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First Line Centre
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Originally Posted by calgarygeologist
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Originally Posted by timun
Good god what a dumb thing for Lametti to even insinuate.
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Replying to myself, but did y'all know that you can get CPAC online? I went back and listened to what led up to Lametti's "we'll look into" gaffe, and it's nowhere near as much of an "attack" as Scott Moe/Danielle Smith/rightwing outrage media would have you believe.
https://www.cpac.ca/episode?id=3a22d...e-e0fc4fc89f62
(the line of questioning starts about 42:30; I've transcribed about ten minutes as follows)
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Originally Posted by Prince Albert Grand Chief Brian Hardlotte
Good morning there, Minister. From the Prince Albert Grand Council we certainly appreciate the work that's being done with the Declaration; the "roadmap for reconciliation" as you call it. Although a draft, I commend you for working with Willie Littlechild from Alberta—a very experienced person, a lawyer—that's doing the work. I appreciate the work. Much work to be done, Minister.
Again, we'd just like to—I have here Alvin Moostoos from the James Cree Nation—again, Minister, we want to say what we said yesterday, and that's to rescind the Act[s]—the Natural Resource[s] Transfer Act[s]—that affect the provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. That's what we're asking you, Minister, as an action item, with a statement: it affects our treaty right of course, and with the "Sask First Act" that we hear about there, and it's to do with natural resources—Indian natural resources—so we ask you—and this is Alvin standing beside me, here from the James Cree Nation—for the record, Minister. So we're asking that; thank you very much.
Again, I'll say, again, I said it yesterday, in part of this roadmap: community safety has to be part of it. And again I'll mention, Minister, the federal crown prosecutors that used to be able to defend our bylaws—First Nations bylaws in our First Nations—we ask you to put that person in place again, so our bylaws are again enforced. Y'know, with some of the First Nations that have self-administered policing enforced by them, but those that don't: enforced by the RCMP, where the RCMP don't enforce it. It's about community safety, Minister. Making our communities—that response time—about community safety. So we thank you for that.
I remind you, I mentioned that young man I talked about yesterday, under the federal law, with medical assisted dying: he passed on about five o'clock yesterday. Sadly, the only option with that law, they took advantage of that law and that was their only option. I just wanted to mention that to you, and to the delegation here.
Over here if I can ask very quickly here, 20 minutes, Red Earth Cree Nation Chief if you can step up. Minister: they just want a briefing. He's a new chief—Zachary Whitecap, newly-elected—on where they're at on their initiative for justice. The good work that Red Earth Cree Nation is doing. So they just want a briefing on that as soon as possible; I think that's what the chief is asking for.
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Originally Posted by Chief Don Maracle, Mohawks of Bay of Quinte
Good morning, bonjour, se:ko ["hello" in Mohawk]. Chief Don Maracle, Mohawks of Bay of Quinte. Good morning Minister, for attending this morning: much appreciate you being here, Mr. L[am]etti.
Canada exports natural resources to other countries. They earn trillions of dollars in revenues from those resources. Those resources were given to the provinces without ever asking one Indian if it was okay to do that, or what benefits would the First Nations expect to receive by Canada consenting to that arrangement.
Canada inherited rights and obligations, as Chief Crowchild said, from the imperial treaties that were made with our people. These treaties go back to the time when Europeans first came to our shores, beginning with our people—the Two Row Wampum Treaty—and other pre-confederation treaties that were made since recognized what Canada's obligations would be to our people. We see that as foundational in our rights. When Canada repatriated the constitution in 1982, the first draft was to recognize the aboriginal and treaty rights of our people. Canada, at the last minute, threw in the word "existing rights", which leaves it wide open to interpretation by both politicians and the courts. There needs to be redress for that, and we see the same thing happening with UNDA [the United Nations Declaration Act]: they're recognizing modern treaties, but not the word "treaty". Canada has an obligation to recognize treaties. Why is the word "modern" in there, and no mention of historic treaties that were made? What's the purpose of that? And do you support that language, or does it need to be amended to take the word "modern" out, and just recognize treaty relationships?
And we've argued for years for there to be a treaty table established where First Nations could come and promote the proper recognition of our relationship. The government never set up any such table, and I think this is such an important conversation that just, you know, a half an hour with the chiefs is insufficient. I think you need to come to do a full-day conference that you host to talk to the chiefs directly and listen to what they have to say.
Those are my words. Thank you.
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Originally Posted by MOJAG David Lametti
Thank you. Thanks for all of those interventions. I will get up to Teslin Tlingit hopefully very soon. It is about, and—[clears throat]—implementing those modern treaties are critically important, and I take the point, the very fundamental point, that Canada has lagged. And I will do my best again to work with my colleagues to push those processes as we move forward.
Saskatchewan. First of all, again, my condolences to the family and friends of the young man who chose MAID in your community. I understand the circumstances, and they're always tragic. And I certainly will reach out to Chief Whitecap at Red Earth—I'm not sure where you are in the room but we, my team, will take care of that. I know that you have good ideas and a good project moving forward. I also take on point from Chief Brian in Prince Albert as well as the chief from James Smith Cree Nation that community safety is critically important, and I know that bylaw enforcement is critically important for a lot of people in this room, not just for the community in Prince Albert, and we'll continue to work to try to find solutions. Individual solutions in particular places. And I know that you have a particular desire to get a federal officer back. There are other places where there are tripartite tables happening between the federal government, the province, and treaty nations or individual nations, and so I appreciate how important that is at a local level and how important community safety is. I'll work with Minister Mendicino, it's his portfolio primarily, but I'll work with him to push for results there.
I take from Chief Brian, also from Chief Don Maracle, the point about the Natural Resources Transfer Agreement. Chief Maracle did it indirectly, Chief Brian did it directly. You're on the record for that; I obviously can't pronounce on that right now, but I do commit to looking at that. It won't be uncontroversial is the only thing I would say, with a bit of a smile.
Chief Don Maracle, good to see you again, and I take the point about exiting natural resources. My understanding of the implementation act as it was passed a year-and-a-half ago, and the way in which we move forward, is that both traditional treaties and modern treaties—the historic treaties, and modern treaties—need to be respected. If there's a problem with the wording there, we'll correct that. It's not meant to prioritize modern treaties over historic treaties or vice-versa: they're all meant to be important. I know that Chief Littlechild did a great deal of work a year-and-a-half ago during the implementation process to make sure that was clear, and working with historic treaty nations to make sure that was the case. And I would be happy to come out and organize a table. In Akwesasne, or wherever. So, niá:wen [Mohawk for "thank you"].
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Sooooooo... was Lametti's foot really as far in his mouth as I thought at first blush? No, not really. I think he handled it about as best he could given the circumstances: a completely non-commital "eh, I'll, um, I'll look into it".
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