NCFNG dialogue on development

A PLEASURE TO INTRODUCE EDWARD ALLEN

Edward Allen L.L.B is Executive Director of the National Centre First Nation Governance (NCFNG). He has a law degree from Osgoode Hall Law School, and, "always had an interest and passion for social justice." He practiced law for a few years and continues to belong to the BC Bar Association, however, the interest in law included governance and Aboriginal rights and title issues.

"But I guess what I noticed in the practice of law you are dealing with individual concerns and it struck me a lot of times you couldn't get at the issues to make change. You needed to really get at the root of what Aboriginal people need, and that meant going into an area of law based on the Canadian court rulings on Aboriginal rights and title," Campbell, Delgamuukw, Haida:

[EXCERPT - In the Delgamuukw decision "(…) the court held that Aboriginal title is a communally held right in land and, as such, comprehends more than the right to engage in specific activities (e.g., hunting, fishing) which may themselves constitute Aboriginal rights. Based on the fact of prior occupancy, Aboriginal title confers the right to exclusive use and occupation of land for a variety of activities, not all of which need be aspects of [End Page 17] practices, customs or traditions integral to the distinctive cultures of Aboriginal societies.]

The spirit of the endeavor in the NCFNG, "is exciting, the group of people in these offices and especially the communities across the country that have people saying, 'I am fed up with the position our people have in Canadian society.'"

Allen said, "People tell me, 'I want to step forward and make a positive future for myself and my children,'" and he is meeting people in these communities where the focus has turned forward-looking. "Legal recognition of the inherent rights of First Nations people and the Aboriginal rights and title in their claims also supports positive change destined to benefit people of First Nations coast to coast."

The NCFNG organization has personnel who, "are very experienced asserting their rights," in contrast to their grandfathers who struggled to survive without the same rights as other Canadians (to vote, to justice, to work). He said this generation is great at tasking and working toward objectives which themselves are understood very well.

"We are really working with a good understanding of the process." In fact, he said, "I am learning a few things from managers who have been out establishing these relationships for the past year." For the NCFNG, it is about communities exercising Aboriginal rights and title, and Inherent Rights. "These are things the law in Canada has recognized, including ownership of the land and resources, and decisions about what to do with them," and these relate to self-government.

"The inescapable component to these rights," is the failure to recognize them, it brings consequences. "Each time we have infringement this entitles the communities to accommodations and a restoration of the balance."

This has been proven repeatedly, "Crown failures have been struck down in court and enforced accomodations include jobs, equity in ownership of companies involved with the land and resources, joint ventures, and orders granting fee simple grants to compensate damaged interests."

Canada is changing, "Any developments that take place in territory must respect Aboriginal rights and title in this country and consultations must be established to accommodate the legal framework. The courts of Canada have enunciated, through Campbell, Delgamuukw, and Haida decisions, that Section 35 contains the right of self-government that was never extinguished and groups can assert that right."

He said, it is possible to imagine the future of First Nation communities, "achieving success in empowerment under the law by simply saying, 'We are going ahead to exercise inherent right,' in whatever form they define it, whether Aboriginal Rights and Title, in treaty, as sovereign nations, it doesn't matter because Aboriginal people have these rights."

Whether they recognizing themselves as a Band or reserve or as a nation it matters not. If they are coming together, and saying, 'we are a nation,' the NCFNG Will work with them as they see fit. Some communities say of the Indian Act that it is limiting them in what they can do and the act is inconsistent with their values. "Some communities are doing okay with it and say they are not worried or can use it."

The approach a community takes toward the Crown is up the community. Allen said, "Each will define its relationship and work with the Crown." The NCFNG is there to assist in the possible affirmation of the approach. "These communities are coming to us from across the country, and it is interesting how the concept is universal, how a host of unique nations have these shared ideas of the rights we hold."

NCFNG Taking the opportunity to create opportunity, that is what Satsan (Herb George) has done: The National Centre for First Nation Governance (NCFNG) opened five offices across Canada in '07. In '03, following the federal government’s effort of trying to impose the First Nations Governance Act (FNGA) (and subsequent negative response by First Nations leaders and citizens across the country) Satsan decided the time had come to meet the challenge, believing that government and First Nations must proceed past the notion of constitutionally protected inherent right of self government.

