I 1 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS I Page • LIST OF TABLES vi LIST OF FIGURES vii • PART ONE - HISTORICAL OVERVIEW 1.0 INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND 1 • 1.1 THE MKO REGION - 1670 TO 1980: FROM RUPERTSLAND TO HYDROPOWER 3 1.1.1 The Early Historic Period: Pre-Contact 3 — 1.1.2 The Post-Contact Period 5 • 1.1.3 The Fur Trade: Commercial Partnership and Mutual Benefit 6 • 1.1.4 The Forts of the HBC 8 | 1.1.5 The Royal Proclamation of 1763: The Emergence of the Treaty-Making Process 10 • 1.1.6 The Period of Increasing Intervention: 1774-1870 12 1 1.1.7 The Red River Colony 13 1.1.8 The British North America Act, 1867 14 • 1.1.9 The Manitoba Act, 1870 15 1 1.1.10 The Decline of York Fort and the Northwest Rebellion of 1885 17 • 1.1.11 For As Long as the Sun Shines: I The Treaties and Their Adhesions (1874-1910) 20 TREATY 4: The Qu'Appelle Treaty (September, 1874) 21 • TREATY 5: The Winnipeg Treaty (September, 1875) • and its Adhesions 21 TREATY 6: The Forts Carlton and Pitt Treaties (1876) 24 1 TREATY 10: The Brechet Treaty (1907) • and its Adhesions 25 1.1.12 Port Nelson and the "Bay Line": 1912-1929 26 1 1.1.13 The Constitution Act, 1930 27 1 1.2 RACISM, ASSIMILATION AND ALIENATION 31 _ 1.2.1 Provisions of the Indian Act 31 1 1.2.2 Residential Schools 32 1.2.3 Prohibition of Religious Expression m and Implementation of the Pass System 34 • 1 1 1 • 1 1.2.4 The Period of Relocation and Re-establishment: 1956-1973 35 • 1.2.5 The "Sixties Scoop" 37 • 1.2.6 Health Care 39 1.2.7 The Administration of Justice 42 • 1.2.8 Addictions 43 • 1.3 DEVELOPING THE NORTHERN "FRONTIER": 1930-1980 45 1.3.1 Industrializing the North: Mining and Hydroelectric Developments 47 • 1.3.2 Forestry Development 51 1.3.3 Provincial Power 53 1.3.3.1 Grand Rapids Hydro Project 54 • 1.3.3.2 The Churchill River Diversion- 1 Lake Winnipeg Regulation Project and The Northern Flood Agreement 54 . 1.3.4 The Promise of Employment: Tradeoffs or Tragedy? 57 1.3.4.1 Hydroelectric Development 60 - The Limestone Project 61 - The Northern Preference Clause 63 1 - Limestone Training and Employment Agency 63 - Manitoba Hydro Initiatives 64 - Manitoba Hydro Purchasing Guidelines 64 1 1.3.4.2 Forestry Development 69 1.3.4.3 Mining Development 73 1 PART TWO - KEEWATINOOK OKIMOWIN • • 2.0 THE M KO FIRST NATIONS TODAY: IDENTITY AND RIGHTS 76 21 THE EXISTING RELATIONSHIP - THE FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION 1 OF THE CROWN AND THE RIGHTS OF THE ABORIGINAL PEOPLES OF CANADA 79 1 • 2.1.1 The Nature of the Crown's Fiduciary Obligation 80 1 2.1.2 The Nature of Aboriginal and Treaty Rights: Substantive Issues 84 2.1.2.1 The Constitution Act; 1982 85 1 ii 1 1 2.2 KEEWATINOOK OKIMOWIN 89 2.2.1 Treaties, Justice and Aboriginal Government 93 2.2.2 Health, Community and Child and Family Services 94 2.2.3 Natural Resources and Resources Management 94 2.2.4 Communications 94 2.3 CONTEMPORARY CONCERNS AND ACTIVITIES IN THE M KO REGION 95 2.3.1 Justice and Law: The Aboriginal Court System 95 2.3.2 The Healing Circle: Community, Family and Children 97 2.3.2.1 Child Welfare 99 -The Awasis Agency 100 -The Cree Nation Child and Family Caring Agency 105 2.3.2.2 Health Care 105 -Northern Manitoba Diploma/Degree Collaborative Nursing Program 108 -Aboriginal Education for Health and Human Services 109 2.3.2.3 Addictions 111 -The Nelson House Medicine Lodge 111 -The Northern Solvent Abuse Development Program 114 -The Proposed Cross Lake Treatment Centre 118 2.3.3 Natural Resources 118 2.3.3.1 First Nations' Participation and Negotiations in Natural Resources Management 119 2.3.3.2 Traditional Ecological Knowledge 122 2.3.3.3 Natural Resources Joint Management Initiatives 125 2.3.3.4 Recognition and Defense of Treaty-Based Resource Harvesting Rights 128 -Commercial Fishing Rights 128 iii 2.4 REDRESS AND CLAIMS 134 2.4.1 Claims Arising From Treaty: The Fiduciary Obligation to Settle Outstanding Specific Claims 134 2.4.1.1 The Formulas 136 2.4.1.2 Availability 137 2.4.1.3 A Case Study - the Manitoba Denesuline and the Inuit of Nunavut - Specific vs. Comprehensive Claims 139 2.4.2 Claims Arising From Development 141 2.4.2.1 Hydroelectric Development: 144 The Northern Flood Agreement 146 Manitoba Hydro 147 -The Fox Lake First Nation 147 -The War Lake (llford) First Nation 148 -Sayisi Dene First Nation (Tadoule Lake) 148 -Mathias Colomb First Nation 148 -Island Falls and Whitesand 148 2.4.2.2 Mining Developments 149 2.4.2.3 Forestry Developments 150 -Environmental Assessment 151 -Natural Resource Development and Allocation 151 -Resource Equity and Employment 151 -Community Resource Areas 151 2.4.3 Claims Arising From Government Policy 152 2.4.3.1 Relocation of Sayisi Dene and York Factory Cree 152 2.4.3.2 Residential Schools: Releasing the Silent Cry 152 2.4.3.3 Prohibition of Religious Expression 155 2.5 THE SELF-GOVERNMENT FRAMEWORK 156 2.5.1 Realizing Self-Government 156 2.5.2 Recognizing Self-Government 158 2.5.2.1 Constitutional Amendment 159 iv 1 1 t I 2.5.3 Re-establishing the First Nations-Crown Relationship 161 • 2.5.4 The "New" Relationship 162 1 2.5.4.1 Bilateral Recognition of the Right to Self-Government 162 • 1 2.5.5 Honouring the Treaties: Who is Responsible? 