So stop paying them: One week after a new legal deadline, nearly two-thirds of Canada’s First Nations have not yet provided Ottawa detailed financial information – including how much chiefs and councillors are paid.
So stop paying them: One week after a new legal deadline, nearly two-thirds of Canada’s First Nations have not yet provided Ottawa detailed financial information – including how much chiefs and councillors are paid.
Cutting funding is the next step. But likely their will be prior or concurrent court action. I’m not sure what the wording in the Indian act says about it and I think bands that never signed a treaty may be able to win in court to prevent releasing financials but not to keep funding flowing. It’s unfortunate that the provinces are such cowards…
Are there safeguards to ensure that what is reported is accurate and honest?
Why would they obey, they’re above our laws, own our lands? The only thing they’re not above is taking our money for just being Indians, contributing to the country is optional.
My Native, er, Aboriginal, er, First Nations colleagues used to joke openly about “Indian Time” but this is no joke.
Wouldn’t it be nice if we had a REAL definition of what a First Nations Person is/was. Given the inter-marrying of regular Canadians with First Nations persons, the gene pool must be getting a little shallow. So, if it could be established as to what a First Nation Persons DNA was like, then we could have a DNA test. Anyone who could come up with 51% First Nations DNA would be ineligable for any benefits.
That said, the likelyhood of that ever happening is slim and zip.
We have that definition, it’s 1/16 or better racial purity. It would make more sense to now award benefits proportionally. For the 1/16 Indians, 1/16 of the benefits. This would show how absurd and blatantly racist the whole system is. Extinguish the definition and the Act and divide-up all Reserve lands and treaty lands into fee simple land individually held by people formerly known as Indian, welcome them to the no-apartheid Canada and introduce them to the provincial governments which govern resources and local governance maters.
Devils advocate here. The problem with all this mess is the payments have kept the Chiefs and principal men in line to the detriment of the rank and file. A perpetual slush fund. Withdraw that and expect all the bands to start asserting their rights on not just Crown Land but land patents, and leased land as a whole as they scramble to replace the funding.
The treaties themselves are a mess. Most of them signed by principal men and chiefs ceding lands they had no legal authority to sign away in the first place. An example of this would be a large city selling the lands occupied by smaller independent communities in the area. This would not wash in any court of the day, yet small independent Indian bands living in the shadow of the larger ones who at the time of signing had none of their own designated representation are repeatedly told their rights to the land have been ceded. This is the mess the Crown inherited when they decided that Indians are subjects of the Queen, while Indians maintained they never ceded their rights as sovereign nations, this position being backed up by the acts of treaty negotiations and the treaty signings themselves.
The treaties, which are legal,binding universally held objects of agreements between Nation States are then trivialized by the Crown as mere land transfers. Why sign treaties with a subject of the Queen, when a deed transfer is all that is required in law. If the intention was to trick the Indians into signing then this act of bad faith by the Crown nullifies the treaty. Nullify the treaty and Indian rights and title to the land revert back to the Indians. This thin line of reasoning has kept the status quo since Confederation, that and the threat of the gun. A treaty is a 2 way street, unless your plan is to eradicate the Indians.
I am in no way advocating what greed has done to the new batch of principal men and chiefs representing Indians of today, and a solution seems impossible with the rhetoric being thrown around by both sides. I am merely pointing out the legal warfare and unrest about to be unleashed, what money has kept dormant all these years. Push and they will push back. And if you think the world including our enemies will sit idly by and let this opportunity to bash Canada, hurt our economic interests and gain economic benefit at our expense, will not get involved, think again. It’s a perfect wedge issue and already happening. Unless Canada wants to isolate its economy like North Korea.
This is the dilemma faced by Harper and previous governments and why they let sleeping dogs lay.
I don’t think your analysis is that far off. How else to explain the gangrenous state of Indian affairs all thorough out Canadian history. It wont matter in 30 year though. There won’t be anyone left really of the ethnic group that signed the treaties. The new peoples will not keep up the charade of the sharing caring danegeld for stone age peoples, when their ancestors signed no treaties with Indians. From Muslims, East Indians to Chinese they don’t really care about what other Nation or the UN ( If its still around) think. Nor will they care about using force on recalculate populations. As they did in their homelands to indigenous populations.
Canada will be radically different. Those living her having replaced the original settlers won’t care what the world thinks.
Frankly what Natives have now will be taken away with force if necessary. The English after all where civilized as where the French by democratic principles & Christianity.
Our forerunners will not have these constraints.
” Nullify the treaty and Indian rights and title to the land revert back to the Indians.” northernont
What title? A title needs someone to recognize it. Indians tribes where traditionally nomads. Indians only have title rights the Crown (Queen) gave them, if those rights are nullified they have nothing! Sue the Queen!
The construct of land Title is European, the CROWN (Queen)holds all lands absolutely. The granting of Allodial title is an act of the Crown.
Whatever do they have to hide?
Time to audit.
I’m confused here. If there are 600 of them, how can they all be first.
I have observed from Ancestry.com the offers to test subscribers DNA. The term used is the HAPLOGROUP. From these tests it is said that the content of one’s racial heritage. Costs vary from 80 to 100 dollars.
I am going to chance it and take the analysis.
At Sault Ste. Marie about ten years ago,here was a fiery dispute regarding fishing rights. Metis protested being banned from all year fishing. They won in the courts. One gentleman was 1/64th Metis. The other was 1/128th Metis.
I have family history of certain Gypsy stock in old East end of London, England. Got to give it a try. I am amused at the surnames of some of the Chiefs. A very active chief out West is/was Chief Murphy. I wonder who was the original Murphy?
Given that the originating Metis is half French wouldn’t that make those individuals 1/128th and 1/256th Indian respectively.
I have been involved in consultations with FNs and once had to sit through abuse and arrogance from a hereditary “Chief” who had a Scandinavian name, blue eyes and blond hair and looked far less native than I do. It was and is a f…..g circus. The supreme court Justices should all have to sit through those sessions. As it stands their “opinions” may carry legal weight but they are moving all of us (FNs included) to a worse place. Curiously, some of the better consultation sessions were with Chiefs with minimal or no apparent non-FN dilution.
Don’t buy into this euphemistic “First Nations” bullsh!t. They are at best first immigrants, nothing more.
Thanks for your observations regarding the actual heritage of persons who after all Canadian citizens.
I did my homework and though I had the percentages right, I had my dates wrong. How time flies!
Case of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth and Powley et al. 1993. They killed a moose and then claimed aboriginal rights, including fishing out of season. The authorities went to the wall to keep them to the rules observed by Canadians. The government lost and unsuccessfully appealed twice.
Nothing against the Powleys. Who can blame them for wanting an edge. Just that a lone aboriginal lady married a French-Canadian called Lesage. This over 150 years ago.
The other descendants are listed as Irish/English and also Polish.