TORONTO -- Staging illegal activities on tomorrow's National Aboriginal Day of action would do nothing but "tarnish" the efforts of peaceful protesters hoping to further the case for improving the lives of aboriginal Canadians, former prime minister Paul Martin said yesterday.
Martin, who was speaking at a public forum on aboriginal rights, said illegal actions would only divert the attention of the Canadian public from the issues at hand.
"I think the case for fairness, equality of opportunity, education and health care are just simply too important to be diverted by such acts."
STALLED AGREEMENT
Martin also linked some of the objectives of the day of action to his previous efforts to implement the Kelowna Accord, a $5-billion stalled agreement which sought to improve the education and employment opportunities and living conditions of aboriginals through government funding.
"The rejection of
"It just shows how little Paul Martin actually accomplished that he holds up the Kelowna Accords as his record of achievement -- an agreement that was made three days before an election call he knew was coming, and for which money was never budgeted," Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice replied in a statement.