British Columbia UNO rule allows Contra re-arming Continued from page 1 tive war,” Murray Reis of Tools for Peace stated. The national aid-to-Nicaragua or- ganization sent approximately $1/2 mil- lion in goods to the country’s peasants, farmers and workers gleaned in last year’s annual drive, national co-or- dinator Phil Westman said later. Demonstrators, who marched from the Sinclair Centre on Hastings Street to _the building containing the U.S. consu- late on West Georgia, were told that Nicaraguans ended the 10-year rule of the Sandinista party in last February’s elections because they wanted an end to the contra war and to rebuild their economy. “Today, four months later, they have neither. What little U.S. aid Congress has grudgingly approved has largely gone to resettling the contras or restructuring Nicaragua’s economy to suit internation- al banks,” Westman said. Most of the rest of the aid has gone to resettling demobilized contras in zones called “development poles” in accord- ance with an agreement with the U.S. backed government of President Violeta Chamorro. In those zones contras have complete control, including forming the local police force, Westman noted. “The contras being groomed to be- come Nicaragua’s new national guard — the same private police force that tor- tured, raped and murdered for former dictator Anastasio Somoza.” Standing in front of several wooden crosses jammed into the earth of a con- crete flower box, Reis said each one rep- resented 1,000 Nicaraguan s killed in the U.S.-financed war. “They can’t be brought back to life. But in theirnames, we demand justice for the living, for our brothers and sisters in Nicaragua,” he declared. Information obtained by Tools for Peace from the organization Witness for Peace is that contras will have wide- ranging political and military powers in the development poles scattered around the country. More than 11,000 of the approximate- ly 15,600 contras had disarmed by June ~ 10, although some are holding on to their weapons, Tools for Peace said in a newsletter. Meanwhile the National Opposition Union (UNO) coalition government is proceeding with privatization, returning large land holdings nationalized after the Sandinistas ousted the former U.S. back- ed dictatorship in 1979. It has also devalued the local currency, the cordova, 11 times. The B.C. Trade Union Group reports meanwhile that the UNO government is violating the spirit and substance of the accord that ended a recent national strike by public servants by annulling the Civil Service Law and “passing regressive amendments to the Labour Code.” It has begun firing large numbers of workers, TUG reports. Such actions violate the Constitution established by the former government, the organization notes. : Gary Bohnet (I), NWT Metis Association; Bill Erasmus, Dene Nation; Frank Calder; Judy Gingell, Council of Yukon Indians; Bernard Cleary, Conseil Attikamek-Montag- nais at press conference June 20. Full rights demanded Continued from page 1 Manitoba legislature. Through a series of procedural delays, he held up for several days the unanimous consent necessary to introduce the resolution into the legislature, making it a virtual certainty that passage could not be achieved before the June 23 deadline. Although he was pressed to do so by the federal goverment, Manitoba premier Gary Filmon, who heads a minority Tory government in the province, declined to suspend the rules to prevent Harper’s ac- tions. Public hearings on the accord, in- tended as the prelude to final ratification, are also set to proceed and already 3,500 or- ganizations and individuals have registered to appear. Harper’s actions touched off a barrage of high-level interventions from the federal Native leaders state position on Meech Accord This is the full text of the statement issued June 20 by Native leaders in Van- couver. Recent events surrounding the pro- posed Meech Lake constitutional deal have brought into focus the constitutional concer of the First Nations in Canada. Elijah Harper, backed by the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, has decided to protect the interests of aboriginal people and all Canadians, by resisting the pressure tac- tics aimed to save a flawed constitutional amendment. We welcome and fully sup- port the stand taken by the Chiefs of Man- itoba and Mr. Harper. In his ultimatum of June 19 to the Manitoba Chiefs, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney referred to the current com- prehensive claims negotiations. His refer- ence gives the false impression that all is well with the negotiations for the recogni- tion of our inherent rights. We note, first of all, that the prime minister has failed to follow through on his 1987 promise to take every oppor- tunity to see that the aboriginal right to self-government be entrenched within the Canadian Constitution. Clearly the recent opportunity to make real progress on abor- iginal issues was overlooked in the frenzy resulting from the contrived crisis design- ed to force adoption of the flawed amend- ment. The prime minister’s ultimatum fails to mention the fact that the present govern- ment does not respect its solemn obliga- tions contained in those many broken treaties which have been in