Understanding the relationship between First Nations and Canada and their treaties
What if Natives Stop Subsidizing Canada?
January 7, 2013 - Dru Oja Jay blog posting
Barriere Lake community members block logging machinery on their territory. Photo: Neal Rockwell
DeBeers' open pit mine near Attawapiskat.
There is a prevailing myth that Canada's more than 600 First Nations and native communities live off of money -- subsidies -- from the Canadian government. This myth, though it is loudly proclaimed and widely believed, is remarkable for its boldness; widely accessible, verifiable facts show that the opposite is true.
Indigenous people have been subsidizing Canada for a very long time.
Conservatives have leaked documents in an attempt to discredit chief Theresa Spence, currently on hunger strike in Ottawa. Reporters like Jeffrey Simpson and Christie Blatchford have ridiculed the demands of native leaders and the protest movement Idle No More. Their ridicule rests on this foundational untruth: that it is hard-earned tax dollars of Canadians that pays for housing, schools and health services in First Nations. The myth carries a host of racist assumptions on its back. It enables prominent voices like Simpson and Blatchford to liken protesters' demands to "living in a dream palace" or "horse manure," respectively.
It's true that Canada's federal government controls large portions of the cash flow First Nations depend on. Much of the money used by First Nations to provide services does come from the federal budget. But the accuracy of the myth ends there. On the whole, the money that First Nations receive is a small fraction of the value of the resources, and the government revenue, that comes out of their territories. Let's look at a few examples.
Barriere Lake
The Algonquins of Barriere Lake have a traditional territory that spans 10,000 square kilometres. For thousands of years, they have made continuous use of the land. They have never signed a treaty giving up their rights to the land. An estimated $100 million per year in revenues are extracted every year from their territory in the form of logging, hydroelectric dams, and recreational hunting and fishing.
And yet the community lives in third-world conditions. A diesel generator provides power, few jobs are available, and families live in dilapidated bungalows. These are not the lifestyles of a community with a $100 million economy in its back yard. In some cases, governments are willing to spend lavishly. They spared no expense, for example, sending 50 fully-equipped riot police from Montreal to break up a peaceful road blockade with tear gas and physical coercion.
Barriere Lake is subsidizing the logging industry, Canada, and Quebec. The community isn't asking for the subsidies to stop, just for some jobs and a say in how their traditional territories are used. They've been fighting for these demands for decades.
Attawapiskat
Attawapiskat has been in the news because their ongoing housing crisis came to the attention of the media in 2011. (MP Charlie Angus referred to the poverty-stricken community as "Haiti at 40 below.") More recently, Chief Theresa Spence has made headlines for her ongoing hunger strike. The community is near James Bay, in Ontario's far north. Right now, DeBeers is constructing a $1 billion mine on the traditional territory of the Āhtawāpiskatowi ininiwak.
Anticipated revenues will top $6.7 billion. Currently, the Conservative government is subjecting the budget of the Cree to extensive scrutiny. But the total amount transferred to the First Nation since 2006 -- $90 million -- is a little more than one per cent of the anticipated mine revenues. As a percentage, that's a little over half of Harper's cut to GST. Royalties from the mine do not go to the First Nation, but straight to the provincial government. The community has received some temporary jobs in the mine, and future generations will have to deal with the consequences of a giant open pit mine in their back yard.
Attawapiskat is subsidizing DeBeers, Canada and Ontario.
Lubicon
The Lubicon Cree, who never signed a treaty ceding their land rights, have waged a decades-long campaign for land rights. During this time, over $14 billion in oil and gas has been removed from their traditional territory. During the same period, the community has gone without running water, endured divisive attacks from the government, and suffered the environmental consequences of unchecked extraction.
Sour gas flaring next to the community resulted in an epidemic of health problems and stillborn babies. Moose and other animals fled the area, rendering the community's previously self-sufficient lifestyle untenable overnight. In 2011, an oil pipeline burst, spilling 4.5 million litres of oil onto Lubicon territory. The Lubicon remain without a treaty, and the extraction continues.
The Lubicon Cree are subsidizing the oil and gas sector, Alberta and Canada.
What will Canada do without its subsidies?
