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Quebec "Nation" Raises Native Indian Ire
By Allan Dowd
Tue Nov 28, 5:16 PM ET

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) - Canada's indigenous peoples are feeling a bit snubbed by Parliament's decision to recognize Quebecers as a "nation" within a united Canada and not them too.

Native Indian leaders say the vote in the House of Commons, which has helped reignite debate over the role of French-speaking Quebec within largely English-speaking Canada, ignored the peoples who lived in North America before European settlers arrived

"If it is good for the Quebecois, and we have no objection to that, then it is good enough for us," Phil Fontaine, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, said on Tuesday, a day after lawmakers overwhelmingly approved the measure.

Native Indians are usually referred to within Canada as the First Nations. Canada's aboriginals include native Indians, Metis -- descendants of Indians and early French settlers -- and the Inuit people of the Arctic region.

Indigenous people make up only about 3 percent of the country's population, but suffer greater poverty and health problems than non-aboriginal Canadians.

Canada's courts have ruled Indian bands and nations must be consulted over the use of resources within their historic territories, but what power that gives them is still subject to interpretation and numerous lawsuits.

Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper proposed the surprise motion on Quebecers after the separatist Bloc Quebecois introduced a measure to recognized Quebecers as a nation but did not include the words "within a united Canada."

Harper said his measure was a recognition of Quebecers distinctiveness in areas such as language, but that it carried only symbolic weight.

"We also have (our own) languages and distinct cultures," said Grand Chief Edward John, of the First Nations Summit, which includes more than 40 British Columbia native groups now negotiating land treaties with the government.

British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell, a non-aboriginal who has become a vocal advocate of aboriginal issues, warned in an open letter to Harper before Monday's House of Commons vote that Ottawa risked further marginalizing indigenous people.

But backers of the proposal said the fear was unfounded because the rights of native peoples are already recognized in Canada's Constitution.

"They are as much a part of Canada as are the Quebecois as are the rest of Canadians," Deepak Obhrai, a Conservative lawmaker from Alberta, said in the parliamentary debate.

Fontaine chided the legislators for bringing up the measure in the first place, and complained that the lack of clarity in the parliamentary debate only confused the issue for both Quebecers and aboriginals.

The Bloc Quebecois had initially opposed Harper's measure, but changed its mind and joined the Conservatives, Liberals and New Democrats in backing the motion, saying it could used to advance the separatist cause.

"The point we were trying to make is that one doesn't go about nation-building that way," Fontaine said.

(With reporting by Randall Palmer in Ottawa)