Jack Wilson introduced our guest tonight. Mr. Brian Kelly is currently the Chairman of Kelly Associates, which is a business management consulting firm which includes: feasibility studies, business plans, marketing studies, technology commercialization. Brian has a BSA in Agriculture, MBA in Marketing, is a Professional Agrologist, Strategic Planning Certificate, a Fellow in the Certified Management Field.
Brian brings a wealth of business experience gained over the years through working with a number of different companies, examples are; marketing with Pioneer Grain Co. Ltd., Regional Manager CIBC, Director of Management Consulting-Deloitte Haskins & Sells, Chairman of the Kip Kelly, Co- Founder and CEO of Envirosys Inc., Principle and Founder of Kelwin Management Consulting. Through this work, Brian has gained international experience working on developing marketing agents in a number of African & E.U. countries as well as being a world traveller with his wife, Penny.
In addition to this work, Brian has been involved and continues to be involved in a variety of associations and volunteer positions including; Director on the Manitoba Association of Food Banks, Director and member of the policy committee for the Aboriginal Chamber, Past President of the Manitoba Chamber of Commerce, former Director of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, and ex-officio board member of the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce. Brian also belongs to a number of other professional organizations; Institute of Agrologists, Professional Standards Committee, Manitoba Rural Adaptation Council, Economic Innovation and Technology Council and Canadian Agri-Marketing Association to name a few.
Over the course of his work, Brian has won a few awards including the H. Douglas McRorie Agrologists recognition, Recipient of Commemorative Medal of the 125th Anniversary of Canadian Federation, Manitoba Chamber of Commerce Annual Harry Mardon Award.
Brian is happily married to Penny for 44 years. They love all types of different outdoor sports including sailing and skiing. They love to travel and go to the multi-generational family cottage at Falcon Lake.
Brian`s own executive summary reads as follows, “he has had a bunch of jobs and done a bunch of stuff”.
Brian stated that he knows Jack W. and Jim F. through the Chamber of Commerce. He admits that he gets bored easily and will then dig deeper into a subject at that point to stay entertained and involved in the topic. The subject for tonight, ‘First Nations Facts’, is strange for him to present as he is very much a white guy, with English, Scottish and Irish ancestry. He has also never worked professionally with First Nations projects. There are definitely more knowledgeable people to present this topic, but Brian does have special interest in specific areas. He became interested in the subject matter after meeting David G. Newman, Rotarian and Lawyer working in Aboriginal Law and Human Rights.
First Nation`s people in Canada have a very different legal situation than what exists in the USA and most other countries. In many other countries the European colonizers used a military approach to forcibly take the land from the indigenous people/nations that were already occupying the land. They used bullets and smallpox blankets as well as killing all the buffalo so that the aboriginal people would starve. However, in Canada that did not occur, because of the British Crown`s Proclamation of 1763 (Canada took over all these prior legal obligations) and the follow on Canadian Constitution etc. that are still legally in force. The 1763 Proclamation took place after the 7 Years war between England / Russia vs. France. England / Russia won but were basically bankrupt. They had won regions in the Pacific, India and many Spanish colonies but with massive debt the budget was overstretched to protect all the new territory.
The answer was to develop ‘Nation to Nation Treaties’. Treaty One was negotiated in 1871 and was a way for The Crown / Canada to save money. The Treaties were a way for the Crown / Canada to purchase First Nation`s land while paying with only a very small land reserve plus designated benefits that would continue in perpetuity. The First Nations signed the treaties with great honor, as they had been dealing with British and French colonizers for 200 years prior to this, since the fur trade began. Canada signed Treaty One with no honourable intentions for holding up their end of the bargain. Canada had only existed as a country for four years prior to Treaty One being signed. It was said that the “Crown lacked Honour”. Sir John A. MacDonald used the term “inmates” when referring to the First Nation`s people.
