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Council says Six Nations’ official stance on Bill C-53 to be declared by November deadline

Front exterior of an city adminstration building. the majority of the building is black and the sides are red brick. Green bushes line the front of the building.
Six Nations will be receiving 100 acres of land this week as part of an agreement for not impeding in the construction process of 2200 homes in the town of Caledonia. Photo courtesy of CJKS.
Andrew Dow - CJKS - Ohsweken • ON | 03-11-2023
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Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) says that one of the first duties that the 59th council will oversee will be determining the communities official stance on Bill C-53.

The Parliament of Canada's website details the bill: "An Act respecting the recognition of certain Métis governments in Alberta, Ontario and Saskatchewan, to give effect to treaties with those governments and to make consequential amendments to other Acts."

Chiefs of Ontario (COO) who remain opposed to the passing of Bill C-53 have asked interested First Nations to submit official stances to its passing by Nov. 17.

SNEC CEO Nathan Wright says that before his appointment to CEO, he was the delegate sitting at the COO political committee for SNEC and that a new delegate must be appointed from council. Wright detailed the current stage that the bill sits at in the parliamentary process and gave some of his concerns.

"Right now, they're putting this in a study phase, so they're pausing it to go to standing committees where a clerk is in charge of putting a schedule in place for First Nations to comment on this particular bill," he said.

"At the end of the day, if passed, the Métis will start sharing the rights of First Nations. As well, in particular, which is a huge concern, the right to access to land, our land."

Coun. Audrey Powless-Bomberry spoke to her concerns that the shared rights will affect First Nations funding.

"Métis, if this passes, will have more rights or the same rights as us. The funding will be shared therefore First Nations will receive less funding and that will hit everyone right across the board."

She says it's important to involve the community on this issue.

"I think the more information we have, the better and it's time sensitive for next month and we need to bring the community along," she said.

"We need input from the community so that they know how important this issue is."

SNEC have shown strong opposition to the bill. In late September, SNEC traveled to an Ottawa rally to oppose the passing of the bill.

The next council will be elected this weekend, Nov. 4. Current council says the 59th SNEC will need to make a swift determination once sworn into office on Six Nations' stance on the issue before the Nov. 17 deadline. The next standing committee meeting on Bill C-53 will take place on Nov. 7.

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