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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! 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