GATINEAU, Que. - The violent and fatal standoff between Mohawks and Canadian soldiers in Oka, Que., 17 years ago marked a high point in Canadian sympathy for aboriginal issues, says Phil Fontaine, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations.
The pointed reference to the summer-long crisis came Wednesday as chiefs from across Canada gathered to discuss a so-called Day of Action planned for June 29. Like Oka, the day could involve blockades.
A Quebec police officer died in the thick of the Oka crisis.
"The highest level of support for our position was during that crisis, that's the highest level of support that Canadians have ever expressed for our issues,'' Fontaine said in response to a reporter's question about the effectiveness of civil disobedience.
"Are we asking for a similar kind of situation so we can get Canadians to once again support us as they did back then? Not at all ... but they don't know well enough the situation we're in.''
While the chiefs were meeting across the river from Ottawa, native protesters from the Six Nations Reserve had occupied disputed land near Caledonia, Ont., that is slated to become a senior's residence. The federal and provincial governments are in talks with Six Nations officials to resolve the dispute.
Fontaine repeated his mantra that the AFN doesn't advocate civil disobedience, but it understands the intense frustration behind it. The June 29th protest day is being held to raise awareness of the grinding poverty in aboriginal communities, as well as other beefs with Ottawa including unresolved land claims.
"I won't condemn the people at Caledonia or those who have taken this recent action,'' said Fontaine.
"I haven't heard one word of condemnation from anyone in a leadership position in our community. Our people understand why this happened. Not all people in leadership positions necessarily accept that as the most effective way of resolving our issues, but it happens and we understand why.''
There was a consensus among the assembled chiefs here that a day of action was necessary, but a wide range of views on what the root problems are in their communities and how best to protest their individual situations.
For Chief Terrance Nelson of the Roseau River First Nation, the plan is to blockade railway lines that move to and from the United States in southern Manitoba.
Unlike Fontaine, who says average Canadians need the wake-up call on aboriginal poverty, Nelson says it is industry that needs to get up to speed. He sees a scenario where big business, particularly U.S-based firms, puts pressure on the federal government to resolve outstanding disputes with native bands.
"June 29th is not simply about waking up Canadians, but also about waking up the Americans,'' Nelson said. "The Americans are clearly getting most of the benefit of the resources in Canada, that's very clear to me.''
Chief Marjorie McRae of the Gitanmaax Band Council parts ways with Fontaine on what needs to be done to help depressed communities like hers in northern British Columbia. Fontaine has underlined the two per cent cap Ottawa placed on its native spending 11 years ago, a cap that has not kept up with either inflation or the growth in the aboriginal population.
McRae says throwing more money at bands is not the answer. She advocates giving them more control over their resources and social programs.
"You can keep pumping money into a process and if the process is already set up for failure you're wasting time, money and energy,'' McRae said. "The most successful undertakings I've ever participated in are locally controlled, locally based, and that's the only way the community buys into it.''
Fontaine's opening comments to the AFN's special chiefs assembly Wednesday included a biting criticism of the Conservative government.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper abandoned the $5-billion Kelowna Accord reached by the previous Liberal government, aboriginal leaders and the provincial premiers when he came to office. He maintained that the Accord did not exist on paper and did not have a funding allotment and was therefore not formal. Fontaine and a several premiers have vigorously defended the agreement.
Fontaine said shelving the accord was all about Harper's dislike of anything with the Liberal "brand.''
"Just because someone has a visceral hatred for something that is the wrong political stripe shouldn't be used against us,'' he said. "Someone shouldn't be allowed to get away with this.''
Fontaine went on to call the Conservatives hypocrites for raising the issue of human rights in China and elsewhere, while turning a blind eye to the Third-World conditions on aboriginal reserves. He railed against Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice's frequent refrain that Ottawa spends $10 billion a year on First Nations, coutering that only half of that actually makes it to the communities.
