National Treaty Gathering forms Alliance demanding respect for treaties and Crown's honour
New rival to AFN pushes ahead or indigenous sovereignty
GLORIA GALLOWAY - OTTAWA - The Globe and Mail - 19 July 2013
A schism in aboriginal leadership is threatening to divide the Assembly of First Nations as a new alliance moves to convince native communities across Canada to choose its path to sovereignty from federal rule.
Derek Nepinak, the Grand Chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, came away from a meeting of the new National Treaty Alliance in Saskatchewan on Thursday saying the members of the group will try to sell First Nations on an "empowered" approach for asserting treaty rights. They will be "asking people to decide, do they want an Indian Act future or do they want a future built on the Treaty Alliance, based on the sovereignty of our people," Mr. Nepinak told The Globe and Mail.
The focus of the Treaty Alliance will be the implementation of existing treaty rights as a way to move First Nations on the path to independence and away from the governance of the 137-year-old law that has become a target of resentment for native people.
To emphasize his point, Mr. Nepinak threw away his Indian card.
The alliance intends to meet again in October to solidify its structure. If all goes according to plan, it would later demand a meeting with Prime Minister Stephen Harper and set a 30-day deadline for a response. If the demand is not met, a campaign of action would be launched.
The meeting of the Treaty Alliance this week at the Onion Lake First Nation was timed to coincide with the annual general meeting of the Assembly of First Nations in Whitehorse. Chiefs and their delegates had to choose which event to attend. The fact that many divided their time between the two meetings, and that both attracted about a thousand delegates, is an indication of the strength and the influence of the startup group.
The organizers of the Onion Lake gathering accuse Shawn Atleo, the National Chief of the AFN, of talking privately with the federal government about issues that could affect treaty negotiations - something Mr. Atleo vehemently denies.
The AFN is an advocacy group that represents the diverse interests of Canada's 614 First Nations but has no authority to negotiate treaties. It also receives operating money from Ottawa.
"The new Treaty Alliance is different," Mr. Nepinak said. "It's not going to rely on government of Canada money. We're not going to be manipulated by bureaucrats and contribution agreements. We're going to do this on our own."
Mr. Atleo, who says the AFN is also committed to moving beyond the Indian Act, has warned that the First Nations are stronger when they work together. In a telephone interview on Thursday, he said that the AFN and the Treaty Alliance did not need to compete and said the goals of both groups are the same.
Some of those attending the Saskatchewan meeting said they did not see the Treaty Alliance as a rival to the AFN but a vehicle for asserting their treaty rights. And the native leaders attending the AFN meeting in Whitehorse sent an open letter Monday to those at Onion Lake, saying they are fully supportive of First Nations driving the implementation of their own treaties.
"We made sure to express to those gathered in Onion Lake at Treaty Six Territory our respect, care and support and we included the word love and said we know we are pushing for the same things," Mr. Atleo said.
The AFN and the Treaty Alliance could work as complementary organizations for the betterment of the First Nations, he said. The question, Mr. Atleo said, is "how do we push in a concurrent manner in a way that is mutually supportive and yet respects the autonomy and diversity and sovereignty nations."
Perry Bellegarde, the AFN Regional Chief for Saskatchewan who attended both meetings, agrees. "People are looking always for that divisiveness," Mr. Bellegarde said. "There are more things that unite us and we've got to focus on those things rather than the things that divide us."
But Mr. Nepinak said he could not speculate about what kind of role the AFN will have going forward.
"I think what we're seeing is a shift or an evolution back to fundamentals that we needed," he said. "And I don't just hold Shawn's leadership responsible for this shift. I think we all own a piece of this and we have to consider the role that Mr. Harper has played in making many people wake up across the land in recognizing that we have to stand up and find new ways to assert our jurisdictions once again."
Separately, the AFN is calling on Mr. Harper to acknowledge the "horrors" of nutritional experiments once done on hungry children by increasing support for native child welfare.
"We're going to call on the Prime Minister to give effect to the words that he spoke when he said: ‘The burden of this experience has been on your shoulders for far too long. The burden is properly ours as a government,' " Mr. Atleo said in reference to Mr. Harper's 2008 apology for residential schools.
Recently published historical research says hungry aboriginal children and adults were once used as unwitting subjects in nutritional experiments by Canadian government bureaucrats.
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First Nations' concerns not so easily explained, dismissed
Tina Powell - July 19, 2013
Lorne Gunter's column First Nations future better behind Atleo (July 17) is an over-simplification of First Nations' politics and social realities.
