Times have changed in the Indigenous areas. When the Amerindian Act was drafted in 2006 (strictly speaking it is an amendment to the 1951 Act), it had little significant direct input from indigenous sources, although indirectly views were noted and sometimes incorporated when the Bill was drawn up, especially as these related to land. But twenty years ago the Amerindians of the interior were still fairly isolated from the political shenanigans which dominate the lives of coastal dwellers, and were not yet fully conversant with how Georgetown worked.
The major political parties in this country have tended to regard the indigenous inhabitants mainly as a source of votes at election time. The current ruling party has set the pattern, since it is very much dependent on Amerindian ballots to get into office. As a consequence, the habit is to distribute outboard engines, tractors, trailers and the like, especially when polls are due, in the expectation that this will secure votes. But the increasing intrusion of the coast into the hinterland, particularly in the form of mining, has seen indigenous rights being overridden, and this is something no number of tractors and trailers can offset.
As the communities became more active about protecting their rights, they were made aware of international instruments such as those enshrined in UN and OAS declarations which specify indigenous entitlements. Villages under especial stress from mining have appealed to these bodies, and have confronted the government with their right to free prior and informed consent, for example, before mining is allowed on their lands. Some of the villages are in contact with the Amerindian organisations, and have learnt from them, while there are a number who will have access to the internet and can see for themselves how the world outside works.
One thing the 2006 Act did was to create the infrastructure by which the indigenous population could engage with the coastal authorities. Apart from Village Councils and District Councils there is the National Toshaos Council on which all the toshaos sit, and which represents the official vehicle for direct indigenous interaction with the government. In its earlier stints in office, as well as last year, the PPP/C administration attempted to control its discussions, planned the agenda and wanted its own PS in the chair for most of the engagements. It also denied the free media access to the conference and as far as that was possible, also to the participants in the areas outside the hall.
When the coalition was in office, however, they had an altogether more relaxed approach, and even last year, the government had to give way on some of its controls after being compared unfavourably with its predecessor. Now the NTC is meeting again, although this time unhampered by the earlier constraints, with President Irfaan Ali telling the Toshaos on Monday, that they could bring to the table whatever concerned them. And Chinese Landing had indicated earlier it wanted its case brought to the NTC.
Of course the President did not pass up the opportunity to tell his audience on Monday how much his government had invested in various projects and development plans, running into the billions. In the past these recitations have not always convinced everyone, however, and have not insulated the government from questions about other matters, particularly land. Nowadays largesse on its own is certainly not enough to silence the queries and complaints. While the government may want the indigenous people to accept the role of passive recipients of its munificence, that is not what is happening. They have instead become active agents with their own agenda, on the basis of which they are requiring a response from the central authorities.
And four District Councils from the North Pakaraimas, the South Rupununi, the Upper Mazaruni and Moruca, located in Regions Eight, Nine, Seven and One, have reissued a Consultation Proposal outlining how the Indigenous peoples consider the government should consult them over reform of the Amerindian Act. Since its accession to office the government has promised this reform, something which has secured the agreement of the opposition too, and has assured there would be consultation with all the communities. The problem is that the administration has not understood the current mood of the indigenous people, and has forged ahead imposing its own notions of what the process should involve.
On Saturday last the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs in conjunction with the Ministry of Legal Affairs launched consultations for the revision of the Act in St Cuthbert’s Mission. This took place in the presence of Head of the National Toshaos Council Derrick John, who thanked the government for the move. Meanwhile, it was reported that facilitative training had been conducted for community development officers, community service officers and the NTC representatives, so they could inform the leaders of each village about the act.
This clearly took the District Councils mentioned off-guard, since proposals for the consultation process had already been crafted and approved by all District Councils and had been submitted to the administration earlier this year. It now appears the government has simply ignored them. District Councils can be formed if three or more villages in an area request it, and in the case of the South Rupununi District Coun-cil, for example, all the Wapichan villages belong to it. So if all District Councils covering some critical interior areas speak, they are doing so for a significant number of indigenous communities. The government still has not woken up to the changed times if it believes it can bypass them and foist its own procedures on the Amerindians without generating resentment.
Representative of the four Councils mentioned, yesterday issued a press release in which they began by applauding the government’s undertaking to reform the Amerindian Act in order to bring it into line with its international human rights obligations. They went on to note the fact the AG had committed to the process being driven by the Amerindian communities, and said that their proposals had been intended to assist the government in fulfilling its obligations to free, prior and informed consent as required in various national and international instruments, which they cited.
However, they went on to express their concerns that the government had begun community consultations. “We are disappointed that the government advanced these plans without consulting communities on our preferred process,” they wrote. “While some of our toshaos were included in that training, the training does not conform to the process we proposed in our Consultation Proposal and we consider that an appropriate process must be agreed with our communities before revision can commence.”
The 11-page document containing the Consultation Proposal begins with the statement: “As Indigenous peoples, we have the right and the responsibility to chart the path of our own development for ourselves and for future generations.” Among other things, they call for two-thirds of the committee representatives for the consultations to be indigenous. The Proposal does accept the need for training ahead of the consultations, and submits that this can be done by District Councils, Indigenous people’s NGOs and CDOs using trained indigenous facilitators. They would focus on the substance of the Amerindian Act, as well as international law standards along with previous initiatives directed at obtaining community inputs for reforming the Act.
There had been workshops and consultations in 2018-19 in relation to revising the Act, and the Proposal envisages the establishment of a national committee to consider earlier recommendations, and it is this committee which should hold consultations in every indigenous community. After the Bill has been drafted, the District Councils want an international expert to review it to ensure it complies with international human rights standards and to suggest the inclusion of ‘best practice’ provisions from legislation elsewhere. It is most unlikely that any government would accede to this, and the opposition probably neither.
There are various other suggestions, including what should happen if there is a dispute about the provisions. The document does insist, however, that “All consultations should be nonpartisan and free from political interference,” although to what extent that is possible here remains to be seen.
During the NTC conference this week the Toshaos were not given any question time following the presentation on the reform of the Amerindian Act, and so the four District Councils were hoping for some discussion with the Ministry of Legal Affairs yesterday.
They acknowledged that the time for this would be very limited, so they asked in addition for a full-day meeting involving the District Councils, the Ministries of Amerindian Affairs and Legal Affairs and “any other relevant Indigenous rightsholders.” That meeting would seek agreement on the process for consultation, the budget, the roles and responsibilities of the different actors in the process, and the timeline involved.
Clearly the government cannot plough ahead as it has been doing. It needs to cease the current round of consultations and come to terms with the District Councils. Some portions of their proposals may not be acceptable, but the point is to arrive at some arrangement that all sides can live with at some level. If the government is prepared to consult, which it has insisted it is, then it should not really have objections about discussing the mode of that consultation.
