Nelson — who ran for leadership of the Assembly of First Nations earlier this year and serves as a trustee on the Roseau River first nation in Manitoba — said in an interview he plans to fly to Geneva next Monday or Tuesday to get his Iranian visa. He intends to arrive in Iran on Oct. 11 and stay for about a week, claiming to have set up five days of official meetings.
A five-term, 59-year-old former chief of Roseau River who calls himself a consultant and liaison for other First Nations, Nelson insists that Iranians and Canada’s aboriginals have much in common.
“The point of going to Iran is basically touching base with them and making sure they understand that we the indigenous people are in the same boat, we are under economic sanctions. Have been for over a 100 years,” said Nelson.
When asked about Nelson’s trip, a spokesman for foreign affairs minister John Baird repeated the official line Wednesday, saying the Iranian regime “is now attempting to exploit Canadian aboriginal leaders and feign concern as yet another PR stunt to distract from its own abhorrent record.”
“We hope that the aboriginal leaders in question won’t allow themselves to be used as pawns in the sad game the Iranians are playing,” said press secretary Rick Roth. He added that Canada has updated its consular warning to avoid all travel to Iran, and urged Canadians to adhere to the strict sanctions policy against Iran, which include prohibited financial transactions and goods used in the petrochemical, oil and gas industry.
But Nelson said he wants to use the trip as a way of developing a relationship between First Nations and oil-producing OPEC countries and other “non-aligned” countries, including Syria, Egypt and Saudia Arabia.
“Remember that we represent North America to a lot of countries because we have all the resources in this country,” said Nelson.
When asked if First Nations leaders can legally develop certain resources, Nelson said, “Of course we can,” and suggested an “immigrant” government has pilfered from native people.
“The immigrant is the one that claims our lands and resources, not the other way around,” he said. “The only way that they keep us in poverty is they keep us from never having any money to be able to develop. If we had the money to develop, we’re like anybody else.”
Nelson, who said he works as a consultant for the Lubicon Lake First Nation in northern Alberta among others, said one of his goals of the trip is to make Iranian officials aware that aboriginals are the “owners of the tar sands” and that one of his roles is to help reserves “bring in money.”
A vice-chairman of native rights group the American Indian Movement, Nelson also suggested Iran could help foster investment in small refineries in United States and Canada.
He also hopes to suggest a post-secondary exchange program for aboriginal students to study economics at an Iranian university.
When asked about Iran’s human rights abuses, Nelson said his people don’t have the same view of Iran that Western media does, and gave purported examples of Canadian abuses such as missing and murdered aboriginal women.
Original Article
Source: iPolitics
Author: Laura Stone
No comments:
Post a Comment