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Idle No More and the Audit of Chief Spence's Band

DonLever

By DonLever
in Off-Topic General

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JeremyW Junior Prospect

JeremyW

Posted
Posted

Treaties and land claims settlements are entrenched in our Constitution and cannot be changed without the agreement of the band who has signed the treaty. From the time of the Royal Proclamation of 1763 (also entrenched in our Constitution specifically) treaty negotiation is on the order of a nation to nation relationship.

And since the Constitution is our supreme law...

PART I

Section 25 of the Charter of Rights:

25. The guarantee in this Charter of certain rights and freedoms shall not be construed so as to abrogate or derogate from any aboriginal, treaty or other rights or freedoms that pertain to the aboriginal peoples of Canada including

(a) any rights or freedoms that have been recognized by the Royal Proclamation of October 7, 1763; and

(
B)
any rights or freedoms that may be acquired by the aboriginal peoples of Canada by way of land claims settlement.

PART II

RIGHTS OF THE ABORIGINAL PEOPLES OF CANADA

35. (1) The existing aboriginal and treaty rights of the aboriginal peoples of Canada are hereby recognized and affirmed.

(2) In this Act, "aboriginal peoples of Canada" includes the Indian, Inuit, and Metis peoples of Canada.

(3) For greater certainty, in subsection (1) "treaty rights" includes rights that now exist by way of land claims agreements or may be so acquired.

(4) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, the aboriginal and treaty rights referred to in subsection (1) are guaranteed equally to male and female persons.

PART VII

GENERAL

52. (1) The Constitution of Canada is the supreme law of Canada, and any law that is inconsistent with the provisions of the Constitution is, to the extent of the inconsistency, of no force or effect.

(2) The Constitution of Canada includes

(
a
) the Canada Act, 1982, including this Act;

(
b
) the Acts and orders referred to in the Schedule; and

(
c
) any amendment to any Act or order referred to in paragraph (
a
) or (
b
).

It matters not what a majority of Canadians may have think or even want. That is a mistaken view of democracy because that term implies so much more than simple majority rule. That was clearly stated in the Quebec Secession reference.

Democracy is a the principle that seeks to promote participation in effective representative self-government, which respects and responds to all voices but it is subject to Constitutionalism and the Rule of Law – the principles that protect citizens from state actions by forcing governments to act under the rule of law, the constitution of Canada being the supreme law. The constitution’s entrenched protections of minorities ensures that the country does not operate simply on majority rule, and enables a true democracy in which minority voices are fairly considered. Protection of minorities is another the principle that guides the other principles, but one which is also independent and fundamental because of its uniqueness to Canada relative to other federal, constitutional democracies.

See paragraphs 49- 82:

http://scc.lexum.org...m/1643/index.do

And the guiding principle is that the Crown owes a fiduciary duty to the Aboriginal people as the courts have confirmed in a number of cases.

http://www.parl.gc.c...s/prb0009-e.htm

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Wetcoaster Canucks First-Line

Wetcoaster

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Apparently Idle No More protests are to continue and even escalate.

Chief Spence is continuing her liquid diet until she gets a joint meeting with PM Harper and GG Johnston.

A day after First Nations chiefs held what was described as a working meeting with Prime Minister Stephen Harper in Ottawa, Idle No More protesters are continuing in communities across the country.

The movement, which began in November and quickly spread, is largely a protest against Bill C-45, the federal government's omnibus bill that proposes changes to the Navigable Protection Act as well as the Indian Act, raising fears it will breach aboriginal treaty rights.

Here are some of Saturday's protests:

  • St. John's - Activists were ejected from the Avalon Mall shortly after their protest began around 12:30 ET.

  • Guelph, Ont. - Rally on Carden Street, 2:30 p.m. ET.

  • Trois-Rivières, Que. - Small demonstration, 1 p.m. ET.

  • Edmonton - Latino-Canadians in support of Idle No More outside the West Edmonton Mall, 4 p.m. ET

  • Banff, Alta. - Flash mob round dance in support of the movement at the Banff Cascade Mall, 3 p.m. ET.

  • Winnipeg - Protest planned outside the offices of the Winnipeg Sun to encourage respect in online media, 2 p.m. ET.

  • Hay River, N.W.T. - Rally on Highway 1 at the N.W.T./ Alberta border, noon to 2 p.m. ET.

Organizers with the grassroots movement are calling for an Idle No more World Day of Action on Jan. 28, when Canadian MPs return to the House of Commons.

Also showing solidarity are some prominent Canadians who say they are rejecting their Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medals and giving them back to Gov. Gen. David Johnston.

