by PATRICK LEJTENYI

Parliament didn’t exactly clean off their desks before they broke for summer recess last Friday. Several high-profile pieces of legislation the Chrétien government hopes to implement before he’s replaced - in all likelihood by former finance minister and LaSalle MP Paul Martin - include the much-ballyhooed marijuana reform bill, a bill banning human cloning and the First Nations Governance Act, Bill C7. While a lot of ink has been spilled elsewhere about the first two, little has been said about the last one, even though it is deeply unpopular with many of the people it will directly affect.

"Most of the First Nations communities in Canada are against it - firmly, dead set against it," says Kahnesatake band council member and former grand chief Steve Bonspille. "The voice is very strong, from east to west, north to south, against Bill C7."

The Act, in essence, is designed to change the way First Nations communities govern themselves, as prescribed by the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs. It will require more reporting by band councils to the department, but within a narrower range of topics. It would also seek to harmonize the way band councils are formed from coast to coast with only a few exceptions, imposing a system of government that natives will not recognize as their own. Opponents claim there was an absolute lack of consultation or consideration with First Nations on the part of the Ministry.

While the wording of the Act sounds fairly progressive, recognizing the deficiencies in the 1876 Indian Act and trying to improve on them, Bonspille complains that C7 "wants to turn First Nations into municipalities. It opens the door to taxation." And that is something he vows no First Nation community will ever tolerate.

Another sticking point is what the bill refers to as First Nations accountability. In its online backgrounder on the Act, the Ministry states that "Band councils have local law-making authorities of the 19th century, not the 21st, and are more accountable to the federal government than to their membership." (They may have a point: in late 2001, Bonspille led a revolt against the current Grand Chief James Gabriel and replaced him after a vote of no-confidence. Gabriel appealed to the federal courts, who reinstated him in May 2002. Gabriel was unavailable for comment this week on Bill C7.)

The Ministry also touts the bill as "the result of one of the most extensive consultations with First Nations people ever undertaken in Canada…. More than 10,000 individuals and leaders expressed their views."

But Bonspille says he, and other local Mohawk leaders, were never consulted. "I don’t believe the consultations were as wide as it’s said to have been," he says.

What would Paul do?

On Montreal’s south shore, however, the Kahnawake Band Council is not nearly as upset about the legislation as their fellow Mohawks near Oka. Because they have been negotiating directly with the Ministry of Indian and Northern Affairs, they are soon to reach their own negotiated settlement that would exempt them from Bill C7 and other federal legislation.

"We have never taken a position on Bill C7," says Kahnawake communications officer Timmy Norton. "It shouldn’t affect us, because we have our own process that we hope to have in place soon."

Complicating matters is the likelihood of Paul Martin succeeding Chrétien as prime minister next February. Martin, whose home riding is across the river from Kahnawake, has gone on record saying he would not enforce the bill as it currently stands (although the Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs, Robert Nault, is a Martin supporter). And while Martin has a good reputation in Kahnawake, having visited the reservation several times during his extended leadership campaign, he has not exactly been given a ringing endorsement by the Kahnesatake Mohawks. "Anyone is better than Jean Chrétien," says Bonspille. He hints that Martin’s stock among First Nations is likely to depend on how he handles the Bill’s change and enforcement once prime minister.

In the meantime, Bonspille and other protesters across the country will continue to mobilize against the Act. On May 15, over 8,000 natives staged a mass protest in Kenora, Nault’s home riding. Despite a lack of media interest, Bonspille says, efforts against the Act will continue.