Armand MacKenzie Quotations

The Declaration of Rights of Indigenous Peoples sets minimum standards for how we will be treated. We are trying to convince Canada that there is a better way to treat Indian people, and we have to use the principles in the declaration as a guideline in our relationship.

At that point my community and my family asked me to work on this because we were drastically affected. Our traditional hunting grounds were flooded and our Indian land rights were extinguished. I had this duty to do something about the unilateral extinguishment of our rights.

They just destroyed it. They wouldn't do that to white people - and if they did, they would be compensated. But that's not the case with Indians - it's normal to flood our lands, to dig up our relatives, to deny us our rights. It's just the way it is. I had a duty to do something about that.

Canada requires that as a precondition for addressing Innu grievances, we must acknowledge that our homeland belongs to the Crown. All that remains to negotiate are the terms in which we are to formally surrender it.