CAN (AB) - “Gaming, band’s heritage”
Jason Markusoff, The Edmonton Journal, Thursday, March 22, 2007
EDMONTON - An Alberta aboriginal band is rebuking Solicitor General Fred Lindsay’s “cease and desist” order on its proposed Internet gambling enterprise, insisting it’s a sovereign nation and not subject to provincial law.
Lindsay said Wednesday he won’t be stared down by the Alexander First Nation. Online casinos are outlawed in Alberta, and federal law gives the province authority to stop illegal gaming activity.
“My job is to enforce the Criminal Code, not negotiate it,” he told reporters.
The Edmonton-area band has set up a massive data centre to host online casino operators from overseas and has been approached by several gambling firms, said Cheryl Giblon, an Ontario-based official with a computer firm speaking for the Alexander band.
However, no gambling operations have begun and the band hasn’t collected any of the $20,000 US application fees, she said.
Trying to bolster its case, the Alexander band boasted it had the United Nations’ support, releasing a letter from Alberta aboriginal leader Willie Littlechild, who is a member of a United Nations body for aboriginal issues.
But the personal letter does not signal UN approval, said Gurston Dacks, a University of Alberta political scientist who specializes in aboriginal relations. “Although Mr. Littlechild is a distinguished Albertan and Canadian, the content of the letter refers to his view alone,” Dacks said.
Lindsay said if the band wants to argue about the Criminal Code, it should do so with the federal government.
Alexander Chief Raymond Arcand said in a news release issued Wednesday that gaming is an integral part of the band’s heritage and is willing to defend his case in court.
“The government of Alberta desires to ignore our sovereignty and our right to regulate online gaming transacted within our territory, along with all of the positives of our developing economic independence, and has chosen to launch this attack,” he said in the statement.
No Canadian judge has ever ruled in favour of an aboriginal group’s intrinsic right to run gambling operations, and Dacks said the band’s sovereignty claim is highly questionable.
“The Supreme Court of Canada has not ruled on sovereignty of First Nations, or on the self-governance rights, except in a very narrow sense in a small number of cases,” he said.
Federal and provincial officials have declared that a similar, long-running online venture by the Mohawk in Quebec also is illegal. No action has been taken against the Kahnawake band.