The Indian Act was unilaterally passed into law and implemented with no consultation with those that it affected. It completely disregarded the nation -to-nation treaties that had been negotiated. The Indian Act allowed for the implementation of the Residential School system. Many children were forcibly taken from their homes to go to the residential schools. Only Christian Churches were allowed to operate the schools. The formal Canadian government policy, implemented by the religious organizations that ran the schools, was to “eliminate the Indian culture in the children”. This destroyed any sense of self-esteem among the children. There was only ½ of the day spent in class, the rest of the day was used to farm, garden, hunt and gather food. All other Canadian children had their education provided by the province they resided in. For the Aboriginal children there were 3 pages of federal legislation regarding education. Two of the pages related to truancy and one was regarding actual education. This seemed immoral, unconstitutional and “so stupid”. Paul Martin is quoted as stating the following about the under-funding of aboriginal education “It`s dumb economically. It`s immoral, but it's also economically dumb as a bag of hammers.”. There is an ongoing underfunding of 30% to 40% less per aboriginal student by the federal government vs. the provincial education system for non-aboriginal children. There is virtually no federal education related legislation / regulations or education specialists. The bands are responsible for all aspects of education. There is no set curriculum, no trustees, no structure. The federally funded aboriginal schools are left to develop their own system. The government will provide the physical school, but the band must do all the rest by itself.
The Indian Act did not allow Indians to compete with local farmers. An example would be Peguis First Nation in its original location just North of the City of Winnipeg. It was very successful with trade into Winnipeg. In 1905 Peguis was moved to the Interlake onto poor soil with no market base nearby. No reserve could be close to a population base larger than 8,000 people. There was an Indian Agent for each reserve that controlled all aspects of life on the reserve. A written pass was required to leave the reserve, this effectively stopped all sales to off-reserve markets (1881). This pass system lasted up to WWII.. Indians were actually not subject to conscription during the war because they were considered ‘not a person’. They couldn`t vote, couldn`t hire a lawyer. If a lawyer worked on a file for an Indian, they could be disbarred. Raising money to get an Indian a lawyer was an illegal act. In 1960 – 1961, Indians became ‘people’. This gave them the vote! Remember, females got the vote in 1918. The Indian Act prohibited the use of labour saving devices, or “modern farm machinery”. The Act also made it illegal for more than 3 Indians to gather in a group. This was to try to prevent cultural practices and any social or political activity. Brian suggested reading the book‘ 21 Things You May Not Know About The Indian Act’.
Canada has lied, cheated and obstructed in land claim cases. The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that the Canadian Government has a ‘Duty to Consult and Accommodate’. Many of the cases where Canada owed/owes the First Nation land (that was short changed vs. what the treaty specified) resulted in Treaty Land Entitlement (TLE) agreements. In these TLE`s, Canada has agreed to provide money and to create what amounts to the first chance at acquiring any government land declared surplus – e.g. Kapyong Barracks. Vic Toews (Treasury Board) is quoted as saying “we didn`t know they would get valuable land”. In the vast amount of legal cases (~200) the First Nation wins.
Why should you care? Do you want to make as much money as you can for yourself and your family? If yes, you should support ‘Duty to Consult and Accommodate’. When the First Nations get all that is owed to them, and they reach the same economic development level as the average Canadian, it is estimated that the economic impact will represent a gain of ~$2000 per capita in Manitoba forever.
Q/A
1.- Nancy Morris asked if the Indian Act is abolished, do Indigenous people want something in it`s place?
A.-Yes, but after 150 years of lies and cheating there is absolutely no trust. The first steps have been taken with the plan split of the Ministry of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) portfolio into two distinct departments. This is the first step to ending the Indian Act and moving towards self-government. They still haven`t funded the schools properly.
2.-Martin Labossiere grew up in rural Saskatchewan and went to school with many First nation`s students. Were they not funded equally as non-aboriginal children?
A.-it is difficult to say. INAC did 100`s of different deals. They would tend to be funded to a lower percentage. In Waywayseecappo First Nation, the school board was so upset with the underfunding and the federal government refused to match the province. Then the federal program was pulled from the First Nation. Waywayseecappo joined the provincially funded school system receiving additional funding matching other schools in the school division.
3.- Elaine Thompson recalled an exercise she and Ed took part in at PETS Conference this year. It was a Blanket Exercise, in which the blankets represent land. Over time land can be taken away from you. A lesson in history and physicality. It was awesome.
Martin Labossiere thanked Brian for his educational and enlightening presentation; calling it absolutely wonderful. Brian was advised that a donation to ShelterBox would be made in his name.
