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Tories raise race issue

Mike W. Bryant
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Nov 03/04) - A Conservative MP drew a heated reaction from aboriginal leaders yesterday, after he suggested the Tlicho Agreement will lead to the formation of race-based governments across Canada.

Conservative MP Jim Prentice, who serves in his party's shadow cabinet as the watchdog over Indian Affairs and Northern Development, questioned in the House of Commons, Monday, whether the proposed Tlicho Land Claims and Self-Government Act will supersede the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The act, or Bill C-14, passed second reading the same day.

The same afternoon, Prentice told Yellowknifer that the act was creating a dangerous precedent in Canada because it puts the onus on racial ancestry when selecting candidates to run for elected office.

"What does the Charter say about an electoral system which says individuals have to be of a certain racial background to qualify?" asked Prentice.

"Is that constitutional?"

Under the act, 50 per cent of community band councillors elected must be Tlicho band members, said Prentice, although he acknowledged that almost everybody living within the Tlicho boundaries are Dogrib.

Prentice said his party is also concerned with a clause in the Act that appears to make it mandatory for the Canadian government to consult the Tlicho government before entering into international treaties with other countries.

"In this agreement there are two pages that deal with international agreements," said Prentice."How did those come into existence and why?"

Tlicho chief negotiator John B. Zoe said Prentice's assertions all untrue. "The Tlicho have no veto power on international agreements Canada enters into."

He said Prentice's notions about the 50 per cent requirement for elected officials is all backwards. In fact, by opening up 50 per cent of community seats to non-Tlicho participants, Tlicho negotiators are guaranteeing they have a voice in the election process. "In the communities, the Dogrib (Tlicho) are 100 per cent in all the leadership," said Zoe.

"We're guaranteeing seats for other Canadians where it's never been done anywhere else."

Assembly of First Nations vice-chief Bill Erasmus said he believes Prentice is being pressured to criticize the Act by big business and the more right-wing elements in the Conservative Party.

"Jim is actually quite educated in this regard," said Erasmus. "He use to sit on the Indian Claims commission."

"I think he is being told by the people that have the bucks or whoever that he's got to bring these questions out."

Western Arctic MP Ethel Blondin-Andrew said she wasn't particularly concerned about the questions raised by Prentice.

"He's the critic. I guess it's incumbent of him to do that," said Blondin-Andrew.

"I was a critic once, and I did that. It's one of those things."