TRANSLATION
FROM FRENCH
December 2, 1992
ROYAL COMMISSION
ON ABORIGINAL PEOPLES
Maniwaki, Quebec
[p 1]
Upon commencing in Maniwaki, on Wednesday,
December 2, 1992 at 8:30 am.*
(Opening prayer)
[p 8]
ROBERT COULOMBE, MAYOR OF MANIWAKI:
Members of the Royal
Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, Chief JeanGuy Whiteduck, and
members of the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg community, it gives me great
pleasure to be here today to welcome the members of the Royal
Commission and, on behalf of the Maniwaki Town Council, to extend
our most sincere greetings to the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg community.
I would have liked to tell you about the concerns of the
Aboriginal peoples, and more specifically, of those living on
__________
* French reads "08 3h 30
December 2, 1992
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[p 9]
the reservation, who are our neighbours.
Unfortunately, I cannot
do that today, because I only received the invitation from Mr Roger
Farley on November 27.
You will appreciate that that was
insufficient time for me to thoroughly study the issues affecting
Aboriginal peoples.
I would, instead, like to tell the Commission that
relations between the two communities here in Maniwaki are quite
good.
There are, of course, disputes about property rights, and
I think that it is natural for members of two communities to debate
issues that admit of no easy answer.
We share services with members of the Kitigan Zibi
Anishinabeg community, including recreation services, the fire
department and the sanitary landfill.
We are happy and proud to
share these services.
I want the members of the Commission to know that we admire
the members of the Aboriginal Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg
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[p 10]
community for their involvement in recent years in the development
of major structures in the areas of education, social services, health
and public safety.
I think that they should also be congratulated for the
organizational structure and the housing and roads they have built
on the reservation.
We hope that the two communities can draw closer together
in order to examine economic development opportunities for the
wellbeing of our citizens.
We are also hoping for a frank and open discussion to
achieve the best possible settlement of the problems of two
communities living on the same land.
I want to thank the members of the Commission,
Chief JeanGuy Whiteduck and the members of the Kitigan Zibi
Anishinabeg community for their invitation to speak, and I hope that
the Commission will be a complete success.
Thank you.
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[p 11]
COCHAIR RENÉ DUSSAULT:
I would like to begin by saying,
on behalf of the Commission and particularly those of my fellow
Commissioners here today, how pleased we are to be in Maniwaki, and
on the reservation in particular, to hold these public hearings as
part of the second round of the Commission's public hearings.
I want to take this opportunity to point out that the
Commission's is attempting the delicate task of reconciling the
Aboriginal peoples of Canada with the various governments, and the
people of Canada, and in the case of Quebec, of course, all the people
of Quebec.
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[p 20]
[English]
I would like to close these opening remarks essentially
by saying that a commission such as ours can only give back what
people put into it.
Alone, nothing can be done; with Aboriginal and
nonAboriginal people participating in the development of solutions
it will be possible, I think, at this point in time, given the point
of time in which this Commission is sitting, there is certainly a
much greater political will than in the past.
I think that the governments understood that a piecemeal
approach would not work, that it was necessary to clear a major
threshold in the relations between Aboriginal and nonAboriginal
peoples in Canada.
What is expected of us, and that is the reason for the
composition of the Commission  with a majority of Aboriginal members,
but nonAboriginal members as well  what is expected of us is
solutions that take account of the needs of the Aboriginal peoples
but that also ensure that these needs, these solutions
December 2, 1992
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[p 21]
are placed in the Canadian context, which includes the federal
government, of course, but also the provinces.
I am certain that we are going to have a productive day
here in Maniwaki.
Without further delay, I would like to yield the
floor to my colleagues, who have a few preliminary remarks to make,
and then we can deal more specifically with the items of business
on the agenda, which is very full.
I would also like to thank the Mayor for joining us.
must forgive us, because there has obviously been a mixup.
You
The
Commission is holding hearings in two other locations in Canada today.
We are divided into three groups; there is one in Ontario, and another
on the coast of Labrador.
This obviously requires major logistical planning.
Unfortunately, there are sometimes serious problems.
What I want to say here is that this is a dialogue.
