Identity fraud and Indigenous self-determination – UNPFII | APTN News

of odinak what is called today odinak and I'll be the MC for this uh side event this afternoon so um uh thank you for being here and part of this uh this side event is part of the 23rd session of the United Nations uh permanent Forum on indigenous issues uh at the UN headquarters here in New York City I'm delighted to see many of you here present for this event again for those of you in the room Spanish interpretation is available so all expl explain uh in a few minutes how the event will be uh going but first would' like to start off with a welcome song uh an abanaki welcome song uh so I'll invite Martin and isak in front [Music] [Music] I want to your I I want to he up your head I want to he up your head [Music] [Music] your I your I up I [Music] up your want a your want a your [Music] uh as for an outline of this event we'll start we start off with a few words from uh Regional Chief J chief of the Assembly of first nation of Quebec and Labrador followed by a few words from Chief romwin of the abanaki oak Nation chief uh good morning everyone uh very uh delighted to to to be part of this very important uh uh side event this week at the UN um not not my first Side Event but nevertheless uh an item of discussion that is very important and I think it's uh becoming more and more a concern for many of our Nations uh I have the privilege and and pleasure to to be leading a table of chiefs of Nations within my own region of Quebec and Labrador uh 43 uh uh First Nation governments uh within within that uh within that table uh 10 different nations and uh I'm glad to say that I'm first off a member of the Eno nation which is one of the 10 nations of Quebec and Labrador uh closely affiliated with the abanaki nation we come from the same line of uh alanin families uh which uh strides uh from east to west uh probably all the way to the Rockies Canadian Rockies and uh and one of the issu issues that comes to our table uh uh more often than not is the issue of uh identity and uh who belongs to which nation uh this amongst many other items uh of discussion of concern uh pertaining to our relationship with the Canadian State and uh our our Nations uh uh I also have the uh opportunity and privilege to to raise uh concerns with other National organizations indigenous organiz organizations within Canada as a matter of fact uh back in uh uh in March March 19th uh I was uh uh I was at a press conference in Ottawa along with the the national president of itk in with uh uhit uh uh Anatomy uh president Natan Obed uh to uh challenge the claims of some groups within the area of Labrador uh claiming to be of in u u uh claiming claiming in identity and uh this is only one uh uh part of a larger reality where groups are coming and presenting themselves as me of Nations uh without any kind of uh legitimacy and the irony is that that group had a side event at this un Forum just this morning and uh as a matter of fact I received a message from our leadership within the Ino Nation uh sisters and brothers from the Ino nation of Labrador uh stating that this should be raised as a as an issue of concern so uh I do my due diligence and and raise that point on their behalf uh this being said at the same time we also have to as this as if this wasn't enough we also have to uh question uh a number of actions taken by the Canadian government in this case uh which uh has uh has been pushing for the past uh number of months and weeks a bill before Parliament Bill 53 in this case uh uh recognizing rights or Pro proposing to recognize rights for the an organization called the M nation of Ontario and there again there are concerns R by raised by Nations uh from both Ontario and the Quebec uh uh side uh not about the legitimacy of the group itself but uh the legitimacy of what they claim and when we say that uh Identity or identity fraud uh presents a risk for uh the Integrity of our Nations it also presents a risk for the Integrity of our traditional territories so these These are the points being raised uh at this uh specific Side Event the issue has been raised by the abinun and uh Chief obam a number of times uh throughout the years and uh this is coming to a a situation where not only do we have have to uh State those points to very important points to Canada but we also have make those uh those lobbying efforts uh in the US as well as stated by Chief oborin earlier on so I I think uh uh we certainly uh definitely are in support of the actions taken by the abanaki nation or any other nation that uh uh might see u a danger toward their integrity as Nations and ultimately uh we say that uh despite the fact that uh there's at least one article of the UN Declaration of the rights of indigenous peoples that in a way uh gives the freedom for anyone to claim an indigenous identity uh I think ultimately it really belongs to our Nations to exercise that right and jurisdiction so I'll leave it to uh Chief obam to present their case regarding uh the the their own Nation and I thank you all for coming today I sit before you here to when to show you a presentation of what our nation is going through I hold in my hand three strings of wam in our tradition this represents we come to you with the truth we come to you with Clear Eyes Open ears and we'll speak the truth today this subject that we're going to speak of might look like it affects my nation this subject is coming for all nations as just Lan said although the UN declaration states that self-recognition is allowed does it say that it's allowed for someone to steal our culture our language our way of life and our history rewrite the stories worse than that they even come to us to steal our pain the pain that our ancestors and our our parents before us have gone through they will steal our future Generations This Must Be Stopped the UN must rewrite what they've said it is not good enough to say that you have the right to self- recognize and all you have to do is have someone else recognize you this recognition belongs to our Nations and only to our Nations we know who our people are we know what we've been through we know how much we've suffered and we know the the future of our families and the future of our people only we have the right to recognize our people thank you thank you Chief picar and chief obams thank you so uh that's a good uh setup to uh the side event that will take place now uh we will have a couple of presentation the first one will be done by Daryl laru uh Mr laru is associate professor at the school of political studies at un the University of Ottawa he will explain the context and origins of identity fraud a phenomenon that exists in many countries around the world and afterwards we'll be following with a presentation by two young abanaki speakers that will be explaining how identity fraud affects our nation particularly uh regarding our fun fund f fundamental I'm sorry uh right to to self determin determination so and finally at the end we'll take questions from uh the ground uh and uh we'll be uh staying a little longer uh to talk to anyone who wants to speak further on this matter so I would like at this point to invite Mr Daryl Laro to come forward so I think I'll I'll sit here people hear me if I'm too close or if I move back and you can't hear me please just let me know um so I'll just give a bit of a an overview of um this sort of issue of quote unquote identity fraud and then speak specifically to the um fake abanaki tribes in Vermont and New Hampshire but particularly in Vermont um uh so basically since the 1970s there's been an increasing number of white Americans who have been claiming um that they are Native American um the social movement has been called uh playing Indian race shifting self- indigenization or pretendian ISM more recently it really depends on um who's talking about it which Scholars or academics or which community members there's some examples of some individuals um yeah if we can go to the next slide one of the sort