[Witness spoke in Algonquin]
[English]
I would first like to say meegwetch to the standing committee for giving me the time and opportunity to share my thoughts on the extremely important topic of land restitution.
I firmly believe that in the so-called era of reconciliation, the question of land—land ownership, jurisdiction and resources—is the most important question that needs to be resolved if our nations ever hope to coexist in peace and friendship.
My name is Shady Al Hafez. I'm an Algonquin Anishinabe and Syrian, and I'm a member of Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg. I'm currently a Ph.D. student at the University of Toronto, in the department of sociology, and hold a research fellow position with the Yellowhead Institute, which is an indigenous-led think tank housed at Toronto Metropolitan University.
It is fitting that I join this discussion today on my nation's unceded ancestral territory, lands that my ancestors never relinquished to Canada through any formal treaty mechanism, or through any conflict. Despite this reality, Canada has chosen our lands as its capital and the home for its national government.
Although I'm not an official representative of my nation, it is only from my context as an Algonquin that I speak and it is only to that context that I can speak.
Ours is a nation whose territory has slowly been occupied over time, and we have experienced dispossession and removal from our lands and territories. The current mechanisms that exist to seek redress solidify that occupation.
In order for my nation and many other nations across this country to get land back, or cash back for lands taken, we have had to participate in outdated, costly and excruciatingly long processes and mechanisms, established with the intent not of providing restitution to first nations, but of reconciling Canada's lack of true ownership over land as highlighted through surrender clauses.
The limitations of the specific and comprehensive claims processes are well documented, as are the challenges of pursuing title claims. This reinforces the notion that true restitution can be accomplished only through the co-development of mechanisms that actively place government and first nations as equal partners in the development of a process that prioritizes restitution over reconciliation.
For nations and communities that choose to assert their jurisdiction over land with or without the support of their elected leadership and outside of government-sanctioned processes, we see how Canada actively narrows the means by which we can access land.
My nation, as have other nations, has pursued assertion methods such as actively occupying our territories and asserting our rightful jurisdiction. In these circumstances, community members and elected leaders have been served injunctions and been surveyed, arrested and harassed by police, and have experienced racism and violence from Canadians. This reinforces the notion that there is only one acceptable way to seek restitution, and that is through government-developed and sanctioned processes alone.