-- The problem now is that most of the aboriginal peoples of Canada no longer are governed by their traditional systems, almost all of which were undermined and replaced with the provisions of the Indian Act of Canada. The Indian Act created the “band councils” which were designed to permit a highly conditional form of local government, entirely dependent on the federal government and without any national standing as defined under international law. The band councils are not Aboriginal in design or function. They are not independent, cannot pass any law without federal consent, have no treaty standing and are subject to the criminal and civil laws of their respective provinces with very few exceptions. The band councils are located on lands which are owned by the “Crown” and not Aboriginal people. They cannot enter into any trade agreement with other nations nor can the band councils issue their own passports or do anything which might be considered a true act of sovereignty. The Iroquois Confederacy had a constitution, a charter of rights and freedoms, a capital and an elaborate web of alliances with other Native nations. So did the Wabanaki Confederacy, the Niitsitapi (Blackfoot) Confederacy and others. They were the true “First Nations.” Not the band councils. They are not, and never can be, “first nations.” Canada tried its best to destroy the first nations. To replace them with the Indian Act agencies is to eradicate our history in place of myth. It is time to stop this silliness and call them for what they are-band councils under the Indian Act. And then it is time for the Native peoples to revive their true ancestral national governments by actually studying how we governed what is now Canada for thousands of years without the blessings of western civilization.
Posted on: Sun, 11 Jan 2015 09:23:31 +0000
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