Dear Friends:
Who is Dependent on
Whom?
November 10,
2011
There is this mood of internalized racism that is passing
through our Indigenous communities. It is caused by the chronic poverty we are
experiencing and motivated by
genuine efforts to get our people off welfare. Who is to blame? That is the
million-dollar
question. I lived on my Indian
reserve - off and on - all my life and I was elected chief for 8 years and
elected tribal chairman for six years. My late father was an elected chief and
my late brother was an elected
chief, so I do knowfirst hand the challenges we face on this matter. All I can
say it is not the Indigenous
Peoples who are to blame. They are
the victims of a very horrible plot to steal their land from them. Indigenous
Territories are the very
source of wealth that Canada enjoyed as settler state since it was established
under the British North America Act 1867. Canada’s original constitution that
asserted settler state federal and
provincial powers over all Indigenous territories that instantly stole the
natural wealth of our Indigenous Territories and gave possession of our
Territories to the settlers. That
gave rise to what became known as the BC Indian Land Question to the peoples
who
questioned this legitimate theft.
I do not know how many Indigenous Peoples get this flyer on
the Internet for this book called Dancing with Dependency. This book from what
I can see and hear
from the media blames us, Indigenous Peoples for being to dependent on the
settler system and that we should pull up our socks and basically quit living
in
the past. This kind of approach
kind of blames the victim of a theft as being dependent upon the thief who
stole
the wealth of the victim to begin with. I know this is complicated because
Canada is not willing to honestly
address how Canada dispossessed Indigenous Peoples through not recognizing
Aboriginal and Treaty Rights on the ground.
Indigenous Peoples have always fought against Canada and has
been very successful in getting section 35(1) in the Canada Constitution
1982. Indigenous Peoples also got
Aboriginal Title recognized before the Supreme Court of Canada in the
Delgamuukw
case in 1997. We also got Canada to
reverse their rejection of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples in November 2010. These victories are hollow however
because the Canada and British
Columbia use their political power to not recognize Indigenous Peoples Rights
on
the ground. The federal and
provincial settler governments do not want to reverse existing legislative laws
that dispossess Indigenous Peoples of their traditional territories like the
Mining Act, Forestry Act, Parks Act or Indian Act. All these pieces of federal
and
provincial legislation deprive Indigenous Peoples with the means to address the
poverty themselves.
The most terrible piece of legislation in Canada is the
Indian Act. The purpose of the
Indian Act was to dispossess Indigenous People from our Traditional Territories
and turn our natural wealth of our Traditional Territories over to the
settlers. This was all done
according to settler law under the mutual exclusive powers of the federal and
provincialgovernments under the Canadian Constitution the British North America
Act 1867. The real terrible thing
about this kind of dispossession is that the victim gets blamed for the poverty
it creates and is made to look like they are dependent on the system that stole
their land in the first place. This
system creates a kind of twisted and latterly violent racism toward our
communities and our own person.
Indian People are governed from “cradle to grave” under the
Indian Act. Indian Act does provide
for the creation of Indian Reserves and the election of Chiefs and Councils but
the ultimate authority rests with the Minister of Indian Affairs. Under
section 3 (1) of the Indian Act
states “This Act shall be administered by
the Minister, who shall be the superintendent general of Indian
Affairs.” My late father George
Manuel once asked me, when I was a kid to read this provision and he asked me
what does that mean? I told him I
did not know. He said that means
that the Minister of Indian Affairs is our Dictator. This means all decisions
about your life
the Minister has the ultimate authority. I do not have that power or
authority. When I asked him what can you do? He said nothing. When I looked
at those words now, I
think of the sadness he had and it gets me angry because we can change that
now.
