The Revision of the Amerindian Act-Government working on its priority projects
A GINA Feature by Candace Field
October 21, 2004
On October 12, 2004,Cabinet concluded its deliberations on the new Amerindian Act which is presently being drafted. Government had hoped to meet its October deadline but several procedures had to be implemented to ensure that the drafting was done concisely. Much time had to be put into the document’s drafting as well.
At a recent post-Cabinet media briefing, Head of the Presidential Secretariat and Cabinet Secretary, Dr. Roger Luncheon, had said “ Cabinet undertook to conclude the activity in a timely way, so as to provide for Parliamentary considerations before the end of 2004.”
The Amerindian Act stipulates how Indigenous communities should be governed and its Revision began in 2002, when Government saw the need to do so as several articles in the Act were outdated and seemed irrelevant to today’s society. The Act has its origins as far back as 1951, and was last amended in 1976. The Ministry of Amerindian Affairs had listed its revision among the priority projects of the Ministry and a very detailed process was formulated which was time-consuming.
The aim of the revision is to bring legislation governing Amerindian communities in keeping with the reality of today’s society and to ensure that the Act conforms with the Constitution. The existing Act, in some ways, does not.
In 2002, a technical team comprising lawyers in private practice and from the Attorney General’s Office, Non-Governmental Organisations, representatives of Amerindian communities and the Ministry, was set up to conduct the consultations.
At more than thirty locations, consultations were carried out in 111 communities where Amerindians were given the chance to discuss the Act and make recommendations. A summary of the recommendations was then circulated to the communities and other stakeholders. This was done so that residents could examine the summary and ensure that it was a true representation of their recommendations.
President Bharrat Jagdeo, in his address to Toshaos at the National Toshaos meeting in February this year, had pointed out, “While the revision or passage of laws does not require countrywide consultations, in this case, the Government recognised that it was important to consult with Amerindians so as to accommodate their recommendations as far as possible.”
The document was later presented to Cabinet where it was deliberated on.
Dr. Luncheon had also noted, “Procedurally, Cabinet agreed that the approved Revision would be the subject of four National Consultations by Minister Rodrigues. Also, the decision was made to make the proposed revised document available to other stake-holders, including the political parties in Parliament.”
Government, during the process of going through the various steps leading to the document’s submission to Cabinet, had been subjected to some criticism by various media entities and persons with their own political agenda on the Act. This was to create the perception that Government was not serious about its promise to Amerindians and to
the revision of the Act. However, Government has clearly demonstrated that this is not so. Much of the work on the Act, especially the consultation process, which took up some time, has been completed. A summary of the document is being drafted and four Regional consultations are to be carried out next.
Minister of Amerindian Affairs, Carolyn Rodrigues, recently outlined some of the changes that would be made to the revised Act. Some of the laws which are outdated will be deleted while several new sections will be added to the document.
Regarding Village Councils, the Minister explained that the existing Act provides for village captains to be appointed and not elected. W ith Government’s focus on democracy, the new Act will stipulate that village captains and councils be elected. The document will also outline the functions of the village councils.
In the present Act, only communities having titled lands have recognised village councils. The new Act will address the criteria for establishing village councils.
The Minister of Amerindian Affairs, according to the Act, has the power to make pronouncements on a number of things, including increasing land, decreasing land or cancelling land. However, this has not been done. It should be noted that instead, communities with land titles actually own their land under the State Lands Act. This ownership is absolute and forever, according to Minister Rodrigues. The revised document will contain a section similar to the State Lands Act, especially regarding titled communities.
The revised document will not give the Minister the right to cancel any land without consultation with or compensation to the community concerned.
A section of the document will also include a mechanism for the distribution of land within communities, since residents sometimes encounter problems with land requests from the Village Councils.
Domestic issues will be addressed in the revised document. In the existing Act, except for local Amerindian beverages, no one can give or sell alcohol to an Amerindian. This rule is usually not adhered to and is under consideration for deletion as well as the law which stipulates that any non-Amerindian who cohabits with an Amerindian woman, with or without her consent, be fined $32,500, according to the Minister.
Besides deletions, several new sections will be included in the Revised Act, including sections on mining, forestry, protected areas, Governance of the communities and measures to address land issues.
With specific reference to mining, the Act will address benefit-sharing mechanisms.
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