Nation to Nation: Honouring the Royal Proclamation of 1763 — Transcript

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1. 0:14[Music]
2. 0:29n
3. 0:35trip that we made here was to show
4. 0:37Canadians that we still have this
5. 0:39connection with with Britain and that uh
6. 0:42the treaties were made by our ancestors
7. 0:45with Queen Victoria being invoked as The
8. 0:48Sovereign when may treaties with us
9. 0:50sometimes the nation state does not also
10. 0:52like us going internationally you know
11. 0:54because we get our message out because
12. 0:56the world needs to know that Canada is a
13. 0:59great place to live but unfortunately
14. 1:02for the indigenous peoples there's still
15. 1:03great poverty there's still oppression
16. 1:06there's still economic marginalization
17. 1:08those things are still persisting in
18. 1:11Canada it's very important for me to be
19. 1:13here not only to commemorate with the
20. 1:15other Chiefs um the significance of the
21. 1:18Proclamation but also to perhaps get new
22. 1:23energy in terms of going forward and
23. 1:25continuing the work so that Canada at
24. 1:29Large will know more about the Royal
25. 1:32Proclamation yes they may know it was in
26. 1:351763 but what they may not know is
27. 1:37through the constitution of Canada it
28. 1:39still applies
29. 1:41[Music]
30. 1:48today are still reserved for the said
31. 1:51Indians as afor
32. 1:55said to remove themselves from our
33. 1:58settlements so again recog of our lands
34. 2:00en
35. 2:03tit roal Proclamation of 1763 as our
36. 2:06Magna Carta in a way because uh it
37. 2:10opened up all these countries for
38. 2:11settlement because it paved the way for
39. 2:13treaties you know this paved the way for
40. 2:15the treaty making process and uh it
41. 2:18recognized our sovereignty and
42. 2:19nationhood and that's a big thing so
43. 2:22that's why we say we're not ethnic
44. 2:23minorities we might be 4% of the
45. 2:25population in Canada but we might be low
46. 2:28in numbers but that does make us ethnic
47. 2:29minorities we're indigenous peoples with
48. 2:32our again our own land laws and
49. 2:34languages and our own identifiable
50. 2:36people and here and right and it's
51. 2:38recognized here and this and this is
52. 2:40forms part of Canada's Constitution it's
53. 2:43a referenced as part of Canada's
54. 2:45Constitution it it really is uh stunning
55. 2:49to be in the presence of history but to
56. 2:52see uh once again affirmed in in know
57. 2:56such a tangible way the understanding
58. 2:59way back end that you're dealing with
59. 3:02with Sovereign Nations and that that
60. 3:04idea which would seem enlightened now
61. 3:07that it existed back then it's uh the
62. 3:10seeds of a of a better future found in
63. 3:13the
64. 3:14[Music]
65. 3:24past while the the crown through the
66. 3:26Royal
67. 3:27Proclamation um made one of many
68. 3:30important promises that included that
69. 3:32the crown even before Canada was
70. 3:34established would be there to support
71. 3:36protect um the indigenous Nations uh in
72. 3:39what is now called Canada and this is
73. 3:42brought forward in contemporary terms in
74. 3:44the United Nations declaration the
75. 3:45rights of indigenous peoples it reminds
76. 3:47Canadians and the Canadian government
77. 3:49that it is a successor state that as
78. 3:52such it inherited as did all Canadians
79. 3:55an obligation uh to support First
80. 3:58Nations and in fact to rec recognize
81. 4:00that all Canadians are treaty peoples
82. 4:02with an obligation to support the
83. 4:03implementation of those treaties in the
84. 4:05spirit and intent with which the First
85. 4:07Nations peoples understood them in other
86. 4:10words that it's about Equity it's about
87. 4:12mutual respect it's about seeing one
88. 4:14another both formally and
89. 4:27informally High
90. 4:35[Music]
91. 4:42this is a moment of Reckoning and and
92. 4:45the indigenous young people are saying
93. 4:46we need to come together like never
94. 4:48before we're stronger when we come
95. 4:49together those barriers were not created
96. 4:51by us including provincial Territorial
97. 4:54and international boundaries and by
98. 4:56extension they're reaching out to as we
99. 4:58discuss here the settler community
100. 4:59saying you know you didn't create the
101. 5:00inion act or the residential schools
102. 5:02either you by yourself did not um make
103. 5:06it so that this would not be taught in
104. 5:07schools and so therefore the children
105. 5:09don't understand the principles embedded
106. 5:11in treaty number three that we should
107. 5:13support learning about each other but
108. 5:15that doesn't mean we can't do something
109. 5:16about
110. 5:18[Music]
111. 5:26it so we're here this morning because
112. 5:28this is the global day of action in
113. 5:30solidarity with Idol no more and we
114. 5:32wanted to show our solidarity right here
115. 5:33in London for indigenous land rights
116. 5:37Britain was built on Stolen wealth from
117. 5:41the colonies uh and everything you know
118. 5:43were in the heart of of London today
119. 5:46everything we see around us has if you
120. 5:49go far back enough it has its basis on
121. 5:53economic relationships that were deeply
122. 5:56deeply exploitative and that still have
123. 5:59effects both here and in Canada one of
124. 6:01the reasons I've been trying to learn
125. 6:05more and understand more about
126. 6:06indigenous sovereignty in Canada is
127. 6:08because of the Canadian government
128. 6:10pushing tarand and pushing tarand into
129. 6:13Europe and Europe being a big import uh
130. 6:16of the Canadian tarand and the impact
131. 6:20that the extraction of the tarand is
132. 6:23having on first nation's people and
133. 6:25their lands and livelihoods and health
134. 6:30the exciting thing is is is more and
135. 6:32more people are waking up they're waking
136. 6:35up to the injustices and inequalities
137. 6:38and I think people just in general are
138. 6:41frustrated because there's a lot of
139. 6:43people benefiting from treaty and
140. 6:45there's a lot of people who
141. 6:50weren't I believe that we're entering an
142. 6:52era an era of reconciliation and for me
143. 6:55and the people I represent this is the
144. 6:56era of indigenous peoples it's been a
145. 6:58long time coming that we would take our
146. 7:01rightful place in our respective
147. 7:02territories and the the roal
148. 7:04proclamation and treaties say that we're
149. 7:05not to do this alone that we're all
150. 7:07treaty people that we're all here to
151. 7:08stay in our respective territories
152. 7:10including in what's now called
153. 7:12[Music]
154. 7:24[Music]
155. 7:28Canada