My father was correct because I never recall voting for the
Minister of Indian Affairs yet the Minster is appointed by the Prime Minister
to
decide everything we do on the Indian Reserve and at the Band Office. I agree
with the National Chief Shawn
Atleo that the Department of Indian Affairs must go and that we need to get rid
of our Dictator the Minister of Indian Affairs, John Duncan. It is
inconsistent that the Prime
Minister says he supports the removal of Dictators in other parts of the world
but doesn’t do anything in Canada to recognize the self-determination of
Indigenous Peoples on the ground.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper said “he takes no great
pleasure in the brutal execution of deposed Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi,
but
he adds that realistically, such an end should have been expected.” I do not
propose that we execute
Minister of Indian Affairs John Duncan but Canada must must realistically
expect
we are going to get rid of the Minister as our Dictator. The ultimate
authority must NOT rest
with the Minister but with Indigenous Peoples at the territorial, community and
national levels. The Indian Act
actually represents the ultimate violation of the Human Rights of Indigenous
Peoples in Canada. It must give way
to the genuine self-determination within the framework of section 35(1) of the
Canada Constitution 1982 and not under the jurisdiction of the federal and
provincial governments. We have
been made poor under Canada and BC for too long.
Economically this means that Indigenous Peoples under the
settler laws actually do not own one single piece of land throughout Canada,
even on our so called Indian Reserves. This is the source of our poverty.
Canada is one of the richest countries
in the world yet we are the poorest people in Canada. We are poor because of
“economic
racism”. Canada and provincial law
does not recognize and accommodate our rights. Canada’s political decision to
raciallydiscriminate Indigenous Property Rights does not mean our property
rights do not have an impact inside and outside Canada.
The Indigenous Network on Economics and Trade (INET) the
group I built raised this racial discrimination before the World Trade
Organization (WTO) and the Bi-panel of the North America Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA) on the Canada USA Softwood Lumber Dispute. INET submitted that
Canada’s political
policy to not recognize Aboriginal and Treaty Rights was a subsidy to the
Canadianforest industry. These
submissions were accepted by the WTO (highest trade tribunal in the world) and
by NAFTA (highest trade tribunal in North America) so they both agreed that
Indigenous Peoples have an underlying property right in ever 2x4 sold by Canada
in the international market place. It did not matter that Canada officially
and intentionally did not
recognize Indigenous Peoples Property Rights, it just meant we were being
cheated and that amount we were being cheated by was an international trade
subsidy or money in the pocket of the Canadian forest industry and
Canada.
Who is dependent on whom, is the big question. We are poor not because our
land is poor
but because the settlers use our poverty as Indigenous Peoples as the
justification for them keeping control of our land. That is the real tragedy
behind why we
are poor. The real ironic matter
that tears at my heart is that so many of us believe the lies put forward by
Canada that we – the victims are to blame. Internalized racism is a real ugly
thing to experience but Canada is good
at teaching this by always ignoring our human right as Indigenous Peoples on
the
ground.
I once heard this chief say in a public meeting that when
talking about the government that we should be careful, because we should not
bite the hand that feeds us. I say
we are not biting the hand that feeds us but biting the hand that steals from
us. Decolonize man. We are fighting economic racism that is
what it is all about. That is why
we won the constitutional, legal and international battles based on our
Indigenous Rights; we must now challenge this racism on the ground. That is
why BC has economic uncertainty
because the economic system knows that the federal and provincial settler
governments no longer have mutual and exclusive control over our traditional
territories. Uncertainty means
things are shifting. Be cautious
and think every decision through because we have been economically marginalized
for along time. Do not just jump
into the first deal to come along. Do not sell your people short. Do not
compromise the economic security we created. Your grandchildren will
ultimately be
checking out what you decided. Be clear headed and stay strong.
We are not dependent on Canada. Canada has always been dependent on
us.
Heading home today to see my cat (fire) and dog (mitzy). I hope they aren’t
mad at me for being
away for so long.
Take care,
Arthur
_____________________________
Arthur Manuel
e-mail: aman...@telus.net
cell: 1 (250) 319-0688
