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April 24, 2003 Indian affairs minister dismisses native protests; Chiefs furious |
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OTTAWA (CP) -- Indian Affairs Minister Robert
Nault stoked growing anger about planned Indian Act changes, suggesting
Thursday that protesters en route to Parliament Hill may as well
turn back. "I know that people believe protests work,"
Nault said as a cross-country caravan of native demonstrators headed
for a Monday rally. |
| "We see so many of those these days, as politicians.
I think we're almost becoming immune to them." The comment, made
to reporters after Nault spoke to a related lawyers' forum, drew outrage.
"There's people out there who are pissed off and he's turning
a deaf ear to them," said Charles Fox, Ontario vice-chief of
the national Assembly of First Nations. The potential for escalating
conflict or even violence is "definitely a concern," Fox
said. "I think when you push a people into a corner, bad things
can happen. But we're trying to void that at all costs." His
group has been locked for months in a war of words with Nault. The
minister has vowed to pass new legislation to tighten fiscal accountability,
balance the interests of residents on- and off-reserve, and clarify
the legal status of band councils and their powers to make bylaws.
The 1876 Indian Act, which governs most of about 700,000 status Indians, has hardly changed since 1950. A new First Nations Governance Act would be a pillar for economic development and investment on reserves, Nault says. "I'm not prepared to stick with the status quo," he told the lawyers' forum. "We will then guarantee another generation or ore of poverty." As Nault spoke, businessman Roger Obonsawin of the Six Nations of the Grand River Territory near Brantford, Ont., stood with his back to the podium in protest. "The minister of Indian affairs is really irrelevant," Obonsawin later said. "He talks about poverty and (other) problems. This is not going to address those issues," he said of the contentious bill. Critics, including the Canadian Bar Association, several academics and church leaders, say Nault offered too short a consultation period for real native input. They also warn that aboriginal rights guaranteed in the Constitution could be illegally undermined. A former Liberal Indian affairs minister warned that Nault's approach is doomed to fail. "I appreciate that he wants to do the right thing," said Warren Allmand, who spoke to the same conference Thursday. But Ottawa can't impose so-called solutions on native people through legislation, Allmand told reporters. "You have to sit down at the table and negotiate a new kind of treaty that will deal with transparency and accountability. The process has to recognize the self-determination of First Nations people." Native leaders will likely win a promised court challenge if the legislation passes, Allmand added. Others weren't surprised by Nault's dismissive view of what could be a major protest Monday. "Once again (he) is demonstrating his ignorance, arrogance and insensitivity," said Stewart Phillip, head of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs. "He and the other ministers of the Crown clearly are not immune to the ... legal rights of First Nations people in this country. And he better damn well learn that or resign." |
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