Arthur Manuel: Colonial Oppression at Elsipogtog: Right to Self-determination by Arthur Manuel | Last Real Indians

24.10.13

Colonial Oppression at Elsipogtog: Right to Self-determination by Arthur Manuel | Last Real Indians: In Canada dispossession happened when the British North America Act 1867 (BNA Act) was passed in the Imperial Parliament of Great Britain. The BNA Act 1867 was Canada’s first Constitution but more importantly it turned over all Indigenous Peoples territories to federal and provincial government law making power. The BNA Act 1867 is a fundamental violation of the human right of Indigenous Peoples to self-determination.

It is under section 91 federal and 92 provincial sections that the provinces establish their power to cut down our trees, build mines and lay out pipelines. The wealth and economy of Canada and the provinces is based on this colonial constitution that basically dispossesses Indigenous Peoples and makes us dependent on the federal and provincial governments. Dispossession and dependency is humiliating and creates a great upheaval in our social, political, economic, cultural and spiritual life. That is why the United Nations has condemned colonization in all its manifestations.