The National Treaty Alliance (NTA) gathered at Onion Lake reserve opposes political organizations that do not recognize the aboriginal and treaty rights, that promote environmentally irresponsible economic development based on resource extraction, and that fail to address the root causes of social suffering in First Nations communities.
Gunter calls this concerned group "radicals," a "Cult of Victimhood," and "like 60s hippies" who believe "if only ‘the man' would stop being so mean to them, all their troubles would evaporate." He boils the NTA down to a group that "does not believe Canadian law applies on their lands."
It is oversimplified statements such as these that perpetuate the deep misunderstandings and justices that affect First Nations communities.
The NTA calls attention to the historical reality of treaties that enabled Canada to be created. It calls attention to the fact that these treaties are not being honoured, that the nation-to-nation relationship that treaties established between Canada and First Nations is not being followed and that this is causing continued suffering in First Nations' communities.
The NTA is working to address Canadian policy and resource extractive economies that are preventing families from providing for themselves in healthy and culturally appropriate ways; preventing communities and individuals from living self-determining lives; and preventing healing from the extensive emotional, psychological and physiological harms caused by colonialism.
Gunter suggests if the NTA chooses to advocate and organize around these issues, "then let them forego welfare from Canadian government and show passports at border crossings every time they want to leave the reserve to go shopping." Not only is Gunter using the racist stereotype of First Nations as lazy welfare seekers, he also suggests that the problems First Nation communities face are caused by First Nation people themselves. He has contributed to the wealth of misinformation about First Nations realities in Canada, failing has take into account any of the reasons that First Nations communities have high unemployment rates and high dependence upon social assistance.
It seems Gunter fails to understand why the NTA is critical of resource extractive economic development and Canada's relationship with First Nations peoples. First Nation communities that have signed into resource extraction deals are doing the same, if not much worse, than communities who have not. Rates of suicide, substance abuse, child apprehension and physical and mental health problems (including cancer, diabetes and depression) have been known to go up, while unemployment rates (especially in the long run) remain low.
Regarding Gunter's comment about handing out passports, not so long ago First Nations people did need a permission slip from the local Indian Agent to leave their reserve. Much of the contemporary and historical treatment of First Nations in Canada is much more than "mean;" it is violent, dehumanizing and racist.
Tina Powell is an Arva resident.
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From Lloydminister's MeridianBooster.com
First Nations assemble for National Treaty Gathering
Jeff Peters - July 19, 2013
Chief of the Cree Nation of Onion Lake with Chief Larry Cachene of Yellow Quill First Nation poses for a photo during the National Treaty gathering last Tuesday.
A thousand people were in attendance over the past week at the National Treaty gathering at Heritage Park in the Cree Nation of Onion Lake.
Chiefs from as far as northern Ontario were in attendance including the Southern Chiefs Organization (SCO) which walked from the communites of the Dakotas Nations, Waywayseecappo, and Keeseekowenin. The treaty gathering was held as a call to action amongst First Nations peoples, as well as an open forum for those in attendance to discuss alternatives to the current state of aboriginal affairs in Canada.
Throughout the course of the four-day meeting smaller sub-set forums were gathered around the park on the following topics: chief's Forum, elder's Forum, Women's and Idle No More Forum, and Youth Forum. A statement of intent for the treaty gathering was released stating that the three major points of the gathering were- revitalizing our nations, our language, and governance - demanding respect for treaties and demanding that the Crown's honour be upheld.
While the Onion Lake treaty gathering took place another gathering was taking place in Whitehorse, where a meeting of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) for their 34th Annual General Assembly was held. That gathering was headed by National Chief Shawn Atleo.
"The Assembly of First Nation was created as the national Indian brotherhood as one of the elders spoke of here today. The National Indian Brotherhood is based on the people and at some point it lost focus and it became the AFN and that's when all this, according to them (the elders), it started to go downhill," said Chief Wallace of Onion Lake Cree Nation.
In response to whether a new First Nations political representative body would arise from the Treaty Gathering Chief Wallace said, "My hope and my position on it is if there is one, that it has to come from the people up, the people are the authority and the people are the power in any governance system. Like I said in my speech there seems to be a disconnect from the people the organizations that we are all a part of, - for me it's the gathering of the nations coming together talking the same language about reclaiming our inherent rights through our ceremony a spiritual awakening that's happening amongst all people and more so in our communities and nations."