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The courts have ruled on this. The federal and BC governments have acknowledged it, and Canada is signatory to the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples which reinforces this. There's no treaty so the common law, primarily British common law out here, prevails--indigenous peoples have rights based on customary tenure.

My view is based on law, regardless of what a given First Nation may or may not do. Really, the biggest fear people seem to have is that they will treat "settlers" as badly as they were treated by settlers, which is kind of ironic.

I've worked with First Nations here and with other governments. I've seen a lot of corruption in both to be honest. Most of the folks I work with aren't very interested in cutting off their nose to spite their face.

And there has been a lot of talk of "taking responsibility" regarding First Nations. Well, maybe we need to give responsibility--or rather "rightfully cede" responsibility--if we expect First Nations to take responsibility.

At the very least it has the virtue of never having been tried.

   

Full transcript of judges instruction to the jury.

It's a long read but it will open some eyes.

http://nationalpost.com/news/canada/ful ... rors-shoes

   

I'll admit I know nothing of the UN declaration, so I'll have to read up on it, and if I've got time I'll get back to you.

   

If that was all implemented, how will that help our FN communities? How does that address all of the problems that plague these communities?

Be specific.

   

Some context for this trial as well. For the aboriginal folks in Saskatchewan, they probably remember a 12-year old native girl getting plied with alcohol and sexually assaulted by three white men. Eight years of court cases later and one of the men gets house arrest. And the folks there remember Carney Nerland to. He liked to wear swastikas. Was the local leader of the KKK. Hated Indians. Shot a Cree man in the back. Claimed he didn't know the rifle was loaded and it was an accident. Added that "if I am convicted of killing that Indian, they should give me a medal and you should pin it on me." Nice guy. The Court thought so too. He did two years.

   

Zero context or relation to this particular trial.

   

They, like any other Canadian can't legally block projects deemed to be "in the interest of Canada" and despite the fallacies being espoused around the country by certain groups, the SCoC ruled that the Natives had to be consulted with prior to these projects proceeding but, nowhere did they say Natives had the right to legally block any of them.
From the Indian Act 2017




http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/i-5/

So, if they block pipelines, roads or any other project deemed to be in the interest of Canada they're breaking the law and are subject to the same regulations a non native would be even if it's on their own reserve.

   

Okay, I'll try to keep this short:

-The deck is heavily stacked against Indigenous people whether they stay on their reserves or come to the cities. Their own communities are critically underfunded and heavily managed by Ottawa bureaucrats, who have also put many of them under third party management. If they had more of a land base and capacity built up, it's likely that it would be a lot easier not just for Indigenous people and communities to deal with their issues, but also contribute positively to the economy...the way they do when they spend a lot of their money in nearby communities where they shop.

-Zipperfish talking about blame doesn't mean that you or I are to blame directly. But Canada's prosperity, which we've all benefited from to some extent has come from developing the lands we have made our homes-without living up to the commitments we made with the Treaty signings. Those Treaties, and the rights tied up with them, are part of the Canadian Constitution as recognized by the courts. Actually respecting those rights would go a long way towards resolving these problems-and there are many writings, such as the Penner Report and the Royal Commission on Aboriginal People, that describe how we could do it.

-From everything I've seen after almost 20 years of studying this stuff, there's maybe been one or two Indigenous people I've seen who want all the whites to go back to Europe. The rest are idiot white or black radicals. "Settlers" is just a way to distinguish people who aren't Indigenous from Indigenous people themselves-and that includes black, Asian and Hispanic people as much as it does whites.

-The whole reason things are so shitty is specifically because we forcibly tried to assimilate Indigenous people and make them give up their identities. That's what's led to all the poverty and dysfunction, and while we've officially abandoned that policy we haven't been able or willing to consider alternate solutions. Instead, we continue to insist Indigenous people should abandon their identities and distinct place in Canada. And even when they come to the cities, as we tell them to, life isn't necessarily any better.

The reserve communities are all the Indigenous people have left that marks their distinct place in these lands. They never agreed to be assimilated and become just like the rest of us without any distinct part of who they are-and telling them to do that is like telling them to skin themselves alive. Many of them actually don't object to the idea of being Canadian-but they also have a need to be Anishinaabe, Blackfoot, Iroquois, Tlingit, etc. at the same time.

   

For what it's worth apparently the thrust of Trudeau's new endeavour is to devolve more power to the reserve leadership, which will just be another absolute disaster considering how many of the reserves are controlled by chiefs and band councils that are outright criminals who keep the money and other goodies for themselves and their friends and let anyone outside their inner circle live in misery. So all in all it's just another cycle of repetition of the old bad ideas that have been the biggest contributors to the endless catastrophe.

This country is never going to get any smarter, is it?

   

It's like entrusting Imams do find the "right" sort of justice in Canada by letting them apply Sharia law instead of our criminal code.

   

We, as in Canadians, have been willing to consider alternate solutions. Our First Nations are often the ones who balk at any change, especially as it pertains to the Indian Act.



That may be true for a majority of the senior members of the reserves. However, for the majority of the younger age group, this isn't an issue for them. It's all about the drugs, money, girls, booze, etc.

To suggest the actions of a 20 something kid is due to his outrage over unsettled land claims or trauma from the thought of losing their identity is somewhat laughable.

   

That is one horrifying thought there Jabberwalker.

   

Hey. It's only fair. There'll be a lobby up there on the Hill asking for the very thing next week (if there isn't one, already).

   

William Wuttunee was a member of the Red Pheasant Nation in Saskatchewan. He was inundated with death threats from his own community for writing this book.

http://calgaryherald.com/news/local-new ... g-activist



More on Wuttunee here, and his belief that enforcing racial separation, was the worst thing that Canada could have possibly done, which makes it even more mind-boggling that the Trudeau government is going to go even further down this path that's already proven to be such a colossal failure:

http://www.nodifference.ca/essay/chap2

http://www.nodifference.ca/

   

Wrong-o. Neither the Indian Act nor reserves have fuck all to do with it. Section 35 of the Constitution applies. The Constitution is the supreme law of Canada ultra vires of the Indian Act.

Also, Article 32(2) of the UN Declaration of the Rights of INdigenous Peoples, to which Canada is signatory:

   

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