Let Us Reason Together

February 17, 2012

Let Us Reason Together

In response to the recent February 14, 2012 article
Algonquin Land Claim Deal Near, Lawyer Says Pact of Significance to Ottawa Valley, by Mohammed Adam, in the Ottawa Citizen.

In the referred to article negotiations lawyer for the incorporated entity the Algonquins of Ontario, Robert Potts, is quoted as stating that:

"It is 400 years since Champlain set foot here, and our confederation will be 150 years old in 2017. We are right in the middle of what is one of the historic claims and settlement that will have occurred in Canada. This will be a historic treaty at a historic time."

It is 400 years since Samuel de Champlain set foot here and entered into diplomatic negotiations in accordance to customary law and diplomacy. It was during these historical meetings based on mutual respect that Canada's laws and our unwritten Constitution found their secure footing.

These important relationships, built on mutual positive intent, grounded on the rights and freedoms of natural persons are the genuine foundations of Canadian nationhood.

While the newspaper article in the Ottawa Citizen opens claiming that the "federal government grapples with festering aboriginal discontent" this must be put in proper context.

It is not about "us" or "them", natives or non-natives. It is about natural law and natural persons versus incorporated legal fictions and contractions of the higher law to suit economic and human rights disparities. Commercial contracts, whether domestic or international, cannot fully reconcile many of the underlying issues, so why are we pretending that they can? Why are we wasting tremendous amounts of time, human energy, and money in processes that cannot fulfill the requirements?

Canadians need an open and transparent process.

Let us not miss this opportunity. Let grab hold of the higher law for the sake of greater well-being for the human family.

There has to be a better way.

Paula LaPierre
Kichi Sibi Anishnabe
Canada