of ways in which we can measure this is through the US Census uh in 1960 there were 552 th000 individuals who identified themselves as Native American in the census um and that that number had remained relatively stable so it was increasing it wasn't increasing inreasing um at a very large rate but it was increasing at a normal demographic rate in 2020 so 60 years later it was at 9.7 million people um that's not due to births obviously that's due to people shifting into new identities um and so you could see that rate of growth actually outstrips the rate of growth of the United States almost 10 times during this period and so the Native American population goes from a relatively stable um population as recorded in the sense to one that um increases exponentially basically every 10 years in the census from 1960s on you see the change really start in 1970 um next slide please um so basically one of the explanations for this that uh sociologists in in particular have come up with is that uh white Americans have uh especially since the Civil Rights Movement and the ways in which there were public calls for accountability and perhaps even reparations for racial violence um white Americans have sought ways to escape white identities or their whiteness I guess you can say uh one group of white Americans recast themselves as white ethnic minorities um and so you can think about uh people especially who are the descendants of immigrants to the United States in the late 1800s so people who are the descendants of Irish folks polish folks um you know uh Jewish people from Eastern Europe Etc they started to um hyphenate their identities and really sort of differentiate themselves from the white sort of majority um so you have this sort of development of these organizations that are meant to represent Irish Americans and italian-americans and Hollywood becomes a part of that they sort of start celebrating those particular ethnic minority identities um and then you also have a group those who were um the descendants of earlier immigrants or um I guess you could say colonizers to the United States who um start to imagine themselves as Native American um and so that uh leads to hundreds of new fake Cherokee tribes in the United States in particular Cherokee tends to be the identity that is stolen the most often and there are a variety of historical reasons that we can discuss if you'd like for that um but there are also other ways in which people identify themselves so so at this point there are thousands of these fake Native American organizations in the United States um sometimes these claims are based on long ago ancestors uh you know you can go back to the early sort of um pilgrim if you will or even um in sort of Virginia and think about um specific ancestors in someone's family tree and using that ancestor to shape one's identity a lot of the times though it's based specifically on family lore so these stories that circulate in families um particularly white families who no longer want to be white or associated with white sort of power or white supremacy and they start to imagine themselves as Native American and their story about their family changes um it's uh Native American tribes have been very clear that they oppose this movement um uh in a variety of different public statements and also court cases and other efforts where they've uh sort of led the charge against these types of claims um and one of the major critiques is that indigenous identity is not primarily uh or only about blood and so finding a long ago ancestor is not what makes one indigenous today um and so I'm just going to that was a very brief overview of this quite large social movement that has led almost 10 million Americans to identify themselves as Native American but I'm going to focus here more more carefully on Vermont so there are four um so-called abanaki tribes that received State recognition in 2011 and 2012 State recognition is something that really started to take off at the same time as this movement takes off in the 1960s and particularly the 70s and 80s and so uh states start to adopt these State recognition processes um and so I did a this paper here that I wrote that is available it's open access online it's in the U American Indian culture and research Journal um and so my research showed that the individuals who are um members of these so-called tribes are actually descendants of uh kbea are French Canadian immigrants to the state of Vermont um essentially from the 1810s to the 1880s but um you know the mean year is about 1845 um so that's a a movement that was quite um common uh kbea people migrated to New England on mass about 750,000 people from Quebec moved to New England um in the 1800s up until about 1910 um and this includes the uh ancestors of these individuals who have remade themselves into the abanaki um so they're not actually abanaki people uh they don't descend from a abanaki people they have no K kinship ties with the abanaki people at odinak or wenak who some of whom are here with you today um but they're treated as such in Vermont law um which means that actually we can go to the next slide um all right I'll get back to that but uh they can basically um make arts uh uh legally under the law in the United States now um they can do a number of other things that I'll get to in a moment through this legal recognition um and so if you can go to the next slide they um actually failed at getting Federal recognition in 2006 um and the state of Vermont actually opposed them but uh just a few years later um they recognized them through a process that was really problematic and so I just highlight here some of the problems with that process um they are full of conflicts of interests and they actually barred the participation of actual abanaki people part of the way they did that is by saying that they're Canadians and so they shouldn't be allowed in the United States making decisions about who's indigenous in the United States so that international border has actually infringed on the abanaki people's sovereignty and very um uh problematic in harmful ways um and so you know one of the reasons that this works out is because for state legislators whether they're um members of the house or the Senate uh you know if they can get a few thousand people in a particular uh region of Vermont to vote for them by giving them recognition and that becomes a political calculation that might be useful um one of the things too about the process is that never actually verified whether these are the descendants of abanaki people it took their word um and then never actually followed through on it um so uh one thing one other thing that are a few things that my research demonstrated was that um these sort of fake quote unquote tribes they generally only receive support in States um with no federally recognized Native American tribes so uh in the paper that I wrote uh of the eight states that have the largest pop proportion of Native Americans in the census but also the largest proportion of federally recognized Native American tribes none of them have a state recognition process and that's because those tribes have opposed the state having that sort of power um so I I give the example in the paper of a similar effort to the these abanaki tribes in Vermont that occurred in Maine in the 2000s uh where this group who were the descendants of acadians or French Canadians from the East Coast um they TR they sort of actually managed to convince the main legislature that they were Native Americans they got um sort of free hunting and fishing licenses but once there was a bill to sort of they could access free state tuition and stuff like that the four federally recognized tribes in Maine uh mobilized and opposed um the legislation and they actually won and so this tribe um still calls them this group still calls themselves a tribe but they have no recognition by the state of Maine um all right next slide um so these are some of the things that these uh these fake sort of