Separatists stagger toward referendum

Page 14

It promises to be a heated fall for Quebec First Nations as the separatist government in Quebec City keeps its promise to hold a referendum on sovereignty in 1995.

Still stuck at around 50 per cent support or less, the separatists have their hands full with a deeply divided public. Ardent opposition from the First Nations isn't making their lives any easier.

Official Parti Quebecois policy holds that the province has the right to leave Canada with its entire territory intact. The First Nations counter that they have an internationally recognized right as peoples to determine their own political status, certainly no less of a right than the people of Quebec.

After getting elected, the PQ proclaimed it would enter a nation-to-nation relationship with all 11 First Nations in the province. Attempts were made to rush through self-government talks that in some cases have been stalled for decades. A year later, no agreement has been reached.

Instead, the latest round of the debate about sovereignty has prompted many First Nations to reflect on their own futures as nations.

The nine Cxree communities of Northern Quebec launched a wide-reaching series of hearings into thie future during the month of August.

The Cree Eeyou Astchee Commission, composed of all levels of Cree society including Elders and youth, held consultations in every community. Its report is due out in the coming weeks.

"The election in the province of Quebec of a government whose fundamental goal is the separation of Quebec from Canada raises serious issues regarding the status and rights of the James Bay Crees ? Eeyou", says the first sentence of the Commission's mandate, which goes on to invite opinions from Crees on all aspects of life ? Cree rights, institutions, way of life, the environment and so on.

"We're doing it because the government's draft bill on sovereignty takes our historic relationship with Canada and our constitutional rights and unilaterally declares them subject to Quebec," said Grand Chief Matthew Coon Come when the commission was first announced last February.

"The part I don't like is the double standard. We can but you Indians can't. We may be small in number, but our rights are equal to that of any nation."

Crees have also floated the idea of holding their own referendum asking if Crees should stay in an independent Quebec, remain part of Canada or go it alone as a separate country.

The 7,000 Inuit of Northern Quebec are also likely to hold their own referendum, possibly in conjunction with other Inuit across the Arctic.

"We have already made a basic statement saying that we will not allow our political status to be determined by somebody else other than us," Makivik Corp.'s new president, Zebedee Nungak, said in a recent article in Nunatsiaq News.

The referendum was to be discussed at the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada's annual general meeting in Toronto Aug. 19-20.

"We will surely have a strong united front from the Inuit world," he said.

Polls show separatist forces face an uphill battle as they go into the referendum campaign. Internal surveys done for the PQ government suggest as many as 50-53 per cent of voters will support sovereignty. But observers say some of this support is soft, and the numbers are sure to be lower on voting day. The precise questions asked in the internal polls haven't been released.

A survey done for The Montreal Gazette and Quebec City daily Le Soleil shows only 30 per cent favor sovereignty, while 44 per cent are against. In all, 52 per cent said employment or the economy should be the provincial government's top priority; 20 per cent named health services; only six per cent chose sovereignty.