Tax protesters occupy Revenue Canada building

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The federal minister for Indian Affairs has bucked any notion of bargaining with demonstrators occupying a Revenue Canada building in downtown Toronto.

But Ron Irwin did say the government should conduct a wide-ranging review of the system for taxing Native people. Such a review is a long process that could become tangled up in treaty negotiations, but it is becoming necessary to change the current income tax system.

"We should be dealing with the issue of taxation nationally because it is a real hodgepodge right now, and I don't think it can be sustained as a hodgepodge," the minister told reporters in Ottawa.

Irwin's comments come one day after an aide to Prime Minister Jean Chretien said no one from the government would renegotiate a plan to tax Native people and businesses for work off-reserve. The plan will be in place Jan. 1, 1995.

Meanwhile, 26 demonstrators were at press time still occupying the west-wing

on the fifth floor of the revenue building as the Toronto protest drags on for more than a week. Spokesman Roger Obonsawin said they are from various Aboriginal nations, and include men, women and children.

Mohawk warriors' flags are placed on windows in plain view along three sides of the square glass building, located just minutes from the heart of the financial district.

In the courtyard on the ground below, some 60 supporters huddle around a fire to keep warm and listen to the drumming and singing which goes on periodically. Four men are conducting a seven-day prayer fast in a tipi.

Obonsawin said the group in the revenue building will not budge until it gets a meeting with Chretien. The proposed changes in taxation unfairly target reserve-based businesses, who will be taxed for work completed off-reserve.

But the real problem is that Chretien broke an election promise to Native people.

The protesters have a letter signed by the prime minister to a Native man in the Yukon dated June 30, 1993, saying the Conservative government brought in income-tax guidelines without properly consulting Native people.

In the letter Chretien describes the guidelines as "irresponsible" and writes "that a Liberal government would act in a far different manner."

"We want the prime minister to honor his promise," said Obonsawin.

The Assembly of First Nations said the ruling could force 15,000 to 20,000 Native people to lose their tax-exempt status. Revenue Canada officials say the number is far more likely to be around 2,000.