PACIFIC - INDIGENOUS: EVENING POST, PACNEWS ED-1, MAY 26 1993
A chief from British Columbia in Canada says an alliance of indigenous
people around the Pacific rim is being forged.
Chief Russel Kwasistala, of the Laichwiltach Nation, is travelling
around New Zealand to meet Maori groups and speak at public meetings.
He said indigenous people in all Pacific rim countries seemed to have
the same problems with colonial governments. These include land, fishing
and self-determination.
He said indigenous people based their right to exist as independent
nations on the 1947 agreement under which the State of Israel came into
being.
Chief Kwasistala said his nation had joined two other First Nations in
British Columbia, and had formed a government independent of Canada.
It was based on the hereditary government of the area, and operated
under the same laws, rules, and policies that existed before
confederation in 1879.
It has applied to the United Nations for full membership.
He said his government issued permits and visas to allow people to go
into sensitive lands, and also had forest rangers.
Chief Kwasistala said he had served seven years in prison for his
beliefs. ...ends.