He made very clear that his visit and speech are part of his campaign to win election as chairman of the Assembly of First Nations, the organization of tribes all across Canada.
Nelson’s interest in Iran was sparked a few months ago after President Ahmadi-nejad spoke up about the mal-treatment of aborigines in Canada.
“I’m going to address the Iranian parliament at the end of May,” Nelson told the Winnipeg Free Press. “And that’s going to be broadcast…. It’s going all over the world.”
Nelson has been elected three times—and was fired all three times after votes of no-confidence—as the leader of the Roseau River band of the Anishinabe, a part of the Ojibwe nation of Indians. The Roseau River reservation is in the province of Manitoba just about 15 kilometers (10 miles) north of the Canadian border with Minnesota and North Dakota.
Both Canada and the United States have stopped using the term “Indians” in recent years as many see it as derogatory. In the United States, the term “Native Americans” has been adopted while Canada uses “First Nations.”
Back in March, Nelson and three other First Nation leaders in Canada met at the Iranian embassy in Ottawa seeking aid, but the Canadian Foreign Affairs Ministry warned the aboriginal leaders not to let themselves be used as pawns by the Iranians.
Nelson, however, feels he using the Islamic Republic. He told the Winnipeg Free Press he is using Iran to get the attention of Indian chiefs all across Canada who will be voting for the chairman of the Assembly of First Nations in July in Toronto.
He also said he hopes Muslims will see parallels between their history and that of the indigenous people in Canada and help finance his campaign to be chief of chiefs.
On March 12, Nelson and the three other First Nation leaders from the province of Manitoba met with the senior diplomat at the Iranian embassy. They said then they were on track to get an invitation to visit Iran and meet with government officials about possible support and investments in their tribal lands.
Nelson said, “Iran has a long history of supporting indigenous sovereignty in North America.”
The embassy meeting came about after Nelson sent a letter to President Ahmadi-nejad seeking assistance.
Nelson said he’d written similar letters to other governments for years without ever receiving a response. Iran was the first country to invite Nelson for a meeting, he said.
However, the Canadian government said this is not a serious offer by the Islamic Republic.
“The Iranian regime is now attempting to exploit tragedy and feign concern as yet another PR [public relations] stunt to distract from its own abhorrent [human rights] record,” said Joseph Lavoie, a spokesman for Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird. “We hope that the aboriginal leaders in question won’t allow themselves to be used as pawns in this sad game the Iranians are playing.”
Nelson said Iran is not using First Nations as pawns any more than Canada does. He cited what he described as the “photo op” of the recent national meeting between First Nations and Prime Minister Stephen Harper as an example.
Nelson said one of the discussions was about the possibility of Iran helping find financial backing for First Nations’ residents to get mortgages to build their own houses. He said he knows Iran can’t afford that because of the economic sanctions imposed on it by the international community.
However, Nelson said Iranian officials hinted they could bring other governments from the Middle East into the picture.
Iran has a history of criticizing Canada on First Nations issues for the last decade. Most recently, in January, Iran summoned the senior diplomat at the Canadian Embassy in Tehran to criticize Canada for its treatment of First Nations. The Iranian government said the poor educational, economic and professional conditions of Canadian aboriginal people were a human rights violation. It did not mention the educational, economic and professional conditions of Iran’s own tribal peoples.
The Islamic Republic began this line of criticism after Canada responded to the death of Iranian-Canadian dual national Zahra Kazemi in 2003 by taking over the annual sponsorship of the UN General Assembly resolution criticizing Iran on its human rights record. Iran since then has said Canada has a terrible human rights record, and puts major emphasis on the First Nations. Iran has even issued a pamphlet in English scoring Canada as a major human rights violator.
Nelson’s letter to Ahmadi-nejad came after he was ousted as chief at Roseau River in February for the third time.
Metro back up & running
Line 4 of the Tehran Metro was back in use as of Saturday, just 13 days after rainwater completely filled three stations from rails to ceiling.
Mayor Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf took the first train through the tunnel.
It wasn’t explained how the city got Metro service re-started so quickly. Not only were the tunnel, stations and trains covered in mud and muck, but also the control rooms with technical equipment were flooded and the equipment under water.
It is possible those control rooms have simply been bypassed and the system run from elsewhere. But the city hasn’t explained what actions it took to get the line back in operation.