tribes can now do they're entrusted with human rebanes for reburial so uh at construction sites and other um sites in Vermont if um there are human remains that are discovered they are not returned to the uh abanaki people but the return to these fake tribes and they get to reberry them um you know conduct ceremonies etc etc um they receive funding for social programs uh they receive some federal funding because they state recognized they rewrite education curriculum they're quite involved with the state sort of Education um system and with teachers uh they also run the state's Commission on Native American Affairs which ensures that um their members and their recognition is never put into question they have access to free hunting and fishing licenses and they also have property tax exemptions for their buildings um their members can also legally produce and Market Native American art under the federal legislation because that Federal legislation that was passed in 1995 the Native American arts and crafts Law act act thank you jao um it actually makes an exception for state recognized tribes so in this case um they have I think it's between 50 and 100 people who are part of their abanaki Alliance of uh artist Alliance and they make uh art for the entire um sort of New England market and are legally able to sell it um and so despite marked opposition by The abanaki Who are here with us today um they continue to benefit from State recognition uh next week um a number of us are going to Vermont and having we're doing a presentation at the University of Vermont and it's uh the third in a series of three if I'm not mistaken that has taken place so there um has been some education that's been done in Vermont about these groups uh and there has been some support but in terms of um you know undoing the state recognition I think we're still a long way away um thank you Professor l uh yeah I forgot to mention that uh he for the past decade he has been studying the social political and legal dynamics that have led to people to in the US and Canada to claim indigenous identity he also wrote a book distorted desent who white claims to indigenous identity that was published in 2019 and translated into French in 2022 thank you so now I'd like to invite uh uh speakers uh sanes lappel and is LEL Gil to make their presentation for the reference their cousins we all cousins yes for the record [Music] hello everyone my name is Isel Gil I'm an abaki from odinak I'm 24 years old my mother is Patricia lappel her mother is doares wet and her father is Ernest lappel my father is M Gil and his mother is Ellen Gil and his father is Michelle Gil okay housea Eduardo BR house oh Ed Eduardo um so hello hi my name is San SEL and means little spring in the abanaki language um I'm I'm ab abanaki and I'm also Bolivian uh I live in odinak I'm 26 years old uh my mother's name is Joan La Chappelle her mother's name is do wet and her father is eres laelle my father is uh Rodrigo Brink house uh his mother is nma Brink house and his father is Eduardo Brink house um it's with some uh trepidation but above all a great deal of Pride that we speak out today on behalf of our people the wabanaki nation we do so in defense of our identity and our rights as stipulated In Articles three and four of the undrip which are currently being trampled underfoot in recent years there has been a significant increase in the number of people who because of family lore or a distant 17th century uh ancestors suddenly decare themselves to be of our nation this raises a significant question who can say they belong to our nation we are aware that because of government laws and policies many of our people lost their status or family ties and now aspire to reconnect with their culture and Community we welcome there their efforts to reconnect with us every indigenous Community has faced similar hardships related to Identity and belonging there is a legacy of resilience passed down from generations to Generations in Canada issues of recn reconnecting uh sorry reconnection exists mainly because of the Canadian government policy and the Indian act as a a piece of legislation aimed at the assimilation of indigenous people many of the people who belong to our nation today are indeed descendants of people uh especially women who were impacted by the Canadian government's racist leg legislation and colonial policies but beyond these people who can legit legitimately C call themselves members of our nation there are uh more and more people who call themselves abanaki on the sole pretext of family lore or a distance distant ancestor from over 300 years ago however there is a fundament fundamental distinction between having an indigenous ancestor and belonging to an indigenous Nation as gaah Davy Jacobs a young ganaka activist who was born in ghag and grew up here in New York City points out the question of identity is Central to who we are as indigenous peoples who is your family where do you come from asking these types of questions is common when meeting each other to establish our kinship ties thank you scis indeed our Origins can be traced back centuries and across thousands of kilometers to our territory it's a testament of our strength and interc Community ties to pretend otherwise as the so-called abanaki tribes of government do is to traffic and misinformation the history of indigenous peoples is marked by theft lands knowledge opportunities languages and technologies have been stolen from us the type of anty theft we are discussing here is part of a global context of persecution of indigenous peoples that includes sterilization and even murder often to access our lands the phenomenon of stealing our identity sometimes seems to be a cynical Ploy towards some kind of pro- indigenous political agenda as Professor Daryl laru demonstrates quite convincingly in his research into the explosions of groups claiming to be indigenous in eastern Ontario Quebec the Mars and parts of New England however very often the Astron astronomical growth of new claims to idenity can be clearly attributed to white supremacy and opposition to our indigenous treaty and treaty rights the dissonance is strong in the face of pretendian who in an absurd reveal present themselves as more authentically indigenous than us denying our lived experience today we have presented the case of several thousands Americans in Vermont who are stealing our identity by inventing Traditions accessing funds reserved for indigenous peoples defiling our Graves giving themselves the right to speak as expt words about our history violating our sovereignty and perpetrating the cations of our people and our lands we welcome these peoples into our homes sharing with them certain ancestral knowledge and our language out of our own generosity and openness yet they have appropriated these teachings commercialized them and are now rewriting our history claiming to carry the truth even though they're not indigenous but our presentation is also a warning to all indigenous peoples the infringements of Rights we suffer today could become reality tomorrow if we don't join forces identity fraud threatens the Integrity of our cultures and traditions distorting Our age-old Heritage while culture is naturally Dynamic the theft of our identity is not cultural it is the result of a settler culture intent on destroying indigenous peoples our recognitions of identity and culture inspired by exchanges with other indigenous peoples is legitimate and necessary unlike theft and or appreciation appropriation by outside groups our nation's capacity for self-determination is being eroded by the theft of identity and invention of culture violating the principles set in our articles 3 and four of the United Nations declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples how can the wabanaki nation claim self-determination autonomy and self-governments when our fundamental rights are constantly being trampled underf foot by individuals and groups pretending to be us the answer is