Comment
Readers are invited to address letters to The Editors, Report on the Americas, 475 Riverside Drive, Suite 454, New York, NY 10115. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. The First...
...Indeed incarceration rates and statistics on income levels suggest that native people in Quebec probably face less prejudice on a daily basis than native people in some of the other provinces...
...Alas, the Quebec leadership--both nationalist and federalist-is more inclined to line up with the likes of Alberta Premier Don Getty in defense of the position that provincial authorities possess the constitutional authority to restrict the rights of linguistic minorities and to limit the capacity of aboriginal groups to control the pace and form of development on their ancestral lands...
...Bequests: Whendrafringyourwill, pteasecon- aider a bequest to NACLA...
...The First Nations The December report, "The First Nations: 1492-1992" [Vol...
...The Great Whale hydroelectric project is another example of how native rights are forcibly marshalled into the French-English debate...
...Aconcagua was misstated in Judith Laikin Elkin's "Colonial Legacy of Anti-Semitism" in the February report...
...Whatever claims indigenous peoples currently press against the federal gov- ernment would have the same moral, historical and political value for the government ofa sovereign Quebec...
...With the recent transformations in Eastern Europe and the proliferation of "informal" sectors as a result of neoliberal economic policies, the perspective of the Left continues to evolve...
...Contrary to Hall's claims, the accord did not change the present division of powers between Quebec City and Ottawa, a fact spelled out in black and white in the document itself...
...All this led to a CONTtNtJED ON PAGE 11 1.sthA*mm Executive Director Susan...
...But with regard to their economic interests, their role can be a two-edged sword, which does not always favor the cause of most Indians...
...I agree with Moreau's basic point that the quality of the relations between aboriginal people and others in Quebec is probably comparable to the situation elsewhere in the country...
...During the protest, we reached a good understanding with the Ontario provincial police and the neighboring Frenchspeaking community...
...In the face of this abomination, leaders of the French-speaking society-among them Brian Mulroney and Lucien Bouchard -said nothing...
...But she is mistaken in citing me to illustrate this point...
...Never before has Canada been host to such glaring spectacles of white racism as those which took place each night near Montreal's blockaded Mercier Bridge during the crisis...
...One of the leading Aymara intellectuals, Victor Hugo Cdrdenas, likes to say that we should confront reality with "two eyes": as oppressed nations and peoples, and as exploited classes...
...But supplant them, never...
...If so, all the other articles in the NACLA report would be unnecessary...
...Moreau is not the first person to offer reassurances of this kind to native people...
...We must credit indigenous movements for making us aware of this...
...Attempts to present Quebec sover- eignty and native rights as opposing forces are now commonplace, and even find an echo in the title of Hall's article...
...In effect he is saying thata sovereign Quebec might well be a more benevolent colonial ruler of aboriginal groups than Canada ever was...
...Yet the struggle for indigenous identity against persis- tent internal colonialism seems to touch people more deeply than economic demands, even though the latter are fundamental for physical survival...
...This type of duplicity, which disingenuously champions one form of group rights to undermine the assertion of another, needs to be exposed and condemned...
...In their pursuit of self-determination, Quebecois nationalists have largely abandoned French-speaking communities in Western Canadajust as provincial assaults on francophone rights there are growing at an alarming rate...
...Native rights activism among English-speakers in Canada has been gaining momentum for over two decades...
...Postmaster: Send address changes to Report on the AmerIcas, 475 Riverside Drive, #454, New York, NY 10115...
...Cree parliamentarian Elijah Harper only gave the final blow, for mainly good reasons in his case...
...At the same time a debate was growing in English Canada about the use of force to prevent the seccession of Quebec...
...Moreau is thus deluded in imagining that the lobby to defend aboriginal rights was instantly created to puncture a hole in the protective armor of Quebec nationalism...
...No doubt the media paid more attention to events in Quebec than in Northern Ontario because the latter did not involve the dramatic element of direct confrontation and high-powered weaponry...
...In a brief footnote to her article "Aymara Past, Aymara Future," my colleague and good friend Silvia Rivera Cusicanqui emphasizes, with reason and humor, the danger posed by a Left without Indians that would monopolize Indian discourse...
