Chiefs of Ontario launch lawsuit saying they are denied equal access to justice | APTN News

the chiefs of Ontario have launched a lawsuit saying they are denied equal access to Justice in a statement of claim filed this week it says many provincial and federal laws don't apply on reserve First Nations can make their own laws to fill in those gaps but the suit alleges governments don't provide enforcement of those laws or adequately provide funding to hire their own Enforcement Officers to talk about this we are joined by Caldwell First Nation Chief Mary Duckworth chief Duckworth what led to the chiefs of Ontario filing this lawsuit hi the the chiefs of Ontario brought litigation forward um against Canada and Ontario for the failure to recognize that the first nation's laws need to be respected enforced not only at the level of policing but within the courts and what's happened is with the new police act that came through on April 1st 2024 it is absent of being able to provide any protection or measure of Justice For The First Nations because it is basically saying that they will not come onto the territory and enforce laws and what are the consequences of not being able to enforce First Nations laws on reserve the consequences is creating a lawless Society whereby you would allow people that even the nation wouldn't want to be on the first First Nation there because we wouldn't have the ability to execute our laws call the police and have them removed and what it does is it concerns me because as the sitting Chief my responsibility is to the community the members and the protection of our people and I'm concerned about the level of in Southwestern Ontario of human trafficking you know the amount of drugs that are moving through the territory and the inability to protect our women and children who deserve the right of Justice like any other person that resides in municipalities and other territories you kind of touched on this um I'm just wondering what are some concrete examples of how inadequate funding is making communities unsafe well the inadequacy is the inability for us to execute our own laws and have the police enforce them and actually take it to the next level to court to be able to have it dealt with in a meaningful way and I give an example of The Residency tency act so with on the First Nation if there happened to be somebody there that was in nefarious and doing you know behaviors that were harmful to the community and we and had our law and enacted it and was going to move on it we would require the police to come to assist in that help us you know with the prosecution and make our community safe the ACT is absent of that we are not able to do that it doesn't speak to that and it's very concerning like I said you know it's a racist piece of legislation and we need to address it we talk about you know we're in a time of Truth and Reconciliation and to me those are empty words unless you can put action behind it those are empty words unless you can come to the table like the chiefs of Ontario have been asking for the past 5 years to meet and talk about you know safety measures having the ability to access Justice and it's just not happening and you know we were in Ottawa or sorry in in uh Queens Park you know um in March before the Act was enacted to to meet with mpps and to to discuss this but it you know nothing moved and it just moved forward and it fell on deaf ears and and it's concerning to me a a as citizen as as as a chief that is responsible you know for the care of the community and the statement of claims says threats came out of Ontario indigenous Minister Greg rickford's office when news of a possible lawsuit reached it we've reached out to his office but they won't comment on the case while it's before the courts what can you say about what sounds like a serious allegation I'm concerned that um somebody in power like that would respond negatively to the First Nation I mean you are the indigenous Minister you for on IAL and I would hope in 2024 that we could have a meaningful relationship a trusting relationship a relationship where that's respected with dialogue you know reprisals are are something that we face within our territories every day and you know to have somebody comment like that concerns me and at the end of the day you know I look at the responsibility that I have and the responsibility that the crown and an I has to the rule of law you know which they always speak to on a high level so apparently um not having access to justice is a rule of law for Canada and Ontario and that's not in keeping with Truth and Reconciliation it's not in keeping with good relationships and you know we're neighbors and so what happens on the First Nation will spill out into municipalities and other areas and it just concerns me that you know what I would hope for is that we could get back together come together get to the table and let's work on this together and come up with a solution that that will be befitting to the First Nations and and Ontario so I look forward to being able to you know still work together there's always a chance to come together before it reaches this this level that it's it's it's gotten to and and part of it is there's nothing about us without us we need to be at those tables setting up Separate Tables to address issues in our communities never works is never worked and I feel that there's an opportunity and there always has been an opportunity to work with the First Nation leadership to ensure our communities are safe to ensure that we're good neighbors and give us access to Justice Chief Duckworth will have to leave it there but thank you very much for taking some time to speak with us today m

Channel: APTN News

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Length: 6min 28sec (388 seconds)

Published: Wed May 08 2024