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| Howard Adler |
Guest Post By Howard Adler:
Howard holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Indigenous Studies
from Trent University, and a Master Of Arts Degree in Canadian Studies from
Carleton University. He is an award winning writer, and an artist that has
worked in diverse mediums, including visual art, stained glass, theatre, dance,
video editing, and film. In 2009 he won the Canadian Aboriginal Youth Writing
Challenge (19-29 age category) with his video script “Johnny Seven Fires”, and
his film and video work has been exhibited in both Gallery settings and Film
Festivals, such as ImagineNATIVE (Toronto), Weengushk (Sudbury), Biindigaate
(Thunder Bay), and Saw Video's annual Resolution screening (Ottawa). Howard is
currently the Co-Director of the Asinabka Festival, an Indigenous film and media
arts festival in Ottawa. Howard is Jewish and Ojibwa and a member of Lac des
Mille Lacs First Nation in North-western Ontario.
A Bill C-45 Rant:
One of the biggest problems with
Bill C-45 (as well as the plethora of other Bills being introduced C-27, S-2,
S-6, S-8, C-428, S-207, and S-212), is that the content of these Bills will
have a direct impact on Aboriginal and Treaty Rights, and any legislation that
has such an impact requires a "Duty to Consult" with First Nations
that stems from section 35 (1) of the
Constitution Act; yet despite this required "Duty to Consult", that
is NOT what is happening with ANY of this new legislation, legislation that is
making huge and sweeping changes to everything from the protection of waterways
under the Navigable Waters Act, to land surrenders on reserves, transparency of
band spending, housing on reserves, band elections, drinking water on reserves,
as well as amendments to the Indian Act. It is unprecedented the number of
pieces of legislation effecting Aboriginal and Treaty rights that the current
government is pushing through parliament! So although there are very real
concerns about the changes these new Bills will introduce, at the core is the
basic problem that the federal government is unilaterally and paternalistically
introducing this legislation without consulting First Nations peoples. Clearly,
the #IdleNoMore movement is showing that First Nations were not consulted about
this new legislation in any significant or meaningful way. Additionally, much
of the legislation being introduced can be interpreted as being in breach of
the "Spirit and Intent" of Treaties, as well as a violation of many
of the articles of the "United Nations Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples", to which Canada is a signatory.
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