F 0 R

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Strategical Planning and Defence Analysis

Situation Report and Recommendations
Respecting
The First Ministers Conference 1987

CA~AOIAN

COLONIALISM

When a man steals a thousand dollars

He is unjustly richer by a thousand dollars
And his victim poorer by a thousand dollars
When a people take anothers country
They are unjustly richer by a country
And their victim poorer by a country
May the unjustly rich and victimized poor
Redress the injustice of Canada
So both the First Nations and New Canadians
Share Her bounty justly and constitutionally
As long
As long
As long
So help

as the grass grows

as the sun shines
as the rivers flow
us all Great Spirit

MARCH 11, 1987

F 0 R

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Strategical Planning and Defence Analysis

Situation Report and Recommendations
Respecting
First Ministers Conference 1987
March 11, 1987

A.

The First Minister's

Conference~~~

Section

.!!!.

Box

At the up-coming First Ministers Conference the Federal government is

going to attempt to make it look like Indian self-government is being
entrenched in the Canadian Constitution.
The Canadian government's plan is to entrench Indian ~elf-govdrnment
in the Constitution Act 11 just like 11 Aboriginal and Treaty Rights were
entrenched under Section 35 (1) of the Constitution Act.
Section 35 (1) simply reads that:
The existing aboriginal and treaty rights of the aboriginal
peoples of Canada are hereby recognized and affirmed.~

11

The settler governments of Canada and British Columbia liken this

section to an "Empty Box". They interpret this section as not containing any
rights. It merely provides Constitutional protection for those things that are
j u di c i a11 y dec i d e d to be 11 ex i st i n g a b o r i g i n a 1 r i gh t s 11 u n d e r s e ct i o n 35. Th i s
means that Indian people must fight every inch of the way to have anything
protected under this section.
In blunt terms it is an empty box, because if any person or First
Nation wants to protect some activity or territory as an Aboriginal right under
section 35 they must first go before a Settler's Court to prove that what they
want i s co vere d by sect i o n 35. To s i mp 1y a r g ue s em an ti c a11.y, i n po 1it i c a 1
forums or before the media, that section 35 is a 11 Ful1 Box 11 , really doesn't
have any weight with the fish and wildlife officers out in the field.
The hard cold facts are, the silvered tonged, settler constitutional
experts convinced many Indian leaders in 1983 to make Canada look good through
endorsing the First Ministers Conference Constitutional Accord in exchange for
an 11 Empty Box".

FOR INDIAN EYES ONLY

SP DARR

.!..!ldian Self-government Just Another

I~.E..!.l ~ox?

At the 1987 First Minister's Conference the Federal government wants

to try for an instant replay of this game of -- nows you see it and nows you
don't -- this time in respect to Indian self-government.
The federal government will say they recognize and affirm Indian
Self-government and then entrench some legal sounding words that will, on the
surf ace, satisfy the media and i nternati anal opinion that In di an government has
been recognized in the Canadian Constitution.
However, after the First Minister's Conference, Canadian and
provincial government bureaucrats will take the legal position that any
Constitutional reference regarding Indian self-government is just another
"empty box".
Furthermore, it is clear that once Indian self-government is
entrenched as an "empty box" the Federal government could rely on this
Constitutional mandate to force 11 all 11 Indian bands to accept the municipal
model as self-government.
The Federal government could achieve this by using its superior fiscal
and. legislative strength to fill the empty box with municipal type legislation.
And then justify this manipulation of Indian governments by taking refuge under
a federal system that did not clearly recognize Indian governments as distinct
orders of constitutional government.
Indeed, the Federal government bureaucrats perceive ~he 1987 First
Minister's Conference as the means to Constitutionally entrench the "Buffalo
Jump".
If, this Federal government strategy is successful Indian people will
be on the road to termination as distinct Peoples.
B.