...Today the CONTINUED ON PAGE 12 disputes with Pemvian opition leader Alan Garcia duiing his 1985-1990 presidency, Washington is pushing Fujimori to ncgotia with Garcia, who is in exile in Colombia...
...Xavier Albo La Paz, Bolivia I was disappointed to find a partial, English-Canadian view of native issues in Tony Hall's "Indian Sunmier, Canadian Winter" in the December report...
...This is indeed a serious concern...
...If we can help the process by broadening the debate, all the better...
...Like tens of thousands of other native children across the country, my kids watched on T.V...
...In my view, the Indian summer of 1990 unfolded the way it did primarily because federal authorities had become so openly contemptuous of their historical obligation to act as the principal protector of aboriginal inter- ests...
...The Meech Lake Accord deserved no better fate...
...The 1987 Meech Lake agreement made some rather symbolic concessions, such as the recognition of Quebec as a "distinct society," a confusing expression used to avoid the emotionally charged term "nation...
...For me, the only movement that makes sense is one in which those directly interested in our case, the Aymara, the GuaranI, the Moxeflas, etc., and their organizations take the lead...
...All the same the accord failed to pass, not principally because of justified Quebec opposition I only wish it were so but mostly because of a rising tide of anti-French hatred...
...NACLA), an independent non-profit organi- ration founded in l9dfltoresearchrbepolitical economy of the Americas...
...None of this justifies or excuses mainstream Quebec nationalist forces for ignoring native rights and violating them in areas such as hydroelectric development...
...Moreau is wrong to claim that I portray Quebec as the "chief culprit" of the Oka crisis...
...They saw the Quebec flag waving and heard threats hurled at anyone showing the Canadian flag...
...Back basses...
...This provision arose from a long experience of British imperial rule in North America which had demonstrated the need to establish a central agency to protect aboriginal rights against the territorial and jurisdictional pretensions of provincial governments intent on satisfying the appetites of their land-hungry constituents...
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...Its stated purpose was "to provoke public debate on a subject [the character of a new Bolivia] that is urgent but always postponed...
...The constitutional agreement that brought about Canadian confederation in 1867 states unequivocally that the federal government is responsible for "Indians and lands reserved for the Indians...
...Likewise, the mobilization of public support behind the territorial claims oftheTeme-AugamaAnishnabai was one of the factors that heralded the victory of the New Democratic Party and the demise of the Liberal Party in the 1990 Ontario elections...
...L20 for individuals (t35 two years, LsOthree years);f 35 for institutions (E50 two years, 145 three years...
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...CONTINUED FROM P. 11 principal assaults on aboriginal rights are levelled by provincial governments which jealously assert their claim to exclusive control over the exploitation of natural resources within their boundaries...
...k's not clear whether the organization cn exert the diplomatic savvy to be effective in these two very different situations...
...Indeed, in 1985 the former PQ government formally recognized native peoples in Quebec as different nations with a right to selfgovernment and territorial autonomy, although it was spared the test of putting its words into practice when it lost the provincial election six months later...
...Even if the government of Canada has frequently not adhered to its own laws with respect to aboriginal rights, what possible logic would compel native groups to break with a tradition of alliance with a federal Crown whose jurisdiction in North Americais founded on a bedrock of constitutional guarantees for aboriginal peoples...
...George Black, Roger Barbach, Marc Chernick, Warren Dean, Carmen Diana Deere, ElizabethDore, PatFlynn, Obika Gray, Jonathan Fox, Jean France, Alicia Frobmann, Peter Konrbluh, William LeoGrande,DeberihLevenson,RobertoMirquez, William Orme, Hobart Spatting...
...Unfortunately, violence, or the threat of it, makes more exciting news than careful negotiations conducted in a restrained and disciplined way...
...Or is her point that the subject should be dealt with exclusively by Indians...
...But English Canada is not justified in opposing Quebec national demands on the grounds that a sovereign Quebec won't observe native rights when English Canada doesn't observe them either...