168 | 2.5.6 A "Treaties Implementation Act" 171 I 2.5.6.1 A Treaties Implementation Council and Director 171 • 2.5.7 Resolution of Outstanding Claims 172 2.5.7.1 A "Comprehensive and Specific Claims Act" 1 and Office of the Aboriginal Advocate 173 u 2.5.8 The Future of the Indian Act 173 " 2.5.9 Financial Agreements 175 • 1 PART THREE - MECHANSIMS AND SOLUTIONS 1 3.0 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 177 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS 177 •I 3.1 3.2 PRINCIPLES FOR MUTUAL RECOGNITION, | RESPECT AND UNDERSTANDING 178 1 3.2.1 Recognition 178 3.2.2 Honour 178 1 3.2.3 Acceptance and Understanding 179 1 3.2.4 Independence 180 3.2.5 Consultation 180 1 3.2.6 Participation 181 • 3.2.7 Sharing 181 3.2.8 Education 182 1 1 APPENDIX A: TABLES (in numerical order) • APPENDIX B: MAPS AND FIGURES (in numerical order) 1 1 1 LIST OF TABLES (appearing in Appendix A) TABLE 1 MKO First Nations' Population and Access Statistics TABLE 2 MKO First Nations' Quantum of Outstanding Treaty Land Entitlements vi LIST OF FIGURES (appearing in Appendix B) FIGURE 1 Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak Communities FIGURE 2 Rupert's Land (1670) ThFIGURe EffecE 3t of the Royal Proclamation of 1763 FIGURE 4 Canada in 1870 FIGURE 5 Treaty Boundaries FIGURE 6 Lac Brochet (Northlands First Nation) Hunting Territory FIGURE 7 REPAP Manitoba Forest Management Licence Area FIGURE 8 REPAP Manitoba Operating Plan, Forest Management Unit #62 FIGURE 9 Northern Flood Agreement Communities, Generating Stations and Control Structures of the Lake Winnipeg Regulation-Churchill River Diversion Projects FIGURE 10 First Nation-Government Roles in Natural Resource Agreements: The Resource Allocation Strategy outlined by the Supreme Court of Canada FIGURE 11 Land Selections of the Manitoba Denesuline and the Inuit of the Nunavut Settlement Area vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Keewatinook Okimowin: Mechanisms and Solutions is the result of several months of intensive research and consultations initiated in the spring of 1993 by the Natural Resources Secretariat (NRS) of the Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak, Inc. (MKO) The authors of this report wish to recognize the direction and interest provided by the MKO Executive Council, as well as the funding support of the Intervenor Funding Program of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, without which the completion of this report would not have been possible. The insights, positions, recommendations and perspectives of the MKO First Nations, their Chiefs, Elders, Councils and community members - provided in part during the MKO Special Assembly in May, 1993 and the MKO Annual Assembly in August, 1993 - have guided all aspects of this project. Several complex themes emerged in the research and consultations carried out for this submission, but one focus was maintained by the MKO First Nations: that a "new relationship" between First Nations, governments and non- aboriginal Canadians will be based on the recognition of First Nations' self-determination. MKO personnel who assisted with the research for this submission are: Loretta Bayer, Louisa Constant, Ardell Cochrane, Stewart Hill, Jennie Wastesicoot and Angela McKay. The writing team would especially like to recognize the efforts, support and encouragement of the MKO Executive Director, George Neepin. The processing of map biography information and the resulting Figures 6 and 11 were completed at MKO-NRS by Talbot Saunders on Hewlett-Packard and Compaq 486 computers running the TerraSoft GIS package, output to a Mutoh plotter. These figures are provided courtesy of the Northlands First Nations and the Sayisi Dene, and are reproduced from the January, 1993 MKO-NRS report Denesuline Nene and Nunavut: A Boundary In Dispute. This submission was researched and written by Michael Anderson and Alison Haugh using Compaq Contura, Compaq ProSignia and Hewlett-Packard Vectra computers running Wordperfect 5.1 and printing to a Hewlett-Packard LaserJet printer. MKO would like to thank Alison Haugh for the contribution of portions of her unpublished Master thesis to this important submission.