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| Mar. 22, 2003. 01:00 AM | ||||
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Commons hearing told Indians treated like `wards of state' Roberta Jamieson says government must honour promises MAUREEN MURRAY STAFF REPORTER The time is long overdue for Canada to stop treating aboriginals like "wards of the state," Six Nations Chief Roberta Jamieson told a House of Commons committee hearing held on Toronto's waterfront yesterday. "What we need is for the government to stop trying to contain and control our people," Jamieson told the committee which is gathering submissions on native governance. Inspired by the footsteps and chants of more than 1,000 aboriginals who had marched with her through downtown Toronto, Jamieson delivered an impassioned speech, which drew a standing ovation from about 100 spectators. The chief of the Six Nations Reserve of the Grand River near Brantford, told committee members that native people had spilled their blood to defend Canada against an encroaching United States in the War of 1812 and the time was long overdue for Ottawa to keep its end of the bargain, such as honouring land claims and various treaties. "It is because we kept our word that this meeting is being held in a place called Canada," said Jamieson, former ombudsman for the province of Ontario. "If we had not kept our word, this meeting would be being held in a large American city." Cross-country hearings are being held to get public input on the First Nations Governance Act, Bill C-7, which Ottawa has argued will give native communities more control and accountability on electing their leaders and managing their finances. Hearings are normally held only after a bill has passed second reading. But since Bill C-7 has proved so contentious, the hearings were set up after first reading to seek views on how it can be amended. Jamieson repeatedly told the Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs that she and busloads of natives from across Ontario weren't there to tell them how to fix Bill C-7, they want it scrapped. The protesters carried signs that read "Generations of Broken Promises" and "Freedom From Colonialism" as they marched from Union Station to the hearing room at the Radisson Plaza Hotel Admiral on Queen's Quay W. "Bill C-7 is so fundamentally flawed legally, constitutionally and morally that it can't be amended. It must be utterly rejected," Jamieson said. Aboriginal leaders believe the legislation would increase Ottawa's control over their communities by entrenching a set of regulations dictating all aspects of how they are governed. They argue that it is no better than the existing Indian Act, which is based on treating natives like wards of the state. The federal government maintains the new law will give native communities more day-to-day control of their own affairs in the short-term, while the long-term negotiations towards true self-government continue. "This is not about the department of Indian Affairs imposing its will. We're trying to move away from this," Thomas Meecham, the department's special adviser on First Nations governance said in an interview. "At present, we basically micromanage First Nations." Meecham said Bill C-7 will not affect treaty rights, land claims or many of the other outstanding issues between Ottawa and aboriginals. He said it will allow aboriginal communities to set their own codes on how they elect their leaders and manage their finances. But Jamieson argued that the legislation's fundamental principles are off base because Ottawa is doling out to native communities in small measures rights that were enshrined in the Constitution and are embodied in treaties dating back centuries. "We do not need legislation to tell us how to govern ourselves," she said. A crush of supporters rushed to embrace Jamieson after her presentation. One elder said: "You make me proud to be a woman and a Mohawk." | ||||
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