoned its abusive ways."
Joseph said the decision can be appealed and he hoped other victims won't be discouraged from seeking justice.
Peter Grant, attorney for the plaintiffs, could not be reached for comment. The plaintiffs have asked the press for a couple of days to consider their options and were not available for comment.
Tony Merchant, of Merchant Law Group in Regina, represents thousands of residential school litigants. He was familiar with the tactics Joseph alleges were employed in this case.
"Particularly the churches raise it," he said. "It's particularly insidious because what they say is, 'First Nations life was not very good anyway and therefore while some bad things happened in the residential school, so what? These people wouldn't have amounted to anything anyway because of poor circumstances on the reserve and you shouldn't compensate the way you would compensate if this was a white person.'"
In comparison, the government of Newfoundland in the mid-90s paid out $11million in compensation to 42 non-Native children sexually or physically abused at the Mount Cashel Orphenage, amounts varying between $150,000 to $500,000 depending on the plantiff's case.
Tensions bubble over in troubled B.C. brew
By Paul Barnsley
Windspeaker Staff Writer
KAMLOOPSThe planned expansion of the Sun Peaks ski resort near Kamloops, B.C. has brought Secwepemc (Shuswap) protesters into conflict with local residents and law enforcement authorities.
A similar protest in Melvin Creek (near Lillooet, B.C.) saw the RCMP arrest one non-Native and six Native protesters when police broke up a roadblock on Highway 99 on July 4.
With a new, conservative provincial government settling into office and a toughening of police response to political demonstrations apparent, the situation is similar to events that led to the death of Native protester Dudley George at Ipperwash Provincial Park in 1995.
George was shot to death by an Ontario Provincial Police tactical team member. Then, Ontario Premier Mike Harris had just been elected and appeared to be trying to send a message to First Nations that his government would be tough on protesters. Now, B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell is barely into his second month on the job and a similar pattern is emerging.
Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs president Chief Stewart Phillip has spent time at the Sun Peaks camp. His organization supports the protest. He sees the similarities to the Ipperwash situation. He said he will raise the issue with the premier in the near future.
"There's no question," he said during a July 10 phone interview. "I'm here in Kamloops at an Interior Alliance meeting and a great deal of the agenda was allocated to the Sun Peaks/Melvin Creek situation. We're greatly concerned by the show of force that was demonstrated by the RCMP to arrest six people at the Melvin Creek campsite a week or so ago. They employed two emergency response teams or SWAT teams, three dog teams and I understand there was 31 vehicles in their convoy. It was nothing short of a para-military operation. I'm also convinced that the force that went into Melvin Creek is a rapid response team or a strike force that's been organized purposely to deal with land use conflicts vis-à-vis Aboriginal people. That causes us a great deal of concern. We're having a meeting with the premier towards the end of this month and we're going to certainly express our concerns at that meeting."
First Nations leaders in the area have united in condemning RCMP actions in the area to date. Eight Native people were arrested after a violent confrontation with non-Native people at Sun Peaks on June 24. No non-Native person has been arrested, despite the fact that both sides claim the other side provoked the fight. One non-Native man was taken to hospital for stitches after a scuffle with the members of the Native Youth Movement who allege the man, drunk and confrontational, left an onsite bar and punched a young Native woman in the face.
After the altercation when Aboriginal Peoples Television Network [APTN] reporter Todd Lamirande drove away from the scene to file his story, RCMP Cst. Daryl Schimpf stopped the APTN van and demanded the reporter's tapes. When Lamirande refused, his car and the tapes were seized.
Rob McDiarmid, legal counsel for APTN, filed a lawsuit related to the seizure in B.C. Supreme Court in Kamloops on July 4. The legal action demands the return of all copies made of the tapes and seeks punitive and aggravated damages and an injunction preventing the RCMP from using the tapes or making copies.
Lamirande told Windspeaker the lawsuit claims the RCMP violated APTN's copyright when police officers copied the videotapes. The statement of claim also alleges the tapes were played at Nicole Manuel's bail hearing. Manuel, the daughter of tribal council chairman Art Manuel, is one of the protesters charged after the incident.
Recently assigned to APTN's Vancouver bureau after several years in Manitoba, Lamirande is not impressed with the RCMP's handling of this situation.
"If I'd worked for CBC or CTV, this wouldn't have happened," he said July 5. "The RCMP have been heavy-handed here. Aboriginal people are not being treated fairly. My whole faith in the RCMP has gone out the window. It just seems a little one-sided."
