APTN – The Trudeau government needs to pump the brakes on its timeframe to develop a new legislative framework for Indigenous people. And that means not talking to the chiefs but the people: the rights and titleholders. That’s the message Chief Isadore Day had for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. All of the moves the Trudeau government make have not removed the stink of the infamous White Paper. “You know the spirit of the White Paper is still alive and well, from the colonial perspective, and the way the federal government deals with First Nations,” said Day. The White Paper was an attempt by the former government of Pierre Trudeau in 1969, to wipe out the special legal status of First Nation people and the Indian Act. It was seen as an attempt to assimilate Indigenous people and was scrapped after leaders and grassroots fought back.
We know that we need to fix Canada’s laws, policies and practices. We need to develop our own laws and move beyond the Indian Act. Comprehensive claims, specific claims, the Additions to Reserve policy and that inherent right to self-government policy. All of those current federal policies are based on termination of rights, not recognition of rights and Title. So, we’ve got to fix them. We also have Minister Jody Wilson Raybould’s 10 principles. At the Assembly of First Nations we’ve been doing our analysis of those. They don’t exactly align with the standards of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. How do they influence the work we’re trying to do? We didn’t develop them. And the process that they are using is not our process – it’s their process, their timeframe. And they are trying to rush it. And we’re saying slow it down, slow it down so we all understand what is involved.
How will the Rights Recognition Framework work with Bill C-262, the UN Declaration Bill? How will it impact our Treaties? (Perry Bellegarde, AFN National Chief) AFN Special Chiefs Assembly Resolution No. 67 / 2018 – Rejection of the Recognition and Implementation of Indigenous Rights Framework and Associated Processes. Also see 42 iii. above