...CONTINUED FROM P.2 powerful swing in favor of Quebec independence, which received majority support for the first time ever in Quebec polls in the spring of 1990...
...The Pasti Quebecois (PQ) has always main- tained that an independent Quebec would assume all existing federal rights and obligations in Quebec, explicitly including treaty rights...
...The lack of historical depth in Moreau's flat sociological perspective leads him to ask why Indians should balk at the prospect of substituting relations with one "white" government for relations with another...
...But neither Ottawa nor the Ontario New Democratic Party government recognize these rights either...
...Unfortu- nately, some native leaders have entered this game by calling for federal military intervention if Quebec declares independence, even though the federal army was used against them in Kahnawake and Kanesatake...
...Some observers speculate that both governments deliberately whipped up the confrontation as a welcome diversion from their current troubles, and that Ottawa seized this opportunity to legitimize the use of the army in internal conflicts...
...And then, three weeks later, the Oka crisis broke out...
...Their terrible silence spoke with mute eloquence...
...The alleged defense of native rights is especially convenient for those looking for a suitable rationale to justify the use of force against Quebec on supposedly progressive grounds...
...212) 870-3146...
...By portraying Quebec as the chief culprit, Hall left untold many important things that U.S...
...Granted, mainstream Quebec nationalism doesn't recognize the right of native people to self-determination, up to and including independence...
...It's clearthat this Indian bourgeoisie can contribute much to the consolidation of ethnic and cultural identity, insofar as they maintain it...
...40 per year ferinstitutions($lotwoyears,$loothreeyears), Overseas, including Canada, Mexico and U.S...
...Quebecois withdrawal from the Canadian West, the former hinterland of the Montreal fur trade, has given heightened geopolitical importance to the future of Northern Quebec, the only available frontier of economic expant2 REPORT ON THE AMERICAS sion for the province's dynamic francophone society...
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...Yet Quebec sovereignty as such would not change the present relationship between native people and white governments only which government the former would have to deal with...
...readers should know...
...Cecilia Vicuua,Carlos Vilas, Lawrence Wesebler Book store distribution: Contact NACLA...
...But therc is hoj in some quarters that the OAS ha finally found an effeciive diplomatic voice...
...While unseen forces probably manipulated some aspects of the Oka crisis for non-aboriginal ends, it is sloppy and even dangerous for Moreau to channel his trepidation towards the amorphous entity he calls "English Canada...
...The Lubicon Crees, for example, have garnered considerable local and international support in their campaign against the petroleum industry and its captive Alberta government to stop the exploitation of their unceded lands...
...Cree opposition to similar projects in Ontario and Manitoba, and the forcible removal of native railroad blockades in Western Canada received much less media attention than the Oka crisis did, being of no use to whip up English-Canadian public opinion against Quebec...
...A further irony is that many of the imperial icons which represent a promise of liberty for native people are the very symbols which speak to many French Canadians of the indignity of their conquest and the imposition of an alien rule of law by a foreign sovereign...
...I cannot avoid comparing the menacing scenes I witnessed at Oka with the events earlier that August at Long Lake Reserve 58 in Northern Ontario, where my wife's Ojibway community had planted a protest camp squarely across the main line of the Canadian National Railway, severing transcontinental rail service for over a week...
...Native people in Quebec often perceive Quebec sovereignty as an attempt to grab their land, especially with respect to the North, which was transferred to Quebec in 1912...
...It is in midwestern Argentina...
...In the first place, she erroneously attributes to me the authorship of the book Por una Bolivia Diferente (La Paz, CIPCA, 1991...
...huge crowds of white people cheering as Indians were burned in effigy...
...The legacies we receive belpensure ourlong-term survival and are a commitment to the search for new relationslripa in the Hemisphere...
...The views expressedin ReportoatheAsnerleasarethose oftheauthorsanddonotnecessarily represent the views of NACLA, Second class postage paid at New York, NY...
...Ironically, the Mohawks, the very group whose refusal to submit to the claims of any non-aboriginal sovereign sparked the Oka conflict, have historically been at the very center of the tradition of alliance with the Crown...
