Beaver Lake Cree Nation
Constitutional Challenge
Trudeau Government's Definition of Reconciliation
- Peggy Morton -
Rally in Edmonton in support of the Beaver Lake
Cree Nation court
challenge,
February 19, 2019.
The federal and Alberta governments have left no
stone unturned in their opposition to the
constitutional challenge
launched by the Beaver Lake Cree Nation in 2008 in
defence of their
inherent and treaty rights. At issue is the
consideration of the
cumulative effects of industrial development on
the Nation's traditional land and way of life in
project approvals.
The latest development is the appeal, heard in
court on June 4, by the Alberta and federal
governments of the
September 2019 ruling of the Court of Queen's
Bench that requires that
each government provide $300,000 per year to the
Beaver Lake Cree
Nation in order that its constitutional challenge
can proceed.
The Alberta and federal governments both have
tried from the beginning to make sure the case
never comes to trial. In
2008 they tried to have the case
dismissed. The Alberta
government claimed the action is "frivolous,
vexatious and an abuse of process." The federal
government said it should not be named as a
defendant, attempting to
wash its hands of its fiduciary obligations to the
Beaver Lake Cree and
ignoring the fact that the Cold Lake Weapons Range
is on their
territory. The court ruled in 2013 that the trial
could proceed. While
the cartel parties in power have changed in the
intervening seven
years, the refusal to negotiate in good faith and
attempts to shut down
the constitutional challenge remains.
What the Trudeau and Kenney governments are
demanding in their appeal of the 2019 ruling on
costs is that Beaver
Lake should have to exhaust all its funds in order
to continue to
defend its claim, which the Nation has said it
will not and cannot do.
They are demanding that a community whose only
source of clean drinking
water is a water truck must choose between clean
water and continuing
its case. This reveals the cynicism of Trudeau's
"I hear you," "no
relationship more important" and promises to do
better.
 In its 2018
budget, the Trudeau government stated that,
"Indigenous participation
in modern treaty negotiations will be funded
through non-repayable
contributions." But the government continues with
the fiction that the
numbered treaties like Treaty Six, to which Beaver
Lake is a signatory,
are land cessation treaties and there is nothing
left to negotiate.
Oral history clearly shows this is not the case,
not to mention that
the conception of selling land does not even exist
in
Indigenous law, tradition and outlook which
Indigenous treaty-makers
were duty-bound to uphold and did uphold. Equally
hypocritical are the
Trudeau government's repeated promises of potable
drinking water for
all Indigenous people. This kind of hypocrisy
underscores the necessity
to modernize the Constitution of Canada so that it
eliminates the
colonial relationship with the Indigenous peoples
and provides redress
for all historical mistreatment.
The Trudeau government's stand is clear and
unacceptable. Its definition of reconciliation is
that Indigenous
peoples must reconcile themselves to the loss of
their way of life, the
loss of their ability to carry out their duties as
keepers of the land,
and accept Might Makes Right as the law of the
land. It is not going to
happen. Included in the projects that have been
imposed on the
territory is the Cold Lake Weapons Range which is
illegally occupying
the Nation's traditional territories and violates
the conception of
peace and friendship and must be shut down.[1]
Canadians have a responsibility to stand with the
Beaver Lake Cree Nation who are defending their
own rights and their
responsibilities to Mother Earth. The sovereign
right of the Indigenous
peoples to say yes or no to developments on their
traditional territory
must be upheld.
Notes
1.
Amongst other things, the Weapons Range is the
site of the annual
"Maple Leaf" flag war exercises which involve NATO
aircraft as well as
participation from non-NATO nations including
Israel, Australia, New
Zealand, Sweden, Singapore, Brazil, and Colombia.
This article was published in
Volume 50 Number 21 - June 13, 2020
Article Link:
Beaver Lake Cree Nation
Constitutional Challenge: Trudeau Government's Definition of Reconciliation - Peggy Morton
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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