June 23, 1994 For Immediate Release
"LIBERALS AND BLOC CONSPIRE AGAINST REFORM"
Garry Breitkreuz, MP (Yorkton-Melville), expressed deep disappointment that the Liberal Government entered into a secret, back-room deal with the Bloc Quebecois to invoke the anti-democratic tactic of time-allotment or closure to end the debate on the Yukon Indian Land Claims and Self-Government agreements. "I am dismayed that the Liberals and Bloc stopped this very important debate before answering all the questions Canadians are asking," said Breitkreuz.
Here are some of the questions the government refused to answer:
1.What do grassroots Indian people think of these agreements?
2.How were grassroots Indian people involved in the negotiating process?
3.How did grassroots Indian people ratify these agreements? Did they get a chance to vote by secret ballot?
4.Were municipal governments involved in the negotiations and do they support all aspects of these agreements?
5.What impact will these agreements have on access to settlement lands by non-natives, such as hunters, trappers, fishermen, and, tourists?
6.Why is there no financial balance-sheet included with these agreements?
7.Why is the federal government still obligated to make increasing annual payments to the Indian people, even after settling the land-claims and entering into the self-government agreements?
8.What control will Parliament have over the payment of taxpayer's dollars to the Yukon First Nations under these agreements?
9.How will the Government of Canada guarantee that individual Indian people will receive their fair share of the federal monies?
10.What safeguards will each individual Indian person have if the First Nation Leaders fail to provide services and their fair share of the federal monies?
11.Will individual Indian people have the right to make claims against the government of Canada, if the First Nations Leaders fail to meet their obligations?
12.How will the rights of individual Indian people as Canadian citizens be guaranteed under these agreements?
13.Why does the government not want future Yukon Indian agreements to be debated in Parliament? Canadians do not want more secret deals!
14.Have these agreements been entrenched in the Constitution, and, if so, how can they be changed and amended? Many Canadians, including many Indian people themselves, voted against the Charlottetown Accord because they did not see the need to make native self-government a part of our constitution.
15.Will the laws of Canada remain supreme over all Indian lands?
16.Do the provisions of these agreements allow Indian Nations to set up their own laws and even establish their own armies?
17.Will RCMP be able to enter the settlement lands without permission of the First Nation leaders?
18.Will these Indian Nations become "no-go zones" like the Mohawk reserves near Oka?
19.Are there now two types of citizenship in Canada: a Citizen of Canada based on the nation in which you live and/or a Citizen of the Yukon First Nations based on your race?
20.Why is the government denying all Canadians the same opportunity to discuss and debate these agreements as they did with Indian people?
21.And finally, do these agreements set precedents for land-claims and self-government agreements being negotiated in other provinces, including Saskatchewan and Manitoba?
"These are but a few of the concerns expressed by Reform MPs during the short time we had to review and debate these two major pieces of legislation," said Breitkreuz. "Reformers are not opposed to self-government and sincerely want to settle all outstanding land-claims but we believe that these agreements must be fair to all parties involved in and affected by all such agreements. Reformers believe that self-government agreements should move us closer to equality and clearly these agreements do not," he stated.
"Reformers believe that in order to achieve true equality, the basis of any settlement with Indian people must remove the racial justification for special status that has been entrenched forever in the Yukon agreements. In order for Canadian taxpayers to accept final settlements they must have the answers to all the important questions that Reformers have raised. In the minds of most Canadians, there is only one nation - Canada; there is only one type of citizen - Canadian; and, there is only one set of laws which must apply equally to all Canadians regardless of where they live in this great country. These agreements are a major step in the wrong direction, a step for which all Canadians will pay a high price some day," warned Breitkreuz.
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