More detail re: aboriginal rights in Canada
Here is something more regarding aboriginal rights in Canada, where I detail how this is NOT (as many non aboriginal peoples in Canada seem to like to think) a case of 'wanting to have their cake and eat it too', where aboriginal peoples are concerned.
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I think that this argument completely ignores the following facts.
(i) Point #1: The historical aspects of the situation, namely that Natives have been the oppressed party for quite some time (and continue to be so), which implies that the Canadian government has a moral (and I would suspect legal, although I'm no expert) obligation to make reparations.
Examples of this past and present discrimination and systemic poverty abound. As I posted to my personal blog a while ago, "Regarding the second point, Canada has a long and distinguished record of disregarding the basic human rights of its indigenous peoples. For a country that prides itself on its support of human rights, it is interesting to note that it was one of only four votes against the United Nations Declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples (passed in 2007).(5) Amnesty International has expressed concern over the treatment of First Nations in Canada.(8, 9, 10) Also, various health problems among First Nations people are several times the Canadian national averages: examples include obesity (11), type 2 diabetes (12, 13), suicide (14), and being First Nations person was even associated with a significantly higher risk of having a severe H1N1 infection during the worldwide pandemic. (15)"
(ii) Point #2: This argument also ignores the legal and historical facts surrounding the Indian Act, originally enacted in 1876. While this legislation has been amended, the fact remains that this legislation was created to enable the ASSIMILATION of Native peoples. This law still has many problems: it prohibits private ownership of land on reserves. It has also been criticized in recent years for its paternalistic approach to Native peoples, yet remains to this day the legal basis for much of the interactions between the federal government and Native peoples. (As a side note, it is worth noting that the term 'First Nations' is actually applied to those Native peoples who adhere to this system -not all do. The Indian Act also does not apply to Métis and Inuit peoples.) (16,17)
Given this framework, it can be see that there are CURRENT and REAL barriers to economic development for Native peoples. Hence their current reliance on governmental monies for their survival. (See for example ref. 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.
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
---------------------------------
I think that this argument completely ignores the following facts.
(i) Point #1: The historical aspects of the situation, namely that Natives have been the oppressed party for quite some time (and continue to be so), which implies that the Canadian government has a moral (and I would suspect legal, although I'm no expert) obligation to make reparations.
Examples of this past and present discrimination and systemic poverty abound. As I posted to my personal blog a while ago, "Regarding the second point, Canada has a long and distinguished record of disregarding the basic human rights of its indigenous peoples. For a country that prides itself on its support of human rights, it is interesting to note that it was one of only four votes against the United Nations Declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples (passed in 2007).(5) Amnesty International has expressed concern over the treatment of First Nations in Canada.(8, 9, 10) Also, various health problems among First Nations people are several times the Canadian national averages: examples include obesity (11), type 2 diabetes (12, 13), suicide (14), and being First Nations person was even associated with a significantly higher risk of having a severe H1N1 infection during the worldwide pandemic. (15)"
(ii) Point #2: This argument also ignores the legal and historical facts surrounding the Indian Act, originally enacted in 1876. While this legislation has been amended, the fact remains that this legislation was created to enable the ASSIMILATION of Native peoples. This law still has many problems: it prohibits private ownership of land on reserves. It has also been criticized in recent years for its paternalistic approach to Native peoples, yet remains to this day the legal basis for much of the interactions between the federal government and Native peoples. (As a side note, it is worth noting that the term 'First Nations' is actually applied to those Native peoples who adhere to this system -not all do. The Indian Act also does not apply to Métis and Inuit peoples.) (16,17)
Given this framework, it can be see that there are CURRENT and REAL barriers to economic development for Native peoples. Hence their current reliance on governmental monies for their survival. (See for example ref. 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.
References
------------------------------
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