Writer and activist Naomi Klein, singer Sarah Slean and Maude Barlow, chair of the Council of Canadians, said on Friday they would be returning their awards.

Some 60,000 Canadians were singled out in 2012 for the special honour which marks 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth's accession to the Throne. Honourees were chosen for their contributions to their community or for "an achievement abroad that brings credit to Canada."

About 20 people from the Millbrook First Nation blocked the CN Rail line between Halifax and Truro, N.S., for about nine hours on Friday. They left the site at around 10:30 p.m., but not before passengers on at least one train from Halifax had to be bused to their destination.

Next Wednesday, some chiefs and activists are promising a ramped-up day of protest, with blockades of rail lines and border crossings.

The National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, Shawn Atleo, said Friday's meeting with the prime minister had achieved "some movement" and that Harper, "for the first time, provided a clear mandate for high-level talks on treaty implementation."

However, other chiefs said they should have been attending a joint meeting with both Harper and Gov. General David Johnston.

Meanwhile, Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence has vowed to continue her liquid-only diet until she gets a joint meeting with Harper and the governor general.

Spence, who hasn't eaten solid food since Dec. 11, boycotted Friday's meeting, which involved 21 First Nations chiefs. But she later attended a ceremonial meeting with the governor general at Rideau Hall.

Some chiefs are pressing Spence to end her hunger strike, saying she has made her point and there's no sense in jeopardizing her health.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2013/01/12/aboriginal-idle-no-more-protests.html

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Mr. Ambien Canucks Star

Mr. Ambien

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Posted

Apparently Idle No More protests are to continue and even escalate.

Chief Spence is continuing her liquid diet until she gets a joint meeting with PM Harper and GG Johnston.

A day after First Nations chiefs held what was described as a working meeting with Prime Minister Stephen Harper in Ottawa, Idle No More protesters are continuing in communities across the country.

The movement, which began in November and quickly spread, is largely a protest against Bill C-45, the federal government's omnibus bill that proposes changes to the Navigable Protection Act as well as the Indian Act, raising fears it will breach aboriginal treaty rights.

Here are some of Saturday's protests:

  • St. John's - Activists were ejected from the Avalon Mall shortly after their protest began around 12:30 ET.

  • Guelph, Ont. - Rally on Carden Street, 2:30 p.m. ET.

  • Trois-Rivières, Que. - Small demonstration, 1 p.m. ET.

  • Edmonton - Latino-Canadians in support of Idle No More outside the West Edmonton Mall, 4 p.m. ET

  • Banff, Alta. - Flash mob round dance in support of the movement at the Banff Cascade Mall, 3 p.m. ET.

  • Winnipeg - Protest planned outside the offices of the Winnipeg Sun to encourage respect in online media, 2 p.m. ET.

  • Hay River, N.W.T. - Rally on Highway 1 at the N.W.T./ Alberta border, noon to 2 p.m. ET.

Organizers with the grassroots movement are calling for an Idle No more World Day of Action on Jan. 28, when Canadian MPs return to the House of Commons.

Also showing solidarity are some prominent Canadians who say they are rejecting their Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medals and giving them back to Gov. Gen. David Johnston.

Writer and activist Naomi Klein, singer Sarah Slean and Maude Barlow, chair of the Council of Canadians, said on Friday they would be returning their awards.

Some 60,000 Canadians were singled out in 2012 for the special honour which marks 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth's accession to the Throne. Honourees were chosen for their contributions to their community or for "an achievement abroad that brings credit to Canada."

About 20 people from the Millbrook First Nation blocked the CN Rail line between Halifax and Truro, N.S., for about nine hours on Friday. They left the site at around 10:30 p.m., but not before passengers on at least one train from Halifax had to be bused to their destination.

Next Wednesday, some chiefs and activists are promising a ramped-up day of protest, with blockades of rail lines and border crossings.

The National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, Shawn Atleo, said Friday's meeting with the prime minister had achieved "some movement" and that Harper, "for the first time, provided a clear mandate for high-level talks on treaty implementation."

However, other chiefs said they should have been attending a joint meeting with both Harper and Gov. General David Johnston.

Meanwhile, Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence has vowed to continue her liquid-only diet until she gets a joint meeting with Harper and the governor general.

Spence, who hasn't eaten solid food since Dec. 11, boycotted Friday's meeting, which involved 21 First Nations chiefs. But she later attended a ceremonial meeting with the governor general at Rideau Hall.

