A rchive Date
[ 29-02-2020 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ Canada ]
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[https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/towhey-its-time-canadas-first-nations-got-their-acts-together
It’s time Canada’s First Nations got their acts together
Mark Towhey
Published: February 29, 2020
When European settlers first arrived here, North America was not a land of peace and harmony.
Many indigenous clans tried immediately to enlist Europeans into their ongoing wars with traditional enemies. There was no homogeneous society then. There isn’t now.
Clans lived and died on the strength of their leaders. When clans chose wise leaders, their people prospered. When they chose weak leaders, they suffered - sometimes their clans disappeared.
Four hundred years later, too many of Canada’s First Nations choose their leaders poorly.
In this, they are like the rest of Canada - too many of us don’t invest enough time and energy in choosing our governments. But Indigenous Canadians pay a far steeper price for their apathy.
If all of Canada’s First Nations are to enjoy a prosperous future, many need to start doing things differently.
It’s time they got their act together.
The first step is to choose better leaders to speak for them, and then hold them accountable.
Five different band councils elected by the Wet’suwet’en people negotiated with the government and a pipeline company in British Columbia. All of them agreed to a project plan that will create hundreds of jobs and economic opportunity for their communities.
Then, some Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs vetoed the agreement. Chaos ensued.
Without doubt, the government of Canada helped create this mess. Unfortunately, government can’t fix it.
There is no magic number of millions of dollars that will fix what ails many dysfunctional First Nations communities. Success, ultimately, comes from within.
Many of Canada’s First Nations are already successful and serve as a shining example of what can be achieved.
They’ve succeeded by choosing outstanding leaders who don’t wait for solutions from afar. They act when needed and put the interests of the people ahead of themselves. The people stand behind those leaders who work for them. They hold them accountable when they don’t. They work together and speak with one voice.
That’s missing in too many failed First Nations. Their leaders are weak or absent. And the people allow it.
In Wet’suwet’en, as in many Indigenous communities, it is unclear who - if anyone - leads.
Is it the democratically-elected band councils? Or, the hereditary chiefs? Or, both? If so, how are disagreements between them resolved? Only the Wet’suwet’en can decide.
And, they must decide.
If band councils had authority to negotiate on behalf of their people, where are they now? Why are they not speaking out against those robbing them of their legitimacy? If the councils were not authorized to negotiate, why did the people stand silent as it happened?
Time and again, across Canada, governments, companies, and others have tried to negotiate in good faith with failed First Nations. Just when one group claiming to speak for the people agrees, another pops up to disagree. This cannot continue.
Indigenous Canadians, like all of us, have the right - and a responsibility to their children - to demand more from their leaders. And, to hold them accountable.
Indian Act and hereditary chiefs be damned.
Canada’s First Nations must decide who speaks for them. Then let no others pretend to do so.
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 World Fact Book (CIA)]]
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