Advertisement

First Nations leaders threaten blockades if Ottawa moves ahead with aboriginal education bill

Via Rail obstruction in Marysville, Ont., to draw attention to missing and murdered aboriginal women

First Nations leaders raised the spectre of fresh blockades over their unhappiness with the Conservative government's plans to reform aboriginal education.

Blockades are a traditional tactic of First Nations in Canada, used sometimes to stymie resource development on their traditional lands if they feel they haven't been consulted adequately. That's what happened last year when aboriginal protesters clashed with police at a blockade over natural gas-fracking exploration.

Last month, the Via Rail line between Toronto and Montreal was blocked for a day near the Tyendinaga Mohawk reserve in southern Ontario to protest the government's refusal to hold a national inquiry into murdered and missing aboriginal women.

A similar 2012 blockade in support of the Idle No More movement delayed passenger trains.

Now, some First Nations leaders are warning they'll go after the Canadian economy if the government doesn't ditch the First Nations Control of First Nations Education Act.

Actions being contemplated include a blockade of the Ambassador Bridge between Windsor, Ont., and Detroit, the busiest border crossing in Canada, The Canadian Press reports.

According to the government, the legislation is designed to raise education standards for First Nations schools to those of non-aboriginal public schools and make reserve school systems more accountable.

But First Nations leaders are pushing back against the proposed law, known as Bill C-33, as an intrusion into their control of aboriginal education.

Derek Nepinak of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, said the bill gives Ottawa too much say and reminded him of the infamous residential school system, CP reported.

"It's about delegated and limited participation in advisory committees," he said. "It's about a limited participation in the administration of education. We already have that."

Gordon Peters of the Association of Iroquois and Allied Indians, who raised the possibility of blocking the Ambassador Bridge, said First Nations leaders should not have to make such threats to get the government's attention.

The government thought it had a deal when it tabled the bill. Aboriginal Affairs Minister Bernard Valcourt said it meets the five conditions spelled out by the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) and chiefs at a meeting last December, CP said.

The agreement with the AFN was supposed to boost aboriginal education spending by $1.25 billion over three years, beginning in 2016, with regular increases in subsequent years, and give First Nations greater control.

AFN National Chief Shawn Atleo said at the time the agreement was a good first step, CBC News reported.

“What we are hearing the government commit to is a new way forward that we jointly design an approach to education that we have First Nations control and sustainable funding that has to be anchored in legislation,” Atleo said back in February.

[ Related: UN visit highlights chronic inability to solve aboriginal problems ]

Atleo apparently still supports the legislation. An AFN analysis released to chiefs last week called it a "constructive and necessary step, supportive of goals expressed by First Nations for control, respect for treaty and aboriginal rights, recognition of language and culture and a clear statutory guarantee for fair funding," the Globe and Mail reported.

But for some aboriginal leaders the final bill falls short and Nepinak is criticizing the AFN's involvement.

“I think what we’ve got to do is take a really critical review of the AFN’s role in this process,” Nepinak told the Globe. “I think there has to be fallout from this.”

Because the legislation will have impact at the community level, consultation should take place with individual First Nations, not the national assembly, he said.

However, Atleo said in a statement Friday the AFN was working under the direction of chiefs across the country and supported a broad review of the legislation, the Globe said.