clear we must anticipate and counter this trend to preserve the essence of our identity and sovereignty thank you oon [Applause] uh thank you for that your presentation and I hope now that you all have a better understanding of this uh the identity fraud issues that has caused to our nation and especially to our youth so I will now open the floor for questions uh though anybody has questions so raise the hand and we'll call you on the mic yep my name is Taylor I'm from Manitoba uh broken head ojibway Nation specifically um and I would like to address what you had shared at the very beginning being someone who attended that early morning um presentation and how violated I feel for being a part of that now and posting photos and I'm going to get emotional um because this isn't something to take lightly it's something that we all experience from coast to coast to coast and all for directions across Turtle Island especially um and coming from from a family of day schoolers and residential school survivors and having lost and having to reclaim and restore my connection to culture and seeing how easy these pretendian get it as opposed to how hard I have to work to get it it's just something that's just completely just disheartening to be to have to see that and so I sit here with a youth from broken head as well who I asked to join me here on this trip to experience something that you know we don't always have the opportunity to do and bringing her to that session that we just came from and how terrible I feel to have put her through that is just awful and so I just want to say thank you and especially to the youth who presented on your courage and your bravery and your resilience to share this type of knowledge with everybody and so though it's not so much a question rather a com but I would like to maybe ask like how do what are other ways that you were addressing this as abanaki people is there do you support self- declaration do you support proof of identity and things like that too cuz this is something that we're seeing more and more often um with other groups of people from I don't want to cause too much controversy and kind of call out a group of people that we see a lot of happening in Manitoba now um but maybe some of you know know who are from from Canada huh um so I just wanted to just say chimi and thank you for sharing this because it's it's ignited a fire inside of me of of what I just came from and where I'm sitting right now and so I just wanted to say that thanks to n for that comment yeah I open the floor for questions but any comments are welcome so thank you for your for sharing this I'll let Chief Rick bomson answer your question okay um do we support it I support the fact that we should have the right to do it ourselves that no other government has the right to claim who who our nation is I think prime minister trudo said it best when he said when he spoke of self-recognition and he said when Everyone's an Indian no one is and I I think that's something we should keep in mind so self-recognition can be very very dangerous I think our Nations have to have the right to recognize our own people something that we didn't mention in my nation my nation has dwindled down through years we have roughly 3,200 members left in my nation this nation that pretends who they are they have over 5,000 their groups are outnumbering our own people does self-recognition work no it really doesn't I know we all thought that you know when the UN declaration came out and said self-recognition would be a good ideal I think they forgot to mention who has to recognize you to be self-recognized I'm fine with someone saying you know that they who they are who they are I don't have the right to say they're not but I really have the right to say something when you've stol my language and you stole my culture you stole my way of life and you say it's yours as first nation's people we were always sharing people no doubt about it we shared our culture we shared our language we shared our way of life if one took this and started to feed their family with it we didn't have a problem with that but when one took it and said it was theirs and forgot about us that's where the problem comes in so does self-recognition work not in the fullest it only works if the people them themselves recognize you and make it very clear it has to be the people of the nation that they speak of not just in in the United States what happened was they took literally what the decoration said you must be recognized you self-recognition can be recognized by the people so five people stood up and said I self- recognize myself myself as an abanaki and these four people recognize me the next one stood up and said I recognize myself as an abanaki and these four people recognize me so I think the UN decoration needs to be very very clear on who the people are and or who the organization or they have a word for what was the word they used actually in their decoration uh organizations or groups you know what is an organization how can an organization recognize someone belongs to my nation or to any one of your Nations or these new nations that they create as you spoke of out your way you know so I think these there's a lot of work I think that when self-recognition came out and it it sounded like a really good ideal but it really isn't okay it really isn't so it's hard for me to support it even though that I know that sitting at a table with a lot of chiefs supported it and thought yes you know self-recognition is a good ideal but I saw self- recognation almost is destroy my community and destroy my nation so I hope that answered your question okay if I if I could add and first of all I want to thank you for your comment and uh especially acknowledging Our Youth and uh I think back 20 years ago uh I've heard a a comment that was common to too many people that the wabanaki language is going to be extinct in a matter of a few years so I think our youth here are proving uh those people wrong and and that's the beauty of their presence here uh I represent a regional organization uh never claim to be uh never claiming to be a government because we're not and we will not ever be a government uh that's status really belongs to Chief abamu and and his colleagues from our table but nevertheless we're a forum where these type of issues uh uh come and we have to deal with them and and to me uh I know the UN doesn't really have a clear definition as to who is indigenous and who is not and we have uh in the room I see uh CLM and Arma and we have drafters of the UN declaration and article 33 speaks to that issue I think that's the only article within the Declaration but even there and as referred to by Chief obomsawin there's you know the the privilege of self-identifying as an indigenous person uh ultimately it says also that uh uh we have we should have our own institutions uh confirm identity for any individual so you know it's maybe there needs to be a clear definition as to who is and who is not but for the time being and I've heard this from chonso in others or our table is you know and I get messages every every so often people saying well you know my great grandfather or great grand grandmother was from this nation uh what do I do to you know gain my status or gain that recognition I said well it doesn't belong to me you have you claim to be a member of that Nation or any particular Nation you go you go to that Nation because ultimately they're the ones who will decide whether you can you know get get get the status of being a member of that Nation thank you um I have six people requesting uh first I'll let uh the gentleman speak and then after chief McKenzie my name is and zbi and I'm uh the chair of the Sami and Indigenous law um research group at the faculty of law in at the Norwegian Arctic University in in truma and and we have um some parallel uh issues for example now a burning issue with Finland and uh Finland has been found um to be in violation with the article 25 in the convention on civil