Excellent article written by Dr. Douglas Bland,professor emeritus at Queen’s University and author of Uprising, the story of a future First Nations’ insurgency in Canada.
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First Nations sovereignty demands a new point of conflict
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Read more:
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/life/Fi...#ixzz2J287mDiX
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In the midst of the First Nations’ growing demand for sovereignty, the Conservative government recently passed through the House of Commons legislation that to many First Nations’ leaders seemed intent on dismissing even the notion of First Nations “sovereignty association” on native land. This tactic has now ignited a dangerous, smouldering conflict over who in Canada is sovereign where.
Harry Swain, deputy minister of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (1987-1992), though a champion for meaningful changes in the laws, believed that a First Nations pursuit of sovereignty in any meaningful form is a dangerous strategy. It demands nothing less than the surrender by the federal government of sovereignty over vast areas, an act that Canadian citizens would never tolerate any more than they would tolerate kindly Quebec’s independence. He concluded in his excellent study, Oka, (2010): “At the root of the issue is the persistent claim by (First Nations) that they are sovereign states. It is hard to see anything but capitulation or bloodshed if the issue is forced.”
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