Re: Jan 7 Michael Den Tandt Indian Act - Reserves should be abolished. Mr.

Den Tandt has come up with a misguided solution to First Nations problems. I just wish that he and other writers on First Nations issues had read the 1996 Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP) Final Report for a more comprehensive understanding. The key issue and the "Big Lie" in Canada is land ownership, and the resources that go with it. Canadian settlers did not bring land with them. The only way they acquired any rights to First Nations lands and resources was through Treaties. First Nations were not defeated for our lands, in fact we were allies of the Crown and our participation in the War of 1812 saved what was to become Canada. Canadians also did not achieve title to our lands through the doctrine of discovery - this has been soundly rejected in international law. Treaties did not transfer our title to the Crown pure and simple. Oral history from First Nations treaty signatories tell us that First Nations only transferred the depth of a shovel. This means that the underlying title to the lands and resources continues to belong to First Nations. If and when the Crown pays First Nations for the loss, theft and exploitation of their traditional territories and resources there will be more than enough resources for First Nations to crawl out of poverty, build schools and universities, build good housing and create a vibrant future for themselves. Indeed it is time for a "Just Society" as Mr. DenTandt and Mr. Trudeau put it but it will cost more than his estimates. There is the payment for the past transgressions, which Mr. DenTandt calls "land claims" but also needed is agreements for future sharing in profits made from First Nations lands and resources - " resource revenue sharing agreements" if you will. Treaties to many First Nations people are sacred agreements. They were meant to be living documents, to be updated and kept current. They were not land sales, as we have come to realize is how Canada interprets them. So when we see once again our Treaties are being violated by Canada legislation - our very waters and lands threatened, that is what led to the Idle No More movement. People are saying Enough is Enough and its time to stand up. Manny Jules does not have the solution to our problems. He is on the Canadian payroll to do the PMs bidding. Leasing or mortgaging what little lands we have left will only lead to less land for our people. You can't pay back a loan or mortgage if you are not working. And once the land is lost to non-First Nations people it will not be returned. First Nations already live on less than 5% of their traditional territories. The solution, as set out in the RCAP report is a recognition that First Nations are Nations, with the full right of self government and self determination; that the Treaties are legally binding constitutionally protected documents; that the title to the lands and resources rests with First Nations and we need to be paid for past use of our lands and resources and to put in place resource revenue sharing agreements for the future use of our lands and resources. Fifty per cent of the profits made from our lands and resources should be directed to the First Nations whose traditional territory it comes from. This is the solution that will solve our poverty Richard C. Powless Mohawk Nation - Wolf Clan 77 Cartier Street, Ottawa, K2P-1J7 613-236-1498