From the days of beaver trapping to today's aspirations of becoming an energy superpower, Canada's economy has always been based on natural resources. With 90 per cent of its settler population amassed along the southern border, exploitation of the land's wealth almost always happens at the expense of the Indigenous population.
Canada's economy could not have been built without massive subsidies: of land, resource wealth, and the incalculable cost of generations of suffering.
Overall numbers are difficult to pin down, but consider the following: Canadian governments received $9 billion in taxes and royalties in 2011 from mining companies, which is a tiny portion of overall mining profits; $3.8 billion came from exports of hydroelectricity alone in 2008, and 60 per cent of Canada's electricity comes from hydroelectric dams; one estimate has tar sands extraction bringing in $1.2 trillion in royalties over 35 years; the forestry industry was worth $38.2 billion in 2006, and contributes billions in royalties and taxes.
By contrast, annual government spending on First Nations is $5.36 billion, which comes to about $7,200 per person. Government spending per resident in Ottawa is around $14,900. By any reasonable measure, it's clear that First Nations are the ones subsidizing Canada. (These are 2005 figures; the amounts are slightly higher today.)
These industries are mostly taking place on an Indigenous nation's traditional territory, laying waste to the land in the process, submerging, denuding, polluting and removing. The human costs are far greater; brutal tactics aimed at erasing native peoples' identity and connection with the land have created human tragedies several generations deep and a legacy of fierce and principled resistance that continues today.
Canada has developed myriad mechanisms to keep the pressure on and the resources flowing. But policies of large-scale land theft and subordination of peoples are not disposed to half measures. From the active violence of residential schools to the targetted neglect of underfunded reserve schools, from RCMP and armed forces rifles to provincial police tear gas canisters, the extraction of these subsidies has always been treated like a game of Risk, but with real consequences.
Break the treaty, press the advantage, and don't let a weaker player rebuild.
Idle? Know More.
The last residential school was shut down in 1996. Canadians today would like to imagine themselves more humane than past generations, but few can name the Indigenous nations of this land or the treaties that allow Canada and Canadians to exist. Understanding the subsidies native people give to Canada is just the beginning. Equally crucial is understanding the mechanisms by which the government forces native people to choose every day between living conditions out of a World Vision advertisement and hopelessness on one hand, and the pollution and social problems of short-term resource exploitation projects on the other.
Empathy and remorse are great reasons to act to dismantle this ugly system of expropriation. But an even better reason is that Indigenous nations present the best and only partners in taking care of our environment. Protecting our rivers, lakes, forests and oceans is best done by people with a multi-millenial relationship with the land.
As the people who live downstream and downwind, and who have an ongoing relationship to the land, Cree, Dene, Anishnabe, Inuit, Ojibway and other nations are among the best placed and most motivated to slow down and stop the industrial gigaprojects that are threatening all of our lives.
Movements like Idle No More give a population asleep at the wheel the chance to wake up and hear what native communities have been saying for hundreds of years: it's time to withdraw our consent from this dead-end regime, and chart a new course.
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Why Idle No More has resonated with Canadians
By Ken Georgetti Maude Barlow| January 11, 2013
Imagine a country where the national government introduces and passes legislation that detrimentally affects all of its First Nations communities but it doesn't bother to consult with them. Then a chief of an impoverished northern First Nation community goes on a hunger strike to get a meeting between the First Nations leadership and the government several months after this legislation was passed. Does this have implications for all Canadians? You bet it does. This will not be the last time that individuals or groups will take such extreme measures in response to the federal government's public policy process or lack thereof.
All Canadians owe a debt of gratitude to Chief Theresa Spence's and Elder Raymond Robinson's hunger strikes. These individuals are calling attention to an intolerable situation among First Nations communities. They are also highlighting concerns common to many Canadians about dangers posed by unilateral government actions to the natural environment and the state of our democracy.
The hunger strike has galvanized widespread protests by youthful and energetic supporters of the Idle No More movement. These are all predictable responses to a government that routinely bullies anyone who does not agree with it, refuses to consult, and prefers ideology over evidence when developing and implementing public policy.
Of major concern to First Nations and many other Canadians are two omnibus budget bills (C-38 and C-45) that were imposed upon the country during the past year. These bills each comprised hundreds of pages and contained legislative changes that went far beyond what was contained in the budget.