...There is sound cause for francophone and aboriginal groups in the West to rally together to defend their similar interests and pursue their similar goals...
...Francois Moreau Department of Sociology University of Ottawa Tony Hall responds: Professor Moreau' s remarks graphically depict how native people have been thrust into the center of an ideological battlefield testing competing visions of Canadian and Quebecois nationhood...
...The builder of the James Bay dams and chief advocate of the Great Whale project, Premier Robert Bourassa, happens to be a resolute opponent of Quebec indepen- dence...
...The campaign to defend Cree and Inuit hunting territories from the dam builders in the government of Quebec, therefore, resembles other campaigns across Canada to defend aboriginal lands from provincial encroachment...
...At least in Bolivia, it seems the key to success is the ability to combine ethnic and class perspectives without subordinating either...
...While I take exception to many elements of his analysis, it is undeniably true that some reactionary forces opposed to French-language rights have seized on the idea that aboriginal rights constitute ajurisdictional monkey wrench that can be hurled at the political machinery of their oppo- nents...
...Moreover, the book does not pretend to have the last word...
...But this opposition is misconceived...
...XXV, No.3], reiterates how the traditional parties of the Left have undervalued the ethnic dimension...
...In many countries, the traditional working class is losing its central role...
...It would be a real irony of history if Quebec ultimately broke out of Canada's jurisdiction in order to press its own sovereign claims to aboriginal lands in the North, just as land developers in the Thirteen Colonies once provoked a civil war in order to free themselves from imperial restrictions such as the Quebec Act, which blocked expansion of their own EuroAmerican settlements into Indian lands along their western frontiers...
...Where there are large Indian populations, the Left is beginning to discover the ethnic dimension...
...But the Left's new proIndian sentiment may turn out to be indianismo without Indian protagonists As in the past, internal colonialism is still very much alive in our countries...
...The picture of the Salvadoran leather-tooling cooperative in the May report was taken by Steve Cagan...
...Eventually, the dispute was settled peacefully...
...Alt overseas sentby airmaiL ILL Subserihern Order front Latin America Bureau, 1 Arnwell Street, London ECIR tIlt (Tel: 071 218-2829...
...It arises not so much with respect to professionals, but with respect to merchants and other powerful patrones...
...With the increasing number and social differentiation of urban Indians, the question of the so-called "Indian bourgeoisie" has already provoked much debate...
...This strategic consideration has put the James Bay Cree and the Ungava Inuit in an interesting strategic position...
...Reportosa the Anserleas is available in microformfromtlniveisiyMicrofilmsinternational, 300 NOrth Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48106...
...Indexed by Alternative Press Index, Hispanic American Periodicals Index, Political Scienea Index, and PATS Bulletin, a public policy/ social science index...
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...Nevertheless, I take issue with Moreau's contention that Quebec nationalism has been unjustly victimized not only by my article, but by the whole course of events that unfolded during the Indian summer of 1990...
...It is a collective work in which many minds and hands, Indian and nonindigenous, of many backgrounds and affiliations, participated...
...In fact it was so providential that some wonder how coincidental it really was...
...Moreover, in the l970s the PQ actually opposed the James Bay dams (in favor of nuclear power) and today some pro-independence forces are opposed to Great Whale...
...The fact remains, however, that the Mohawks at Oka faced an armed attack on their position from the Quebec provincial police, the likes of which had not occurred since the Canadian army crushed M6tis resistance in 1885...
...Neither is it cle& what the New World cder" holds in store for relations hetween Washington and the rest of the hemisphere...
...When the federal government ordered the provincial police to remove the blockade, they simply refused...
...Pro-independence forces in fact rejected the accord because it did not address any substantive issue...
...Wood Editor Fred Rosen Associate Editor Deidre McFadyen Art Director Susan Woolhandler Office Manager Juliet Dint Solari Editorial Board...
...For two months, it displaced the Quebec issue from the front pages, a providential relief for federalist forces in power in both Quebec City and Ottawa, then reeling from the failure of the Meech Lake Accord...
Vol. 26 • July 1992 • No. 1
