(CP) - Aboriginal leaders across the country say the release of the Ipperwash report has cemented their resolve to use a diverse array of methods this summer to raise awareness about outstanding land claims, racism and poverty faced by First Nations communities.
The Assembly of First Nations has called for a national day of action on June 29 to draw attention to these issues. And while the assembly has been clear it supports only peaceful methods of protest, the day has inevitably been linked to planned rail blockades and calls from some leaders for a summer of action.
Chief Terrance Nelson of the Roseau River First Nation, south of Winnipeg, has threatened a lengthy blockade of CN rail lines unless the federal government moves to resolve some 800 outstanding land claims by June 29. He says the Ipperwash inquiry report justifies extreme action such as rail blockades as the only tenable way to draw attention to aboriginal grievances.
"The fact that someone had to die before this issue came out in public, it just shows that the First Nations people don't have any place to go where they can get justice," said Nelson.
"There is certainly cause for First Nations to see that the only way to get the white man to do anything is simply to take direct action, and unfortunately that's the reality that the First Nations face."
Shawn Brant, a Mohawk protester from the Bay of Quinte First Nation who led a 30-hour rail blockade near Deseronto, Ont., last month, agreed that direct action is the only way aboriginal people can make their voices heard, and he hopes the death of Dudley George will motivate people to "express their anger" during the planned day of protest.
"I think it's about demonstrating the power we have in our backyards. I think it's about saying ... we're never going to be disrespected, we're not going to allow for another situation like Dudley George, we're not going to drink poison water without there being consequences," said Brant.
Brant says there's little governments can do at this point to prevent what he called "something that maybe people couldn't even imagine."
"Unless the government can get the chequebook out and run around really quick and try and put fires out, then yeah, it's going to be not only a day or a week of discontent, it's going to be a summer and it's going to be a fall and it's going to continue until these issues are resolved once and for all," he said.
"We've taken our position and now the government has to take theirs, and their choices are negotiation or confrontation."
But Ontario Regional Chief Angus Toulouse said the day of action is more about education than confrontation.
"We want to provide education to the general public about the outstanding claims," said Toulouse in a telephone interview from Sagamok Anishnawbek First Nation, west of Sudbury.
"We're not talking about trying to gain more. All we're talking about is what is rightfully ours and getting the federal government and the provincial government to deal with those issues."
Chief Stewart Phillip of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs says his group is organizing a day of peaceful rallies and marches with supportive groups from the labour, human rights and health care sectors, among others.
But he said the federal government has to take responsibility for past and present land disputes such as Ipperwash, Oka and Caledonia.
"All of these point to the fact that the government of Canada needs to get off its butt and bring forward a viable process to expedite the resolution of outstanding land rights issues, because they represent the trigger to occupations, standoffs and ultimately tragic loss of life," said Phillip.
The Ipperwash inquiry was held to investigate the death of Dudley George, an aboriginal protester gunned down by a police sniper in 1995 for refusing to end an occupation of Ipperwash Provincial Park, where he said his ancestors were buried. The report found that Ottawa's neglect of aboriginal land claims, an impatient provincial government and the cultural insensitivity of police all contributed to George's death.