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The chief of Onion Lake Cree Nation says any attempt to reform, repeal or replace the 150-year-old federal Indian Act must be led by First Nations, not by Ottawa or Indigenous umbrella organizations.
“We would definitely want to be at that table or to have that conversation with the Crown,” said Onion Lake Cree Nation Okimaw Pete Chief in an interview with CBC.
On Monday, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew called on Ottawa to abolish the Indian Act while speaking to reporters at a first ministers’ meeting. In response, Prime Minister Mark Carney said he’s open to establishing a process to reform or abolish the legislation.
Reaction to the leaders’ comments ranged from positive to skeptical, with some criticizing Kinew for unilaterally raising the issue, much to the surprise of chiefs at the meeting and across the country.
“Maybe it is the start, I don’t know. It’s going to take years before, as some have mentioned, we do away with the Indian Act,” Chief said. “We definitely need to have some careful conversations and considerations for what that will look like for our people.”
Chief said First Nations themselves should determine the process for changing or repealing the Indian Act, not umbrella organizations like the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations or the Assembly of First Nations.
“No one speaks on our behalf,” Chief said. “It’s always going to be us as an independent Treaty 6 nation.”
The Indian Act became law in 1876 and initially controlled almost every aspect of First Nations people’s lives. While parts of the legislation have changed over the years, it remains the overarching legal document for First Nations.
The law dismantled traditional forms of governance and, at one point, outlawed cultural ceremonies and traditional clothing and dancing.
It also grants certain protections to First Nations people, such as tax exemptions, that must remain in place, Chief said, adding that he questions how abolishing the Indian Act would affect protection of reserve lands.
“After all of the excitement and after all the speeches and all that happened just earlier this week, I want to see what comes next,” Chief said. “What’s that going to look like for our Treaty 6 territory and for Onion Lake?”
The Indian Act did a lot of damage over its long history and the world is very different 150 years later, so changing or replacing it will be a complicated and long process, said Danette Starblanket, a long-time advisor to First Nations and assistant professor at the University of Saskatchewan’s Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy.
“Right now, it’s a matter of selecting experts who can guide [the process], and it’s got to be First Nations folks or we’re just repeating history, because the Indian Act was designed without us,” Starblanket said in an interview with CBC.
“We have to approach it with great care and great respect and dignity. We’re talking about our life, right? Because that’s what the Indian Act has come to do — administer all aspects of our life, period.”
Premier Scott Moe said he’s open to discussions about developing a process to change or abolish the Indian Act, and also suggested the conversation should be led by First Nations.
“Before you even start talking about what that modernized legislation might look like, if the federal government was to go that way, you very much have to have the discussion about what the process is to determine what that legislation might look like,” Moe told reporters in Regina on Tuesday.
“But ultimately, that’s a discussion that will happen by the rights holders and the chiefs, and not just in this province, but across the nation.”
