Nearly a thousand march on Parliament

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First Nations hold rally

Native leaders urged Aboriginal Canadians to shun a Conservative party that has ignored their views, short changed them on agreements, and kept them economically disadvantaged at a rally here last Wednesday.

The rally on Parliament Hill by nearly a thousand people closed two days of deliberation on how the Assembly of First Nations will be dealing with the feds and provinces at next week's First Ministers' Conference (FMC).

With a few exceptions, it was a bad week for Aboriginal peoples in the capital, as the hours countdown to the FMC on Aboriginal constitutional affairs.

The worst news was the fact that the last ministerial meeting before the FMC, held here on Thursday and Friday, ended in an impasse-caught on the insistence by the federal and several provincial governments (most notably Alberta's) that First Nations have only delegated powers.

The impasse was even more disappointing because it had seemed that some advance had been made at a previous ministerial meeting in Toronto, a few weeks earlier.

AT that meeting, Nova Scotia had proposed a constitutional amendment recognizing Aboriginal right to self-government, which is already implicitly recognized in subsection 35(1) of the Constitution.

The amendment went a giant step beyond the position reaffirmed. Friday by the feds and provinces like Alberta, denying First Nations' inherent right to self-government.

The federal government argued for "contingent rights," which could approach those claimed by First Nations or be almost non-existent, depending on how good Aboriginal people were at negotiating.

Government intransigence in such negotiations was cited by Haida Chief Miles Richardson in an address to markers before the rally. "We have continually stated our willingness to come to terms with the promise that is Canada, and at every turn we have been rebuffed," he said.

In one piece of good news at the rally, the Liberal party finally came out against "contingent rights." Liberal leader John Turner told Aboriginal leaders at the rally that he and his party "support your right to self-government," explaining that he viewed that right as "free-standing" and "explicit".

In its deliberations before the rally the AFN passed several resolutions which set out the Assembly's positions on constitutional and a number of other issues.

Resolutions passed included: that the feds and provinces must agree that any third party interests in First Nations-Canada negotiations are represented by their government representatives; that the AFN accept no constitutional arrangement that would compromise the inherent sovereignty of First Nations; and that a vigil be held by all First Nation families across the country, coordinated with other Aboriginal groups, to demonstrate the strength of Aboriginal peoples during the constitutional talk.

Other resolutions addressed the federal government's short-changing of its Resource Development Impact program, directed to AFN to proceed against the government of British Columbia in the courts concerning Native land claims in that province and censured the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs for its failure to consult with First Nations during its recent review of land claims policy.

An ongoing concern for the AFN is its inability to resolve its differences with the prairie First Nations who have been broken away to the Prairie Treaty Nations Alliance.

The break leaves Alberta, Saskatchewan and many Manitoba Status Indians without representation at the constitutional bargaining table when talks start next week.