Copyright © 2001 NLThomas
All Rights Reserved

CAPE TOWN, September 7, 2001 - National Chief Matthew Coon Come flew today to Cape Town for a personal meeting with Nobel Peace Prize winner Bishop Desmond Tutu, as part of his mission to South Africa to participate in the World Conference Against Racism in Durban.

"I communicated to Bishop Tutu that we were in South Africa to tell our story of ongoing structural discrimination and gross social and economic disparities in Canada affecting aboriginal peoples," said Coon Come. "I received an extremely sympathetic hearing, which I knew I would because the Bishop - unlike most Canadians who have been criticizing my recent outreach - has personally visited our Indian reserves and wept at what he saw. This morning, Bishop Tutu expressed his sadness and dismay that these things are continuing in Canada and that our people are still dispossessed."

"As Christians, we both believe that there must be reconciliation between those who are marginalized and those who are in power. But before there can be reconciliation, there must be truth, and this is a threshold that we in Canada have yet to cross," said Coon Come.

Coon Come will represent First Nations Peoples in Canada at the mass state funeral tomorrow in Port Elizabeth, South Africa of Govan Mbeki, the much-beloved comrade of Nelson Mandela's and father of the present South African President. Coon Come is being afforded protocol assistance as a visiting governmental dignitary.

"I am gratified that in spite of a few calls for me to apologize for telling the Canadian truth internationally, there has been an outpouring of support for my message from many ordinary Canadians, the churches, and human rights organizations," said Coon Come in response to reactions in Canada.

"I will not be silent as long as there are gross disparities systematically facing my people right across Canada," said Coon Come. "Our reality is still hungry aboriginal children, living in inadequate shelter and unsafe communities, lacking safe drinking water and sanitation, facing over-incarceration, suicide epidemics, hopelessness and despair. This is not the reality facing all other Canadians."

Coon Come's recent message of racism affecting indigenous peoples in Canada, as disseminated at WCAR in Durban, has received support from such prominent organizations as Rights and Democracy in Montreal and Kairos Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives, a coalition of Canadian churches, church based agencies and religious organizations based in Toronto.

Kairos said yesterday that Coon Come's words were "a critique of systems and structures that continue to marginalize an identifiable group within our society. These problems of systemic racism have been identified by national and international organizations, including the Centre for Rights & Democracy in Montreal, and during various 'compliance reviews' of the UN. Unfortunately, Minister Nault's response (to Coon Come) does not encourage Canadians to weigh the substantive points raised by the Chief, but instead fans the flames of racial tensions."

Kairos continued: "Minister (Nault) failed to mention that the National Chief praised Canada on several key points, including its work on upholding human rights abroad. The National Chief also recognized that Indigenous peoples in other countries face "much worse" conditions than do Aboriginal people in Canada. However, he rightly called Canada to a higher standard given the enormous wealth of this country."