Native anger rises over prolonged land disputes

By The Canadian Press
Halifax, Nova Scotia - Thr Chronicle Herald
April 24, 2007

OTTAWA — Anger over decades of federal stalling on native land claims is set to erupt in flashpoints across Canada, says former Ontario premier David Peterson.

After mediating several cases, he warns of "a new militancy" among First Nations who’ve felt ignored for too long.

Ottawa must move faster on legitimate claims before growing frustration turns deadly, he said in an interview.

"There’s a lot of potentially explosive situations out there."

Peterson says more confrontations are on the way.

"There is hardly a rail line, a road, a pipeline, a hydro line that doesn’t somewhere go across disputed property.

"But one of the great frustrations for the aboriginal community is no one has sat down and seriously engaged in discussion about this."

A stack of dusty studies, including a recent Senate report, has slammed the slow pace of settlements.

Native leaders complain that Ottawa acts as both judge and jury — when it acts at all.

Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice himself says the system is broken. The number of backlogged claims has soared to about 800 from 250 since 1993.

Prentice said he will soon ask cabinet to approve an action plan. The question is whether he can sway the Conservative government to make potentially costly changes.

The price of not acting may be much higher, observers say.

A new generation of native activists — increasingly youthful, restless and often unemployed — has lost patience, says Peter Russell, a constitutional expert at University of Toronto.

"We’re going to have more and more of these flashpoint events. It’s an urgent, urgent matter.

"It divides us all. It’s very costly and it’s unnecessary.

"We have to scream: Government, move! Please!"

Growing tensions flared over the weekend as a splinter group of Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte paralyzed freight and passenger rail traffic with a blockade on a busy Toronto-Montreal line near Deseronto, Ont.

Protest leader Shawn Brant blamed the slow pace of talks around use by developers of a quarry on disputed land. He also said the protest that ended early Saturday is just one in a planned campaign of economic disruption.