Some chiefs are pressing Spence to end her hunger strike, saying she has made her point and there's no sense in jeopardizing her health.

http://www.cbc.ca/ne...e-protests.html

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JeremyW Junior Prospect

JeremyW

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Leaving aside that amending the constitution generally is a non-starter, in this particular case there is a school of thought by constitutional lawyers and scholars that Aboriginals constitute a third order of government meaning that the sections entrenching aboriginal rights could not be amended without the consent of Aboriginals.

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Wetcoaster Canucks First-Line

Wetcoaster

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IMO though, the idea of dividing the citizens of this country into two groups, one signficiantly larger than the other, yet giving the smaller group equal weight in discussions which impact both groups doesn't make any sense to me.

I do agree that it is a non-starter to amend the constitution, as you had said. However it is none the less possible, and should be done if hte majority of Caanda feels that such needs to be done.

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Wetcoaster Canucks First-Line

Wetcoaster

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Matthew Coon Come, Quebec Grand Chief of the Grand Council of the Crees is calling on Spence to end her protest saying that the goals have been met although not precisely as she demanded but that is the nature of negotiations.

A top aboriginal chief, Matthew Coon Come, who was among a delegation of chiefs that met with Prime Minister Stephen Harper in Ottawa on Friday, says it's time for Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence to save face and end her hunger strike — now on its 33rd day.

...

"I'm not sure who is advising her," Coon Come told CBC Radio's The House) host Evan Solomon.

...

He explained that while the Canadian Constitution Act places executive powers in the Queen, in practice this power is exercised by the prime minister.

"The prime minister is not going to relinquish his executive powers to the Governor General. That's the reality," said Coon Come.

"I don't know who is advising her. I don't know who she has surrounded herself with," said Coon Come adding "but I think if one is to make statements, they have to be credible based on at least some facts, on some knowledge, and hopefully be able to compromise."

Speaking from his own experience, Coon Come said "when you ask for something in this country, in my experience in negotiations, it's a give and take. There has to be a save-face, for both sides."

...

"I would hope that she would [end her hunger strike], for her health. I think she has succeeded. The Governor General responded by saying I will meet. Maybe not the way she wanted it. The prime minister said he was going to meet with First Nations. I think both have been done."

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2013/01/12/pol-the-house-matthew-coon-come-calls-on-theresa-spence-to-end-hunger-strike.html

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Wetcoaster Canucks First-Line

Wetcoaster

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Here is an article by journalist and author Terry Glavin who has written on aboriginal affairs and aboriginal history setting out the internal politics of the Idle No More movement in which he says a small group of activists who are politically opposed to the current AFN leadership have obstructed progress and continue to do so.

AFN obstructionists will stop at nothing

By Terry Glavin, Ottawa Citizen January 16, 2013

Let’s say that somehow, the eruption we’ve all agreed to call Idle No More results in a historic breakthrough between Ottawa and Canada’s diverse and deeply troubled First Nations.

Let’s say the covenant recognizes and affirms aboriginal and treaty rights and contains a specific, collaborative action plan to deal with the urgent challenges of aboriginal childhood education, economic development, First Nations governance and accountability. Plus it comes with a startup $275 million just to be sure the rubber hits the road. And it’s announced at a historic gathering in Ottawa with the senior First Nations chiefs, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and even Governor-General David Johnston.

Now let’s say along comes an obstructionist “movement” that masquerades as militant but is really a minority faction of eccentric and reactionary Indian band chiefs who are hopelessly devoted to the status quo. They set out to methodically undermine the agreement. They hijack the work plan. Within a year they’ve pretty well sabotaged the whole thing.

You would not know it for all the pageantry and the rhetoric about genocide and treaties and insurrection, but that’s just one untold story of Idle No More so far. There was such an agreement. It was called the Joint Action Plan, dated June 9, 2011. It was systematically derailed, piece by piece, and its saboteurs are now among the loudest and most theatrical characters in the Idle No More drama.

It’s what British Columbia regional chief Jody Wilson-Raybould was talking about when she told the CBC last Sunday: “No one should use those movements as political opportunities to play power politics within the AFN.” But the opportunities have been taken, the power politics have been played, and for all the unhinged activist denunciations of the ruling Conservatives, it is the Assembly of First Nations that has been nearly riven asunder by all this.

It is not our sinister genius of a prime minister who’s in sick bay on doctor’s orders this week (pollster Ipsos-Reid reported Tuesday that the prime minister’s approval ratings are just fine). It’s Shawn Atleo, the visionary 46-year-old AFN national chief and co-author of the 2011 Joint Action Plan. Chief Atleo is expected to be off work pulling knives out of his back for perhaps two weeks.

