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25 August 2015

Emergency Measures Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination United Nations Palais des Nations 1211 CH Geneva, Switzerland ATTENTION: President RE: CANADA’S IMPOSITION OF LEGISLATION WITHOUT OUR CONSENT_______ Dear Mr. President: As the Chief of Onion Lake Cree Nation who made an international peace and friendship treaty with the British Crown to allow the Queen’s subjects to live in our territory. In return, the successor state of Canada is to provide our Nations with certain items considered treaty rights: education, health, social assistance, economic development, agriculture, housing, infrastructures and other items related to the peace Treaty like Chief’s clothing and the five dollars a year as a gift from the Crown. In 1982, the British Parliament enacted the Constitution of Canada with a specific clause related to our rights. In addition, there was a court case in England wherein Lord Denning wrote that “no parliament or legislature” can lessen the treaty rights. All of these guarantees and rights encoded in the Treaty relationship have been violated by the Canadian Parliament with the passage of the First Nations Financial Transparency Act (FNFTA) requiring the First Nations to publish on the world wide net our Consolidated Financial Audits including all our business operations. The legislation was passed without our consent –actually there were no discussions. The Canadian Bar Association and all the Indigenous Organizations who appeared before the various Committees called for the removal of the bill and for the government to enter into discussions. Members of Parliament including Senators wanted the legislation tabled to allow for discussions. This did not occur. There was never any discussion between our Nations and the Conservative Government.

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In August 2014, the Minister of Indian Affairs unilaterally extended the deadline for the filing of our Consolidated Audits. In this period, Onion Lake tried to engage the government on the legislation looking for options. The Minister informed me to take him to court. Onion Lake filed a case against the Governor General of Canada and the Government for violating our Treaty and Constitutional Rights on the 26th of November 2014. On the 8th of December 2014, the Minister of Indian Affairs filed a case against six of our Nations – five have remained. We had a hearing last week in the Federal Court of Canada trying to get a stay on the Minister’s action. At the hearing, Onion Lake proposed a solution – which was not accepted by the Federal Government.

The Minister of Indian Affairs is imposing this legislation on First Nations even though its constitutionality is in question before the courts. Canada inherited a longstanding treaty relationship and the heavy handed actions taken by the Minister through the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada brings into question the honour of the Crown. In an attempt to force compliance, the government has halted our non-essential funds and withheld housing approval for our needy families. If we release our consolidated audit, the federal government will release these funds allocated from Treasury.

In the Court proceedings, it was made clear the monies flowing to First Nations are “Indian monies” allocated by Treasury Board. These funds do not come from the public purse therefore the treaty relationship is paramount between Onion Lake Cree Nation and the Crown. This was made clear in the Affidavit evidence given by the federal government. Furthermore, the Federal Court decision in Montana Band case determined that these consolidated audits were to be “private and confidential” between the Band members and the Minister (acting on behalf of the Crown). In order to get around the 1988 Montana Band court case regarding audits, the FNFTA was introduced by the Federal government and imposed without our consent or without any appearance of consultation as required by their laws. They are trying to impose their misguided agenda on our Peoples. We are the only Peoples in the country who have no right of privacy. The federal government removed it with the passage of this legislation. First Nations have always complied with all the requirements of being transparent and accountable to our citizens who are our public. In addition, we have been transparent and accountable to Canada for the transferred funds as set out in the agreement between the First Nations and the government. The elements of our International Treaty rights have been thrashed by the Government of Canada. Canada who holds the purse strings need to be internationally supervised. It is obvious from the short history of the legislation and Canada’s attempt to force compliance, Canada cannot be trusted to honour the treaties made with the Crown of Great Britain. Our Treaties need to have international supervision in their implementation. When the Minister started his case last December 2014, there were less than twelve (12) First Nations who were not

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incompliance. Now, there are over two hundred and fifty (250). The situation is deteriorating. If the government continues to halt funding – it will amount to nearly 2 billion dollars – this is a conservative estimate. We are appealing to CERD to communicate concern about the situation in Canada in relation to this legislation and the heavy handed approach being taken by the state against Indigenous Peoples who have constitutional and international treaty rights. Thank-you for reading our submission  

Yours Truly, ORIGINAL SIGNED BY Okimaw Wallace Fox Onion Lake Cree Nation Treaty No. 6 Territory