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From http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20061110.RESERVES10/TPStory/?query=aboriginal

Critics fear for future of remote reserves - Call to move Kashechewan community has 'profound' implications, MP says

BILL CURRY - POSTED ON 10/11/06

OTTAWA -- A federal report calling for Kashechewan's natives to move south, calls into question the future of Canada's remote northern reserves, native leaders and opposition MPs say.

Former Ontario Progressive Conservative MPP Alan Pope argued yesterday that Kashechewan's 1,550 residents should be moved to Timmins, Ont., because the opportunities for better education, health care and jobs that come with life near an urban centre would be better than living in isolation with high unemployment.

But he conceded yesterday that his report could have wider implications when it comes to federal policies for natives.

"I acknowledge to you that that's a political debate that might be started out of this report," he said, when asked if his argument could apply to many other communities.

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 The fact that Mr. Pope was appointed by Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice had some questioning whether the Conservative government is signalling a major shift in federal aboriginal policy.

"The implication of what is being suggested is profound," said NDP MP Charlie Angus, whose riding includes both Timmins and Kashechewan. "What about every other isolated community that's in poverty? Is that what we're going to do?"

Liberal MP Anita Neville expressed similar concerns.

"Do we start moving other communities to Kenora or to Thunder Bay or to Winnipeg or to Brandon because they're not sustainable? It's a complete abdication of the whole issue of collective rights and the aboriginal peoples' connection with the land," she said.

The report, combined with other measures such as the government's opposition to a United Nations Declaration on Indigenous Rights, had some wondering yesterday whether the government is following the controversial advice of veteran Conservative strategist and University of Alberta professor Tom Flanagan.

In numerous policy papers, columns and a 2000 book, First Nations: Second Thoughts, Prof. Flanagan has argued that Ottawa should stop funding aboriginal communities that are solely dependent on federal tax dollars. Mr. Flanagan argues that the current reserve system benefits only political elites, while most in the community suffer. Instead, natives should be encouraged to integrate with the mainstream economy, he wrote.

"Call it assimilation, call it integration, call it adaptation, call it whatever you want: it has to happen," Mr. Flanagan concludes in his book.

Patrick Brazeau, the national chief of the off-reserve native group the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, has called for an end to the reserve system and hopes Mr. Pope's report will further that debate.

"There is an obligation on the federal government to ensure that aboriginal Canadians receive opportunities on an equal basis as mainstream Canadians," he said. "Hopefully, this government will draw a line in the sand because we can't continue this practice of always expecting handouts from the federal government."

Phil Fontaine, the National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, takes a far more negative view of the Conservative government's actions to date.

He said the next few years will see millions of dollars in development in Canada's North that could benefit native communities should they have clear land-claim agreements confirming their rights to those northern resources.

Mr. Fontaine suggested the government wants to dilute native land rights so that they do not interfere with private development of those northern resources.

"One could argue that first nations, because of their location, are in the way of development," Mr. Fontaine said. "People have earned a right to be where they are. This is their homeland. Much of what they originally possessed has been lost."

Mr. Fontaine said Mr. Pope's argument could once have been made about Attawapiskat, another James Bay Cree community.

"It was an isolated community and people would ask the question, 'What is it doing there?' Then all of a sudden they discovered diamonds and overnight it becomes a viable community in the eyes of people in the south."

While the local chiefs of the Kashechewan region did not rule out moving to Timmins, they said it would be an "overwhelming" change from their land-based lives.

Grand Chief Stan Louttit said it raises questions as to how their way of life would fit inside a municipal setting, such as hunting rights.

"There's a whole number of questions that come about," he said.