Strategical Assessment

It seems, from a quick look around, that Aboriginal people in general

and Indian people in particular are divided on how to respond to the March 87
First Minister's Conference.
There are those that say we should attend the FMC and there are those
who say we shouldn't. It is,' however, a little late in the day to be arguing
this point because some of us have gone in the past and someone will, more than
likely, attend this FMC.
To protest for or against the FMC will only add to the carnival like
confusion that this very complex media event was designed to create. Therefore
any initiatives that we take should be designed to impose the Indian order of
things on, what will be orchestrated by the federal government in Ottawa this
month.

FOR INDIAN EYES ONLY

SP DARR

The positive thing to do amidst this confusion is to re-introduce the

people's basic position, in what has become a - very tightly closed - high
level game,of showmanship and compromise.
The focus of this basic position should be the CONSTITUTIONAL
RECOGNITION OF THE INHERENT RIGHT OF FIRST NATIONS TO A DISTINCT ORDER OF
GOVERNMENT WITH AN ADEQUATE LAND BASE AND FISCAL ARRANGEMENTS.
In truth, if the impending termination of Indian people is to be
stopped, Indian people must send a clear message to the Canadian government.
before they succeed in the belief that they can force us over the "Buffalo
Jump".
C.

Strategy

The old saying of fight fire with fire holds true when dealing with
the predicament we find ourselves in. In this regard the next FMC will be a
media event above all else.
The Prime Minister will be using the FMC to try and build up his
failing popularity at the expense of the Indian people. He can do little else
because a distinct order of Indian self-government, as important as it is to
us, as Indian people, will not win him votes.
In order to defend ourselves against genocide through municipal Indian
self-government, Indian people will have to take political advantage of the two
days of high level attention that will be focused on the issue of Indian
self-government. The Constitution Express made this opportunity available. It
is up to us to use it to enlighten the Canadian people and their settler
governments about the bitter and grinding poverty that their occupation of our
Countries produces.
Once this opportunity passes it will be closed to us, possibly, for
the rest of this century.
In plain simple English, Indian people will have to up stage the Prime
Minister by fighting his contrived media at the FMC with our own grassroots
media events.
The People's media event will, however, have to be spectacular and
affect in real terms the routine, of the settler governments of Canada and
British Columbia's, extraction and marketing of our Aboriginal Title and
Rights.
.
Every single day thousands of tonnes of our Aboriginal Title and
Rights are being carried along our old trading trails to be sold, under Federal
and Provincial licenses, to foreign governments, yet our people receive no
benefit from these sales.
Our tran~portation corridors have become the veins and arteries of the
settler economies of Canada. It has made Canadians and British Columbians rich
while they have made us poor. The significance of these transportation systems

......

,...

FOR INDIAN EYES ONLY

SP DARR

must be understood by Indian people and utilized in their strategy to fulfil

and protect their human rights and economic interests.
In this regard Indian people must realize that our rights and
interests are not very important to the average Canadian or British Columbian
unless they affect them financially. Therefore, we must conceive a strategy
that will affect Canada financially yet be orderly and easily linked to the
First Minister's Conference.
Furthermore, this strategy, if it is to work will have to involve the
people and their leadership at the community level. It must also be within the
means of the people to organize, fund and execute within the time frame that is
available.
But most importantly it must create political awareness amongst the
people so that they will be able to understand the importance of maintaining
momentum behind the struggle for the constitutional recognition of our distinct
order of Indian government.
In this regard, short term and long term goals must be clearly spelled
out so that we all know what we are talking about and where we are going.
In the short term, we must make a proper response to the up-coming
First Minister's Conference. In the long term we must establish bona fide
recognition of our inherent right to a distinct order of government, equivalent
in stature and power as the settler governments. To do less would leave us
always at the mercy of those governments more powerful than us.