We
will be returning to Quebec, we will be sitting in Montreal in 1993,
before the end of the year. If you want to put your
December 2, 1992
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[p 22]
thoughts on paper, we would like to receive them.
It might be
possible to present them to us in Montreal, for example, or somewhere
else in Quebec not too far from here.
So, it is not lost.
Since we are coming several times,
we can continue the dialogue.
We would certainly be interested in
your written submissions and, if you like, an oral presentation at
some point during the third round of public hearings.
Without further delay, I would like to ask Mr Robinson
to say a few words.
[p 27]
COCHAIR RENÉ DUSSAULT:
Thank you.
I would now like to
ask Chief JeanGuy Whiteduck to make his presentation.
[ p 95]
COCHAIR RENÉ DUSSAULT:
Thank you.
spent a fair bit of time on the schedule.
of ground.
To sum up, two or three facts.
[English]
I think that we have
We have covered a lot
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[ p 96]
COCHAIR RENÉ DUSSAULT:
[English]
We are going to take a tenminute break.
We will begin
again with the presentation from the Band Council's Education
Director.
Thank you.
[p 167]
COCHAIR RENÉ DUSSAULT:
us.
Thank you for coming to meet with
[English]
[p 167]
COCHAIR RENÉ DUSSAULT:
[English]
We are going to begin with Mr Boyce Richardson's
presentation.
[p 196]
COCHAIR RENÉ DUSSAULT:
[English]
I would now like to ask the representative of the
International Labour Organization to join us.
[p 197]
Good day.
JOHN HARKER, CANADIAN REPRESENTATIVE, INTERNATIONAL
LABOUR ORGANIZATION:
Thank you, Sir.
I would prefer to speak in
December 2, 1992
English this afternoon.
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[p 219]
COCHAIR RENÉ DUSSAULT:
Good afternoon.
[English]
[English]
[ p 260]
COCHAIR RENÉ DUSSAULT:
Thank you very much.
COCHAIR RENÉ DUSSAULT:
[English]
[English]
[ p 261]
Good afternoon.
I
would like to welcome you. [English]
CLIFFORD LINCOLN, SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE, ALGONQUINS OF
BARRIERE LAKE:
Mr CoChairman, ladies and gentlemen of the
Commission, allow me to read my report in English, since the
colleagues accompanying me are English.
You have already met Chief Martchewan of the Algonquins
of Barriere Lake, Mr Russell Diabo, Mr Michel Thusky and
Mr David Nahwegahbow.
[English]
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[p 271]
MR MICHEL THUSKY:
Thank you for your time.
This is a
statement and petition signed by our community.
From time immemorial, we have occupied and used our lands
for traditional activities, administering the lands and their
resources in accordance with our way of life, conserving its bounty
and living in harmony with our Mother, the Earth; the floods and
forestry operations and impoverishment of the wildlife in the past
one hundred years have stripped the lands and resources and disturbed
our traditional way of life.
Determined to overcome these effects, maintain our
traditional way of life and improve the management of the lands and
resources for the benefit of all, we encouraged the governments of
Canada and Quebec to cooperate with us in a partnership to develop
a conservation strategy based on sustainable development, as
described in the report of the United Nations Commission on
Environment and Development (Bruntdland Report).
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In good faith, we signed the Trilateral Agreement with
Canada and Quebec on August 22, 1991.
The purpose of the Trilateral Agreement, as explained in
the Agreement itself, is to ensure the rational management of
renewable resources on the lands we currently use that are included
in Annex 1 and Annex 2 of the Agreement in order to allow varied
use of these resources and the pursuit of our traditional activities
while still giving consideration to conservation principles.
In a partnership of signatories, the Trilateral Agreement
establishes a trilateral process of surveys and inventories (phase
one), planning (phase two) and recommendations (phase three) intended
to lead to the production and implementation of an integrated resource
management plan in 1994.
Until the integrated resource management plan is a reality,
in order to minimize the impact of forestry activities on our
traditional activities, the Trilateral Agreement calls for measures
to harmonize forestry activities
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with our traditional activities, as well as the sensitive zones that
should be given special protection on a provisional basis.
