And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
From: "chris" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
via: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: AFN works for international co-optation
Date: Tue, 20 Jul 1999
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Tuesday 20 July 1999
The Canadian Press
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Link with American natives on AFN agenda
DENE MOORE
VANCOUVER (CP) - Canada's biggest aboriginal group will consider a proposal
to work with its U.S. counterpart in an attempt to increase its political
clout.
The Assembly of First Nations' annual general meeting begins Tuesday and
members of the National Congress of American Indians are expected to be
there. "We see this as an opportunity to renew historic ties with our
friends to the south," assembly Chief Phil Fontaine said Monday.
"We recognize that a joint strategic approach to common issues is the best
way to go - strength in numbers."
But critics say the assembly can't even work with native groups in its own
backyard and doesn't properly represent most First Nations people.
"We should unite in Canada before we start going outside to unite with
others," said Marilyn Buffalo, head of the Native Women's Association of
Canada.
Buffalo said she was not invited to the annual meeting until she wrote a
letter to Fontaine last week.
She received an invitation but must pay her own expenses.
"We've been left out of this entirely," Buffalo said from Calgary.
"It's very, very sad when 52 per cent of the population, which I represent,
have been left out of this assembly."
But Buffalo said she is keeping an open mind about the meeting.
Roy Little Chief, a former chief of the Siksika Nation in Alberta, isn't so
optimistic.
He said the assembly represents the federal government, not native people.
"Right now in Canada there's probably 80 per cent poverty among the people
(while) Phil Fontaine is controlling all kinds of money," Little Chief said
in a telephone interview.
"I think people are getting fed up with this."
Little Chief is one of several people who plan to attend the Vancouver
meeting Tuesday to protest the assembly and the proposed link with the
congress.
"It's not going to do anything for us," he said.
The congress is the same as the assembly - a government-funded organization
out of touch with grassroots natives, Little Chief said.
But Fontaine said working together has led to many successes for Canada's
natives.
And there are many issues - land claims, resource rights, treaty issues -
that are common to native people in Canada and the United States, he said.
A co-operation agreement could see the assembly send its own ambassador to
Washington to work more closely with American Indians, Fontaine said.
The proposed agreement of co-operation will be reviewed by representatives
of each national group and likely revised. Both will vote on the proposal.
Assembly spokesman Jean LaRose said the agreement could be the first step
towards international co-operation among indigenous people.
That could include the Maori people of New Zealand, South American Indians,
the indigenous people of Taiwan and others.
Up to 5,000 Canadian and American native leaders are expected to attend the
meeting.
It is the first time the assembly and congress have met and delegates will
discuss everything from treaty issues to veterans affairs.
Reprinted under the Fair Use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html
doctrine of international copyright law.
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http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/
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