Society of Law Students Hosts Arthur Manuel and Harsha Walia at Access To Justice, Still? Conference.

“There has to be a re-carving of Indigenous Rights in Canada.” Arthur Manuel.

Arthur Manuel at SLSTRU Conference

“It's only through Idle No More, only through political action at the community level that you can get him to doggone move.” said Arthur Manuel, referring to Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s reluctance to meet with First Nations.  “It is only through political action only through on the ground creating economic uncertainty that you can really create that kind of change.  I am really inspired by idle no more.”

Arthur Manuel is a former Chief of the Neskonith Indian Band, Chairman of the Shuswap Nation Tribal Council and a lead proponent of Aboriginal and Treaty rights in Canada.  He and Harsha Walia a UBC Law graduate and activist sat on the closing panel of Thompson Rivers University's, Society of Law Students first conference on Friday February 8, 2013.  This final panel was attended by about 25 people. The two day event was held at the Brown House of Learning and explored different concepts of justice.

Manuel spoke about Indigenous economics.  How Federal and Provincial governments are developing the Nation’s resources without Indigenous involvement.  How organized First Nations groups which accept funding from the government have reached the extent of their usefulness.  That these organizations have become an Industry to manage Native poverty.  Only through grassroots and community political action can First Nations move forward.

Harsha Walia, SLSTRU Conference

Harsha Walia address the forum and talked about her experience in Downtown East Side of Vancouver and the issues of poverty, selective policing, criminalization of a community, criminalization of poverty, colonialism, aboriginal rights and how the legal system affects social activism.

"The law and justice are totally different," said Walia "there is a difference between what is legally right and what is morally right."

“There is an increasing reliance on criminalization as a tactic to deter activism.” said Walia. An example is Bill 78  passed by the Quebec government as an attempt to restrict student protests.  

(Quebec Bill 78 included these measures:

• rules against preventing students from entering an educational institution;[4]
• requirements for organizers of public demonstrations to give police advance notice;[5] and
• penalties for people who offer encouragement to protest.[6]

Judy Feng, Legal Perspectives on Bill 78 – Quebec’s“Emergency Law” to Quell Student Protests)

However, Quebec students ignored the provisions in Bill 78 and continued their protest in defiance of Bill 78. Students continued to march by the hundreds and thousands which made enforcement of the Quebec’s anti-protest law unenforceable. Leading to tuition hikes to be frozen and Bill 78 to be repealed in September, 2012 by Pauline Marois.

(Bill 78 was repealed by Parti Québécois Leader Pauline Marois on her 1st day in office.)

Governments and the courts have other methods of affecting social activism. Contempt of Court, Obstruction of Justice, Trespass, Libel, Defamation and Slap Suits are legal mechanisms in place that can affect activists. Surveillance and Infiltration are another set of court sanctioned means used to monitor First Nations and activist groups.

Walia was arrested pre-emptively, before the G20 because they thought she may pose a threat to the meeting but those charges were quickly dropped.  This is one example of the sweeping arrests made before the G20 and the increase surveillance that was authorized to quell protests of the summit.

Manuel offered encouragement to the youth in the final comments of the conference. The conference closed with a prayer from a local elder and a traditional song from Aboriginal students at TRU.

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Material of Interest:

The National Post ran a story Police violated civil rights, acted illegally, says scathing report on G20 Summit.  Where the Office of the Independent Police Review Director found that police violated the rights of approximately 1000 people during the G20 Summit.

Russell Diablo and Shiri Pasternak write about government monitoring of First Nations groups in the First Nations Strategic Bulletin a newsletter published by Russell Diablo.
“Russell Diabo (Kanienke’ha:ka) from Kahnawake is the Policy Advisor for the Algonquin Nation Secretariat & Wolf Lake First Nation, and is the Editor & Publisher at First Nations Strategic. Bulletin”Indigenous Waves.