cc: Prentice.J@parl.gc.ca, Dalton.McGuinty@premier.gov.on.ca, Bruinooge.R@parl.gc.ca
Monday, February 26, 2007
Honourable Prime Minister,
My name is Timothy Schwinghamer. I am a Master’s candidate at the University of Manitoba’s Department of Plant Science. I am contacting you to voice my concerns and demand that the government recognize Six Nations Land Rights. I demand that the Canadian government uphold its responsibilities and return full title of Kanohnstaton (the Douglas Creek Estates) to the people of Six Nations. Further, I demand: that you put an end to the stalling tactics (being used by the Government of Canada) and recognize Six Nations title to the land once and for all; stop the criminalization of the people of Kanohnstaton; and fully recognize the traditional Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy, the traditional government, and stop undermining the Confederacy.
Land claims put forward by First Nations communities are overdue. Section 35 (1) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms states clearly: "The existing aboriginal and treaty rights of the aboriginal peoples of Canada are hereby recognized and affirmed." I demand the federal and provincial governments follow basic universal rules of human decency, and I demand that the government follow its own Charter of Rights and Freedoms outlined in the Constitution Act of 1982.
Sincerely and Respectfully,
Timothy Schwinghamer
120 Dafoe Road, Box 524B
Winnipeg MB R3T 6B3
1 comment:
Hey Timothy. It's great that you would write this, but it's really going to fall of deaf ears.
Technically speaking, any current Canadian law or Charter (including the Constitution Act) does not actually apply to any indigenous person. Even if it did though - at this particular moment, "Native rights" is nothing but a concept that Canada can define and redefine into whatever it wants.
All we have to do is look at the conclusions of delgammukw - the court said any native right can be legally overridden so long as there is a "substantial objective."
A parking lot for instance, could be seen as a substantial objective.
...Constitutionally entrenched rights is nothing but a platitude on their part. Equal rights for indigenous people under Canadian law undermines the Sovereignty and integrity of any Indigenous Nation on this land.
The only equality that applies to indigenous People is the equality found within the Nation to Nation Relationship -- Unfortunately this is something that eludes Canada because it does not fit into the established colonial framework, which they continue to adhere to at the expense of indigenous people, and their own social and political integrity.
Ahni
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