Copyright © 2002 NLThomas
All Rights Reserved

Putting an End to Dictatorship In The Name of Democracy Two hours before the beginning of the long Easter weekend, Indian Affairs Minister Robert Nault informed Dakota Tipi Chief Dennis Pashe that before the weekend was over, he would have an Indian Agent in place running the First Nation's affairs, and a centuries-long tradition of Dakota people choosing their own leadership according to their own custom would come to an end.

A week later, today solicitor Norman Boudreau filed Chief Pashe's action in Federal Court to have Nault's action quashed and set aside as being beyond his jurisdiction, failing to observe principles of natural justice and procedural fairness, basing his decision on erroneous finding, and acted in a perverse and capricious manner without regard to the facts.

Worst of all, Chief Pashe alleged in his court papers, Nault had violated the aboriginal right of the Dakota Tipi First Nation to select its leadership according to its own custom - and that right is recognized and affirmed in Canada's constitution. "It's the people of Dakota Tipi who have an established historic right to determine their leadership who give me my power as Chief, not the Indian Act," Pashe said in announcing the court action. "The Minister has no power to deny the people that right."

"It's ironic that the Minister who is spending millions of dollars to advertise himself as the champion of democracy for First Nations would have acted in such a dictatorial way," Chief Pashe said. "He has acted against the express wishes of the majority of the adult resident members of the reserve. Even his own Manitoba regional office was unaware Nault was coming down with a sledge-hammer. He's brought us under the Indian Act, the very law he is telling Parliament is badly out of date because of its colonial origins."

Pashe warned Nault's action, if left unchallenged, threatens all of the more than three hundred First Nation communities across Canada who do not fall under the provisions of the Indian Act. "If Nault can move in wherever he wants without consultation or due process, each First Nation's right to self-government can get its death warrant any day." Nault's Governance Act, expected to be tabled in Parliament next month, will bring an end to the right of First Nations to choose their leadership in their customary manner, Pashe predicts.

Pashe is inviting First Nations across Canada to join him in this court action which will certainly reach the Supreme Court of Canada, "unless the Government wakes up and starts acting fairly," Pashe said. A legal defense fund has been established.

Pashe admits a few members of his own family want to take control of the reserve. "My efforts to establish a drug-free reserve, to bring an end to drug trafficking, and to have people who are able to work go to work instead of drawing welfare are opposed by a dissident group. However, the courts have supported me in my injunctions to prohibit these people from interfering with the administration of government," he said. "The Minister says he was acting for 'good government', but in fact, he is supporting the opponents of good government."

At the present time, the Dakota Tipi First Nation has 141 adult members. Of these, about 55 are resident on the reserve. 35 of the 55 have signed a petition supporting the current administration. Among the younger half of the resident members, there is almost 100% support for Chief Pashe. Pashe offered the petitions to everyone at a media conference held at the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs.

"If the Minister believed in democracy," Pashe said, "he would have supported the views of the majority of our members. And if he still wanted to proceed, he should have gone to Federal Court to get an order. Instead, he has acted arbitrarily and dictatorially, abusing the powers of his office and bringing disrespect to the Crown."

In fact, some of the small dissident group have filed an action to obtain a court order for an election to be called. Chief Pashe noted that the Minister's action pre-empts the court's authority by making a decision before the court has a chance to hear the case. "Whenever the courts have heard both sides, they have always supported the current government of Dakota Tipi and its rights to follow its own custom," he said.

Dakota Tipi is one of the tiniest reserves in Canada - just thirty acres. The first Dakota Tipi reserve was purchased in the 1890s by the ancestors of the current inhabitants from their own earnings as farm workers in the Portage la Prairie area. Then in the 1950s, to move the Dakota people out of the town of Portage, their urban lands were taken over by the government and they were moved to their current 30-acre location on the outskirts of town.

Chief Pashe welcomed the news this week that local Alliance Party Member of Parliament Brian Pallister had been selected as opposition critic for Indian Affairs. "We cordially invite Mr. Pallister to visit our reserve, to see our housing, school, and community facilities, to meet with the Women and Youth Group, and to hear from the Dakota Tipi people about what we have accomplished. He'll see then just how unjust the Minister has been by acting against their wishes." Chief Pashe noted that many of the policies he had adopted with community support were identical with Alliance Party policies to end welfare dependency in favour of education, training, and employment.