Op Ed: My Response to MP Ryan Leef’s Remarks during #IdleNoMore-Yukon December 21, 2012 Share Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Reddit Share on LinkedIn Email Cherish Clarke, Co-Chair (Female) – I am writing in response to the story First Nations slam Bill C-45 [Yukon News, 11 Dec 12]. Watch the APTN.ca coverage here. The comments made by Ryan Leef when he proclaimed “They should be delivering their message and not needing an MP as a spokesperson on their behalf” were ludicrous considering that at the Crown First Nations Gathering PM Harper told Chiefs that they should consider contacting their MPs and that he can’t “just focus on Aboriginal issues because he has a country to run“. [APTN, 24 Jan 2012]. Again, this discussion comes back to First Nations trying to work in the spirit of friendship and still working for hundreds of years later to reset the relationship and establish a fair deal between First Nations and Non-First Nations alike. If the Government will not listen to its people, then what does this mean? Beyond the lands and waters of Yukon Territory, you Ryan Leef, are also a resource that belongs to all of us as Yukoners. Your role as an MP is much more than birthday greetings, passport applications and acting as the now closed Canada Revenue Agency, which closed under your watch. Rather your position is a heavily politicized role in our great territory, and has far-reaching implications beyond our Yukon borders. Ask any First Nation what role previous MPs played in their negotiations for the creation or the implementation of Land Claims and you will find that it was a substantial one. Do not step away from your obligations. You are only one seat, and one voice in the House of Commons, but you have the ability to follow through on your election promises when you stated that you would be “Yukon’s Man in Ottawa“. We are all watching, so please step forward and do the right thing for your constituents which may be in direct violation of some of your party’s standpoints. Please sit down in consultation with Yukon First Nations leadership and discuss how the current legislation will affect them so detrimentally and what you can do to strengthen the relationship between Indigenous people and the Federal Government. Here in Yukon, there are 4 constituency offices and 25% of the population is of First Nations decent. With so many offices, it would be safe for one to believe that you have enough staff to help you learn more about Indigenous history as it pertains to the federal government. Here in Yukon, thousands of people have worked on Aboriginal Self-Government over the past 40 years. Yukon is a positive exemplary region to the rest of Canada, showing the success of what happens when the Federal and Territorial Governments work with Indigenous populations as opposed to viewing them as adversaries. #IdleNoMore sprang up to empower grassroots people. Since the 2008 federal apology for residential schools there have been cuts or cancellations to Sisters in Spirit, First Nations Statistical Institute, National Centre for First Nations Governance, Cultural Connections for Aboriginal Youth, Metis National Council, Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada, Native Women’s Association of Canada, Assembly of First Nations, Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, National Aboriginal Health Organization, and the Aboriginal Healing Foundation. All political First Nations organizations are also being targeted with a 10% or $500,000 cut to their funding including organizations here in Yukon. This coupled with the 8 pieces of legislation being proposed in the House of Commons, grassroots people are standing up and are being #IdleNoMore. I am proud of everyone that had the courage to stand with us on December 10th, the UN Human Rights Day that acknowledged the “rights of all people, including indigenous people, to make their voices heard in public life and to be included in political decision-making. These human rights include the rights to freedom of opinion and expression, to peaceful assembly and association and to take part in government”. We will be #IdleNoMore, and you can expect to hear more of our unified voices and for us to take proactive measures from here until 2015 when our greatest pinnacle will be our opportunity to vote in the 2015 election. The right to vote, a democratic right that wasn’t given freely to First Nation, Inuit or Metis until 1960. Read More: Letter to the Editor: First Nations slam Bill C-45 in Whitehorse – carolynbennett.liberal.ca *Note 1: The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and may not necessarily reflect the views of and/or official policy of the Aboriginal Peoples’ Commission and/or the Liberal Party of Canada* *Note 2: The blog was published in the language it was received*