Date: Mon, 4 Oct 1999 11:27:21 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: AUT: Declaration of the Interior Alliance (fwd)


---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sat, 18 Sep 1999 22:24:11 -0700
From: chris <chrismorabito-AT-sprint.ca>
To: sovernet-l-AT-lists.speakeasy.org
Subject: Declaration of the Interior Alliance

please distribute far and wide...

Full page ad from the Vancouver Sun,
September 16, 1999, Page F7

NOTICE: TO ALL SHAREHOLDERS OF BC FORESTRY
COMPANIES AND CONSUMERS OF THEIR PRODUCTS

The Interior Alliance, representing the five Nations of south-central
British Columbia, is calling an international consumer boycott of companies
who are destroying forest resources with destructive logging of Aboriginal
title lands without our consent. From now on, any forestry operations on our
Aboriginal title land will require written permission from the member Nation

This action is designed to halt the destruction of the forests of Aboriginal
title lands and to advise forestry companies, the province, Canada, and the
world, that we are exercising our rights over our lands and resources. These
Aboriginal territories, including all lands and resources, have always been
ours. They were a gift to us from our Creator. We have been willing to share
our wealth but we are not willing to convert, alienate or extinguish our
sacred relationship to our land.

To those who have suggested that we work inside the BC Treaty Commission, we
point out that it is just these type of treaties, both historic and modern,
which call on us to extinguish our Aboriginal title to the land and its
resources, that have left us in a state of poverty and dependence. Instead,
Canada has an obligation to begin to build upon the legal concepts set out
by the Supreme Court of Canada’s landmark Delgamuukw Decision of December
11, 1997, and on the recommendations of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal
Peoples Final Report, both of which affirmed that the source of Aboriginal
title is from the pre-existing laws of Aboriginal Nations. In Delgamuukw,
the Supreme Court further specified that:

“First, aboriginal title encompasses the right to exclusive use and
occupation of the land; second, aboriginal title encompasses the right to
choose what uses the land can be put, subject to the ultimate limit that
those uses cannot destroy the ability of the land to sustain future
generations of aboriginal peoples; and third, the lands held pursuant to
aboriginal title have an inescapable economic component.” (Paragraph 166)

Our announced international consumer boycott is not an attempt to disrupt
the economy of British Columbia, but a signal that we, the original owners
and caretakers of the land, are exercising our Aboriginal title, as affirmed
under the Delgamuukw Decision, so that we can once again fully participate
in the economic benefit it provides. It is only in this way that we can
begin to restore our families and communities to self-sufficiency.

The owners and management of the forestry companies now operating on our
Aboriginal title lands are being contacted and notified of the requirements
for an Aboriginal forestry permit. Those who refuse compliance will
immediately become part of the international consumer forestry boycott
campaign. Our message to the world will be:

-That the forest products come from stolen logs
-That the forestry companies, along with governments, have been willfully
ignoring our Aboriginal land use needs, resulting in  our impoverishment
-That the current forestry practices have resulted in a dramatic loss of
biodiversity, which threatens the future health of all of us

Representatives of the Interior Alliance Nations have already begun building
a broad coalition of support for the boycott. Over the next several weeks,
each Nation will be identifying the main company targets and will be
publicizing their consumer products for international boycott. Delegations
from Interior Alliance Nations will then begin a series of North American
and international tours to spread the message about the theft and
destruction in our Aboriginal title forests.

At the same time, we are prepared to enter into serious negotiations about
how we, the Aboriginal Nations of the Interior Alliance, and non-native
British Columbians, can resolve our differences and start down together on
the road to reconciliation that was laid out by the Royal Commission on
Aboriginal Peoples and reaffirmed by the Supreme Court of Canada in the
Delgamuukw Decision. We are recommending that you, the shareholders, owners
and managers of forestry companies operating in our Aboriginal title
territories, urge your governments to negotiate a just solution. It is sad
that it has come to this, but we have been left with no choice. This path is
the only one, in present circumstances, that offers hope to our Peoples.

For more information about the boycott, please contact:
Chief Arthur Manuel
Spokesman of the Interior Alliance
355 Yellowhead Highway
Kamloops, BC, V2H 1H1
Email: amanuel-AT-msn.com


INTERIOR ALLIANCE:
Southern Carrier
Secwepemc
Stl'atl'imx
Nlaka'pamux
Okanagan




















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