09) YINKA DENE ASK CHINA TO RAISE HUMAN RIGHTS

PV Vancouver Bureau

     The Yinka Dene Alliance, a group of five First Nations that represent several thousand people in north‑central B.C., has sent open letters to the Chinese people and to President Hu Jintao, asking that he raise their human rights concerns with Stephen Harper.

     Harper left on Feb. 6 for a four‑day trip to China, accompanied by executives from Canada's energy sector.

     The letter from the Yinka Dene Alliance stresses that "Our communities have yet to sign a treaty with the Canadian government and our title to the land in British Columbia remains unextinguished. The Supreme Court of Canada has confirmed that our Aboriginal title remains unextinguished. We have been at the negotiation table with public governments for many years with no success and the current deliberations are on hold awaiting mandates from federal negotiators...

     "Since colonization Canada has forced us to live under an Indian Act, a piece of federal legislation that restricts our rights and freedoms. During colonization our territories were taken away, along with our voting rights and ability to hire legal counsel for to negotiate the return of our lands. In recent years, with the patriation of Canada's Constitution (1982) including the creation of Section 35, we have been forced to the Courts to protect our rights.

     "Aboriginal communities in Canada live at the margins of society - in abject poverty with appalling conditions. Recently the community of Attawapiskat was highlighted in the news for the extreme conditions with lack of housing, running water and sewage. Attawapiskat is one of more than 100 First Nations communities in Canada that face this reality. These conditions violate the adequate standard of living guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the rights to adequate housing, education, and other rights guaranteed in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

     "We have other examples that we feel should be highlighted in your meeting with Canada's Prime Minister. These are only a few examples in the recent history of human rights abuses against Aboriginal people committed by Canada - in violation of Canadian law and of International law."

     The letter cites the over 580 aboriginal women and girls in Canada who are missing or murdered, and the fact that much of Canada's prison population are Aboriginal. It also notes cases of police involvement of killings of Native men, such as Dudley George, Frank Paul, and Clayton Willey.

     From there, the letter turns to "Resource development without our support. There are so many cases that are too numerous to report about First Nations protecting our rights to the land and then being sent to prison. The most recent issue that is of interest to your government is the transport of crude oil through our territories. A Canadian company called Enbridge has taken a hostile approach with our people by its continued intention to build their pipeline from the Alberta oil sands to the Pacific Ocean in spite of our opposition, and we do not support their proposal. Several Chinese State‑Owned Enterprises have been reported to invest in this proposal and we are open to meeting directly with them, but Enbridge has refused to reveal the identity of most of these companies. We have learned that Sinopec, and a subsidiary of China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC), are among the companies that have signed preliminary, non‑binding agreements with Enbridge in relation to this pipeline.

     "The Canadian government's hearing process to review the Enbridge project cannot be relied upon to provide certainty to project investors, because it does not respect our rights to our land. Investors should not place confidence in Canada's system to review oil pipeline projects until the underlying question of our land rights has been resolved. An oil spill in our lands and rivers would destroy our fish, poison our water, and devastate our Aboriginal people, our culture and our livelihoods. An oil spill on the coast would destroy sources of seafood and fish, like crabs, for thousands of people."

     In conclusion, the letter says, "President Hu, our people are not against development. In fact it was with us that the first Europeans and Chinese traded with upon entering into our territories. We seek sustainable development based upon our principles and laws and this development must be negotiated, not imposed. As you are the leader of a new world superpower we respectfully request you to raise these human rights concerns with Prime Minister Stephen Harper."

(The above article is from the March 1-15, 2012, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)