The omnibus bills will have an especially damaging impact on First Nations communities. Bill C-45 amends the Navigable Waters Protection Act to ensure that future resource projects will no longer trigger a federal environmental assessment or force corporations to notify the federal government of their plans. Certain key rivers in British Columbia, along the path of the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline, for example, will now be excluded from federal government environmental oversight.
This same bill also changed the Fisheries Act in ways that First Nations believe will adversely affect their traditional fishing rights. The omnibus bills also replaced the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act with new laws that will limit First Nations involvement in environmental assessments on their own lands, as well as doing away with assessments entirely for some projects. All of this will limit the ability of First Nations, and the public at large, to present views and concerns on the environmental impact of various resource development projects.
Bill C-45 also makes changes to the Indian Act that will make it easier to lease out land for economic development without adequately consulting band residents. The Assembly of First Nations believes this means resource exploitation on reserve land can occur without the solid consent of their community.
The government acted in a similarly high-handed way when, without any consultation, it used Bill C-38 to raise the age from 65 to 67 at which Canadians are eligible for the Old Age Security and the Guaranteed Income Supplement. When this change is implemented, its greatest negative effects will be felt by the most vulnerable workers. Those who have toiled for low wages, often in the most physically demanding jobs, will be forced to work for two extra years before receiving old age security benefits. This happened despite overwhelming evidence from experts across the political spectrum that this change was unnecessary.
Here is the problem. This government drafts public policy and passes laws without facts or evidence to support its positions. Ottawa allows only limited and perfunctory consultation for stakeholders. If you stand up and speak out, you are criticized and attacked in the House of Commons and the Conservative public relations machine goes into overdrive to discredit your position or organization. If you are a recipient of federal government funding, you lose it by the next budget cycle. It's bully American-style politics at its worst.
Many Canadians are deeply ashamed of the persistence of poverty and deplorable living conditions in First Nations communities, and that we still have not settled land claims with them. Many also share First Nations' concerns about the environmental implications of changes to fisheries, environmental assessments, and water protection.
The hunger strike by Chief Spence and actions undertaken by the Idle No More movement have resonated with Canadians. National Chief Shawn Atleo has arranged for a crucial meeting with Prime Minister Stephen Harper to discuss urgent issues that cannot wait. We salute individuals and the movement that have created the conditions to force this conversation to occur. It is completely un-Canadian and a national disgrace that it took a hunger strike and national protests to create an opportunity for dialogue and input that should have happened in the first place.
The real shame is how little Canadians expect of their national government and how disengaged and unaffected they feel about politics at the national level. It is only a matter of time before Canadians realize that this government serves only the interests of a few. Citizens will begin to contemplate individual and collective responses and actions to change this situation.
Decisions that leave people behind force them into the streets. This was true of the Occupy movement and the Quebec students' protest, and now we are seeing it with Idle No More. It is likely Canadians will witness more in the future given this government's tendency to make substantive policy changes that alter the fabric of society without consultation.
Maude Barlow is National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians. Ken Georgetti is president of the 3.3 million member Canadian Labour Congress.
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Thousands join Idle No More protest in region and across Canada
By Teresa Smith, Ottawa Citizen January 11, 2013
Native protest heads from Victoria Island to Parliament. Hundreds gathered at Victoria Island Friday morning, drumming and singing to show their support for protesting Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence.
The voices of four sisters rang out across Parliament Hill Friday afternoon, drowning out the bells from the Peace Tower and causing cheers among the thousands gathered to support the Idle No More movement.
Jai King, 20, and her sisters, along with other members of their community, were singing a song they wrote a month ago when people first began gathering under the banner of Idle No More.
King, who is from Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation near Brantford, travelled by bus to be in Ottawa alongside at least 4,000 other supporters of what many were calling an "indigenous revolution."
"I'm really proud to be native right now," said the young woman.
That pride was evident on faces throughout the rally, which began on Victoria Island early Friday morning.
After meeting with Chief Theresa Spence, whose decision to boycott the meeting between Assembly of First Nations leaders and the Prime Minister most people seemed to support, the crowd drummed, danced and walked their way along Wellington Street to Prime Minister Stephen Harper's office.
