4000 Demonstrate Opposition to FNGA

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05/15/03 KENORA -

Around 4000 First Nations and non-aboriginal people took to the streets of Kenora to protest the First Nations Governance Act (FNGA). Kenora is the home riding of Bob Nault, Canadian Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs, and his proposed suite of Bills would mean drastic changes to Aboriginal rights in Canada. The event began with a gathering at the Kenora Recreation Centre. The march began at noon and it was peaceful and colorful, including people of all ages. Beating traditional drums and chanting slogans such as: "Bob Nault is a liar! Bob Nault is fired!", the march moved through downtown Kenora to the waterfront where a giant tent was set up to facilitate the many speakers who voiced their opposition to the controversial act, including First Nations leaders, First Nations youth, speakers from grassroots organizations, and politicians.
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While interpreted by many as a heavy-handed return of Jean Chretien's 1968 "White Paper" (that sought to solve native land claims issues by the full assimilation of indigenous people), the FNGA is being touted by Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) as a step towards self-governance. The FNGA will turn band councils into municipal corporations and take away the special legal status of aboriginal people. Conceivably, First Nations Bands will soon have to compete on financial and legal playing fields with multi-national corporations as equals, even though INAC will still control their funding and likely continue to financially punish dissidents. Many see this as another attempt by the Liberal government to forcefully nullify treaties signed with the First Nations for the use of Native land and the protection of its people. Despite the Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) insistence that a full consultation process was carried out, there are claims that this process accounted for less than 5% of the indigenous population of Canada. There are also claims that the so-called hearings were often held within a single day's notice, that the content of hearings was arbitrarily limited and the outcomes pre-determined. An independent review of the process by Dr. Peter Alias found "there was an unscientific or 'nonprobability' collection of opinions and anecdotes" and that the poor relationship between aboriginals and INAC only served to increase the unreliability of the data that could "be used for a pre-determined outcome". INAC officials had even acknowledged the inadequacy of the process in December 2001 but were ordered to proceed anyway.

The FNGA, which is actually a suite of nine acts, is currently being rammed through the House of Commons without debate.