NEWS RELEASE

METIS NATIONAL COUNCIL/RALLIEMENT NATIONAL DES METIS
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
26 February, 2003
Washington, D.C.s

NOTES FOR A SUBMISSION TO THE
WORKING GROUP ON THE OAS DECLARATION
ON INDIGENOUS PEOPLES

Re: Article XXII Treaties, Acts, agreements and constructive arrangements The MNC strongly supports the inclusion of this article with the additional reference to international/regional dispute resolution bodies, as has been proposed by Willie Littlechild.

It is important to have a reference in Article XXII to international dispute resolution forums. This is because in many cases there are no competent domestic bodies to deal with disputes. A domestic court, tribunal or other body that is created by domestic law owes its existence to the state, and may not be regarded as competent because its authority to make decisions is derived from the authority of only one of the parties to the treaty or agreement, the state party. Such a body cannot be impartial and therefore it cannot be competent to deal with a dispute involving the state party and indigenous peoples who are vulnerable to the exercise of power by the state.

The significance of Article XXII may be illustrated by the unenviable position in which the Metis nation finds itself in Canada. We successfully defended ourselves previously against Canadian and colonial invasions. It is in these earlier circumstances that Canada agreed to terms with our people. It is under the ‘Manitoba Treaty” that our people brought Rupert’s Land and the Northwestern Territory into Canada in 1870, following our successful resistance to intrusions that began in the autumn of 1869. Now that Canada has all the power it needs it does not need our treaty and ignores it. It looks like Canada will not forget our previous military actions. We would like to put that behind us and move ahead in peace within Canada. Our human rights support our goals. It is all we ask for.
It is not widely known that some parts of the Manitoba Treaty made their way into the Constitution of Canada, and are today binding on the Metis people and the government alike. The problem is that the government refuses to honour its part of the Metis “bargain of Confederation” of 1870. The government of Canada can do that because we are a small and politically weak nation in a sea of non-aboriginal people who make up the large majority of the voters and who see no need to respect old promises, especially the ones made to take over our lands.

We can show how inappropriate Canadian domestic courts are at dealing competently with Metis treaty disputes. We first filed formal complaints in the court about the Manitoba Treaty in 1981. We are not even near having a proper trial hearing yet. The reason for this unconscionable delay is that the government of Canada, which has all the money and power on its side, uses every possible legal tactic available to it to block our claims. Canada puts up barriers to legitimate claims in its own courts. This dishonourable conduct illustrates why today the Metis National Council is here arguing for Article XXII and for the express inclusion of a reference to international bodies to resolve disputes of interpretation. We, as indigenous people need impartial tribunals. We need the moral and legal weight of their opinions and decisions. Governments, who are powerful, have no need of them, and that is why some states are heard here opposing such tribunals. This fight over Article XXII is a basic fight for peaceful means of resolving disputes. As was stated in a petition by our people in 1908, others have grown rich on our inheritance, our land, from our forefathers, and we have suffered a great injustice in having those lands which our ancestors paid for in blood, unjustly taken from us.

There can be no justice for us until Canada honours the Metis Treaty of 1870. Free democracies do not allow long-standing grievances to go unheard. We oppose the tactics of violence and war, and of its companion, the use of raw political power to ignore the demands of justice. We cannot depend upon Canada and its domestic tribunals and courts to obtain justice where our Treaties are concerned. We need international/regional tribunals for justice, in the name of which we appeal to you to support Article XXII with the inclusion of reference to competent international/regional bodies.

Presented by Tony Belcourt
President, Metis Nation of Ontario and
Metis National Council Minister for International Issues