"Report Calls for New Treaty on Education for Six Nations"

OHSWEKEN - The Six Nations Confederacy council should sign a new treaty with the federal government to regain control of the education system, says the head of the community's education study.

Rebecca Jamieson presented recommendations of the three-year project at a community meeting attended by about 30 people Wednesday night.

She said the traditional Confederacy council is the only body with the power to make treaties, as it did when the Iroquois people first came into contact with European settlers.

The proposed new treaty, said Ms. Jamieson, should recognize the Canadian government as a continual source of funding, while ensuring that neither the federal nor provincial governments would have control over the system.

If drafted properly, the document could be immediately enshrined in the Constitution under a section which guarantees existing aboriginal and treaty rights.

Ms. Jamieson, who was an elementary school teacher for 15 years, said the elected band council also would have a role to play in designing the new system since "neither council by itself can speak for the whole community." The elected council may have an even larger role to play, since Confederacy chiefs have expressed concerns regarding the plan and are not sure they want to be involved, she said.

Confederacy chiefs controlled education on the reserve until 1924, when the federal government installed the elected band council system.

She said the federal government has made it clear that it does not intend to run the reserve's elementary schools much longer. If community members reject the proposal they may be stuck with a plan designed and implemented by the Department of Indian Affairs.

Band councillor Ray Hill said the community should not start negotiations or express an interest in taking over the education system unless the federal government says it will no longer run it.

In such an event, it would not matter which council signed the treaty as long as it was in the interest of the community, he said, noting that no Confederacy chiefs attended the meeting.

Coun. Sandy Porter said it is important to involve both councils, because all community members must have a voice in such an important matter.

"Education is the foundation upon which our community is built, and will be built. It's going to shape our culture, our lives, our values."

Calvin Miller, a Six Nations elder who attended residential school as a child, urged the Six Nations people to forget their political and religious differences and start to work together for their future.

"When I was at the residential school they raised me their way. Now you have a chance to raise your children your way," he said.