Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

First Nations may withdraw from accord

SOME First Nations on the east side of the province will withdraw from a historic accord signed with the Doer government just two years ago if the NDP tries to pass its controversial Bill 6 by Thursday.Sydney Garrioch, grand chief of the Manitoba Keewatinook Ininew Okimowin, said the bands will pull out of the Wabanong Nakaygum Okimawin (WNO) governance process if the province does not defer the bill to the fall sitting of the legislature.

The furor over Bill 6, the East Side Traditional Lands Planning and Special Protected Areas Act, erupted late last week when the government, in a deal with the Tory opposition, included Bill 6 in a package of bills to be passed by Thursday when the session ends.

A committee meeting to get the needed public input was arranged, but its scheduling left little time for the leaders of the 16 bands to come to Winnipeg. Chief David McDougall of St. Theresa Point First Nation was also involved in a serious H1N1 outbreak in his community.

The apparent rush to pass the bill upset many First Nations leaders because it was not in keeping with the WNO agreement, which enshrined a process where the province and east side bands would deal with one another on a government-to-government basis.

Conservation Minister Stan Struthers said Tuesday the province believes it has addressed the bands' concerns with two last-minute amendments to Bill 6.

bruce.owen@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition June 10, 2009 A6

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