and political rights uh and the reason why they were found in violation was that they uh accepted uh um about 70 non-sami people to be registered into the role uh of the Finnish Sami Parliament uh I have um for those interested I have a triy to structure uh this uh in a in a video where I metaphorized this uh this meeting about uh the prey uh prey culture and and a predator culture and how a predator culture uh um takes different layers of a prey culture and and one of the uh layers can be that the the Predator culture eats uh the the colors of the of the culture or or they can eat the pro as mentioned the here the problems of the culture U so that for example as we see it in the Sami context that there are um Norwegian researchers who are analyzing the the problems that the Sami um community and have had during the the the the the processes where where our culture were cultures were attacked and then we of course have have these more e hard economic uh um Parts with with resources and so on so uh if you're interested to to look into the structure then you can Google the prey culture and Predator culture thank you for that comment sir thank you uh Chief McKenzie I see thanks for giving me new uh new functions I'm not Chief at all I'm just me myself and I um yeah well actually uh the chief picar gave me the opportunity to discuss about then and you will be able to testify about that as well when we wrote this Declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples they said the Articles every commas dotted lines or whatnot were negotiated discussed within the caucus the indigenous caucus but also with the member states and you have to bear in mind back in the days back in the days uh in the 80s we were confronted with the uh situation whereby indigenous peoples were not recognized at all they were indigenous populations or minorities or there were no indigenous tribes in in member states in many member states I think about Russia for instance I think about India I think about places uh elsewhere in the uh in Ukraine like Crimea Tatar they were you know they were not uh recognize at all and especially we were in the 80s the context of the uh the geopolitical context in lat Latin America was very difficult for indigenous groups and peoples they were facing military actions against them disappearances people were disappeared uh leaders were disappeared or murdered basically because of identifying themselves as indigenous peoples or indigenous citizens so this is why it's there this this article which is now you know problematic for for a lot of uh of our groups and so that explains the history where it's coming from this and uh and the challenges now we're now facing and the fact that uh in certain uh social liberal states such as Canada well they want to promote reconciliation they want to promote openness to indigenous peoples and cultures in the Canadian Constitution we refer as uh in sear section 35 we recognize indigenous peoples meaning Indians init and matey okay and of course some will say well I'm a matey not only from the the Red River but from montario and you have decisions from the Supreme Court of Canada recognizing uh rights to to to these people uh like the PO decisions for instance and I I believe that there was another one recently uh so it's a difficulty it's a challenge but also where does it stop right you know uh uh do we have to quantify the the the blood Quantum we have in each and every one of us or what not my name is McKenzie and you called me Chief McKenzie but because I'm Scottish part Scottish and I'm very proud of my Scottish ancestry of course I will not go back to Scotland and claim and say could I could I have a Scottish passport you know I'll do doesn't exist but still I would support their their independence or their right to self-determination so that's where it's coming from so it's problematic and of course we have our neighbors I'm I'm from despite my accent I'm from Labrador and uh and uh I know these people that are seeking recognition Community Council which is uh they they take pride of uh of their in with Heritage but uh where does it stop you know where there a there's a fine line between uh tolerance uh and exclusion uh and with we are in the United Nations we talk about recognition of peoples and and openness and human rights so and just you know Danielle said that's a very good presentation that you that you bring in but in the international human rights Forum you know what do we do how do we do address this you know can we just do we just Outcast these people or not and where there's a thread thin thread if I say fine line whereby we have to consider different angles as well as human rights Advocates VOA and I'm very happy to see my friend Andy here huh many years huh [Music] do chief age is again red means stop okay you know I agree with you that it's it's a real problematic thing I mean there is no doubt about it through the hardship of our people and different times many of our people might have got lost or fell behind so yes it is very very you know it is a challenging thing but at the same time we must also remember that there's a big big difference between ancestry blood and who we are if I date my family back 400 years and say my family married one native person and within that 400 years they were completely married out well I have a saying that I always say and I always get in trouble for it but I'll say it anyways I can only water down a glass of milk so much before it's a glass of water so yeah it is a definitely a challenging thing but I think it's our nation's right it's our god-given right to know who our people are and us to say who our people are keeping in mind that our Nations had many times had adopted people and we should still have that right but it should be our right in our case the government of Vermont seems to think it's his right to say who belongs to this new nation that he created you have to understand what's happened to our my nation in Vermont is not only has he created a new nation he's erased mine he's completely erased my history he literally tells me I'm not allowed to sit at the table I'm not even allowed at the native commission anymore to speak I have no rights because I'm a Canadian Indian is what he calls me well there was no border my people didn't never left the United States we were never there we never came to Canada cuz we were never there we're a part of North America so yeah although I agree with you that it was a you know it's a challenging thing but it still boils down to whose right is it it's it's our god-given right as Nations to know who our people are or to at least say who our people are if our Nations wish to adopt people that's fine that's up to them it's not up to some foreign government to say so or to tell us who we are or who we're not it's not up to some foreign government to give the remains of my ancestors to someone else for they can put them in their museums my people don't have out of respect they should not be in a museum they should be reburied they should be put where they where they were to rest so yeah I agree that when these you know that native people weren't part of the UN declaration we weren't part of anything we weren't even looked at as anything at one time I agree but it doesn't mean swing the pendulin so far the other way that anyone has the say to say who they are thank you Nicholas good cook uh my name is Leah Nicholas McKenzie I'm Willis we're members of the wabanaki Confederacy so we're cousins um I'm a member of the Nicholas family on my father's side and my the bear family on my mother's side from toic we're in a good cook and um I am really happy that you're having this side event I think it's incredibly important this topic is very very top of mind uh in Canada but obviously in the United States as well and when I sit in that other room in conference room Forum hearing some things that trouble me very greatly and um I what I'm feeling is that there's a fundamental misunderstanding of who the