La pointe libertaire

Voici des articles tirés des médias bourgeois sur la question des revendications territoriales autochtones et de la journée d'actions prévue le 29 juin.

CBC Radio - World Report

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

[I'm Karen Pauls, on the Roseau River First Nation in Manitoba, where Chief Terrance Nelson is one of at least two Manitoba chiefs expecting good news today. TERRANCE NELSON (CHIEF)]

Host(s): JUDY MADDREN

KAREN PAULS (REPORTER):
I'm Karen Pauls, on the Roseau River First Nation in Manitoba, where Chief Terrance Nelson is one of at least two Manitoba chiefs expecting good news today.

TERRANCE NELSON (CHIEF OF THE ROSEAU RIVER FIRST NATION IN MANITOBA):
I'm hearing that the paperwork for the conversion of Roseau River to reserve status in terms of our lands near the city of Winnipeg will be done supposedly, is supposed to be done today.

KAREN PAULS (REPORTER):
Nelson say his community will invest 30 million dollars to build a business park on the main highway servicing northwestern Manitoba, creating 1,000 jobs.

TERRANCE NELSON (CHIEF OF THE ROSEAU RIVER FIRST NATION IN MANITOBA):
It'll take my community from 77-percent unemployment down to 20-percent unemployment within a three- to four-year span, major, major impact upon the lives of my people at Roseau River.

KAREN PAULS (REPORTER):
Nelson has been threatening to blockade the rail lines running through his community for 24 hours on June the 29th. That's the national day of action aimed at drawing attention to First Nations' issues. But he's now offered this compromise: if CP and CN agree to put pressure on Ottawa and the provinces to settle all outstanding treaty claims, he'll limit that blockade to eight hours.

TERRANCE NELSON (CHIEF OF THE ROSEAU RIVER FIRST NATION IN MANITOBA):
In light of the announcements, we're prepared to scale back, but we're certainly not going to stop from delivering the message that we can and will do some extensive damage to the Canadian economy if it doesn't proceed.

KAREN PAULS (REPORTER):
But for today at least, Nelson is looking to Ottawa for some signs of progress. Karen Pauls, CBC News, Roseau River, Manitoba.

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Harper's own day of action

PM to unveil tribunal to speed up native land claims
By Richard Foot
The Winnipeg Free Press
Tuesday, June 12, 2007, p. a7

PRIME Minister Stephen Harper will try to calm agitation for aboriginal protests this summer by announcing today the creation of an independent tribunal to speed the settlement of native land claims.

Harper and Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice are expected to announce the establishment of a long-awaited, quasi-judicial tribunal to resolve a growing backlog of nearly 900 land claims, which are a major irritant for native bands across Canada.

"An independent claims body is going to be huge. It's finally here. It's going to change the whole complexion of the land claims problem," says Grand Chief Ken Malloway, chairman of the British Columbia specific claims committee, a group of B.C. native bands with unresolved claims against Ottawa.

Malloway, who will be in Ottawa for Harper's announcement, said he attended a meeting on Saturday with Prentice and Assembly of First Nations National Chief Phil Fontaine.

He expects Ottawa to fully adopt the recommendations of a Senate report in December 2006, which called for an independent claims tribunal and new money to speed up settlements.

"The minister told us he intends to implement the report," Malloway said Monday. "We had a pretty frank discussion. He seemed like he was going to go all the way with it."

Today's announcement is timed to defuse threats of illegal and possibly violent demonstrations on some reserves. The Assembly of First Nations is also calling for a "day of action," including peaceful protest, on June 29.

"That's why the announcement is happening now," said Malloway, "to undercut the day of action."

The most watched demonstration on June 29 will be at the Roseau River Anishinabe First Nation in Manitoba, where Chief Terry Nelson is threatening to blockade a disputed Canadian National railway line that runs past his reserve to the U.S. border.

On Monday, Nelson applauded Harper for agreeing to reform the land claims system, but said he could not call off his blockade because of "the simple promise of another white man."

Instead, Nelson sent a letter to Canadian National, offering a five-year "truce" with the company in return for CN's agreement to voluntarily halt trains along the disputed tracks the night of June 29, as well as a CN promise to pressure Ottawa on land claims.

"We're certainly not stepping down our protest," said Nelson. "What we're trying to do is sit down properly and negotiate, before things get out of control."

CN officials could not be reached for comment.

-- CanWest News Service

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P.E.I. native land claims in legal hands

Lennox Island First Nation submitted a claim in 1996, Abegweit First Nation more recently

Jim Day
The Guardian (Charlottetown)
Monday, June 11, 2007, p. A1

While Aboriginal leaders across the country promise a host of methods this summer to raise awareness about outstanding land claims, the lone outstanding land claim in P.E.I. appears to be in legal hands.

Lennox Island First Nation submitted a specific claim on Dec. 16, 1996, over land sold in 1942 to the federal government for $4,000 for an addition to the Lennox Island Reserve, says Tammy MacDonald, research director of the Mi'kmaq Confederacy of P.E.I (MCPEI).

The land area includes Hog Island (roughly 350 acres), Sand Bar Island (500 acres) and Bill Hook Island (aka Fish Island, 279 acres).

These islands lie off the north coast of P.E.I., at the head of the Malpeque Bay.

In the 1960s, these islands were listed in government reports as a conditional part of the Lennox Island Reserve, awaiting an order in council to add it to reserve land. After this, there are no other mentions of the islands as band assets, said MacDonald.

Recently, Abegweit First Nation has been added as an additional claimant and valid beneficiary of the Hog Island Specific Claim.

The legal opinion on the claim has been signed and it is awaiting an analyst within the Department of Justice for additional research/review of the legal opinion, said MacDonald.

MCPEI, which represents the collective interests of the Island Mi'kmaq, is also in the process of researching comprehensive claims as well as other potential specific claims, she said.

Comprehensive claims settlements are negotiated to clarify the rights of Aboriginal groups to lands and resources in a manner that will facilitate their economic growth and self-sufficiency.

A specific claim is a claim made by a First Nation against Canada relating to the administration of land or other Aboriginal assets or to the fulfillment of treaties.

Canada's Aboriginal leaders say the recent release of the Ipperwash report on the public inquiry into the 1995 shooting of protester Dudley George by police has cemented their resolve to use a diverse array of methods this summer to raise awareness about outstanding land claims, racism and poverty faced by First Nations communities.

The Assembly of First Nations has called for a national day of action on June 29 to draw attention to these issues. And while the assembly has been clear it supports only peaceful methods of protest, the day has inevitably been linked to planned rail blockades and calls from some leaders for a summer of action.

Chief Terrance Nelson of the Roseau River First Nation, south of Winnipeg, has threatened a lengthy blockade of CN rail lines unless the federal government moves to resolve some 800 outstanding land claims by June 29.

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