------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~-->
DonorsChoose.org helps at-risk students succeed. Fund a student project today!
http://us.click.yahoo.com/t7dfYD/FpQLAA/E2hLAA/7gSolB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~->
Grassroots People's Coalition Pamphlet:
"The dispossession of their traditional territories is one of the root
causes of the contemporary social and economic ills and inequities that
exist amongst Aboriginal Peoples in Canada."
(Source: Liberal Party of Canada's 1993 Electoral Platform)
FIRST MINISTERS' MEETING: A VERY BIG LIE!
The First Ministers' & Phil Fontaine (AFN) are Committing a Fraud on the
Canadian People!
The First Ministers' Meeting on Aboriginal Issues, to be held Nov. 24, 25,
2005, in Kelowna, B.C. is being orchestrated by the Paul Martin government
with the support of Phil Fontaine (Assembly of First Nations) and the other
National Aboriginal Organizations, for at least three main goals:
a. Cooperate with capping and off-loading federal constitutional & fiscal
responsibility for "Indians and lands reserved for the Indians" onto the
provincial, territorial and municipal governments.
b. Try to convince the Canadian public and national media that more money
in Health, Housing, Education and Economic Development will fix the problem
of First Nations poverty.
c. Try to sideline and ignore the issues of Aboriginal and Treaty rights,
First Nations ownership of lands and natural resources in Aboriginal
title/Treaty territories.
* Cause of First Nations Poverty
The FMM in Kelowna is deliberately dealing with the symptoms not the causes
of First Nations poverty, because there is a lack of political will by the
federal and provincial governments:
To respect and recognize Aboriginal and Treaty rights.
To recognize the right of First Nations to self-determination.
To re-distribute lands and resources illegally taken by Crown governments,
or provide compensation for taking the lands and resources.
* Federal-Provincial Deal-Making
The FMM is another public federal-provincial negotiation session about the
escalating costs of delivering programs and services to First Nations (and
other Aboriginal peoples), and which level of government will pay.
The federal government is now using the term "Aboriginal-Canadians" to lump
First Nations in with the Inuit, Métis and urban Aboriginals in order to
disguise the off-loading of federal constitutional and fiscal
responsibilities for "Indians and lands reserved for the Indians" onto the
other levels of government.
The provinces, particularly B.C., Saskatchewan and Manitoba, are
considering the take over of First Nations if Canada pays them enough in
transfer payments.
* No Mandate from the People
The federal government has co-opted the Assembly of First Nations and the
four other National Aboriginal Organizations by giving them large budgets
and a "seat at the table" as Aboriginal and Treaty rights are traded off fo
the modern day equivalent of "trinkets and beads".
The grassroots people from First Nations communities have not been involved
in this topdown, undemocratic process, and are only now learning of the
consequences.
Our actions in opposing the FMM are just the start of a larger political
movement of reform taking place within our First Nation communities,
Governments and organizations, to get out from under the colonial, racist
Indian Act system.
* Background on First Ministers Meeting
At the last federal-provincial conference on "Indian Welfare" in 1964, the
Pearson Liberal Government rewrote history by claiming that the provinces
have always been responsible to fund Indian programs and service on and off
reserves. The provinces rejected this attempt to offload costs that are
100% federal jurisdiction. First Nations mobilized and formed the National
Indian Brotherhood to fight this threat to treaty and fiduciary rights.
What followed was four decades of offloading until the federal government
had withdrawn from most off-reserve funding. Canada now funds only a
subsistence level of on-reserve services. Former INAC Minister and Prime
Minister, Jean Chretien, wrote that this is "on humanitarian grounds"
because the provinces won't pay. The offloading occurred in waves, and the
fiscal shocks on the provinces and on First Nations were tremendous.
The Martin Liberals claim they are Aboriginal friendly. Then why do they
hire Reform Party Aboriginal advisor Tom Flanagan as legal expert witness
to dispute claims that Ottawa has an obligation to fund services? Why have
they spent over $50 million in the Samson Cree case (in Alberta) alone,
denying the existence of any obligation?
This conference and its 10 year plan are about putting a ceiling on the
federal fiscal obligation at a level far below what is needed to equalize
health and socioeconomic conditions. Signing the agreement will commit
First Nations to 10 years of making do with funding that has been withheld
since the Liberals took power.
Native News North
List info{all lists}:
http://nativenewsonline.org/natnews.htm
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NatNews-north/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
