Friday, February 8, 1991 — North Shore News — 7 Aboriginal rights: time to listen Canada’s human rights record Rex not much better than Iraq’s This is the first in a three-part series on native land claims. IN 1497, when John Cabot and his sons serendipitously landed on Newfoundland rocks, there were an estimated 100 millioa native people in the western hemisphere from the Arctic Circle to Tierra del Fuego. In North America, on laud now claimed by Canada and the United States, there lived some 15 million people in more than 700 indepen- dent native nations. By 1867, the year of the British North American Act, native popu- lations in North America had been reduced 19 about 350,000, 2.3 per cent of the original population, the largest geographic invasion and demographic holocaust of re- corded history. Some native nations in Canada, like the Beothuk in New- foundiand, were completely deci- mated. Some others signed treaties with Canada, although the Cana- dian parliament has consistently maintained its right to unilaterally abrogate those treaties, usually when gold, oil, uranium, or other resources were discovered on trea- ty land. In the west, most Indian land was simply expropriated by the Crown, some then given, sold, or Youthspeak was really commiue-speak Dear Editor: Regarding West Vancouver Alderman Pat Boname voicing her support for last November’s “'Youthspeak”’ forum for youth, held at North Vancouver’s Queen Mary School. ; For those who did not attend this ‘‘issue-raising’® forum, it should be made clear what it ac- tually did fully encompass. Things such as rights for homosexuals and sympathy for leftist factions in Central America can hardly, be deemed immediate local concerns for North Shore youths — but these topics were presented in a way that mirrored some sort of support rally, rather than “issues involving young peo- ple on the North Shore,’’ as the rest of the public was led to believe. Future Youthspeaks should be just that — youth speaking out about what concerns them in their community, rather than a host of pre-planned issues, presented in a way to drum up support for the organizers’ supposed ‘‘cause.”’ urge the public, politicians and the media to take a clear look at what these youth forums actu- ally entail. Let’s not let them become **propaganda-speaks.’* Rob Rannard North Vancouver Mailbox policy LETTERS TO the editor must in- clude your name, written legibly, your full address and telephone number. Due to space constraints the News cannot publish all letters. Published letters may be edited for brevity, clarity, accuracy, le- gality and taste. leased to individuals or com- panies. Homestead legislation made it possible for settlers to gain title simply by clearing a piece of land, but this offer specifically excluded people of aboriginal ancestry. In the Northwest Territories, along the Mackenzie River, Cana- dian Commissioner Henry Conroy and Bishop Gabriel Breynat col- lected, in the 1920s, a handful of signatures from local inhabitants who probably had no idea thev had traded their entire nation’s homeland for $5 per family and a few hand axes. Near Lake Athabaska in nor- thern Saskatchewan uranium tail- ings spill across Dine land. In On- tario mercury from the Dryden chemical plant has poisoned the Wabigoon river, the fish, and the . Ojibway people of Grassy Nar- rows reserve. Across Canada the Indian land base has been eroded by force, by tamination. ernment. to others.’’ Weyler THE GOOD EARTH swindle, or by environmental con- Land claims today are based on the fact that few native nations ever ceded their land to the gov- As the Lillooet Declaration of 1911 says, ‘‘At no time have we ever deserted (our land), or left it MAILBOX mz regime” set up to give Haudeno- saunee land. They demanded sovereignty, political and cultural self-deter- mination. Six days later, 60 mounties retook the Council House, but the call for native sovereignty has never been quieted. Robert Bourassa’s obsession since 1971 to flood out 9,000 Cree for the greater glory of Hydro- Quebec is shamefully symptomatic of Canada’s stance with the origi- nal people of this land. The inci- dents at Oka this past summer, and at Duffy Lake Road today, arise from this long, sad historical context. . It is difficult for Canadians to accept that there is a prior claim to the land we call Canada. This failure creates a nagging double standard in that national psyche. Goodhearted Canadians will righteously defend the rights of South African blacks, or be outraged at the takeover of Tibet by China, or cringe at the decima- tion of the Yanomami in the Am- azon, yet almost not notice that Europeans overran and annexed Canada in much the same man- In 1959 a thousand Haudeno- ner. saunee stormed the Counc?! House on the Six Nations reserve near Brantford, Ontario, ousting 12 RCMP officers and a tribal coun- cil that they called a ‘‘puppet The red nations of the Western Hemisphere are the only complete race of people in the world not represented in the United Nations.- This is very troubling, and sadly Posties are Dear Editor: I know it’s not polite for a mere employee of the post office to presume to tell such experts as Doug Collins, Noel Wright and now Bob Hunter what is going on in that sorry institution, but... Sorry, Bob, we didn’t steal your books. An inside worker down at the plant couldn’t have done it because, with supervisors crawling around the place like fleas on a dog, the chances of being caught tampering with a parcel would be too high. Furthermore, he/she wouldn’t be able to sneak such large items past the security Nazis who guard the entrances to the plant like it was Auschwitz. It's also very unlikely that one of my fellow out- side workers ripped you off because, even if one of us wanted to do such a thing, | can assure that we wouldn’t be so stupid as to leave the packaging of not thieves your parcel where it might be found by management. Here’s what happened to your parcel. Like dozens of other packages every day, it fell afoul of one of the machines that are increasingly used to sort and process the mail. No doubt these machines are very profitable for Canada Post because they replace workers, but they are also merciless to anything that isn’t packaged well enough to survive a 10-foot drop. (Phone me some time and I'll tell you about “the plow”’ if you think you can take it.) [ll bet your books are in there waiting for some- one to phone in and claim them. Give it a try! If you succeed you might even contemplate apologizing to the honest workers whom you saw fit to call thieves before even bothering to check. Ray Andrews, letter carrier North Vancouver ironic in these days of ecological awakening, when the native peo- ples’ reverence for the earth is gaining considerable spiritual! and social credibility. Does might make right? Does: the power to shove people from their land confer a moral or legal right to that land? If so, then why is Canada sending warships halfway around the world to stop Saddam Hussein from doing the same thing? Do we believe that the toughest bully makes the rules? Our pretensions to fairness and com- mon decency demand more of us. It is not sufficient to say that Canada allows Indians the rights of any other citizen. The Indian nations have said repeatedly that they want their land base and their sovereignty. It’s time the government listen- ed. The biggest mistake the Euro- peans made during their long oc- cupation of the Western Hemi- sphere was to assume they had nothing to learn from the native inhabitants. Facts of history don’t go away simply because we stop thinking about them or refuse to discuss them. Native land claims must be settled with dignity, before Canada can pride itself as a na- tion of honor, or criticize the likes of South Africa or Iraq. . Three cheers for photographers Dear Editor: Others have written complimen- ting your writers for their interest- ing and educating articles. Having for 50 years profes- sionally handled photography, I would like to express my appreci- ation for your own photographers’ creative and imag- inative approach to photo journal- ism. Recent examples of their work are spectacular. Your production people should also be commended for the ex- cellence of your color reproduc- tion; they could teach your sister publication, The Vancouver Sun, how to reproduce photography to your standards. Bill J.L. Gibbons North Vancouver Paramedics did a great job Dear Editor: This is in praise of the great service given in answer to a call to 9-1-1. Recently my husband took a fall in our apartment garage, and in doing so cut the back of his head. The ambulance attendants responded very quickly and transported my husband to Lions Gate Hospital. In cutting his head, my hus- band lost quite a bit of blood which stained his windbreaker. One of the attendants rinsed out the windbreaker thoroughly before the blood set in. I was deeply touched by his consideration. Mrs. J. Collins North Vancouver