This is not to traduce those four Saskatoon women whose earnest if unhelpfully paranoid reading of the 457-page parliamentary indignity packaged as Bill C-45 set off the Idle No More flash mobs in the first place. And great tribute is owed those thousands of aboriginal people who have marched in the snow, jingle danced at the mall and paraded down Main Street.

But to regard every harmless sidewalk gathering of drummers and singers as somehow ominously newsworthy is tolerable only until actual “news” occurs and it isn’t even noticed. Like last Sunday, when Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan unveiled a $330.8-million investment in water and sewer systems in First Nations communities across the country, along with a long-term strategy to fix the drinking-water mess that afflicts so many Indian reserves.

Maybe it wasn’t that big a deal, but perhaps if Duncan had dressed up like Sir Isaac Brock, shuttle-bused the Ottawa press gallery down to Queenston Heights and acted out the lines of the announcement in interpretive dance, you might have at least heard about it.

Not that “social media” have helped to clarify much.

Everyone from James Bay Cree Grand Chief Matthew Coon Come to New Democratic Party Leader Thomas Mulcair has expressed the wish that Attawapiskat Chief Theresa “willing to die for my people” Spence would just knock it off and go home. Even the Aboriginal People’s Television Network calls Chief Spence’s hunger strike at the Victoria Island aboriginal folk park merely a “liquids-only fast.”

But here’s what you get from the activist webzine The Canadian Progressive: “Hunger-striking Attawapiskat First Nation Chief Theresa Spence is the reincarnation of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. She is becoming the greatest moral and political leader of our time. In fact, Chief Theresa Spence’s courage and sacrifice already eclipses that of South Africa’s globally celebrated anti-apartheid icon, Nelson Mandela.”

It took only two months for an Internet meme to morph into a national news obsession. Now it’s the main alibi available to the bullying, anti-democratic minority that’s been paralyzing the AFN all along. Among the faction’s most prominent personalities are Manitoba Chief Derek Nepinak, Onion Lake Cree Chief Wally Fox and Serpent River Chief Isadore Day. These are the stout lads who came to Parliament Hill Dec. 4 intending to make a scene, purportedly about Bill C-45, and immediately resorted to roughhousing with House of Commons security guards for the television cameras.

Last February, only a month after the historic Crown-First Nations gathering in Ottawa, Chief Fox scored his first direct hit when he convinced the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations to reject the Crown-First Nations joint action plan in its entirety. The plan’s centrepiece was its far-reaching overhaul of and investment in aboriginal education.

The obstructionists boycotted the AFN’s own internal education task force and then had the gall to protest a lack of consultation when Atleo and Minister Duncan hammered out the beginning of a legislative strategy.

By last October, after a three-day session led mainly by Chief Nepinak, Atleo emerged to announce grimly that even his beloved education plan was history.

Then there’s Pam Palmater, the Rabble.ca columnist and Mi’kmaq academic whom Atleo thrashed in a 341-141 vote in last summer’s AFN elections. Palmater campaigned on the nasty claim that Atleo had “gone rogue” and was quietly collaborating with the incorrigibly right-wing Stephen Harper to transform the AFN into “the Assimilation of First Nations.” By late December, Palmater had emerged as the most prominent official spokesperson and organizer for Idle No More.

By last week, Nepinak, Fox and the rest were forming up in entourage behind Chief Spence in a grotesquely staged fiasco that was aimed solely at bullying the AFN executive to boycott the meeting Chief Atleo and Prime Minister Harper had managed to arrange in the Langevin Block. The obstructionists failed. But they haven’t stopped.

Last Sunday, Ernie Crey, the former United Native Nations vice-president who was the first aboriginal leader to openly question the motives of certain of Idle No More’s slickest champions, told me: Just watch, these demagogues have already insinuated themselves into Idle No More’s national spotlight and they’ll soon be busy “hounding the national chief from office.”

Two days later, APTN National News’s Jorge Barrera, on agreement that he wouldn’t name names, acquired a string of emails circulating in the obstructionist camp. One chief said Chief Atleo’s sudden medical leave had the “stench of seeking pity” about it. Another joked that Chief Atleo might prefer to take up some “less stressful position” in British Columbia. Another wrote that Chief Atleo should take “permanent leave.”

After losing to Atleo in last summer’s AFN elections, Pam Palmater declared: “We’re going to keep going. This is a movement that won’t stop now.” This isn’t the note one strikes in a graceful concession speech. Palmater wasn’t talking about Idle No More, either, when she said, “Our movement is strong.”

It certainly is. It’s just not quite the same “movement” we’ve all been hearing about.

Terry Glavin is an author and journalist whose most recent book is Come From the Shadows.

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/obstructionists+will+stop+nothing/7829377/story.html#ixzz2IGD3wumP

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