BRANTFORD, Ont. (November 28) -The Chiefs of Ontario reaffirmed its opposition to the federal government’s First Nations Governance Agreement (FNGA) — the Initiative of Indian Affairs Minister Robert Nault — and the so-called “Penultimate draft” work plan negotiated between the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) and the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development is unacceptable at this point in time.

After meeting with the Ontario Political Confederacy in Toronto yesterday, Ontario Regional Chief Charles Fox said, “What we have here are amendments to the Indian Act which threaten First Nations Inherent and Treaty Rights and which are contrary to the resolution passed at the Chiefs Assembly in Halifax last July.”

The Chiefs of Ontario insists that political accountability requires that chiefs across the country must approve the Penultimate work plan.

Today’s statement reflects the on-going position of the Chiefs of Ontario which has opposed the governance segment of the Nault Initiative from the outset. It was issued again in preparation for the AFN Confederacy meeting beginning Tuesday, December 3 in Ottawa. The Union of BC Indian Chiefs, the Interior Alliance and the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs have taken the same stance as the Chiefs of Ontario against the Draft Agreement. The Chiefs of Ontario will caucus on Monday to finalize its position.

The Chiefs of Ontario points out that the proposed draft ignores the promises of the Liberal Red Books (the campaign documents prior to the most recent federal elections in 1993, 1997 and 2000) which called for addressing First Nations concerns about education, health care and job creation. The organization contends that it is a continuation of a direction, first taken in a 1969 government White Paper, to eliminate the status of First Nations and the abolition of the reserves.

“It is an all-out drive to destroy First Nations Rights and it is simply not acceptable,” Grand Chief Larry Sault of the Association of Iroquois and Allied Indians pointed out. He explained that the draft tries to “off-load the federal government’s fiduciary responsibility” for First Nations which is entrenched in Canada’s constitution and which is recognized internationally.

Grand Chief Ignace Gull of the Mushkegowuk Council charged that this draft emerged because the federal government, through its control of the finances of First Nations, coerced the AFN to comply.

“Let’s face it,” said Fox. “This is Canada’s initiative. It has nothing to do with First Nations rights and priorities, including the recommendations of the $53 million Royal Commission on Aboriginal People. It does the Crown no honour.”

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