Chief Ava Hill strategizing a response to C-10

On Monday in council, Elected Chief Ava Hill gave a few thoughts on the passing of Bill C-10. Even though it has passed, there are still a few months before the groundwork is laid for the Bill to become law, and for the federal government to figure out how to enforce it.

That creates a window of opportunity for Six Nations and other Haudenosaunee communities, which depend on the economic benefits from tobacco sales, to form alliances and strategies against the foreboding implementation of the Bill that could criminalize Onkwehon:we business people for not collecting taxes for the federal government.

“What we are talking about is asking the Haudenosaunee Trade Collective to come in and talk with us,” said Hill. “We need to talk with them about this to see what they are up to. Once it receives Royal Assent, it will still take a few months.”
Hill believes there needs to be pre-emptive strategies made to deal with the possible implementation, should it become law.

“We need to talk to other Iroquois Communities about the possibility of beginning a legal challenge to this,” she said. “They would not consult with us.”

According to Hill, “The feds openly admitted they did not consult with First Nations, which is a violation of their own Supreme Court of Canada.”

She says that the Iroquois Caucus, of which Six Nations is a member, will also be strategizing a response to the unilateral infringement of Aboriginal rights according to both Canadian Law and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Regarding Six Nations Police Chief Glenn Lickers’ bold statement that Six Nations Police would not enforce this law on the territory, Hill said she would be speaking with Lickers further.

“We are still opposed to that bill,” she says, “and we still feel the government does not have the right to do anything like this since we were not consulted.”

She hopes they can find a way to drag it out and drag it out until Harper is out of office and another, more Native-friendly government is in place that can be reasoned with.

Meanwhile, Chief Hill has also met with federal Aboriginal Affairs Minister Bernard Valcourt regarding the opening of the negotiation table on land issues and education. Band Council Staff has agreed to make contact with federal lead negotiator Ron Doering to discuss the matter of education and land. To date, there have been no concrete steps taken. According to Hill, Doering has stonewalled Band Council’s Global Solution strategy as unworkable.

In the meantime the lawsuit filed against the federals, the province and the city of Brantford is still active, although bagged down in court. But as long as people are talking, there is hope.

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