peoples are to whom this declaration refers this declaration focuses on both individual and Collective rights uh yet it only mentions individuals in very rare cases it talks about the elders it talks about women um so you know that any other time they're talking about the collective rights of our peoples but I I'm hearing this fundamental misunderstanding of collect collective rights I'm hearing a fundamental misunderstanding of self-determination um and it's I what I think is that we need more human rights education um and when it comes to the issue of whether or not we need a definition of course indigenous peoples globally have fought against a definition for a very long time but there are culture there are um accepted characteristics globally accepted characteristics of who indigenous peoples are and so if there I hear a non-governmental organization in there say I have the right uh I have the right to self-determination then show me where how you match up against those characteristics and don't quote to me articles 18 and 19 of this declaration those apply to peoples not to individuals not to organizations um I and I think we do need to have this education because we're going into another round of enhanced participation discussions which need to be and should be solely focused on the voices of Nations and so I really do thank you and and appreciate uh this day today it's no com no question just a [Applause] comment thank you my cousin uh I have the lady and then Mr sh after uh hi um hello phow indigenous uh rights Advocates this is not much of a question I am rorin baa from atam manobo of Taino davo Del nor Philippines and I'm also a member of a Mindanao indigenous people's Youth Organization in the Philippines also um I was a victim of exploitation and violation of extremist group for the longest time the indigenous peoples were confronted by discrimination particular on access to uh social services and Prospect within the economy and politics there are also issues of force relocation and loss of the lands mostly the indigenous youth are the most affected hence when the Communist um CPP and PNF or the Communist uh party of the Philippines New People's Army National Democratic front of the uh Philippines promis us education and reform we accept the offer of L to the fact that they groomed manipulated and Co us into activities that serve their violent purposes they uh this experiences coupled with the renewed focus on the IPS or indigenous peoples to address uh the said issues push me to per uh pers uh persevere further my resolve to advocates for the rights and the empowerment of the IND indigenous people's youth in the Philippines however the renewed effort of indigenous peoples has has been uh taken advantage by the sum to exploit the benefit gains for the IP members for instance there were the issues of identify fruit which involves the unauthorized use of personal information and tribal affiliations for uh Financial gains and to the opportunities that reserve for the indigenous people the identified thiefs poses to significant threat to our culture identity and self-determination when this happen it under uh undermines our sense of self and distorts our Collective past and narrative this also deprives us particular the indigenous people's members of our entit entitlement to the uh to the opportunity thank you I apologize chief of the McGregor I'm saan McGregor Grand Chief of the AL Nation Tribal Council and I'm the spokesperson of seven of the 11 in nnab alanan communities I just want to put this on the record that well it goes without saying we are we stand in total solidarity with you Mig for starting this with the drum and your songs um it really brings your heartbeat and your jurisdiction over your own identities here to the United Nations for you to stand up for those future Generations in collaboration together with with our older generations and our youth and and and those to come we Face the same things well across the board and enough is enough and I just hope well our communities are in crisis um we're chronically underfunded the world is changing so fast so many things are showing up at our doors be it wildfires be it suicides be it the opioid crises and whatever else that may come in the future we don't know and we always have to be prepared I just hope that one day there'll be some sort of redress um so then we can stop having to find the resources to fight all of this and and and having having to take the time out of other things that are prioriti that should be more prioritized and focused on instead of having to spread ourselves out thin so I'm I'm here um to stand in support of of you and and every other Nation across not only Turtle Island but the world and and it is together that we have to do it we can't do it alone and I'm just grateful to be here it's my first experience um at the United Nations and hopefully it won't be my last but Kim M Ambassador yeah thank you it is a a topic that could take several days you know to to address but I want to thank uh Chief abuan and the youth for making the Bold step in bringing this discussion here especially in the Cradle so to speak of Human Rights and ARA has reminded us that people individuals maybe collectives of IND individuals also have I guess uh the right to to express themselves uh and that that's a tough thing because uh sometimes we view them as expressing expressing themselves wrongly and infringing on on us uh so it is a tough road to walk just want to say um Clen or clma shart I'm the Ambassador for the Manitoba mate Federation the national government of the Red River matey uh the Red River matey of course also meaning the historic matey nation in western Canada the sole and legitimate representative of the historic mate Nation I've been involved in our own movement since the mid 60s late 60s and in the UN since uh about 1974 and this is a an issue that I think has been the most Troublesome back at home beginning in the 60s we finally started as matey getting a few programs and services a bit of Education a bit of housing from the provincial government a little bit from the feds then all of a sudden you had these people coming forward who we know are white people saying their matey to get an advantage and and it just has continued growing now it's grown to the situation where there's groups of people that call themselves matey because maybe people don't understand who the matey are we're a distinct people a distinct Nation with our own language culture territory population symbols like our flags and our our music our dance and when the word matey was used historically everybody knew it was the matey nation in western Canada those people Canada knew as well because when they went to war at the M they didn't go east they didn't stop in Ontario they came to the Red River then they came to batos we fought Canada you know twice they hanged our leader so they know who we are but now with the constitution in 1982 using the term matey people are taking that and they're taking the dictionary or literal definition of mixed and that's not what mate is that's not what the historic matey nation is we're distinct people and so and the example was raised of the nut tuut Community Council after 1982 after patriation after recognition of the mate they got together and decided because probably they do have longtime ancestry you know I don't think we I can dispute that but they came together and call themselves The mate nation of Labrador as in the late ' 80s then over a decade or so later they said well no no we're not matey and we're not going to get anything as matey so they call themselves the Inuit of Southern Labrador the nun Community Council so there're appropriating first they appropriated who we were and then now they're appropriating you know Inuit and also claiming Inu lands it's a big issue so that's just one example and I know I could go into more but I'm just want to say this uh just an announcement the chiefs of Ontario who are having a hard struggle right now