Revista Mexicana de Estudios Canadienses (nueva época) Asociación Mexicana de Estudios sobre Canadá, A.C. [email protected] ISSN (Versión impresa): 1405-8251 MÉXICO 2007 Jorge Virchez / Ronald Brisbois A HISTORICAL AND SITUATIONAL SUMMARY OF RELATIONS BETWEEN CANADA AND THE FIRST NATIONS: THE CASE OF THE COMMUNITY OF KASHECHEWAN IN NORTHERN ONTARIO Revista Mexicana de Estudios Canadienses (nueva época), otoño-invierno, número 014 Asociación Mexicana de Estudios sobre Canadá, A.C. Culiacán, México pp. 87-100 Red de Revistas Científicas de América Latina y el Caribe, España y Portugal Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México http://redalyc.uaemex.mx A HISTORICAL AND SITUATIONAL SUMMARY OF RELATIONS BETWEEN CANADA AND THE FIRST NATIONS: THE CASE OF THE COMMUNITY OF KASHECHEWAN IN NORTHERN ONTARIO JORGE VIRCHEZ Y RONALD BRISBOIS Abstract It is very difficult to imagine that in Canada, which is a distinguished member of the G-8, G-10, a country that was considered by the United Nations for several years as having the best quality of living in the world, there are some aboriginal communities that have the conditions of the poorest countries in the planet. The lack of running water in the community and the presence of constant flooding is the reality of an aboriginal community in Northern Ontario - Kashechewan. The objective of this article is to discuss the conditions that prompt such a contradictory situation for First Nations in Canada. Key Words: First Nations, running water, flooding, Northern Ontario. INTRODUCTION - HISTORICAL anada’s first inhabitants, the First Nations, represent the Amerindians, the CInuit and the Métis. Five hundred years ago, a mass migration mainly from Europe would change the face of this country forever. As Natives noticed the increasing number of Europeans, they realized that their way of living would change forever (Boal et al., 1999). The Europeans were looking for more and more land and in order to justify their needs of land they forced the aboriginal people to sign treaties (Green, 1995). Most early treaties were military in na- ture, for example the Peace treaty of Montreal between the French and the Iroquois, yet as the British took control of the land, their relationship would change (Lacoursière et al., 1978). RMEC / núm. 14 / otoño-invierno / 2007 REVISTA MEXICANA DE ESTUDIOS CANADIENSES The Royal Proclamation of 1763 had the intention to delimitate large pieces of land for First Nations’ sole use and occupation. It also declared two basic principles that would govern the negotiation of treaties. The first principle was the binding respect of territorial rights for the First Nations, and the second implied that any renouncing of lands by the First Nations would involve finan- cial compensation. Without necessarily recounting the full history of the evolu- tion of treaties, negotiations started with the parcelling out of small units of land, and continued until many larger parcels had been surrendered, several unjustly (Montgomery, 2003). With this Royal Proclamation, the First Nations surrendered their rights to land in return of gifts, annual monetary subventions and financial compensations (Asch, 1988; Bartlett, 1990). After the Confederation in 1867, the need to link the country “a mare usque ad mare” by means of railroad superseded the need to respect the lands of the First Nations. This was the era of the better-known numbered treaties. During this period, the government also adopted the Indian Act of 1876 to ensure the development of the country. Under this act, all kinds of gifts were promised: annual monetary subventions and annuities, financial compensations, and most of all, the traditional right to hunt and fish, allowing them to preserve their 88 traditional way of life. This act also defined the status of “Indian”, giving them the right to remain on reserves. It also determined that a band was the governing body of a group of Aboriginals living on a reserve. Certain policies were also used so that Aboriginals lost or renounced their reserves (Clark & Wallace, 2000). THE PRESENT SITUATION OF THE FIRST NATIONS AND THE BROKEN PROMISE The lands that now remain amount to a broken promise. Most of the reserves given to the Amerindians, Inuit and Métis were far too small, and often cut them off their traditional hunting and fishing grounds. We count today 2360 reserva- tions in Canada, claiming merely 27 500 km², which is less than 0.3% of Canada’s total area. With a population nearing 800 000 (3%), Aboriginals are often faced with inadequate agricultural space, lacking forests, fish, game and other resources that push them toward difficult choices. Their choices are simple, either stay with their families and friends, facing the hardships of unemployment and pov- erty, or move to an urban centre with the hopes of building a better economic future, abandoning their traditional way of life (Clark & Wallace, 2000). The First Nations’ situation on several reserves is precarious and their prob- lems have their roots in three major recurring themes: A HISTORICAL AND SITUATIONAL SUMMARY OF RELATIONS