place for some years. As we speak, the Crees of James Bay Quebec fight in the courts for imple- mentation of their treaty. We were recently reminded of this fundamental character- istic of Canada, by the Supreme Court which, in the case of Sparrow stated: “There can be no doubt that over the years the rights of Indians were often honoured in the breach” (page 20). Land claims agreements have been negotiated, but these negotiations have always been on the government’s terms. Our primary goal, restated again and again, is to negotiate recognition of our fundamental right to self-determination free from the unilateral dictates of other governments. Rather than enhance our ac- cess to self-government, control of our lands, the education of our children, our health and communities, this government has removed these items from the negotia- tion process. The prime minister is wrong to charac- terize the land quantum in claims agree- ments as being given to aboriginal peoples. The truth is that it is our land and always has been and that it is the gov- emments’ claim to the land which is in question. This is what motivates govern- ments to negotiate with us. Rather than building upon existing precedents, espe- cially in Quebec, the government is at- tempting to reduce the land quantum that the government would recognize as be- longing to the First Nations. Just as the courts are beginnning to recognize the full force of our rights, the governement asserts that extinguishment of these rights is a non-negotiable condi- tion to settlement. Government nego- tiators seek to impose conditions to limit, contain and diminish the rights which un- derpin our status as distinct societies. Finally for years now we have seen the “11th hour strategy” at work in our neg- Otiations. Artificial deadlines, threats to cut funding, threats to unilaterally with- draw, all of these have been used by the prime minister, his ministers and negotiators, just as the prime minister used these tactics to force Canadians to accept the Meech deal. We are not here to attack Quebec. We are not here to attack Canadians. We believe in justice as passionately as anyone. We understand Quebec’s desire to be recognized as a distinct society but we are the forgotten people and we have been left out too long. We are here to assert, again, our rights as aboriginal nations and to negotiate, through mutual respect, our place in Canadian confederation. We do not like to be used by the federal government as examples of their success when, in fact, it is the government’s policy that have led to our inability to secure recognition of our inherent rights and the necessary protections for the continued survival of our ways of life. Mr. Elijah Harper took the opportunity to stand up against this history of denial. We support and applaud his position and that of the Manitoba Chiefs. ~ government, including a special meeting with Federal-Provincial Relations Minister Lowell Murray, a letter from Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and even threats of serious consequences for land claims talks in Que- bec from Quebec Premier Robert Bourassa if the accord were not endorsed. In his meeting with Manitoba Chiefs, Murray also put a hastily-contrived offer for further talks on aboriginal rights if they would agree to pass the accord. But there was nothing new in that offer, Native leaders declared last week. And the federal government is still refusing to use the opportunity that currently exists to entrench aboriginal rights in the constitution, they emphasized. doors,” Dene Nation president Bill Erasmus told reporters Wednesday. “But now we're being asked to accept it. It’s just not right.” Erasmus emphasized that the courts, as demonstrated in the recent Sparrow dec- ision, “are beginning to acknowledge our existence as aboriginal nations. “But the federal government hasn’t rec- ognized it,” he said. “Until we’re recognized as founding peoples, Canada is not going to move for- ward.” Judy Gingell, chair of the Council of Yukon Indians reminded reporters that Mul- roney had promised during constitutional talks in 1987 to entrench the self-govern- ment agreement in the constitution—but never carried through on the promise. “T would almost believe that while he was saying that, his people in the back room were already working on the policy to deny that,” she said. “There is no certainty in the current ac- cord,” said Gary Bohnet, president of the Metis Association of the Northwest Ter- ritories. “Can you expect aboriginal peoples to put faith in the premier of B.C——or the premier of Alberta or Saskatchewan? They have never been supportive of aboriginal rights in the past.” “Those rights have to be spelled out clearly.” he declared. Native leaders rejected suggestions that the action taken by aboriginal groups in blocking the accord’s passage could create a backlash against Natives. “If there is a back- lash, it would be unjust,” Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs president Saul Terry told re- porters. “But I don’t think there will be— there is just too much evidence that says the federal goverment has not honoured its agreements with Native people.” _ Pacific Tribune, June 25, 1990 « 3 Te SENN Aik se aas me, eee Rae