EXCERPTS of REPORT TO THE FEDERATION OF SOVEREIGN INDIGENOUS NATIONS (FSIN) CHIEFS-IN-ASSEMBLY FEBRUARY, TREATY #4 YORKTON COMMUNITY

Written By : Jody Wolverine

Healing must become a priority for all First Nations and their institutions. Community healing requires healing on an individual level, organizational level and community level. Healing is connected to good governance because it requires a healthy spirit and a clear mind. Ethics and adherence to cultural protocols are key to good governance. Good governance ensures all peoples voices are being heard and informed.

First Nations need their leaders to be engaged in Treaty at all levels. First Nations need their leaders to be healthy in mind and spirit. How we treat each other is based in colonial abuse of power and resulting violence. When predators calling themselves medicine people and healers, false Elders and abusive leadership use their status in our communities to sexually assault and traffic the most vulnerable against us, we must hold them accountable. We must hold accountable the systems and institutions that support the abuse of Indigenous people even when it is in our own communities and nations. Our children and grandchildren will grow up believing that the pain and deep wounds are normal if we don’t start turning this reality around and breaking these cycles.

Statement of Issues:

Duty to Consult by Government, First Nations in Saskatchewan have experienced the following:

• A very poor provincial duty to consult policy that leans in favor of proponents, industry and provincial departments.

• Minimal to no access to financial resources to respond to proponent Letters of Notice, leading to a loss of economic benefit to First Nations.

• Slow responses from the Saskatchewan Government departments, and the push back on widely accepted principles of Truth and Reconciliation and UNDRIP.

• Loss of economic benefit to First Nations - estimated in the hundreds of millions of dollars - as a result of the current provincial duty to consult policy and political strategy to isolate First Nations from participating in the management of their

Treaty territory lands, water and resources and even communicating with each other with industry and proponents through NDAs.

The Natural Resources Transfer Agreement, 1930;

• When the Treaties were negotiated, leaders and knowledge-keepers have stated that this land was not ceded, was not surrendered, despite the fraudulent clause in the Treaties.

Academic research backs up this assertion. As a result, the NRTA is an overreach by the federal and provincial governments and was and is unlawful delegation of authority.

In 100 years, our future generations should not be still talking about the NRTA and how to eradicate it. There needs to be collective action on eradicating the NRTA. There is no more time for conferences and discussions – a plan must be implemented –whether it is legal, political or a combination of the two.

“Cede and Surrender Clause”

Saskatchewan First Act and the NRTA. In both pieces of legislation, the Indigenous interpretation of the “Cede and

Surrender Clause” is important.

Oral history, academic research and our First Nation Elders and knowledge keepers have established that we never gave up land and resources; the “Cede and Surrender Clause” was fraudulent. That term was not translated to the First Nations at the time of Treaty and certainly never agreed to by leadership who attended Treaty-making. As a result, surrender is not a legitimate term of Treaty. Canada must remove the cede and surrender clause from any of its policies, agreements and legal arguments. Crown Land Sale, the Crown must make available lands for exercise of rights. The sale of those Crown lands when First Nations vehemently oppose them amid some of the largest transfer of wealth back to First Nations through claims when nations may undertake to “buy back” their lands there must be Crown land made available.

This is but excerpts from the report, stay tuned to our social media pages and subscribe to our newsletters to request the entire report and the coming full statement of Treaty issues.

Written By : Christina Cherneskey

Regina filmmaker Candy Fox has taken a journey into Canada’s untold history.

She just finished directing and producing Treaty Road, an upcoming show set to premiere this fall on APTN.

“Having directed for other documentary series, this one was powerful,” says Fox. In addition to her work on the series, she has written and directed her own short films, such as ahkameyimo nitanis (Keep Going, My Daughter), which offers a poetic glimpse into the life of a young Indigenous family.

Canadian Indigenous broadcaster Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) commissioned the docuseries examining the signing of the Numbered Treaties, a set of 11 agreements between First Nations Peoples and Canada’s reigning monarch from 1871 to 1921.

Treaty Road is a six-part documentary. It delves into the vast and frequently underappreciated histories of Treaties one through six. Each hourlong episode highlights individuals and communities, demonstrating the impact of living under Treaty agreements in today’s world.

The program features two co-hosts, Métis writer-director-producer Saxon DeCocq of southern Alberta Region 3 and multidisciplinary artist Erin Goodpipe of the Standing Buffalo Dakota Nation.