An extract from SHIIPEWECHUUN, 
by Grand Chief Matthew Coon-Come, of the Crees of Quebec
In: Social Justice News Vol. 2(1) Winter 1993.

"Our fundamental rights as a people include: the right to
self-determination including the rights to govern ourselves; the
collective and individual right to liberty and security ; the right
not to be deprived of our means of subsistence; and the right to exist
and self-identify as a people, and to maintain and develop our culture
and way of life.  These rights are given to us by the Creator. They
are inalienable and indivisible.  They may not be abrogated, sold,
traded, even if we were to wish or desire to do so.

Over the centuries however, dominent societies have constructed a
framework of fictions to legitimize the taking of lands and resources
from indigenous peoples.  Its components include theories of
primitivism, discovery, *terra nullius*, and extinguishment. For
aboriginal peoples, extinguishment is a brutal conquest attempted
with a pen.  Many of our collective and individual rights are, to a
large degree, linked to our lands and resources. Extinguishment
attempts to sever our relationship with our lands, undermining our
identity and status.  It attempts to deny us beneficial enjoyment of
our resources, while making others wealthy and us dependent on them
for basic needs.  It puts the power to make decisions about our lands
and waters, and thus about us, exclusively in the hands of others. It
is a profound denial of our fundamental rights.

Extinguishment affects aboriginal peoples pervasively and with
far-reaching effects.  If we are to create a new relationship, we must
look at redressing the past, not just the past of hundreds of years
ago, but the past of fifteen and twenty years ago.  The choice is open
to us to talk in peace to all peoples.  But if you don't understand
us, we will be unable to share what wer can offer, which is what
creates brotherhood on this planet."