"DIA Minister axes Indian Commission"

by Mandy Eason

TORONTO -With only a three day notice an organization established 22 years ago to better First Nations and government relations was abolished, Friday.

Robert Nault, Minister of the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs Development, gave official notice to the Indian Commission of Ontario that it was not his intention to renew its federal mandate.

Attorney General and Provincial Minister Responsible for Native Affairs, James Flaherty, expressed discontentment with the Federal Minister's decision.

"Your recent actions are not conducive to any discussions of a reformed process and we cannot participate in the unilateral process you have proposed," Minister Flaherty wrote in a letter addressed to Minister Nault dated Thursday.

Unbeknownst to htm, the Minister's true intentions of the ICO closure appeared to have come as a shock. "this approach was unnecessary and totally inconsistent with the spirit and intent of the Ontario Tripartite Process. It is inappropriate in a tripartite process for one of the parties to act unilaterally without consultation and prior notice."

Flaherty contends that Nault personally assured him on three different occasions that the Commission would remain intact.

The first occasion, a meeting in Ottawa in November and again through correspondence the following month and in February of this year.

Furthermore the letter states, "Your approach is also contrary to the spirit of the federal, provincial/territorial and Aboriginal process that you and I, along with fellow Ministers and national

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by Mandy Eason

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Aboriginal leaders, endorsed last December."

Six Nations land claim will not be affected by the closure of the ICO. Affiliation with the commission was limited to assistance on protocol development.

Phil Monture, Six Nations Land Claim research director, says the commission was in need of a stronger mandate.

"We weren't really negotiating anything through ICO. They were trying to organize a second table for discussion with Canada and the province but they were a year-and-a-half behind."

A week authoritative role and failure keep pace on current issues, is similar to the reasons given by a DIA spokesperson for the commissions closure.

Monture went on to say, "they never really had a strong enough mandate. If its going to be rebuilt I do encourage it to have a stronger mandate. It needs a stronger mandate, that's something we've been pushing for since the 1990 OKA crisis."

The independent tripartite commission was established to address Native self­government issues, land claims, treaties and grievances among the province's First Nations and the federal and provincial government.

The ICO played an intricate role in the $23.4 million Caldwell First Natio~ land claim and the Grand River Notification Agreement.