Since the beginning of the trilateral process, there have
been problems in implementing the Trilateral Agreement as a result
of the refusal by the Government of Quebec, represented by its
Department of Forests, to implement provisional measures,
particularly harmonization measures; of the Government of Quebec's
insistence that the Forestry Act and Regulations and forest
management agreements take precedence over the Trilateral Agreement;
of the refusal by the Government of Quebec, represented by its
Department of Forests, to give its special representative sufficient
powers or to accept the representative's decision, as required by
the Agreement; and of the withholding by the governments of Canada
and Quebec of sufficient financial resources to allow the process
to function.
In an effort to resolve these problems,
Justice Réjean Paul, of the Quebec Superior Court, was appointed
as a mediator on September 14, 1992.
The mediator's report confirmed that in September 1992,
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the federal and provincial funding source was closed and that the
problems in implementing the Trilateral Agreement were the result
of a failure to fully respect the Agreement.
The mediator's report led to the conclusion that the
Trilateral Agreement is a treaty or solemn agreement that binds the
parties and takes precedence over Quebec's legislation on forest
management agreements.
The mediator's report also states that this project is
of capital importance to future harmonious development of the
forestry industry in La Vérendrye Park and elsewhere in Quebec.
Dr Lafond, Quebec's special representative, sees this project as
a marvellous test of intelligent forest management.
Justice Paul has made further attempts since the
publication of his report to resolve the problems surrounding an
imminent conflict involving the forestry operations of
Claude Bérard, which led to the establishment of a cutting plan
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by Quebec's special representative, Dr Lafond (Lafond Plan).
In a spirit of compromise, we accepted the Lafond Plan
as part of a sixpoint proposal put forward by Justice Paul on
September 25, 1992.
Regrettably, Mr Bérard rejected the Lafond Plan, and the
Quebec Department of Forests failed to respect the compromise
proposed by Justice Paul by refusing to implement the Lafond Plan
as called for and by not providing the financial resources mentioned
in the Justice's proposal.
In another attempt to reach a solution, Justice Paul, on
October 8, 1992, proposed a Quebec Summit in order to settle all
the problems in the trilateral process.
In a continuing spirit of compromise, we accepted
Justice Paul's proposal, but we learned that the Department of
Forests had not accepted it.
In a public statement issued on October 15, 1992, the Quebec
minister of Indian Affairs, Christos Sirros, questioned
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our intentions and accused us of bad faith in the discussions about
the Trilateral Agreement.
By taking measures with the potential to incite the
regional population against us, the Quebec Department of Forests
unjustly created a controversy with the forestry companies and
workers at a time when the regional economy was hard hit by the
recession.
We have set out our position in a coherent and regular
fashion, indicating that we are not opposed to development, including
forestry activities.
As proof of our commitment to this position,
we have in recent years allowed and even facilitated Mr Bérard's
forestry operations and we demonstrated our commitment again this
year by accepting the Lafond Plan.
Under the circumstances, in order to remove any doubt about
our intentions, it has become necessary for us to restate our position
on the Trilateral Agreement.
As a result, we solemnly declare the following.
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We reaffirm our complete and total commitment to the
Trilateral Agreement.
We fully endorse the report of the mediator, the Honourable
Justice Paul.
We express our understanding of and support for the
economic needs of the people of the AbitibiOutaouais region,
particularly those who are out of work and need jobs, and we encourage
all efforts to improve this situation provided that they do not
compromise our own subsistence economy or cause irreparable damage
to the environment and our traditional way of life.
We reaffirm our position that we are not opposed to forestry
activities provided that they are carried out in conformity with
the Trilateral Agreement and in a way compatible with the principles
of conservation, sustainable development and the continued pursuit
of our traditional activities.
We reaffirm our faith in the possibility of harmonizing
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our economic needs and traditional way of life with the region's
economic needs, particularly the need for jobs in the forestry sector
as a result of the process of reconciliation and harmonization
established in the Trilateral Agreement.
And we hereby exhort the governments of Quebec and Canada
to adopt and implement the mediator's report, to act in good faith
in honouring their commitments under the Trilateral Agreement, to
promote the reconciliation of our interests and those of the
nonAboriginals by seeking to solve the region's economic problems,
and to accept the Trilateral Agreement as a partnership in the
management of the land's renewable resources.