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'WEMBy FEE pRESS, WEDNgsDAY, JUL1Y12 1989, PAGE 7 4.r It's probably been a hundred years since N. American Indians last signed a mutual defence treaty, but nine Canadian native bands did it again last Thursday. It is a clear sign that the confrontations will become more frequent and more polarized. As George Erasmus,'the leader of the Council of First, Nations, said last year, if the government can't reach agreement on peaceful termns with the present generation, there are no guarantees that the next generation will not resort to violence. Native Canadians are frustrated. As with repressed peoples throughout the world, whether Palestinian, black South Africans or 'Chinese students, if moderates cannot negotiate peaceful change, then more radical elements will use confrontation -and violence. Stalling will neyer prevent change, it only niakes it more difficult. Canada prides itself that we treated our natives differ- ently - less confrontation - than the Americans. We even owe our very eistence as a separate country to, the assistance of Indian leaders during the War of 1812. Without themn the war would have been a minor skirmish in the path of Anieri- can expansionisni. Yet we treat them like third class citizens. Our greed and their acquiescence bas pushed them off_______________________________________ the best lands- and back into the hinterlands. Our diseases have decimated their numbers yet our sophisticated medical facilities are only remotely available.. We introduced them to liquor and then accuse them of being drunkards. Canadians have been far more subtle than their southern neighbours. If Indiens had land that white men wanted, they were "persuaded!" to give it up in exchange for perpetual government handouts on "reserved" land. *Indians saw little sense in resisting, given the fate of their Ainerican brothers. And se, Canada established its own system of apartheid - most of the reservations were ne different from S. African shantytowns - poor education, inadequate sanitation, poverty, disease, boredom, paternalism and prejudice. But Canada only made treaties with the natives as long as there was the potentiel for violence and disruption. Once the Indians in the more accessible areas were pacified, there was little.need toreach agreement with the rest. Whenever a niining or logging company wanted their land, the governinent gave it te them - the Indians had te niove. Only now that Canada's frontier is rolling farther and farther into the hinterlands are the natives feeling the shrinkage of their territery. And they're fighting back. But the govenment's in no hurry. Hundreds of native bands.have neyer negotiated with the government and have neyer surrendered their land rights. What the government expects te gain from stalling is beyond comprehension. And even if the government can be persuaded to begin negotiting, everything will stili be subject te legal challenges, constitu- tional wrangling, harassment, buck-passing and a dozen other bureaucratic devices. Snails move faster. The Lubicon EIGHTL ANNUAL M[SSIONARY CONFEIRENCE AT band in Aberta bas been trying te get a treaty for fifty years. ONTAIO LADIES' OLG, UY11 The intransigence of governments at all levels is Fo 96utl16,teMtoit COcLtEG te UniedY 1913 anda hl incredibly short-sighted. Canada is a large country with rich Foi10 ni 98 h ehds hrh ae h ntdCuc fCndhl resources - the reluctance te share these with the indigenous summer missionary conferences at the Ontario Ladies' College. More than 100 delegates peole s otraeoslypety. erhpstheIndan ffarsfronm across- Canada attended annual conferences. Whltb Archives photo Bay. It also provided a large remote native population with Ojntario biteel plant. the reseurces te take charge cf their. lives like the A proposaI for Whitby to, take over the old County Building will be put te Oshawa Council government was neyer prepared te do. which has a part interest in the structure. They now have moden bouses, new hospitàls, good schoîs, their own airline and nuxnerous local industries. 75 -YEARS AGO They planned it, they bufit it and now they govern it. The from the Thursday, July 9, 1914 edition of the seulement gave them more than a billion dollars, which may WHITBY GAZETFE AND CHRONICLE Seem like a lot, but it's less than $5,000 per person per ya. a The ninth annuel summer Missionary Conference cf the> Methodist Church epened at the With that example it is remarkable that governments Ontario Ladies' College on July 2. continue te stafl. It appears that they settled that dlaim enfly e Town Council is split on whether to proceed with tonstruction cf a sanitary sewer system because it was te thei.r econeniic adventage te do se -... and it in Whitby. seems that's the pattern they still want te follow. e Mr. and Mrs. John Rice entertained the choir of the Methodist Tabernacle at their home, Perhaps it will,- indeed, take violence before the * Lakeview Hall," on July 2. govenmet sts sideitspatrnaismand ive ou naiveA football match bet-ween the Audley and Brooklin teams resulted in a'tie. population a fair share of what once was theirs alone. _______________________________________ - - - - - - - - AI~