A Métis man who describes himself as "not visibly Aboriginal," Lamirande said he had heard for years that Native people were discriminated against by police but said he had never previously seen it first hand.
"What surprised me is how quickly they involved the major crime division," he said. "When they stopped me, they towed my car to Kamloops and I wasn't under arrest but I needed a ride so I went with the officer. When I got to the station, two plainclothes officers interviewed me. One showed me a card and it said major crime division."
Native leaders frequently complain that when Native people stage political demonstrations, the police treat them as terrorists. Released RCMP national security and CSIS documents confirm that senior Canadian intelligence personnel monitor Native activism. Reports dealing with Native activism are frequently in the same documents as reports on international terrorists and other threats to national security.
Last October, members of the Native Youth Movement set up Skwelkwek'welt Protection Centre, a protest camp on the land planned for development in the $70 million expansion project at Sun Peaks. The Secwepemc people claim the land is part of their traditional territory and also claim they have a right to stop the development on the land. The group of young people had previously occupied the Westbank First Nation band office and the Vancouver office of the BC Treaty Commission.
Local support for the protest is not unanimous. Some First Nations politicians have said they resent the presence of outside activists in their region. One source said hostility towards Native people is growing in the area because the protest is seen as an economic threat.
One band in the region-the Kamloops Indian Band-has decided to remain neutral in the dispute, neither participating in nor condemning activities at the Skwelkwek'welt Protection Centre. Some Shuswap Tribal Council members have considered pulling out of the tribal council as a sign of a lack of confidence in the tribal council chair, Art Manuel, because he has supported the extreme measures that have led to the confrontation.
Manuel recently told this publication that he is urging his people to exercise their rights to the land as affirmed in the Supreme Court of Canada's Delgamuukw decision. Manuel chairs the Assembly of First Nations' Delgamuukw implementation committee. He and other Native leaders are frustrated that neither the province nor the federal government have embraced the court decision that ruled, in part, that Aboriginal title is "a right to the land itself."
British Columbia, unlike most areas in Canada, has few treaties. In the Delgamuukw case, the Gitxsan and Wet'suwet'en people of Northern B.C. claim they still hold title to their traditional lands because they never surrendered the land or entered into any treaty. The court did not rule on that contention, deciding instead to send the case back to trial because of errors by the lower court judge. But the decision did recognize that Aboriginal title, the legal concept upon which the Gitxsan and Wet'suwet'en based their claim, does exist in Canadian law. Since then, Native leaders have urged federal and provincial governments to adjust their approach to treaty and land claim negotiations. Manuel and others say they've waited in vain since the December 1997 decision and now are forced to take action.
Activists at Sun Peaks note that several of their number were arrested promptly after the June 24 incident, but there has been no arrest in a case they claim was arson. A log cabin that was part of the protection centre camp was burned down on June 30. The protesters discovered the damage early that morning.
"We are looking at a well planned act," said Chief Manuel. "Whoever did this had to have the equipment to haul sufficient fuel to the location and spray it all over the log cabin."
The protesters at Sun Peaks have said they will not move, even if ordered to do so by a court and even if faced with police or military force. A standoff of Oka or Gustafsen Lake proportions is looming.
"We spoke to the group that's up there by speaker phone this morning and the Elders and the grassroots people have made it very, very clear, they're not moving," said Chief Stewart Phillip on July 10. "They're there to stay. The Sun Peaks resort are seeking an injunction in the courts on Friday (July 13) in Vancouver (after Windspeaker press time). The people in the camp have said regardless of that, we're not moving. We're not going to abandon this struggle until the expansion is abandoned."
Phillip warned authorities that force is not the answer.
"There are many Aboriginal communities in British Columbia that are monitoring the situation very closely that have committed their support in the event there is any kind of heavy-handed action taken by the provincial government through the RCMP. I think it would be a huge step backwards. It would take us right back to 1990. You would see, instantaneously, solidarity erupt around the province, the same as happened during the Oka crisis.
Roadblocks sprung up all over the province," he said.
"What energizes the movement is the appalling poverty conditions in our communities. The massive unemployment, the economic marginalization, the lack of opportunity and yet you have the Delgamuukw decision which guarantees us access to land and resources, to share in the wealth of the resources within our territories but that is denied by the government's refusal to acknowledge the Delgamuukw decision. Needless to say, the BC treaty process has collapsed and failed to produce any results, so you have a very desperate situation in our communities. Many of our bands are running huge deficits, attempting to meet the growing needs in our communities, and the operative word is growing. It's a very, very serious situation and the government needs to realize that and we will not be intimidated."
