"FEATURE

The First Nations

and the lessons
of free trade

By CHIEF KONRAD SIOUI

Our opposition to a free trade agree-
Ment arises out of our own historical
experience. Our experience is some-
athing every Canadian should think ab-
out, and draw lessons from, because, un-
less one is blinded by racism, the things
we’ve endured over the last four and a

centuries will certainly be the fate of
the majority of Canadians in the future
should we be tricked into any kind of a
free trade agreement with the United
States.
Prior to the arrival of the Europeans,
there were many nations within these
boundaries. Each nation had it’s own
economic, social and educational sys-
tems. Each nation had it’s own laws, lan-
guage and culture. In this sense, we we-
Ten’t too different from the numerous na-
tions within the European continent of
five centuries ago.

There were differences, however, that
led to major changes over the entire
globe. For numerous reasons, Euro-
peans became heavily engaged in trade.
The benefits of trade went to only a few.

But the power these few derived from

otherwise the entire system would
collapse.

When the first European traders en-
tered our land, therefore, there was re-
ally no common ground for under-
standing one another. On the part of First
Nations, our forefathers had no reason to
turn them away since they had no under-
standing of what they were like or what
their mission was really all about. On the
contrary, the newcomers became the ob-
jects of pity since they were half starved
and had no idea about how to survive ina
harsh, new land.

After establishing themselves, how-
ever, the European traders wasted no
time in getting first nations involved in
the production end of trade. The popular
myth is that Aboriginal people were only
engaged in the trapping end of the fur
trade. While it’s true that the fur trade
was the dominant activity for a long
period of time, our people were engaged
in almost every conceivable activity
from fishing, to transportation, to fores-
try, to mining exploration. In short, we
were a source of cheap labor.

While this was going on, all across the
continent, our forefathers took steps

| suggest we broaden our base as rapidly as
possible and make preparations for the next
federal elections and any provincial elections that

may take place.

trade gave them immense influence. The
rivalries associated with trade led to a
state of perpetual warfare as merchant
traders fought for supplies and markets.
Warfare brought technological advances
in those days just as it does today with
Star Wars and other weapons of death.
This is always referred to as progress,
something rational people find hard to
understand.

The internal rivalry within Europe, to-
gether with advances in transportation
and navigation, caused the merchant
Class to finance expeditions to every con-
tinent and piece of land on this planet in
Search of new riches to trade.

Self-Reliance Key

In Canada, our forefathers had
evolved to a point where a system based
On a totally different concept was the
norm. The First Nations of Canada
Tealized that to remain nations and to
Ve their own governments that each
nation must be self reliant and self
Sufficient. What this meant in practice
was that goods were produced for the
Purpose of consumption. Certainly there
Was some trade amongst various nations
but the trade resulted from various na-
ions producing more goods than they
Could consume which were exchanged
for other goods. In other words, trade
dn’t determine what was produced and
€Verything possible was done to elimi-

fate the need for trade.
The effect of applying the concepts of
Self sufficiency and self reliance to pro-
Uction and consumption had the effect
of Shaping our form and style of govern-
Ment. Self sufficiency and self reliance
Simply could not work in an alienated
Society. The powers of government,
Tefore, had to be based on a con-
Sensus model. The people had to be in-
Yolved in the decision making process

from time to time to curb the activities of
the Europeans. Although they were
strong on the other side of the ocean,
they were weak over here and besides,
they needed us. So the response of the
crown was to sign treaties with First Na-
tions. The treaties promised virtually
everything and, besides, they came to be
backed up by the Royal Proclamation of
1763 which provided iron clad guaran-
tees of our continuing sovereignty for all
time.

Treaties Turned to Weapons

The results are well known to all of
you. The treaties so solemnly entered
into, came to be used as weapons against
us. We were herded onto reserves and
then our reserve lands, meager as they
were, started to disappear from under
our feet. Our languages were outlawed,
our religions were outlawed, we were
subjected to pass laws, and every con-
ceivable measure was taken to, first,
stamp us out of existence as distinct na-
tions with distinct cultures and a distinct
heritage and, second, to assimilate us so
that we would become part of the great
melting pot. Finally, when none of these
measures worked, the government,
under mounting pressure from public
opinion within Canada and under in-
creasing criticism from other countries,
adopted a constitutional provision for
guaranteeing our aboriginal rights and a
process for giving meaning to our aborig-
inal rights. me

This process, many people mistakenly
believe, came to a halt on March 26 and
97 when the prime minister of Canada
and the premiers of B.C., Alberta, Sask-
atchewan and Newfoundland collabo-
rated in a pact to make it impossible to
conclude an agreement on self govern-

boriginal people.
ae Say 3 some who think ’'m

SSR &

“We listen in silent outrage as Mulroney talks about a booming economy when one and a
quarter million people are out of work and soup kitchens have become our new growth

industry.” Chief Konrad Sioui.

stretching things a bit by saying that the
four premiers and the prime minister ac-
tually collaborated to ensure no agree-
ment was reached. I assure you that I’m
not stretching matters at all.