and the Manitoba Mi Federation we are co-hosting an indigenous leaders Summit on indigenous identity fraud May 14th and 15th in Winnipeg Manitoba uh it's for leaders only it's by invitation to leaders First Nations in it and Mt Nation leaders red rer Mt leaders but it will be live streamed for anybody out there that wants to watch it and more information will come up so you will know where where to what channel to turn to I'm not a tech tech person but it'll be there and if you want to hear more about indigenous identity fraud and theft in Canada that will be a forum where Inuit leaders first nation's leaders and rer RTI leaders will be speaking on this issue thank you see any more comments or questions hi good afternoon everyone ton um Margaret Fran um I I am actually uh the president of the M nation of Ontario I'm a member of the Board of Governors of the M National Council uh and I wanted to acknowledge uh I'll start by acknowledging the abanaki welcome song uh and the drum thank you Mari for for bringing that uh and as well as the leadership Chief ab bansuan and and in particularly your youth leaders uh Isaac and uh sanis sanes um thank you for bringing that youth perspective forward I think that's really uh really important I'm honored to be here today with Jordie plain who's one of our youth leaders as well uh and I've been very happy to see the extent to which nations have been bringing young leaders forward to this forum in particular um and in particular I wanted to say to all those youth that are standing with each other on the floor of the Forum that's an incredibly uh strong show of strength and determination and I'm happy to see the youth working so well together so Marcy for for all of that work and bringing those PP perspectives forward and for sharing the story about what has happened uh and what continues to happen with the abanaki and and the the work of some to claim an identity that is not their own in large part to undermine abanaki rights this is something that is deeply concerning to us and in fact we hosted a forum in November of 2018 to talk about this very issue we invited Professor laru to come and and speak to his book which was about to come out and promote it at that event uh and I think it's it this is an issue that we are all very much concerned about um and I think we need to continue to raise raise those concerns about it it it is absolutely an issue for the mate Nation um and um you know we've SE we've seen those in Quebec those in the maritimes claiming matey identity often as a means to undermine abanaki rights undermine cre rights um and that is something that I think we need to continue to we need to continue to do that work ultimately it is up to the nation to decide that's a very important principle that is part of our inherent rights of self-determination of self-government uh and I I I did want to uh just reference I know uh Mr McKenzie thank you for bringing some of that history forward and why the language that's that we have is there um and and uh there was a reference there to the PO case as well and I wanted to just we we've historically been known in Canada as the Forgotten people there's many who still don't know our stories I wanted to acknowledge CLM actually for him and all of our leaders that have done the work to be present here part of that indigenous people's caucus part of the work that's brought us the UN declaration and the tools that we have in our tool boxes now in order to address this work but for those that are from different parts of the world that may not know uh the mate we never recognized in Canada until 1982 when we were included as one of the three Aboriginal people peoples of Canada mate First Nations and and in and our people pushed long and hard to have that uh an articulation of that what that meant our right to self-determination recognized through the Constitutional conferences that followed the the creation of the repatriation of the Constitution and um while there were many strong efforts made we were not successful in that we were not successful because governments we we could get only so far and governments would essentially pull the opportunity um from from under our under our feet and it actually took us we weren't able to negotiate that recognition it took us taking a case all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada before there was finally recognition of matey rights in this country and that in fact was the poly case as Mr McKenzie referenced that was a case that was brought forward by the mate nation of Ontario and on behalf of the entire mate Nation uh and we were we were finally successful but what the court heard in that case was a story about a community that had been a matey community that had been asserting itself as a matey Community since the early 1800s um standing up alongside First Nations um in protection of the land petitioning the crown seeking redress recognition respect for rights um and and that of course never happened um and it was the descendants of those people that wrote those petitions that were in fact those were the PES those were the people that were the the folks that that the plaintiffs that took that case forward and I think it's important for people to it's important for people to understand um all that history and that's that's the challenge that we have and I don't think it's matey alone I think many Canadians many people within the countries that you all represent don't know the story of our Nations they've not never been told in our voice they've told in somebody else's voice right um and so we continue to do that work um and in fact the mesan of Ontario has been a part of that work um including some of the modern uh the Contemporary assertions that that Clen just referenced since the 1960s um and those in fact are the people that we represent within the mate nation of Ontario as well as people like myself um my matey ancestry is largely from the Red River Valley area um we represent rights bearing matey people who descend from historic communities in ont that have been in existence since the early 1800s as well as people like myself people from the broader M Nation West of Ontario who now live in Ontario but I wanted to um and I wanted to just acknowledge Clen as well he was he he stood at the Supreme Court of Canada and made those arguments in in po saying that you must recognize matey rights and and as well acknowledging the PO community that upper Great Lakes mate Community is part of the matey Nation full stop um we've had some incredible leaders that have done that work for us in the past we have some incredible young leaders today that know their stories that are grounded in their history and their culture uh and that I think are are going to be taking us well into the future uh I just wanted to come back to that principle it is up to the nation to decide and that's something I think we can all agree to uh and we can all stand together um I will though say we are still the Forgotten people in many respects there's a lot of Education that needs to be done we actually need I think to talk to each other listen to each other's stories and go from there and I will once again extend the hand um a hand an open door to have those conversations Grant chief bicard chief abans Swan and any other leaders that are here um to do that so that we can actually share those stories and we can speak from a place of knowledge um on an issue that is as I said incredibly important so I wanted to again thank chab bansuan uh Isaac sanis for bringing this perspective forward telling the story because what what is happening to the abanaki is happening elsewhere and it is absolutely something that we must stand against Mari uh I had the lady over there okay uhak Sal hello everyone um my name name is Danny lowette I'm a member of the chip of Nash and St First Nation um through my mother and um my father's from Rapid Lake in Quebec we also have t sagoni my parents are Jerry lenette and Wendy lenette um and yeah I just first