The revelers were peaceful but steadfast, stopping frequently to ensure that elders and people with limited mobility could keep up.
"We won't leave anyone behind," said one of two main organizers of the event, Jody Kechego.
As they reached the Langevin Block, across from Parliament Hill, Kechego yelled through his megaphone for people to "surround the building" so that the prime minister would know "we're here on all sides."
The march and rally shut down much of downtown Ottawa and caused major delays for drivers throughout the morning and afternoon.
Bedahbin Pitawanakwat, 18, from Wikwemikong said she left on a bus from Manitoulin Island Thursday night and arrived in Ottawa at 10 a.m.
She said that before she heard about Idle No More and before Chief Spence began her fast, she wasn't really paying attention to the politics surrounding her First Nation and others across Canada. But for the past month she's been reading, researching and talking about "the movement" non-stop.
"I work two jobs so I see tons of different people every day ... I get all kinds of different reactions from people. From those who say it's not their business, to the ones with big hearts who say they respect what we're doing."
"I feel like if we can do something like this - with all of us coming together - we can definitely make a movement," said the young woman.
But, while a current of hope ran through those present, real issues and problems underlie their conviction.
Chief Jerry Bolson of Long Point Algonquin First Nation near the headwaters of the Ottawa River said not many of his people could come to the rally because they're "one of those First Nations that's in financial dire straits."
As drums pounded in the background, Bolson said he was supporting Chief Spence's 32-day fast because the system as it stands "is not working for (his) people."
"We're not funded the way we want to be funded. We can't do what we want to do with the dollars that are provided to us. The Department of Aboriginal Affairs decides how we service our people and that's not the way it should be."
Eldeen McKay, a grandmother of three from James Smith Cree Nation near Prince Albert, Sask., said she was marching because she's concerned that her grandchildren's treaty rights are being eroded. She called the protest atmosphere "overwhelming" watching "all nations coming together as one."
While all of the speakers were members of different First Nations, there was also a large non-indigenous presence.
Angela Cameron, a law professor at the University of Ottawa, came with her daughter Sophie, 7, to the rally. Referring to herself as "a settler," Cameron said she teaches her law students about the legal obligations attached to the Common Law Treaties that early settlers to Canada signed with indigenous peoples. "We haven't upheld our end of the bargain ... and it's an important part of Canada's common law."
Ashley Miller, 23, a recent graduate of the social work program at Carleton, was walking downtown when she heard the drumming and singing reverberating off buildings along Wellington St.
"I just walked up and the grass was covered with a giant circle, with everybody hold hands: it's one of the most beautiful things I've seen happen here in a long time."
"I find that Ottawa is generally a pretty apathetic city because there are so many different causes going on that people have trouble coming together, so I think this is a really important movement."
Similar gatherings took place across the country and around the world Friday, with thousands coming together in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver.
Smaller rallies happened in most small communities across Canada and as far afield as London and California.
Dene National Chief Bill Erasmus, who boycotted the talks with the prime minister along with most chiefs from the prairies, spent his afternoon "with the people" taking photos and videos with his cell phone.
"This is happening right across the country and it's wonderful," said Erasmus, standing next to the Centennial Flame on Parliament Hill. "People are coming out. They're participating, and it's real. They've made up their mind that they're not going to watch our constitutionally protected rights being eroded."
He said the fact people were taking to the streets in Yellowknife at -28 C, and braving the freezing rain in Ottawa to make their voices heard, shows that Idle No More isn't going anywhere.
"This whole movement across the country is not only for our people, it's for everyone. So, it's here to stay."
Speaking in front of the huge crowd, Wab Kinew, director of indigenous inclusion at the University of Winnipeg, said, "Let's stop talking about sovereignty."
It was not the line the people were expecting. You could have heard a pin drop.
But his next phrase drew cheers: "It's time for us to exert our sovereignty every day. Solutions will not come from leaders. The solution will come from the people - it already has."
Jai King and her sisters plan to continue attending round dances and flash mobs near home, talking about their rights, and singing to indigenous and non-indigenous alike: "People of the land, take a stand. Join us and dance."