A grassroots group in Edmonton honoured those who stood up for First Nations rights back in 1970 when the Canadian government was proposing to erase legal distinctions between First Nations and other citizens, at an event Wednesday.
The gathering on June 4 honoured the work that went into creating the document called Citizens Plus (also known as the Red Paper) which argued against the Canadian government’s proposal to abolish the Indian Act and end treaties.
Lewis Cardinal from Sucker Creek First Nation in Alberta is the senior advisor for Indigenous Knowledge and Wisdom Centre where the event was held.
Cardinal said the Red Paper was a watershed moment that deserves to be remembered.
“A lot of people don’t know the significance of it… [because] the context and the significance of it just hasn’t been told enough,” he said.
Cardinal also has a personal connection to the history — his father Don Cardinal was a vice-president of the Indian Association of Alberta and part of the group that helped create the paper.
Origins of the Red Paper
In June 1969, Jean Chretien, then minister of Indian Affairs, presented the Statement of the Government of Canada on Indian Policy, also known as the White Paper, to Parliament. The paper proposed abolishing the Indian Act and ending Indian status purportedly as a way to improve outcomes for First Nations people and achieve “full and equal participation” in Canadian society.
First Nations leaders were outraged by the paper’s push toward assimilation and spent the next year organizing before publishing their own paper emphasizing the importance of treaties and the distinct rights of First Nations.
Cardinal said Joe Couture was the person responsible for giving the paper its colloquial name.
“Of course they always had a sense of humour. ‘There’s a White Paper, let’s have a Red Paper,'” Cardinal said.
The Red Paper begins by emphasizing the importance of treaties and says that “the government has devised a scheme whereby… our people would be left with no land and consequently the future generation would be condemned to the despair and ugly spectre of urban poverty.”
It also criticizes the paternalism of the Indian Act but adds that “it is neither possible nor desirable to eliminate the Indian Act.”
The Indian Act remains controversial but Cardinal says it’s still important to preserve Citizens Plus’s point: that as the first people of the land, First Nations people are more than just regular citizens.
“We all agree that the Indian Act has to go, but we don’t just get rid of that and not have it replaced with something,” he said.
Celebration was delayed
Tanya Kappo from Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation in Alberta organized the event to celebrate the 55th anniversary after 50th anniversary celebrations in 2020 were cancelled due to COVID-19.
Kappo said it’s important to remember this history, especially for younger generations who may be surprised to learn they had family members involved.
“I hope that what they start to think about and learn from it is the importance of the treaty and the treaty relationship,” she said.
Kappo’s father was Harold Cardinal, who was head of the Indian Association of Alberta and instrumental in crafting the paper.
The event also honours all the unrecognized work that went into creating Citizens Plus, including those who aren’t mentioned in history books. Kappo said she has gathered dozens of names of people who were involved and will share them at the event.
“Chiefs from across Alberta, and community leaders, and elders and many others worked together,” said Everett Willier, who is from Sucker Creek.
“The Red Paper reminds us that our treaties are forever and that our voices matter.”
It also emphasizes the importance of nation-to-nation relationships between First Nations and the government.
“What Canadians need to recognize is that these treaty rights are ordained rights. They are what we gave ourselves. And we did that in relationship with the Crown,” Cardinal said.
Willier is the nephew of Harold Cardinal. As part of the event, organizers will discuss the history of the Red Paper and Willier said he’s excited to learn more about his uncle’s role.
“I didn’t really know my Uncle Harold as ‘Harold Cardinal,’ right? I knew him as Uncle Harold and he gave me a Ski-Doo when I was young for Christmas,” he said.
He said the paper remains relevant today.
“A lot of the things that the people were fighting for in the Red Paper are still happening,” Willier said.