Lies from Parliament Hill

Canadians from coast to coast sit back
bewildered at the prime minister’s si-
lence as Reagan rampages around the
world from Angola to Central America to
the invasion of our own Artctic waters.
We listen in silent outrage as Mulroney
talks about a booming economy when
one and a quarter million people are out
of work and soup kitchens have become
our new growth industry. We watch in
horror as he defends and promotes the
build up ofa Canadian arms industry. We
seethe with rage as he allows low level
training flights over Labrador and
Quebec and Cruise missile testing in the’
Northwest Territories and Northern Al-
berta. We’re dazed by his abject failure
to take substantive measures to protect
Canadian agriculture while he throws
money at the world’s wealthiest corpora-
tions ... the oil industry.

To be as charitable as possible, the
Mulroney government is on the skids.
Furthermore, they know they’re on the
skids and they’re desperately scrambling
for a couple of high profile exploits that
he hopes will save him at the polls in 1988
or 1989. He’s so desperate, in fact, that
he’s willing to stoop to the lowest level a
human being can fall ... which is to
undertake an act that’s against your pub-
licly professed moral code. In this case,
to appease a gaggle of cut throat police
chiefs and dinosaurs in his own caucus,
he’s willing to put our civilization back in
the dark ages by legalizing government
murder.

The high profile exploits he hopes will
rescue him at the polls are clear. One
thing he desperately wants is to officially
bring Quebec into the constitution. ’'m
from Quebec and I can tell you I am not
sure it will save him there, but he firmly
believes that having Quebec sign the
constitution will restore him to public
favor. He knows, however, that the
three western premiers would be just as
happy with Quebec out of the constitu-
tion. On the other hand, they want free
trade with the United States so bad
they’re willing to sell their own mothers
to get it. Furthermore, none of them have
ever displayed any great concern about
aboriginal rights!

On your TV sets, the Prime Minister
probably looked quite innocent, in fact,
sympathetic to our cause. I assure you
that he was only too willing to sacrifice
the rights of aboriginal people in an effort
to get a deal on free trade and the pros-
pect of having Quebec sign the constitu-
tion.

What I have attempted to do here is to
illustrate how we, as First Nations, were
lured into trade arrangements that have

gradually subjugated us over the last four
centuries. I suppose it looked better than
what we had. The attraction of a large
market, new technology, new consumer
goods and all the things being promised
by Brian Mulroney, Pat Carney and
Simon Reisman probably looked as at-
tractive to some of the First Nations as
the same things do to people like Devine,
Getty and Vander Zalm today.

But the experience Canada will un-
dergo if a free trade treaty with the
United States becomes a reality will be
no different in any substantive way than:
the experience we have endured as First
Nations. We never gave up our
sovereignty, but we lost it anyway in all
practical respects. Our culture has been
severely challenged although it’s never
been destroyed. We never derived any
benefits from our free trade experience
with the Europeans just as there’s no
reason, except Donald Macdonald’s
‘Jeap of faith’’ notion to suggest we’ll

derive any benefits, material or other-

wise, froma free trade agreement arrived _
at under two of the most disreputable
leaders North America has ever known.

Plan of Action

I would like to suggest a general course
of action. I suggest that we broaden our
base as rapidly as possible and make
preparations for the next federal election
and, possibly, any provincial elections
that may take place prior to the federal
election!

With this in. mind we should place
these positions before each party and be-
fore each candidate. The issues can be
summed up as follows: Will you make it
an immediate order of business, if
elected, to take extra ordinary measures
to:

O Halt acid rain and all other forms of
pollution whether from Canada or the
United States and clean up the environ-
ment.

O Ensure that meaningful Aboriginal
rights, including the inherent right to self
government, is enshrined explicitly in
the constitution.

OO Ensure that our full rights to all
Canada’s Arctic lands and waters are
protected by Canada without any milit-
ary assistance or other forms of so called
assistance from the United States.

C Disengage ourselves from any and
all bilateral military arrangements with
the United States including the manu-
facture of military equipment:

O Scuttle any form of bilateral free
trade agreement that may be concluded
between Canada and the United States.

The First Nations of Canada have
learned our lessons the hard way and
what we’re attempting to do is work with
other Canadians so that we will not all
be in the same boat in the near future.
Konrad Sioui is Quebec regional Chief of the

Assembly of First Nations. This address was :

given to the Canada Summit in Ottawa, April
4.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE, APRIL 15, 1987 e 5