'We own all this land' JULY 11, 2013 FRANK PEEBLES CITIZEN STAFF fpeeb...@pgcitizen.ca
http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/article/20130711/PRINCEGEORGE0101/307119991/-1/PRINCEGEORGE01/-39-we-own-all-this-land-39 Today's aboriginal elders fought back against colonial oppression so effectively that tomorrow's aboriginal children are poised to see the historic record set straight. According to Tl'azt'en Nation grand chief Ed John, one of Canada's leading aboriginal leadership figures, the elders at the 37th BC Elders Gathering in Prince George this week were responsible for a centuries-old message finally being heard - that mainstream Canadian governments "can't simply do whatever you want in our lands anymore." He challenged aboriginal Canadians to keep the momentum going. "Let them know we own all this land, not just little parts of it [reserves]. We are willing to share it, but what happened was, the people we shared it with took over and seemed to think it was theirs," he said. "Now we have to fight to turn around that thinking, to straighten out the record." Union of BC Indian Chiefs president Stewart Phillip said Canada was guilty of "ugly experiments to obliterate indigenous languages and cultures" but now, due to the perseverance of the current elders, they are culturally healing from the atrocities of residential schools and helping mainstream Canada recognize its own mistakes. New mistakes are still being made, however, through what he called the "industrial agenda" that must be opposed "if it is at the expense of indigenous rights, at the expense of the democratic process for all Canadians, and at the expense of our grandchildren's birthright." Assembly of First Nations regional representative Jody Wilson-Raybould pointed out how far First Nations have come and how fast. "It was not long ago it would have been illegal to gather like this, and impossible to become a lawyer as I have without disenfranchisement." But, she added, "of course we aspire to more than just survival." Chief among the problems, all the main speakers agreed, is the Indian Act, the federal legislation that Wilson-Raybould urged everyone - aboriginal and non-aboriginal alike - to lobby for its removal. "Get rid of the colonizer," she said about the federal law. "We are inherently political people and we live in a political world. No other Canadian is a ward of the state, so we are forced to be political." "We govern ourselves [and] we are still dealing with the Indian Act and we are still dealing with the treaty process but not in a big way," added Dominic Frederick, chief of the Lheidli T'enneh First Nation on which Prince George sits. "We are working more on becoming sustainable." He openly praised the municipal leaders from the City of Prince George and the Fraser-Fort George Regional District for lately being good partners. In return, mayor Shari Green and FFGRD chair Art Kaehn acknowledged there was little doubt the path to regional prosperity was one of mutual cooperation. "It's true the white people aren't going to go anywhere. We aren't going anywhere," said Steven Point, a former B.C. lieutenant-governor and the first aboriginal person to ever hold that title. "According to our stories, we are meant to be here with them. We have to learn how to work together. We want justice, not 'just us.' We're on a journey together in one canoe, but I'm tired of sitting at the back of the canoe and I want a bigger paddle." He dotted his address with humour, like quipping that the reason country music was so popular among aboriginals was because "we were the original rednecks." But he was serious about what still needs to be done. "We have to take up our power as nations of people," he said. "We have to establish our presence [in all Canadians' minds] as founding nations within Canada. Because the history books are wrong. Columbus didn't discover anything. It was always here, and God damn it, it was where we lived all along - and we are still here." More than 2,000 people are in Prince George to attend the elders gathering, with an estimated 2,000 more from the local region also attending. It wraps up today at UNBC. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ 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/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NatNews-north/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: natnews-north-dig...@yahoogroups.com natnews-north-fullfeatu...@yahoogroups.com <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: natnews-north-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
