Industries urged to build trust with First Nations – by Len Gillis (Timmins Daily Press – January 20, 2015)

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TIMMINS – One of the most respected legal minds in Canada told an audience in Timmins Monday that it is about time for mainstream Canadians to start showing more trust and respect to the Aboriginal community.

The Honourable Frank Iacobucci, former chief justice of the Federal Court of Canada and a former member of the Supreme Court of Canada, was speaking at a special lunch sponsored by the Misiway Milopemahtesewin Community Health Centre on Monday.

“I think it is the No. 1 societal issue facing our country, and that is the plight of our indigenous people,” he told the audience. Aside from being a renowned author, speaker and jurist, Iacobucci is also the man representing the Government of Ontario for negotiating with the Matawa First Nation tribal council for the Ring Of Fire project.

He spoke on the Ring Of Fire project only in passing, but he said it will have to be an example of the non-Aboriginal segment of our society treating First Nations and individual Aboriginals with more trust and respect.

At one point in his speech, he told the Timmins audience that resource companies need to include consultation and accommodating with First Nations.

“If I were the CEO of a mining company, or of a lumber company or a natural resource company, to me it makes so much sense to consult and accommodate if you’re interested in something that is in the territory or the vicinity of a First Nation.

“You cannot have a relationship without trust and respect. You cannot have trust in each other without respect for one another.”

Iacobucci said this would take more than just words.

“You can’t just proclaim it. You can’t just say this is going to be a proclamation on mutual trust and respect. You have to earn it by conduct, by what you do, not just by what you say,” said Iacobucci.

“We have so many examples of the lack of trust and the lack of respect. We have to be committed seriously to change that.”

He added that in more than half a century of practising law, he regarded Aboriginal relations as being among the most complex issues he has ever faced. He mentioned such issues as inter-marriage, growing urbanization as many young Aboriginals seek to enjoy a modern lifestyle while also seeking to hold on to traditional values and treaty rights.

Part of the problem, in Iacobucci’s belief, lies in the interpretation of many of the treaties. He said many Aboriginal people believed the treaties meant they were sharing the land with the European settlers. The non-Aboriginal people, he said, believed that the Aboriginal peoples were giving up their land.

“Sharing was something that was part of the culture of First Nations people and their communities,” he said, adding that the concept of land was central to the Aboriginal culture.

“Land is important to all us. But it doesn’t have, I would suggest, it doesn’t have the spiritual dimension that land has for Aboriginal people. It has a practical dimension to all of us. That spirituality is not there.”

Following the treaties, he said Canada then tried to expand the relationship with Aboriginals through assimilation.

The “best example” of that, he said before changing his words to the “worst example,” was the residential school system where children were removed from their home communities, and sent away to boarding schools. He said it was a horrible idea.

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