BETWEEN... a) Territorial land claims and self-government. Traditionally, Aboriginals governed their own land before the coming of Europeans. Their system of gov- ernment was quite different and often misunderstood, leading to a paternal style of government making them “dependents” on the state, which removed their sense of control and human dignity (Montgomery, 2003). While many treaties and territories remain unresolved today, development projects on these parcels of Aboriginal sacred land provoked several recent conflicts such as: - Oka crisis in Québec (1990) - Ipperwash crisis in Ontario (1995) - Gustafsen Lake Standoff in British-Columbia (1995) - Caledonia conflict in Ontario (since February of 2006) b) Traditional way of life (right to fish and hunt). Aboriginals’ right to land is inseparable to maintaining their right to a traditional way of life, encompassed by the right to fish and hunt on traditional grounds. This lack of recognition has at times resulted in new conflicts that found different factions battling issues of territorial rights along with fishing rights of Aboriginals as demonstrated in the case of the Burnt Church Crisis in New Brunswick between 1999 and 2001. c) Access to quality water (equal services). The dawn of the 21st Century will probably become synonymous to the Aboriginal people of Canada as the time of 89 the great awakening. Plagued with multiple problems ranging from high rates of unemployment, suicide, drug and alcohol abuse, coupled with limited means of transportation and services such as health, education, among others, we could somehow find solace to the similarity of these problems with other Canadians (although rates have been recognized several times higher in some instances than the national average). The following is a unique situation comparable only to those of Third World countries: access to quality drinking water (Montgomery, 2003). THE WATER PROBLEM IN ABORIGINAL COMMUNITIES IN CANADA Canada boasts the largest supply of freshwater in the world, holding about 20% of this precious resource within its boundaries. However, its ability to provide quality drinking water was shaken in May of 2000 with the Escherichia coli (E. coli) outbreak in Walkerton, Ontario. Canada’s ability to provide quality drink- ing water resurfaced in October of 2005, where a mass emergency evacuation in the Aboriginal community of Kashechewan, Ontario, was issued. The following study incorporates a deplorable situation existing within a large proportion of Aboriginal communities throughout the country, where their access to water poses serious safety and health risks. In February 2006, CBC made available, REVISTA MEXICANA DE ESTUDIOS CANADIENSES through access to information, an investigative report “Slowboil” where water audits of over 400 Aboriginal communities throughout the country were ranked or analysed between 2001 and 2002 with shocking results. The extensive study of water audit questionnaires and reports throughout the participating provinces and territory showed that the lack of a nationally recog- nized and standardized method of ranking water quality could in part contribute to a level of confusion resulting in improper assessment of water quality in Aboriginal communities. The problem of non-standardization has also been rec- ognized by the auditor general who outlines his greatest concerns by stating ‘there are still no laws or regulatory standards like those for non native commu- nities when it comes to drinking water in Canada’s First Nations’ (Seglins, 2006). The absence of laws and regulations in Aboriginal communities to ensure qual- ity drinking water suggests a second-class system marginalizing Aboriginal people. The non-standardization effect is especially prevalent when considering its rank- ing system and water boil advisories. In order to understand the various problems regarding drinking water in Aboriginal communities, Public Works and Government Services of Canada (PWGSC) established a ranking system in the form of a water audit questionnaire. 90 Although Ontario adopted this format, the provinces of Québec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland, and Alberta would adopt comparable methods of ranking. The provinces of British Columbia and Saskatchewan and the territory of Yukon would omit the ranking system entirely from their water audit survey, relying on reports and various chemical, physical and biological analyses. The technical nature of this kind of information pro- vided is less accessible due to its more complicated and technical format. Non-standardization was also present with great variability when water boil advisories were considered in function of time. Consider for example Ontario where water boil advisories are noted for a period of one year, while Québec considers them for a period of five years. In other provinces and territories, no element of time is indicated except in the rare occasion when an advisory was permanent or long-standing. It was therefore difficult to establish the number of water boil advisories in function of time if the period lacked standardization.