‘Idle No More’: Hunger-striking Attawapiskat chief vows to ‘die’ for her people as aboriginal protes

[soleiltropiques]

'Idle No More': Hunger-striking Attawapiskat chief vows to 'die' for her people as aboriginal protests spread

OTTAWA - Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan is offering to meet this week with a northern Ontario chief who embarked on a hunger strike Tuesday out of frustration with the federal government.

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[soleiltropiques]

(I had to split this into three parts. Here is part 2.)

(iii) Point #3: There are many REAL and CURRENT examples of the fact that Native peoples are frequently not consulted in the case of economic ventures which evidently concern them, in particular by virtue of the fact that these ventures take place on their lands.

Examples include that of the Lubicon Cree, where as Amnesty International states, "Over the last three decades, the province of Alberta has licensed more than 2600 oil and gas wells on the traditional territory of the Lubicon Cree. That’s more than five wells for every Lubicon person. Territory that the Lubicon have relied on to hunt, fish and trap is now crisscrossed by more than 2400 km of oil and gas pipelines. In 2011, one of these pipelines spilled an estimated 28,000 barrels of crude oil into wetlands near the Lubicon community of Little Buffalo. It was one of the largest oil spills in Alberta history. The Lubicon have never entered into a treaty with the Government of Canada. Nor have they ever given up any rights to their lands and territories. Once-promising efforts to negotiate an agreement to create a Lubicon reserve, and support the rebuilding of the Lubicon economy and society, have been stalled for almost a decade. Meanwhile, the federal and provincial governments have used their own failure to provide legal recognition of Lubicon lands as an excuse for excluding the Lubicon from decision-making over development in their lands and from a fair share in the revenue that has been generated." (18)

A further report by Amnesty International in 2009 stated that, "Canadian officials "failed to ensure respect for indigenous rights" when issuing mining, logging and resource extraction licences".(19)

Another example is that of Attawapiskat: DeBeers operates a mine on the land of the people of Attawapiskat. I quote again (from the Huffington Post): "The De Beers Victor Mine is the richest diamond mine in the Western world. Just recently, the province upped the royalty tax at the mine from nine per cent to 11 per cent to ensure an even higher return for the provincial coffers. Not a dime of provincial royalty money comes back to help the community with infrastructure or development". (2)

(iv) Final point: All of this points to the fact that this is not a simple case of wanting to 'have their cake and eat it too'. On the contrary, all the evidence points to systematic discrimination and wanton marginalization of Native peoples by the federal (and provincial) governments.

[soleiltropiques]

(Here is part 3/3)

References
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1. Lives at risk on Ontario's Attawapiskat reserve, chief says. Governments blamed for ignoring 'crisis'. (At the Ottawa Citizen) http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Lives+risk+Ontario+Attawapiskat+reserve+chief+says/5735930/story.html
2. What if they declared an emergency and no one came? (At huffingtonpost.ca) http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/charlie-angus/attawapiskat-emergency_b_1104370.html#s487209
3. Attawapiskat: Jacques Marion, government-appointed consultant, kicked off reserve. (At huffingtonpost.ca)
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2011/12/05/attawapiskat-consultant-jacques-marion_n_1130709.html
4. Attawapiskat ou le règne du mépris. (In French - Le Soleil) http://www.cyberpresse.ca/le-soleil/opinions/points-de-vue/201112/06/01-4475162-attawapiskat-ou-le-regne-du-mepris.php
5. United Nations adopts declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples. (UN News Centre) http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=23794&Cr=indigenous&Cr1
6. Harper vows 'action' on Attawapiskat. (At CBC news) http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2011/11/29/attawapiskat-tuesday.html
7. Government officials on the ground at struggling Attawapiskat reserve. (At the Globe and Mail) http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/government-officials-on-the-ground-at-struggling-attawapiskat-reserve/article2252850/
8. Human Rights for all: No Exceptions. http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/AMR20/001/2007/en/e2069cff-df1a-11dc-89b2-1d33c8239e27/amr200012007eng.pdf
9. Canada falls short on Aboriginal rights: report. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2010/05/27/amnesty-international-canada.html
10. Canada - 20 years' denial of the recommendations made by the United Nations Human Rights Committee and the continuing impact on the Lubicon Cree. http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/AMR20/003/2010/en/63391216-930c-46e4-ad22-a3d8bcdda282/amr200032010en.pdf
11. Hanley AJG et al. Overweight among children and adolescents in a Native Canadian community: prevalence and associated factors. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2000; 71:693-700.
12. Kue Young T et al. Type 2 diabetes mellitus in Canada's First Nations: status of an epidemic in progress. Canadian Medical Association Journal 2000; 163:561-6.
13. Genest J et al. Recommendations for the management of dyslipidemia and the prevention of cardiovascular disease: summary of the 2003 update. Canadian Medical Association Journal 2003; 169:921-4.
14. Hunter E, Harvey D. Indigenous suicide in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the United States. Emergency Medicine 2002; 14:14-23.
15. Zarychanski R et al. Correlates of severe disease in patients with 2009 pandemic influenza (H1N1) virus infection. Canadian Medical Association Journal 2010; 182:257-264.
16. Indian Act. (At the Canadian Encyclopedia) http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/articles/indian-act
17. Background: The Indian Act. (At the CBC) http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/05/30/f-mapping-future-indian-act.html
18. The Lubicon Cree: A case study in ongoing human rights violations. http://www.amnesty.ca/our-work/issues/indigenous-peoples/the-lubicon-cree-ongoing-human-rights-violations
19. Canada falls short on aboriginal rights: report. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2010/05/27/amnesty-international-canada.html

[shamoogity]

Thanks for posting this. I got in a semi-argument with someone on FB about this, but I didn't feel like I had the knowledge to counter his claims that everything the bands are protesting about are problems that only they can solve and that the government can't do anything about anyway. It's so hard to find unbiased info.

[soleiltropiques]

The truth is that the government provides money to various Native groups, but this funding is not as generous as non Native people in Canada like to think.

In 2008-9, "In terms of fiscal investments, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, Health Canada and numerous other government departments and agencies are now spending more than $10 billion each year to fund programs directed to Aboriginal people living on and off reserve." (1) This is the figure quoted for spending on ALL Native populations (including Native peoples living off reserve, Inuit, and so on).
"$5.2 billion is spent on programs and services for First Nations on reserve", which is what applies more specifically to First Nations reserves.

If you compare that to the Federal government's total budget of $270.5 billion in 2010-11 (2), one can see that it isn't quite THAT much (less than 1% of the federal budget, which is not completely accurate since I have mixed budgetary years but does give an idea). It especially isn't that much when one considers the extremely high cost of living in the North in particular (cost of living should also be higher in more remote areas where reserves are located in general, even if in the south, or so it seems to me -although I admit I have not researched this specific aspect), since we're talking about fewer roads and so on to get there), which makes it such that budgets for the North and South are simply not comparable. (3, 4)

Anyways, thank you for your kind response and your interest.

References
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(1) Frequently Asked Questions - Departmental Expenditures and Accountability. Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada. http://www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca/eng/1100100016458/1100100016459
(2) Annual Financial Report of the Government of Canada
Fiscal Year 2011-2012. Department of Finance Canada. http://www.fin.gc.ca/afr-rfa/2012/report-rapport-eng.asp#toc336524255
(3) High Cost Of Northern Living: Arctic Premiers Urge Feds To Invest In Infrastructure To Bring Down Costs. http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/06/27/northern-canada-high-cost-food-infastructure_n_1631181.html
(4) Who, What, Why: Why does a cabbage cost $28 in Canada? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18413043