Simply stated, "First Nations have the inherent right to make their own decisions on how they can be best governed." Once this challenging notion was accepted, a new challenge came to be; creating a means by which to do so. Thus began the idea for the National Centre for First Nations Governance, an organization offering First Nations, at their own request, access to unimpeachable research, technical support, information and advisory services.

Satsan is President of the NCFNG, “The organization is nationwide and was set up after three years of work in progress," starting from the idea to bringing other people into the picture and building support. Satsan said one of those years was dedicated to the organizational structure and design of a business plan, per se; this was an arduous task, much needed and necessary to ensure the NCFNG works independent from government. Once this phase was complete, the next was implemented; garnering support at the federal political level.

And that, said Satsan, happily succeeded beyond expectation, "It was mentioned in the Throne Speech by (then) Prime Minister Martin and received all-party support including the Bloc Quebecois. Hon. Chuck Strahl, Minister of Agriculture (then-Cons MP), Abbottsford, BC, stepped up, and said ‘I like this’. It was then passed through Domestic Affairs of Cabinet and received Treasury Board approval."

Satsan said the opportunity is now for First Nations to create opportunities through the exercise of their inherent right of self-governance. "We need to do this for ourselves, by ourselves. Government won’t because it’s not about them and they don’t know how. It’s about the inherent right to take our rightful place in society, in the world."

Taking that rightful place has already begun for the Centre working out of five regional offices established across Canada; BC, Saskatoon, Ottawa, Quebec, and the Atlantic. The BC Regional Office, based in Coast Salish Territory, on the Squamish Reserve, West Vancouver, houses the office of the president and also serves as the NCFNG Corporate Head Office. The Ontario Regional Office, based in Ottawa, also serves as the Central Operations Office.

Services and programs offered by the Centre focus on the creation of good governance models. First it must be determined where a community presently stands with its governance: this varies within inherent rights down to the Indian Act. "The Indian Act wasn’t designed to allow us to be free. We have to take care of ourselves, ensure our futures and look at government from a totally different perspective. We want to go forward based on the overwhelming reception that we met on the principle of choice. So many communities are trying to repair their governance as a result of the Indian Act, and, in the end, they are still stuck with the Indian Act," he said.

He acknowledged that moving away from Indian Act isn’t going to be easy for the mere fact that in order to establish a governance structure First Nations people must take on the prime roles and responsibilities of their own governance. The NCFNG has four 'core business lines' designed to respond to this, through governance advisory, professional development, land, law and governance research, and public education and communications.

The components together form an education and capacity building strategy focussed on building from within; meeting community concerns first and foremost by assisting in the development of professional people to take on new roles and responsibilities. "In moving from the Indian Act to other modalities, we need serious capacity building of resource skills and education. We are working with colleges and schools to ensure programming that reflects the needs of people in our nations," he said.

Land, law, and governance research are integral in this education and capacity building process. The communities need to understand various laws that exist, and they need research that supports their goals to change the governance situation. According to Satsan, it’s all a matter of interpretation. "Land issues must be examined in treaty context and Aboriginal Rights and Title context. We have to make the correct interpretation of existing law to inform ourselves and everyone else of what it really says."

When the interpretation is clear, communities can then get a better understanding of governance structure for themselves. And this in itself, said Satsan, brings to the forefront a whole new adventure to be explored. The credibility gap must be filled, and questions must be answered. "What is government? What does it look like and how does it work? Inherent right has been talked over but how does it work? The research has to be credible and has to be above and beyond reproach. Our research applies to all the different people who have been put into place under the same system, the Indian Act.”

And reaching these people who are in ‘the system’ or those who are in the general public is one of the most important responsibilities of the Centre. Communications channel 80% toward the First Nations people and 20% to the Canadian public. "We have discovered that we must aim communications outward to the Canadian public to gain the support for our Aboriginal rights and title. But in many ways we haven’t been talking to our own people. We have rights out there and the future we wish for our children is out there and we can do it now.” (Visit: www.fngovernance.org)