dies

The rights of Canada’s Native peoples —Indian, Métis
and Inuit — are to be a major item on the agenda of the
Constitutional conference scheduled for March. The
Prime minister, provincial premiers, representatives of

| the Yukon and Northwest Territories will be present, as

will representatives of aboriginal peoples insofar as they
Can establish with officialdom their undeniable right to a
Central place in the discussions.

Section 37 of the Constitution — leaving aside at this
writing the gross inadequacies of the document as a
whole — requires that constitutional matters affecting
aboriginal peoples be dealt within one year of the
Constitution’s patriation date, April 17, 1982.

The Communist Party of Canada, which has taken,
and continues to take a vigorous stand both for a demo-
cratic constitution and for Native peoples’ rights, points
Out that the sacred right of self-determination is denied
the French Canadian nation and the Indian, Métis and
Inuit peoples under the new constitution. :

Only on the basis of such a right can the Native
Peoples of Canada ‘‘develop toward full nationhood,”
the CPC said in a greeting last summer to the World
Assembly of First Nations, held in Regina. Recognition
of such rights, said the message, “‘runs contrary to the
aims of government, the multi-national corporations and
the ruling Canadian bourgeoisie whose policy is based on
the concept of the one-nation state; i.e., one social-eco-
nomic formation owned and controlled by  state-
Monopoly capitalism.

__ The principal aim of this reactionary and racist pol-
Icy 1s to destroy the national identity of the Indians,
€tis and Inuit as distinct peoples, thus eliminating their

- Tight to self-determination.”

Statistics give credence to this statement. For exam-
Ple, among Indians, life expectancy is 10 years lower
than the country’s average; the percentage of Indian
youths finishing high school is about one-quarter of the

-Canada average; death by fires is nearly nine times
that average; Indians make up a disproportionate part of
the prison population; infant mortality among Indians
leads the country by two-to-one; and suicides among

ss

Must face up to Native needs
at March constitutional meet

“apply among the Métis and Inuit.

Backgrounder

youth are vastly higher among Indians — more than 120
per 100,000 population in the 15-24 age group, compared
to less than 20 per 100,000 in the rest of the population.
Heaith, housing, job opportunities — all human needs
are on a lower scale for Indians. Many similar conditions

To overcome these evils thrust upon the Native
peoples, the Canadian constitution should give them
“preferential treatment’’ through ‘‘accelerated housing,
education, medical services, and training programs ...”’
In making this assertion, the Communist Party argues for
“guarantees of the development of their language and
culture ...” the instruction of children in their native
tongue, and the revision of history texts and literature
which in any way denigrate aboriginal peoples.

The forthcoming constitutional conference dealing
with the rights and demands of the Native peoples of
Canada can only be successful if they are fully rep-
resented there, and if the representatives of federal and
provincial governments ensure that their concerns are
met.

Some of those concerns have to do with the ecology of
the north, its bearing on the lifestyles of the northern
people, and how these are threatened by the indecent
rush to exploit the land’s resources. They have to do
with the demand for self-government, for example, by
the Dene and Inuit of the Northwest Territories. The
land claims of the aboriginal population and their right to =}
specific self-governed areas should be recognized.
Government funds should be made available for indus-
tries controlled by Native peoples. These propositions
backed by the Communist Party have an over-riding 7
prerequisite: :

Among the amendments to the constitution needed at 2
this time is one stipulating that there cannot be any
decision affecting the rights of the Native peoples with- Will this child have a full life? Life expectancy among
out their consent. Natives is lower; infant mortality is double.

