TORONTO: Canada proposed new legislation on Tuesday to speed land claims, just weeks before a planned national day of protest by natives.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper said the bill, to be co-written by aboriginals, will help clear a backlog of more than 800 historic claims to land taken by the government. He called the backlog "simply unacceptable."
The planned day of aboriginal dissent is June 29. Aboriginal leaders are warning of more protests this summer as frustration with the slow pace of land claims builds in many communities.
Chief Terrence Nelson, of the Roseau River First Nation south of Winnipeg, has threatened a lengthy blockade of national rail lines unless the government makes an effort to resolve the land claims by June 29. It was not immediately clear if Nelson still planned a blockade.
But Phil Fountaine, the National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, called Tuesday a historic day and said he has always preferred negotiation over confrontation.
"This announcement today represents hope for First Nations people who have fought for decades for the fair and just resolution of land claims," Fountaine said.
If passed in Parliament this fall, the bill would commit $250 million Canadian (US$234 million, €175.35 million) a year for 10 years for specific land-claims research and compensation, and would create a new tribunal that would make final decisions on claims when negotiations fail.
Critics have long called for a truly independent land-claims process with more money and staff to settle cases. The government currently acts as defendant, judge and jury in land-claims disputes that on average take 13 years to settle.
"Instead of letting disputes over land and compensation drag on forever, fueling anger, frustration and uncertainty, they will be solved once and for all by impartial judges," Harper said.
Federal officials say just 120 of the more than 800 unsolved claims across much of Canada have made it to the active negotiation stage.
A recent Senate committee report urged the Conservatives to commit at least $250 million Canadian (US$234 million, €175.3 million) annually. The alternative, it warned, is the eruption of more nasty clashes like the one that pitted native against nonnative in Caledonia, Ontario, last year over a housing development.
Farther east, a rail blockade in April by Mohawks paralyzed passenger and freight traffic between Toronto and Montreal. The protest near Deseronto, Ontario, brought railway commuters and shipments to a halt for more than a day until it was peacefully ended.