The Legislature will address the Far North Act when they are back in session. But we should not hold our breaths. Because the answer to how to govern the north should not come from provincial law. It must be found through a negotiated joint-planning regime based on renewed treaty relations.
While the original intent of the Anishnaabek Police Services (APS) was to deliver peacekeeping in a more traditional sense to our communities, lack of recognition and support has resulted in a system that produces First Nation OPP officers who aren’t trained in the specificities of policing / peacekeeping in a First Nation context and a service that is disconnected from First Nation aspirations for self-governance.
On October 23, 2018, Yellowhead Institute held an official launch event centred on the pending Indigenous Rights, Recognition and Implementation Framework legislation. Here, we share highlights from the event and panel discussion, where three key themes emerged regarding the framework: Regional Contexts, Exclusion of Women, Queer, Trans and Two-Spirit Perspectives and Treaties, Relationship and the Land.
Last week the Assembly of First Nations hosted a national meeting on the federal government’s proposed “Rights, Recognition and Implementation Framework”. The proposal was met with resistance by most of the elected First Nation leadership who were present, justifiably so. As suspected, Canada is seeking to entrench a version of contemporary state-Indigenous relations merely re-branded as reconciliation.
Based in the Faculty of Arts at Toronto Metropolitan University.