I just want to talk about how underlying all of my concerns is the systemic, overt and covert racism and how those impact first nations that are involved in civil actions.
I am a former activist myself, and I have been involved in civil actions and have been charged. I think that ultimately we need a process in this country to deal with outstanding claims, with outstanding land and water issues that are not being resolved by the processes in place, in order to avoid having first nations people feeling as though they have to get involved in serious actions such as blocking roads and highways, which I personally have done as an activist and as a chief activist.
What concerns me about the Emergencies Act is that we're not on a level playing field with non-indigenous Canadians. It's very easy for the Emergencies Act to be used as a tool against first nations people because of systemic, overt and covert racism that exist within the financial institutions in Canada and within the law enforcement institutions and even within government. Those things certainly place us at a disadvantage, in that we can be deemed to be a threat when, in fact, we're not a threat. As the original people of this country, we are being placed in a position and we are being placed as a minority because of genocide and because of legislation.
The implications of the Emergencies Act are far and wide, and that's why I am standing before you today.
Meegwetch.