Feds warn Ontario Algonquins not to 'usurp' own organization's modern treaty talks

Federal officials warned Ontario Algonquin leaders not to "usurp" their own organization's modern treaty talks, amid a political restructuring that has paused the potentially billion-dollar negotiations, a newly released document says.

In a March 8 memo for the minister, Crown-Indigenous Relations officials say "although a key principle of self-government is the right of an Indigenous group to self-determine how to organize itself, this does not include the right to unilaterally disenfranchise individuals or usurp the role of an existing organization that is negotiating a modern treaty."

That's a concern some Algonquin members feel is unfounded, contradictory, colonial and contrary to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).

"It tells us that they may be willing to abandon their commitment to UNDRIP and respecting self-determination when it suits their interests," said Veldon Coburn, an associate professor at McGill University in Montreal and a member of the Algonquins of Pikwakanagan, roughly 150 kilometres west of Ottawa.

"They still maintain a paternalistic view that we do not know how or cannot competently constitute ourselves, and reconstitute ourselves, as nations."

The memo is dated about a week after CBC Indigenous reported the Algonquins of Ontario (AOO) had removed almost 2,000 people from its 8,500-person electorate, after an investigating tribunal concluded their ancestors weren't Algonquin.

Formed in 2005 to negotiate what would be Ontario's first modern treaty, covering 36,000 square kilometres in eastern Ontario, AOO operated under a cloud of controversy in recent years amid questions about many members' — and some leaders' — Indigenous identity.

After the cleanup, speculation spread in Algonquin country that AOO may collapse, with a new organization, the Algonquin Treaty Alliance, springing up in its place.

AOO comprises 10 communities, of which only Pikwakanagan is an official Indian Act band. The new alliance would reduce the communities to seven, the Antoine Nation website says, though legitimate members wouldn't be removed.

The federal memo, obtained by CBC News under access-to-information law, says Canada and Ontario "carefully monitored" these developments and "have concerns regarding the governance structure of the Algonquin Treaty Alliance."

Pikwakanagan Chief Greg Sarazin dismissed those concerns, saying the restructuring is still being discussed.

"It is accurate to say that the Algonquin side is exploring ways to reorganize our negotiation team, and the purpose behind that is to enhance the prospect of finalizing a treaty successfully," he said.

"There's no coup. There's no attempt to usurp the AOO."

The AOO is an administrative body that takes direction from its elected negotiators but it "has proven to be dysfunctional over the past number of years and not responsive to Algonquin interests," he continued.