There are three responses that can be made to the Fir$t Minister's
Conference and they can be categorized in terms of soft, medium and hard.
The soft strategy is to let the FMC take place without any input by
the people at the community level. This strategy is what is going to happen by
defau1t if the Indian people do not get involved. This is the preferred
response of the federal and provincial governments.
This response makes the First Ministers Conference a CBC Television
event for both Indian people and Canadians. Indian people are soothed into
watching their future security as a distinct Peoples go down the tubes on
television. How devilishly diabolical.
The medium strategy is to involve only the Chiefs in an Accord signing
like the one proposed in the paper 11 Reveille For First Nations - The Politics
of Aggression and Defence". This strategy is a little better than doing
nothing, but the Chiefs do not have the authority to make Canada sit up and
take notice. Their political offices have been sapped by the Indian Act and
are too weak to force any dramatic changes in the federal government position
or they would have done so by now. God knows they have sincerely tried their
best.

FOR INDIAN EYES ONLY

SP DARR

The hard response is to block the main transportation corridors that

go through Indian Reserves.
The soft strategy really requires little support at the community
level because all the key players have already been selected.
The medium and hard strategies could be carried out simultaneously.
Some ideas have been expressed in Reveille For First Nations regarding
the signing of a Chiefs Accord so it will not be dealt with in-depth here. But
a few comments will be made respecting the hard strategy.
The first thing to point out is the blockade strategy will make the
FMC more than a Television News Special. It will give control over the issue
of Indian self-government back to the people. It is apparent that the Canadian
government has been attempting to manipulate Indian political direction by
removing the political decision making power from the people and moving it to
Ottawa. The federal government sees great advantage in using the "one way"
communications facilities of television to spring a fait accompli on Indian
people.
By taking the issue of Indian self-government out of the hands of
Indian people and puttin~ it in the hands of a selected few, in Ottawa, before
a national television audience, they have removed the only power we have - the
Indian people. In fact Indian people are reduced to exercising as much power
over what will happen at the FMC as we do to redress the prejudice of some old
cowboy and Indian movie.
Blockades will also be within the experience and means of Indian
people. Many First Nations have had to resort to blockades to achieve their
legitimate goals. Besides all Indian people have are their bodies. We don't
have money to travel to Ottawa. We probably don't even have enough money to
get a few communities together to pull this strategy off, but at least this
strategy is the most feasible to accomplish in the time we have.
These blockades should be planned by local people with the support and
help of all Indian people and leaders who are ready, willing and able to take
direct action.
The blockades could be erected on either day of the First Minister s
Conference and be for a predetermined time limit like half an hour or so.
These road blocks could be strategically co-ordinated so that the
unjust sale of Indian government resources is stopped for at least a brief
while and attention drawn to our point of view of what Canada's so called
natural resources mean to Indian people.
The Media stl'o~1l:;~lso;be made aware, at the appropriate time, that
these blockades are directly linked to the First Ministers Conference.
,,
Large banners.could be strung across the highway or railway that link
the "First Minister's Conference 11 to 11 A Distinct Order of Indian Government"
. ..
,~~,

~.

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FOR INDIAN EYES ONLY

SP DARR

Concise leaflets should be distributed to the travelling public to

inform them why the blockades have been erected.
Local issues could also be addressed on smaller placards. Issues like
the loss of our hunting, fishing, trapping and water rights could be linked to
the fact that Indian people do not have a distinct order of government to
protect these interests for First Nations.
People could also hold meetings or gatherings along with the road
blocks to talk about the fact that we are looked upon as having no land or
power to govern ourselves.
We must create the awareness that only by us governing ourselves with
an adequate land base and firmly entrenched fiscal relations will we be able to
meet our needs, fulfil our rights and protect our interests.
We must be clear in our minds that Indian government by Indian people
is what we want. Not Indian government at the mercy of federal or provincial
legislation.
Indian people must realize it is their God-given right to fight for
their inherent right and responsibility to a distinct order of government that
will ensure, they as children of the Great Spirit, will always exist in
dignity.
It would also be advisable that a small, but powerful delegation be
sent to Ottawa to make it very clear to the First Ministers that nothing less
than total recognition of our inherent right to a distinct order of Indian
goyernment, with an adequate land base and exclusive powers like those set out
in the 25 points will be acceptable.