Tax protesters march on Ottawa

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A "small but strong" band of Natives carrying a mixture of messages marched under a sign and with a memory to Parliament Hill in late October. They were throwing down the gauntlet on taxes and rallying the people for self-determination.

Printed material handed out concentrated on Native government issues, including the ruling that Natives must begin paying GST in January, 1995, while speeches urged Natives to unite, to begin healing themselves and to nurture Native values of culture, spirituality and tradition.

After the rally and a planning session, Spokesman Roger Obonsawin told a news conference that participants had put a process into place for grassroots consultation, emphasizing that it was relying on individuals, not organizations, to address issues such as self-government.

"Our nations are our people."

Any infringement on Native citizenship, traditions and culture will be challenged, he said. The Native Defence League will support anyone charged for practising their rights.

Obonsawin was critical of the federal government spending "$100 million and calling it consultation. They've wasted the taxpayers' money, spending it on a structure which they control. We don't accept it."

He also announced that his company would not collect GST next year even though a Revenue Canada guideline calls for it to be collected off-reserves.

"Our people won't pay it. (The government) will be breaking their own laws."

Obonsawin said the purpose of the march was "to send three messages":

- to Native communities that Indian Nations have "started to heal themselves" and have the power to take control of their futures;

- to Revenue Canada to rescind tax guidelines which would begin collecting certain taxes in 1995; and

- to the federal government that it must negotiate self-government directly with First Nations, not through the federal department of Indian and Northern Affairs.

The three sponsors of the march in support of inherent rights and historic treaty agreements were: the Coalition on Aboriginal Inherent Rights and Economic Alternatives (CAIRES), the OI Group of Companies and Aboriginal Legal Services of Toronto. Representatives of several First Nations participated in the event.

A rally had earlier been held in Toronto.

Obonsawin, who represented the sponsors, said:

"If they (government) continue to take away our rights, we'll change them with breaking their own laws,

"We can be silent no more. The people have the power, not the people back there (Parliamentarians)."

Estimates of participants varied widely but Obonsawin was pleased with the turnout. Media attention was scant.

While the rallying point was redressing issues with the government, uniting First Nations under a common umbrella was an underlying and prominent theme.

Participant Vera Martin told the demonstrators: "You have been given a powerful sign when the White Buffalo calf was born. It is our time, take up our culture, our spirituality, our land...ahead to seven generations."

The birth this year of a rare white buffalo is, says Floyd Hand, a Sioux from Pine Ridge, S.D.: "like the second coming of Christ...the legend is she should return and unify the nations of the four colors - the black, the red, yellow and white."

Speaker after speaker called on participants to "hold your head high," to become masters in your own land and to have all Nations speak with a common voice.

Part of the focus was a list of promises the organizers said the Liberal Party had broken, relating to tax immunity for Native peoples. At the subsequent meeting-cumpress conference, representatives were reminded that they should not have high expectations from the federal government - Prime Minister Chretien had been a cabinet member in 1974 when the caravan was driven away without resolution to their demands.

Despite the memories of that harsh experience, most participants spoke of solving their problems peacefully.

Rose Nixon, a 55-year-old Cree grandmother from Tronto, said she had waited 20 years for the rally and itemized problems which she laid at the government's feet: poor health care, poor housing, poverty. But, she said, guns and knives were not the way to win freedom.

"We can go to war with our prayers, minds and our pencils. We have to bring all tribes together."

She was reacting to Shawn Brant, a Mohawk from Tyendinaga Territory, who said government has engaged Natives as the enemy.

"The government tax policy will impact greatly on our communities...they are declaring war. The next action will have to come from us. We have to be prepared to stand up, mobilize a military defence."

Brant promised, to loud cheers, that if the GST policy is implemented, Natives on reserves will "stand with our people in the cities. They aren't going to split us. The line is drawn."

Cliff Summers of Toronto talked of youth committing suicide out of despair, echoing Nixon's comments, who described a recent experience of attending the funeral of a 12-year-old suicide victim. Youth sees no hope for ending the poverty and despair that surrounds many, he said.

"We can't retreat any further but before we take decisions, we are going to have to talk about it. There is support for us but we have to be careful. The government is trying to trick us with self-government defined by the white government not self-determination the way we have come to understand it," Summers said.

Part of the organizers' plans are to mobilize wide-spread support across Canada. Obonsawin said that news clips of the Toronto rally had galvanized many Natives from Vancouver to Halifax to express support.