NATIONAL FI

TO

em

For a working class solution to the crisis

This week we take a brief look at the class
Struggle from the standpoint of the Com-
Munist Party which is based on Marxist-
Lenninist theory and tactics.

organized sections of the working class.
The major task of the revolutionary wing
of the workers’ movement is to harness
the great revolutionary potential that re-
sides in the ranks of the working masses,
in order to move the whole workers’
movement and all working people closer

to the goal of socialism.
* * *

Marxism-Leninism Today

Alfred Dewhurst

—o

The Communist Party of Canada
(CPC) sees the struggles of the working
People for their economic, social and
Political needs and aspirations, as the de-
Cisive factor in determining the course of
Social development and of history. In the

_ Course of such struggles the workers de-
velop @ consciousness of not only as
ing a class in themselves, but as aclass
for themselves. They develop their own
independent ideology — a working-class
ideology. To assist this process the CPC
Conducts a consistent and many-sided
Struggle against reformist ideology and
for the integration of Marxism-Leninism
with the broad labor movement.

To this end the party combines public
Mass work, support for and participation
i the mass movements of the peaple,
With the continuing struggle to win a
Peoples’ majority in parliament as an in-
tegral part of the struggle for socialism. It
bases its electoral tactics on the position
that no meaningful parliamentary ad-
Vance can be achieved without people’s
Mass action.

On this basis the CPC works systema-
tically for cooperation and a united front

_ With the New Democratic Party (NDP) in

defence of the vital interests of the work-

_ing class and of all working people, the

struggle for peace, democracy, Canadian

independence, a voluntary and equal

partnership between the two Canadian

nations, and against monopoly rule.
OR Rae

The basic feature of political struggle
in Canada is that state power is in the
hands of the capitalist monopolies. The
state is an instrument of the rule of
monopoly capitalism. Another important
feature of politics in our country is that
the vast majority of the electorate still
vote for the Liberal and Conservative
parties — the parties of the monopolies.
This majority is composed of working
people in the main, small and medium
farmers and small business people.
Those who are breaking away from the
old line parties vote, in their considerable
majority for the NDP, that is for social
reformist policies. This, too, is an impor-
tant feature of political reality in Canada.

This situation will not be changed in
favor of the working people without unity
of the working-class and democratic
forces. This is so, whether the power of
monopoly is overturned by violent
means or by relatively peaceful means.
Whatever the means, the overthrow of
monopoly power will represent a distinct
stage of the struggle for socialism in

Canada. This stage, and the struggle to
maintain it, will open the way for the
transition to socialism, which is the only
way to permanently guarantee every citi-
zen the right to work.
* *

*

The power which will break the
strangle-hold of monopoly over the eco-
nomic, political and social life of our
country will be that of a democratic al-

liance based on the strength and discip- _

line of a united working class. The poten-
tial strength of such a democratic politi-
cal alliance is to be found in the first place
in the nature of the policies it advances,
that is — its basic character.

The CPC sees those policies as being
pro-people, pro-peace, democratic,
anti-monopoly and anti-imperialist in
character, serving the commonly held in-
terests of those who must labor so that
they may eat — all those negatively af-
fected by monopoly policies. Such a
democratic alliance includes in its scope
the social forces, within which the NDP
finds most of its electoral support, as well
as its underpinning.

These social forces are basically re-
formist by nature, not revolutionary. But
most of them constitute the working
masses from whose ranks are drawn the

The CPC sees the task of a democratic
anti-monopoly government, based on a
democratic alliance, as being one*of in-
troducing and carrying through far-
reaching social and economic reforms,
the heart of which will be to replace pri-
vate monopoly property with public
property. Such a government would not
at that stage be a socialist government. It
would not aim to eliminate the property
rights of the capitalist class as a whole,
only those of monopoly.

The anti-monopoly stage is not just a
simple compilation of reforms. It is a
stage in the revolutionary process di-
rected to curbing and restricting the polit-
ical power of monopoly, of extending
democracy and isolating the dictatorship
ofmonopoly. This will be a period ofmass
participation of working people in shap-
ing Canada’s destiny. Life itself will de-
mand that decisive measures be taken to
eliminate capitalism and transfer politi-
cal power to the working class and its
democratic allies.

In fact our present times cry out loud
that a beginning be made toward that
goal now. By fighting as we have never
fought before for a government policy of
work and wages at trade union rates of

pay.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FEBRUARY 4, 1983—Page 5 Ee