Now the Harper government has brought its godfather negotiation tactics to the poorest postal code in the nation.
As the CBC has reported, seven of the ten poorest postal codes in Canada are attached to reserves.
The lesson? Beware the Ides of March, especially if you are a member of the Burnt Church First Nation in rural New Brunswick.
The federal government gave the storied Mi’kmaq band until March 15 to sign its annual Aboriginal Funding Agreement or completely run out of money on April 1, 2013. As of Sunday night, Chief Alvery Paul and his councillors have not signed and now face destitution in a matter of weeks.
This is an important time of year for all bands across Canada as they get the breakdown on the federal funding they receive. But for Burnt Church, a community of 1,800 32 kilometres northeast of Chatham on Miramichi Bay, it is absolutely vital. With an unemployment rate of 80 per cent, the community depends on Ottawa’s $16 million contribution to run the reserve. The money is spent on education, housing, social assistance, economic development, land and trust services, and Indian government support.
Signing the funding agreements is normally a routine affair. This year was different. Councillor Curtis Bartibogue noticed an online discussion about other aboriginal funding agreements that piqued his curiosity. He decided to take a closer look at his own band’s 2013 proposed agreement. It put butterflies in his stomach.
Councillor Bartibogue noted that Section 16 of the funding agreement did not contain a “non-derogation” clause, as it always had. That clause simply means that signing the funding agreement doesn’t compromise any existing aboriginal or treaty right. Did its omission mean that signing the agreement would put everything on the table?
As troubling as that possibility was, Bartibogue was far more worried about another aspect of the agreement. By signing it, the Burnt Church First Nation also would be agreeing to other federal government policies, including guidelines on social programs.
The issue of social programs is a very touchy matter. At the national level, the Assembly of First Nations and the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society took Ottawa to court in 2007, alleging that child-welfare services on reserves got 22 per cent less funding than off-reserve services. Rather than engage on the facts of the case, the Harper government has repeatedly, and unsuccessfully, attempted to have the matter quashed on technical grounds.
Regionally, the Harper government tried last year to unilaterally impose changes on native welfare programs throughout Atlantic Canada. That initiative was blocked by a federal court judge who placed an injunction on Ottawa’s plans until the matter was heard in court. Since the case won’t be ruled on until June, Chief Paul and his council worried that by signing the agreement, they would be undermining their own court case.
No community in Canada is more aware of what a court decision can mean than Burnt Church. On September 17th, 1999, the Supreme Court of Canada upheld the native fishing rights of Donald Marshall Jr., the Mi’kmaq Indian who was infamously sent to prison for life for a murder he did not commit. The court agreed with Marshall’s lawyers that treaties from the 1760s gave him the right to catch fish for sale outside existing fisheries regulations.
That triggered a lobster fishery by the 34 First Nation bands that were affected by the Marshall decision, a fishery which non-native lobstermen claimed was illegal. A flotilla of 150 boats skippered by non-natives steamed out into Miramichi Bay and destroyed hundreds of native lobster traps, setting the stage for a tense confrontation.
The Mi’kmaq of Burnt Church kept fishing under rights extended by the Marshall decision, even though more gear was destroyed and three native fish plants were vandalized. The native fishermen who returned to Burnt Church landed their catch under the watchful eye of Mi’kmaq warriors, who made an armed encampment on the wharf. In Burnt Church, you learn fast to hold what you have.
There was another reason for the Mi’kmaq of Burnt Church to be wary of the wording of their new funding agreement. All Atlantic Canadians, including its indigenous peoples, had seen how wording changes to the Atlantic Accord made by the Harper government shortchanged the region when popular maritimer Bill Casey was still a member of the Conservative caucus.
Casey, who was deeply upset by the changes, met privately with the prime minister. He made the case, backed up with legal opinions from the federal justice department, that changes to the Atlantic Accord in the federal budget of that year were, in fact, illegal. When the PM wouldn’t budge, Casey voted against his own party’s budget and was summarily kicked out of caucus.
So Chief Paul and his council have every reason to be cautious. But that still leaves them with a fundamental problem: to sign or not to sign.
The band asked for a meeting with federal Aboriginal Affairs Minister Bernard Valcourt, who was in the province last week making a series of good-news announcements — including a new school for one reserve and a water treatment plant for another. The meeting took place last Wednesday night at Rodd Inn in Miramichi. As reported by the Wabanaki Press, the Burnt Church delegation put its question as directly to the minister as the first rays of light at sunrise.
“We asked Minister Valcourt why he didn’t recognize the injunction and he assured us the reason why they are putting the clause into the agreement is just in case the court votes in favour of the government … We were told there was nothing wrong with what they were doing, it was just in case they win … It’s blackmail and it’s the most illegal thing ever done,” said Councillor Bartibogue.
“If we don’t sign, there will be third party co-management imposed,” he added. “It’s take it or leave it. Chief is worried that people will go hungry. We’ve had calls from all across Canada, but that doesn’t put food on our table.”
The poorest indigenous people in Canada asked if they would be able to get essential funding outside of the disputed issue of social assistance if they did not sign. Ian Gray, the regional director general of Aboriginal Affairs, was unequivocal. If the chief and council of Burnt Church First Nation didn’t sign by noon on the Ides of March, Ottawa would not release any funding to the community for April 1, 2013.
They didn’t sign.
When the poorest people in the land say no to the godfather, what is not possible?
Original Article
Source: ipolitics.ca
Author: Michael Harris
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