Canada’s Indians call for effective measures against the crisis in their communities

With a mass of non-violent vigils, demonstrations, press conferences and other public campaigns the Canadian Indians intend today to draw attention to their dramatically bad situation. "They are calling for effective measures against the crisis in their communities, for in the light of the great poverty, the racism, which is rife, and the unresolved land rights problems despair and bitterness are increasing among young people” reported the Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV) on Friday.

According to information received from the Assembly of First Nations (AFN), the umbrella organisation of Indian Nations of Canada, the Indians live under third-world conditions. They live in overcrowded conditions and the situation concerning general health condition and the provision with clean drinking water are both very bad. The suicide rate of Indian young people is six times higher than that of non-Indians of their age. Illness connected with poverty is widespread. The number of Indians suffering from tuberculosis is for example eight to ten times higher than the national average, the number of persons suffering from diabetes is twice to three times the average and the number of those suffering from AIDS six times.

"The Indians accuse the Canadian government under Stephen Harper of not keeping to the agreement for improving their situation”, said the GfbV correspondent for indigenous peoples, Yvonne Bangert. The chiefs of the Indian communities organised in the AFN had come to an agreement with the previous government that the living standards of the native people, in the fields of education, health, housing, infrastructure and the economy would by 2016 be brought up to the standard of the rest of the Canadian population. This so-called Kelowna Process has not been continued since Harper took office in 2006.

The body organising today’s campaign day is the AFN, which unites the more than 600 Indian peoples of Canada. It intends to seek the solidarity of the Canadian population by expressly non-violent events. The official figures show that there are in Canada some 1,320,000 native inhabitants, of whom the Indians or First Nations are with nearly 960,000 the largest group.

First Nations have grounds for complaint

Stolen sisters: At least 500 Indian women and girls have in Canada in the past 20 years fallen victim to crimes of violence or simply "disappeared”. The GfbV pointed this out on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women in November 2006. It supports the campaign of the Native Women’s Association of Canada NWAC and the "Sisters in Spirit” of ai-Canada. The women are doubly discriminated, both as Indians and as women.

Lubicon Cree without rights: Regardless of the express recommendations of the United Nations the 500 Lubicon Cree in the north of the province of Alberta have still not been recognized as First Nations. They cannot claim the rights of indigenous people. Although the negotiations between them and the federal and provincial governments have not been completed, the government of Alberta is issuing mining licences for the disputed land, which is interesting in this region, termed Canada’s Oil-Dorado for its considerable stock of oil sands.

The "Ipperwash Incident”: It was only after twelve years that an official report finally stated that prolonged negotiations concerning the land rights question, the precipitate action of the provincial government of Ontario and the insensitive behaviour of the police in 1995 had led to the death of the Chippewa Indian, Dudely George. George was hit by a police sniper during a non-violent squatting campaign and bled to death because the security forces prevented his being given medical treatment in time. This incident is still today the cause of acrimony on the part of the Indians of Ontario.

Disappearance of children: For many Indian families the experience is still painful to the present day of sexual, physical and mental violence in government boarding-schools, which operated from the beginning of the 19th century until the 1990s. The children had sometimes to be dragged by force from their families and forced to attend these schools, which were under religious management. Many children did not survive their time at school, dying of infectious diseases or suicide, and they were buried in the school grounds without their parents being notified. The organisation "Friends of the Disappeared” calls on the churches to face up to their responsibility. It wants the children exhumed and buried by their families in their home communities.

"United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples": In November 2006 the UN General Assembly together with the vote of Canada rejected the passing of the "General Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples” to the horror of the Assembly of First Nations. This declaration grants indigenous peoples throughout the world the right to self-determination, the right to participation in government institutions, the claim to rights of citizenship, protection of their identity of language, culture and spirituality, as well as the right to education. A central demand of the National Campaign Day is therefore that the Harper government give up its blockading policy and support the General Declaration.