Self-Government – A Personal Perspective

posted December 1, 2008

Self-Government is about us looking after ourselves – not being overly subjected to federal or provincial authorities as we are now. As First Nations with treaty or without, we will always have some requirements and arrangements to interact with other levels of government. Even with treaty, we will have general laws of the land to follow, in fact there will not likely be any change for First Nations in a variety of areas, e.g. highway and road safety, criminal matters etc.

Saying that, however, an objective of treaty is to gain control over as much law-making authority as possible so that in ‘looking after ourselves’ we do so with confidence that ‘this is how we want our society to be’. Treaty will also assist in confirming what our future government will look like, what its responsibility will be, how much authority we have, how it will be controlled and how it is comprised. These are issues that your community Constitution will outline as Constitutions are part of the treaty package.

On October 29-31 I attended a BC Treaty Commission conference in Vancouver which addressed three broad areas: Capacity Building (providing First Nations with tools to help develop); Economic Development and Self-Government. Each of these topics were presented by very capable and experienced leaders from throughout B.C. to a large audience of First Nation reps from throughout the province. I felt the topics were a good fit as more and more we as First Nations are realizing we can’t be self governing if we don’t put more effort into economic development and controlling our own economy. And we aren’t being successful in economic development overall because we don’t have the people skills and financial capacity to develop the opportunities that are available. In addition we don’t always have the stability and strength of leadership necessary to keep us focused or able to support the various aspects of community development. This conference helped me look at self-government from a different perspective.

It's not just my view, it's Tsimshian common knowledge that we as First Nations were autonomous and had provisions and positions in place that made us ‘self-governing’. Then the other people arrived and over the course of many generations, our control and authority was replaced with someone else’s imposed values and regulations. The Indian Act of Canada was and still is one of the most significant negative influences on First Nations structure that our people have ever encountered. It severely undermined, condemned and eliminated much of what had been effective systems of control, communications and involvement. So what is my personal perspective on Self-Government?

Much work is still to be done. Many questions will have to be addressed. Our people will assist with confirmation of what our government is to be.

I see our government as the institution or structure of our leadership. It may be likened to a very real ‘being’ of sorts. Our First Nation government:
• Will have eyes and ears to see and hear the needs of its people,
• Will have arms and legs to hold us up and to carry us to where we want to go,
• Will have hands and fingers to do the work that must be done,
• It will be intelligent and capable, (these four points are the political representatives and the structure of people working for us)

• Our government will be able to see into the future for pitfalls, for safety and for opportunities (we must be visionary and cautious at all times);
• It will be compassionate to and for our people (government should be helping not interfering or hindering);
• It will share with us what it wants to do and what it has done (will be accountable to its people);
• It will be fair and strong;

• Our government will have the ability to adapt to changing requirements;
• Our government will understand and remember who we are and where we have come from!

I urge our membership to consider your future and ask yourself: What does self-government mean to me? If or when we have self-government, what should it do? Who forms it? How will it relate to me as an individual? Share your thoughts with your treaty office or Band Office. Help to build a better and stronger future for your Tsimshian First Nation people!

Chief Negotiator Gerald Wesley