Making choices

It's been quite the Spring for Mi'kmaq people in the province.

The Federation of Newfoundland Indians recently voted to ratify a deal with the federal government that will have them receive official recognition under the Indian Act.

Around the same time, representatives for the Ktaqamkuk Mi'kmaq Alliance were preparing to head back to provincial court to see if they could move ahead with their class-action lawsuit against the federal and provincial governments. [In fact, lawyers representing the Alliance and two other groups are in court this week to argue the merits of moving forward with the case.]

In the lead-up to both the vote and the court case, the Georgian had the opportunity to speak with leaders of the Federation of Newfoundland Indians and the Ktaqamkuk Mi'kmaq Alliance.

Both FNI president Brendan Sheppard and KMA chief Bert Alexander had a clear passion for the perspectives on what's best for the Mi'kmaq people of the province.

Each man was well spoken, taking time to explain both the big picture and small details. At no point did it seem either man felt threatened by the other.

Rather, they both made the point that they respected each other's viewpoints, regardless of how divergent they seemed to be on some of the issues.

The decision by both men not to take shots at each other was appreciated as the Georgian sifted through the subject matter without wanting to get involved in personal politics.

Around the same time, The Georgian heard from some astute members of the FNI, KMA and other Mi'kmaq people on the state of aboriginal affairs.

However, the Georgian also heard comments heard from other aboriginal people who were far from fair or even rational. On more than one occasion, the Georgian heard about personal vendettas and unsubstantiated rumours when asking people about the FNI agreement-in-principle or the KMA court case.

In our quest for the big picture, we heard from a number of non-aboriginal people, too. Opinions ranged from the genuinely concerned and understanding to the almost unbelievably bigoted and racist.

Now, the Georgian doesn't pretend to be supreme experts in aboriginal affairs. When researching and writing articles, often seemingly basic and mundane questions are asked of the Mi'kmaq people just to get a handle on what it means to be aboriginal in Canada's most eastern province.

However, it's clear after speaking to all the aforementioned groups and individuals that there was/is no easy choice in deciding whether or not to support the FNI's agreement-in-principle with the feds or the KMA's lawsuit.

As the debate is far from over, we would like to help disseminate and clarify some aboriginal issues for all of our readers.

The Georgian is inviting people to write in with their thoughts on what can be done improve and advance the lives of the Mi'kmaq people. To be clear, we're not looking for rants on who disagrees with who, or to publicize malicious agendas solely meant to take a swipe at an enemy.

Rather, we're looking for thoughtful and upfront ideas, perspectives, suggestions, or plans on how the future can be a positive experience for the Mi'kmaq people in our province.

We're accepting your submissions for consideration to be published on our editorial page. Don't worry about grammar or punctuation, we can fix that up. And try to keep your thoughts respectful and clear, so we and the reader can best understand your point-of-view.

Drop off your submissions at our office on Main Street in Stephenville (we're across from Domino Pizza); mail them to P.O. Box 283, Stephenville, NL, A2N 2Z4; fax to 643-5041; or email to editor@thegeorgian.ca.

The future is yours. Be a part of the change you want to see.

Christopher Vaughan