want to acknowledge the youth leaders siganus and isach for um Coming and speaking I know that this can be a really um how do you say that like kind of uh like an anxiety kind of feeling to speak about especially when there are so many you know older folks who are very strong in their belief that they are native and they're not [Music] um uh as someone who is my father is a member of the alanan nation but who isn't by my own membership um I've watched the Algonquin of Ontario cause direct harm to our communities um not only at a community and Nation level but at a personal level as well um I was born and raised in Ottawa I live in a Regina on treaty for lands now at the First Nations I go to the First Nations University and um we even have people claiming to be alanin out there who grew up in Saskatchewan um teaching at my school which is really great um give um and so it is really nice to uh you know come into these spaces and see that this is being called out um having groups like Nunu we H like I when I saw it on the side event list I was like how did they actually get in here and so I think something that really needs to be addressed and I don't know who in here has the power to do this um or how this can be uh talked about but you know when we talk about self-determination I think the thing that comes up first for me is the right to determ our own membership and our own kinship ties and so when I see names like like that one on the list I really just wonder how we can actually keep our community safe because it's not only exploitation it's it's direct violence and harm um and so yeah I just I want to thank everyone who spoke today and um folks who offered the song um yeah it just it felt like a bit bit of home so um me grch for for your words and your bravery today any more questions or comments um hi everyone I'm Veronica Picard I'm a youth represent for the Assembly of first nations in Canada um thank you is um it it is an issue that we are all facing and my question for you after hearing all of this would be um in the context of the un uh what process could the United Nations uh follow to come up with a definition of what is what are indigenous people at the international level thank you I think the first process they could do is listen to First nation's people I think that'd be step one and to listen to us on saying who we want to be our people not to just what an organization says it is so I think the first step is to listen to us although the UN decoration has opened the door to First Nations people and we hear many many promises and we hear many things of self-determination self-government self-recognition self everything I think they really got to put it a lot more into practice the words have been nice but now things we need to see the action behind it and we need to be brought to the table as a nation we need to be brought to the table with a voice where they're listening to us where we sit on the same same level as they do because whether they like it or not to each individual Nation we are a country within ourselves and they need to view us that way they need to look at us that way and until then it's all words well uh I'm I'm not sure if uh that question really belongs to the UN I think it belongs to us and in a way and I think it can be very I acknowledge that it can be very uh it is very emotional uh but it is very important as well and and to me we've heard that the debate has been ongoing for the last 40 years since 82 in Canada uh it's true for First Nations it's true for the mate and now it's true for the inw as well and and uh so there needs to be some qualifiers there in terms of you know how we engage uh into that process within within our Nations and within ourselves um I think it's very important as well to to very distinguish one's claim to Identity and any other Associated claims and I think that's where you know how the issue is being managed domestically has a lot of uh in my view influence and I spoke to Bill 53 and at the same time what I will add is it's not so much a question of uh questioning one's claim to Identity it's really uh a question to what other claims are being associated with that uh the other point is uh uh and we have to draw a line between uh what is what could be considered a legitimate claim and some of those what I would call them extremist in Quebec we've had for the past 30 years uh name of Nations that were coming from somebody's dream that Nations that we never heard of and I think you know that clearly needs to be denounced and we've done that over time but but yet these groups and because of maybe it's become so easy to identify as as a as a nation or citizen of a nation that it it has become acceptable to come up with you know a name and I mean we've seen that so I think there needs to be I think the clear answer to your question to the question is is really I think before you know speaking of reconciliation broadly let's speak about reconciliation within our Nations I think it's very key that we also have that in mind thank you we'll take a one last comment or question Mr sh thank you it's more of a comment can you hear me okay um thank you for that opportunity I know Margaret uh did mention some things already but I just want to supplement the hello still not anyway okay uh actually we were recognized and Margaret is just doing shorthand I think uh we our provisional government actually negotiated to main Nation western Canada in the Confederation in 18697 and the rights at least for our children were enshrined in the Manitoba act which is part of Canada's Constitution 1.4 million Acres were to go to the children but it never happened properly and in 2013 the Supreme Court of Canada said that still load to the m so we had that recognition following that our rights were dealt with through a script process under the Dominion lands act where they gave us land allotments on the Prairies where we lived and said with that your rights are extinguished okay so we were recognized and in terms of the PO case important case for sure but uh people neglect to to also mention that and I'm a little bit of a lawyer and I've been doing Pro Bona work in my community since about 1993 through the direction of the elders because our people have no money for lawyers and we've won in my part of Northwest aatan uh hunting and fishing rights upheld in 1997 in the court of King's bench where our people to this day can hunt and fish like the status Indians or the treaty Indians in that area in fact the PO was negative for us because since then I've done about five more trials where they charge us every 25 miles we got to keep going because of the site specific thing so poy yes is good but it's not the answer to to everybody we were doing quite well uh on our own uh you know but anyway I just wanted to say that so there's no misunderstanding of you know what actually happened on the ground thank you thank you I had Professor laru wanted to add another comment uh for those who are interested in uh next week's event in Vermont um you can come chat with us um you can also look on social media uh it will be live streamed so if you want to know more about more details about the sort of movement in um Vermont around the sort of fake abanaki tribes um that's happening next Thursday at 5:30 p.m. also just want to I mentioned that um I sort of take issue with um the use of me at an event that the M organized the professor fro said at that event I was very clear that I oppose the mate nation of Ontario's new communities since 2017 which is the position that the anishnabe people have taken in Ontario if you're interested in seeing research that demonstrates that then just come and talk to me and I'll send you some links thank you thank you so again I would like to thank you all for attending our side event today so I wish you all the best and uh see you soon thank you for

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Length: 86min 12sec (5172 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 18 2024