Excerpt from the Introduction to the pamphlet, Ojibway Warriors’ Society in occupied Anicinabe Park, Kenora, Ontario, August 1974
[…] The Manifesto, reproduced at the end of the booklet, was read in front of the Parliament Buildings during the demonstration of 400 Indians and Metis marking the end of their long journey. But instead of meeting with the leaders of the Native Peoples’ Caravan, the government responded by attacking the demonstrators, critically injuring an Indian woman. This was the first time the RCMP Riot Squad had ever been used, and its unprovoked brutality brought angry responses from Native groups across Canada and charges of government racism from churches, unions and the press.
While the Cabinet still refused to meet with the Caravan, mounting pressure forced an historic concession: An agreement to grant the Native Indian Brotherhood direct access to the Cabinet because of the seriousness of the problems affecting Native peoples. In the meantime the Caravan occupied a vacant government building on Victoria Island in the Ottawa River and established a Native Peoples’ Embassy.
The government is continuing its policy of refusing to deal with militant Indian organizations while supporting conservative organizations which are more easily controlled through funding. It seems to be the government’s hope that the rebelliousness of young Native people will pass with time. […]
Manifesto
To the people of Canada and the Government of Canada
From the Native Peoples’ Caravan
We the Native Peoples have banded together to come to Ottawa seeking justice.
We the Native Peoples are here to talk about justice. We are here to talk about equality and human rights. We are here to talk about the right of all people to live as free people.
For many years we have received promises instead of human rights. Promises instead of justice. We are here to say the people cannot live on promises.
Our people lived in freedom and harmony with our mother earth thousands of years before the coming of the Europeans and their values. Our people had strong families, our people had education, our people had control of their lives, our people had the religion of giving and respect for all of our mother earth’s creations.
Today our people exist in the midst of the Canadian extension of European competitive values. Today our people have alcoholism. Today our people have no education. Today our people have no work. Today our people have no housing. Today our people have no respect.
We are here to talk about violence. We are against violence. The violence of racism, poverty, economic dependence, alcoholism, land theft and educational warfare. This is the violence that has hurt our people. We say it is time for the democracy of Canada to end its political and social violence against our people.
We say it is time for the Canadian political system to be reasonable and listen to the voice of our community.
We say you have been unreasonable. The proof is evident in the conditions our people exist in. Since the politicians have taken control of our lives the destruction of our communities has increased.
We are here to speak of solutions.
We do not want promises and rhetoric.
We want humane action.
We are here to talk about constructive action.
This time we are still willing to talk but we will not sit idly to the side while the destruction of our people is completed.
We only seek to live as free people. It is the way of the land and its children.
The will of the people to be free is supreme. The right of the people to be free is divine.
The Demands of the Native Peoples’ Caravan
1. The hereditary and treaty rights of all Native Peoples in Canada, including Indian, Metis, Non-Status and Inuit, must be recognized and respected in the constitution of Canada. It is the continuing violation of our hereditary rights that has resulted in the destruction of the self-reliance of the Native peoples. We are no longer content to be the most impoverished peoples of Canada.
2. We demand the repeal of the present Indian Act and the creation by Native People of new legislation recognizing our right to self-determination and sovereignty over our lands.
3. The Department of Indian Affairs operates to serve business and government interests not the interests of the Indian people. We demand a complete investigation of the Department of Indian Affairs by Native People and the transfer of its power and resources to Native communities. Indian Affairs must belong to the Indian people. Indian Affairs must be separated from the Department of Northern Development.
4. We demand annual payments in perpetuity from all levels of government. Canadian wealth is derived from the land and the natural resources of the land. The time has come for Canadian governments to pay their debts to Native peoples.
5. We demand an end to the destruction of our Native economies.
6. We demand immediate payment of $2.5 billion from money not presently allocated to Indian Affairs which will be used by local Native communities to meet their needs for the development of self-sufficient economies. It is racial discrimination and genocide that the federal government pays $750 million to the province of Prince Edward Island (with its population of less than 1/3 of the Native population) for economic development but has refused to provide equivalent money for the Native peoples, the most impoverished peoples of Canada.
7. We demand that the standard of housing in Native communities be immediately raised to the Canadian average. $800 million of money not presently allocated to Indian Affairs must be made available to local Native communities for housing needs this year.
8. We demand health care facilities and services which are adequate to raise the life expectancy of Native people to the Canadian average within five years. If underdeveloped countries such as China and Cuba are capable of raising their standards of health care dramatically over short periods of time, it is genocidal that a rich country like Canada continues to ignore the desperate health needs of the Native people.
9. We demand an end to Federal cutbacks on Native education and an expansion of community controlled Native education. The education system must be made to serve Native people rather than Native peoples being made to serve an educational system designed to destroy Native cultures.
10. Violence and oppression will only be ended when both the hereditary and human rights of the Native peoples are truly upheld. We demand that $500 million be made available of money not presently allocated to Indian Affairs to Native communities for legal defence. Native people must no longer fill the prisons and mental wards of Canada. RACIST JUSTICE MUST END.
See also:
Native Alliance for Red Power – Eight Point Program (1969)
Trail of Broken Treaties 20-Point Position Paper (1972)
The Truth About the Anicinabe Park Occupation of 1974 – Linda Finlayson
Maria Campbell’s speech to the Native Peoples Caravan in Toronto (1974)
The Red Path and Socialism – ᐊᓯᓂ Vern Harper (1979)
Land Back (Primary documents from the resistance movement)