July 2, 1991, Lubicon Indian Nation mail-out on the Spicer Report
Enclosed for your information is a copy of a newspaper article on
the plight of aboriginal people in Canada.
Unfortunately there's no evidence that appropriate government
remedial action is in the offing from the Canadian Government.
Rather available evidence suggests that the Canadian Government
only plans to escalate propaganda efforts intended to discredit
critics and create the illusion of appropriate remedial action.
re-printed without permission from THE EDMONTON JOURNAL, Friday,
June 28, 1991
NATIVE RIGHTS GET MASSIVE SUPPORT
Commissioners surprised at resounding call for settlement of land
claims
Daphne Bramham
Southam News
OTTAWA
Canada's unjust treatment of natives is a national disgrace that
must be corrected quickly.
That was the virtually unanimous assessment of the estimated
400,000 participants in the Citizens' Forum on Canada's Future,
according to the report that was released Thursday at the feet of
towering totem poles at the Museum of Civilization.
But the strong consensus was clouded by what the report described
as "a potentially harmful ignorance of the realities of aboriginal
peoples' aspirations."
The resounding call for the federal government to deal quickly and
fairly with aboriginal land claims surprised most of the
commissioners, including Carole Corcoran, a Slavey-Cree from
British Columbia.
"I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of support," she said
Thursday. "It just demonstrated there is a lot of goodwill.
People know that there are problems and they're darned if they know
how to deal with them...But most people have a good understanding
that there are issues of injustice."
However, Corcoran said she was disappointed the final report's
section on aboriginal issues was "gutted".
The interim report was much stronger, she said.
That document talked about Canada's "shameful international
reputation" in dealing with native people, Corcoran said.
"We completely steered away from that," she said.
"We never even mentioned the potential for violence and what will
happen if we don't deal with these issues."
Ovide Mercredi, the recently elected chief of the Assembly of First
Nations, also said he was gratified by the good will expressed by
Canadians.
But like Corcoran, he said it must now be backed up with quick
government action.
The commission demanded "prompt, fair settlement of the territorial
and treaty claims of First Nations people to secure their
linguistic, cultural and spiritual needs in harmony with their
environment."
It supported native self-government and supported the involvement
of aboriginal people in the definition and implementation of that
concept.
It also recommended that the Department of Indian Affairs and the
federal Indian Act be phased out and replaced by native self-
government.
"The collective guilt we feel around the mess in our own nest holds
us back from taking the place we should as a peacemaker/keeper in
global affairs," one discussion group in Vancouver wrote in its
report.
--- FD 1.99c
* Origin: Lubicon News Station: Edmonton, Alberta Canada (89:701/432)
--
Terri Kelly - via IMEx node 89:681/1
Terri.Kelly@f432.n701.z89.onebdos.UUCP