(The following article is from the September 16-30, 2009, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

An extraordinary "B.C. All Chiefs Assembly" convened in late August has put an end to the Campbell Liberal government's proposed Recognition and Reconciliation legislation. (See the Sept. 1-15 issue of People's Voice for background.)

     Instead, the Assembly unanimously endorsed an action strategy to be implemented by an Indigenous Title Action Group on a provincial, national and international level.

     Travelling through the province, at regional sessions and community meetings, the chiefs said they consistently heard deep concerns about the potential impacts of the proposed legislation. The "Recognition and Reconciliation" act was widely seen as an unacceptable attempt to extend provincial jurisdiction over Indigenous Title and Rights.

     "The Assembly is calling for an immediate implementation and enforcement of our Indigenous Title and Rights as called for by the United Nations' Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples," said Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, President of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs. "Clearly the Premier and his government have not acted honourably through the course of the so-called `New Relationship.' Indigenous communities demand substance not empty platitudes. Rather than breaking down the outdated legal barriers and the archaic colonial attitudes of the bureaucracy, Indigenous communities, such as the Xeni Gwet'in or those of the Common Table, are facing deliberately constructed and illegal denial strategies of their Title and Rights in court and in their negotiations. That must stop."

     "We call on the Province of British Columbia to immediately change its deplorable conduct and fully implement on an honourable basis our Indigenous Title and Rights that are constitutionally recognized and judicially reaffirmed," said Chief Nelson Leon, BC Assembly of First Nations spokesperson. "We have reaffirmed that our Title and Rights are inherited from our ancestral origins as Indigenous Peoples and we recognize our inherent responsibility to bestow our Title and Rights to those unborn."