For Nation-to-Nation Relations and an End
to
Genocide of Indigenous Peoples
Day of Action Defends Indigenous Rights
  
On June 3, the National Inquiry into Missing and
Murdered
Indigenous Women and Girls will release its final report. The
inquiry came after years of advocacy efforts led by grassroots
Indigenous women who called upon the Canadian state to address
the systemic and root causes of violence faced by Indigenous
women and girls. Meanwhile, the abuse continues due to the
failure of the Government of Canada to end colonial relations and
treatment of Indigenous peoples once and for all and establish
nation-to-nation relations and provide redress for all the crimes
committed against them.
 To protest continued
mistreatment and abuse, on May 27,
Indigenous peoples and their supporters held actions across the
country which specifically targeted several bills being imposed
on them. They have not been meaningfully consulted on these
bills, which fail to recognize the nation-to-nation relations
that must underpin Canada's relations with the Indigenous
peoples.[1] These bills
come in the context of the Trudeau Liberals' widely rejected
10-point framework that sought to extinguish hereditary rights,
which the government was forced to back down from in December
2018.[2] All told, they are
tantamount to a new White Paper 2.0, which like the 1969 White
Paper tabled by then-Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and his
Justice Minister Jean Chrétien, are aimed at extinguishing
Indigenous peoples' hereditary and treaty rights. Actions were
held in Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Sault
St. Marie, London, and Ottawa.
At the action on Parliament Hill, Chief Lee Crowchild of
the
Tsuut'ina First Nation called on everyone to educate themselves
on the proposed legislation. "I think this day of action, this
reality that's taking place across Canada is a wakeup call for
the generations that we can't just sit idly by," he said.
Speakers at the Ottawa action reiterated the
problematic
nature of the Indigenous child welfare bill, that is supposed to
help Indigenous communities gain jurisdiction over child welfare,
while money will still come via provincial governments. The need
for Indigenous people to create their own child welfare laws was
also emphasized. "We as first nations are in the process of our
own. Developing our own law, and this law on childcare is
pending. So in essence we know what the problem is, and we will
know how to fix," said Chief Henry Lewis of the Onion Lake Cree
Nation.
From Parliament Hill, the demonstrators went to the
Prime
Minister's Office and after a brief picket marched down
Wellington Street to the building where the Senate of Canada is
located.
At the rally in Winnipeg, organizer Elyssa McIvor
directed her
remarks "To the federal government and Justin Trudeau, also
Carolyn Bennett and Seamus O'Regan" She said, "They need to know that
they
don't have our consent [for these bills]. They never informed us
of these changes, and we will fight it till the end."
 She added, "These bills
are falsely claiming that
they
will give us more self-government, more self-determination, more
control of our services, more control of our territories. But in
reality, it is lessening and weakening everything that we are
trying to work toward."
McIvor said that the Winnipeg march, from the Canadian
Museum of Human Rights to the Manitoba Legislature, included
participants from Treaty 1, Treaty 2 and Treaty 5 territory, and their
supporters.
In Calgary, one hundred people rallied downtown at
Olympic Plaza. Speakers and slogans emphasized the fact that
Indigenous peoples will not accept assimilation and they are
determined to uphold their sovereignty along with
nation-to-nation relations with Canada. Everyone gathered then
marched to the Harry Hays federal building and back, where they
continued to voice their demands.
Another protest was held in Calgary on May 30 outside of
the
First Nations Innovation & Success National Meeting, taking place
at the Westin Hotel from May 28-30. The meeting is organized by
the First Nation Fiscal Institutions (First Nations Finance
Authority, First Nations Financial Management Board, and the
First Nations Tax Commission) and the First Nations Lands
Advisory Board. This includes First Nations participating in the First
Nations
Fiscal
Management
Act, the Framework
Agreement on First Nation Land Management (FAFNLM) and First
Nations which are entering 10-year grants with the federal
government.
More rallies are planned throughout the summer by
Indigenous
leaders and grassroots organizations, in advance of the federal
election, APTN News reports.
Vancouver, BC
Edmonton, AB
Calgary, AB
 
Saskatoon, SK
 
Winnipeg, MB
 
Sudbury, ON
London, ON
Ottawa, ON
Notes
1. The bills in
question are Bill C-91, the Indigenous Languages Act (at
second reading in the Senate); Bill C-92, An Act respecting
First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families
(at second reading and referred to the Standing Committee on
Indigenous and Northern Affairs); Bill C-97, the 2019 omnibus
budget implementation bill (at second reading and referred to
committee in the House of Commons) that created the Department of
Indigenous Services and Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern
Affairs to replace Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada; and
the 2018 budget implementation Bill C-86 (received Royal Assent
in December 2018), that amends the First Nations Land
Management Act and the First Nations Fiscal Management
Act. Bills C-91 and C-92 are anticipated to receive Royal
Assent in June, CBC News reports.
Currently, the House of Commons is scheduled to rise for
the
summer recess on June 21, and the Trudeau government is seeking
to extend sitting hours to push through these and other bills
before then, or to have a summer sitting.
2. "Trudeau Liberals' New
Attempt
at a
'Final Solution' to Extinguish Hereditary Rights," Pauline
Easton, TML Weekly, December 4, 2018.
This article was published in
Volume 49 Number
20 - June 1, 2019
Article Link:
For
Nation-to-Nation Relations and an End
to
Genocide of Indigenous Peoples: Day of Action Defends Indigenous Rights
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
|
