Ottawa Report

Page 2

The Crees of northern Quebec have given Ottawa 31 million reasons to be upset. That's the size of the lawsuit they've filed against the federal Government. The Crees have gone to the Federal Court of Canada to force Ottawa to honour a three-year-old financing agreement.

The lawsuit, however, is more than a financial dollar argument involving 9,200 Indians in northern Quebec because it could affect the rights of Native people across the country-no matter how it ends.

In August, 1984, the Crees negotiated and signed a financing agreement with the Liberal government that was then in power. One month later, though, the Liberals were defeated in a general election so the financing agreement was never approved by the federal Treasury Board.

The Conservatives have since refused to honour some parts of that agreement. They have agreed to pay $12 million a year to provide a measure of self-government for the Crees but they refuse to pay increases that were guaranteed in the original agreement. The Conservatives say they don't have to honour the agreement since it was never given final approval.

That might have been the end of the story if that had happened to any other group of Indians in the country. It wasn't the end for the Crees, though, thanks to the Cree-Naskapi Act-the legislation that provides self-government for the Crees. The Act requires that an independent commission be appointed to oversee the progress and problems related to self-government. Quebec Superior Court Justice Rejean Paul was appointed to head the three-member commission a year ago. Last fall, the commission listened to the arguments from the Government and the Indians about the financing agreement. Last week, the commission's report was released and it came down squarely on the side of the Indians. The financing agreement was "legal and binding", the commission said, and it called on Ottawa to increase its payments.

The Crees were clearly pleased with the commission report. It's the third time in the last five years, they said, that an official inquiry has found that the Government has failed to honour its agreements with them.

It's not unusual in situations like this for the Government of Canada to take a long time to make its reply. (For example, the government took nine months to respond to the report of the land claims commission headed by Murray Coolican.) In this case, though , Minister of Indian Affairs Bill McKnight took just two days to reply. He rejected the conclusions and recommendations in the report. What's more, he was almost as critical of the commission as it was of him. He issued his own list of complaints: that the commission made factual errors; that it ignored major financing increases; that it ignored Indian responsibilities for some of the problems; that it wasn't doing its job; and that it sometimes didn't know what it was talking about.

That prompted the Crees to fire back with even more complaints. They accused McKnight of using innuendo to discredit the commission and attack its credibility. They also said he shamefully and flagrantly abused his power when he rejected the commission report-a commission that was established by federal law to correct the problems related to Cree self-government. But the Cree complaints against the minister were mild compared to the charges they levelled against his officials. They accused department officials of cover-ups, threats, intimidation, blackmail and extortion.

Like the Rolling Stones the Crees got no satisfaction from the Minister's reply so they've gone to court. They're asking for the $26 million they say they are owed and for another $5 million in damages.

But there's more to the Cree lawsuit than money-much more. They want the courts to issue an injunction against the Prime Minister, the Minister of Indian Affairs and the members of the Treasury Board to force them to stop interfering with Cree self-government. They also want the courts to declare the Government guilt of fraud for the way it's dealt with the financing agreement.

The most important part of the lawsuit has to do with Section 35 of the Canadian Constitution. That's the section which recognizes the "existing" aboriginal rights of the Indian, Metis and Inuit people. Indian leaders have always maintained that those rights include the right to self-government. With this lawsuit, the Crees are asking the courts to declare that self-government is an Aboriginal right. This lawsuit could well be the first major legal test of Aboriginal rights in the constitution. The final decision of the courts will likely be years away but no matter which way it goes, the decision will be momentous because it will affect Native people everywhere.