Dear Editor,
Twenty years ago today (14 March) the Amerindian Act became law when President Bharrat Jagdeo assented to it. The Government did not bring this Act out of nowhere. The Government did not impose it on Amerindians. The new law was driven by Amerindian communities. Dr Arif Bulkan, now a judge at the Caribbean Court of Justice, wrote that, “By the time it was finally enacted, the Amerindian Act of 2006 had been the subject of a highly participatory revision process, involving more than three years of extensive consultations and detailed public scrutiny at each stage of its evolution.” That extensive consultation with Amerindian communities resulted in a report to Cabinet which formed the basis of the Amerindian Act. Minister Carolyn Rodrigues deserves full credit for this process and for building political consensus resulting in a multi-party Select Committee approving every word of the draft act.
The Act deals extensively with land – how to get it and how to control what happens with it. The Act implements Annex C of the Independence Agreement 1965 which says that “the Amerindians should be granted legal ownership or rights of occupancy over any areas and reservations or any parts thereof where any tribe or community of Amerindians is now ordinarily resident or settled and other legal rights, such as rights of passage, in respect of other lands, where they now by tradition or custom de facto enjoy freedoms and permissions corresponding to rights of that nature.” This was nearly 30 years before Australia recognised Aboriginals had some form of land title (Mabo 1992). It was 32 years before the Canadian Supreme Court’s decision in Delgamuukw (1997) which said that to get aboriginal title, indigenous claimants had to prove that they occupied the land when the colonisers first asserted sovereignty. In 1976 Guyana transferred State title and rights in land to Amerindian communities across Guyana.
Annex C was a triumph for national hero Stephen Campbell. He was our first Amerindian MP (TUF). He was a member of Guyana’s independence delegation to London. Campbell was from Moruca. He said he was a ‘Spanish Arawak’. Moruca came into existence when Spanish Arawaks fled from Venezuela to Guyana in 1817. The British Colonial government gave them permission to settle at Moruca which had once been a flourishing Dutch settlement. So, Annex C established that Amerindians who came to Guyana after colonisation could get land title even though they could not meet the criteria for indigenous land ownership (i.e. being there before the colonists arrived).
The Amerindian Act 2006 removed land titling from political control and established a statutory process to claim land. It reflects Amerindian values and history. Oral evidence, community maps and surveys are all valid evidence. Titles go to the community, not to any individual. Titles remain with the community forever. Amerindian communities cannot transfer their land to anybody so they can never lose it. Many years ago, Minister Sukhai asked Sawariwau to sign a deed of gift for some of their land. They knew their rights. They said no. The State continues to own all minerals. However, Amerindian communities control access to minerals. They are in a powerful position. They can refuse access. Or they can agree to mining in return for serious money. If they agree to mining the Amerindian Act binds miners to protect the environment, obey village rules, and not disrupt residents’ normal activities. Amerindian communities can demand anything else they want. They do not have to be ‘reasonable’.
In contrast, the 2023 Report on Canada by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples states that, “The extractive industry is not only responsible for half of global greenhouse gas emissions and 90 per cent of biodiversity loss, but it is also at the root of conflicts created by the criminalization of Indigenous Peoples defending their lands and resources from companies and governments who support the projects of those companies. Despite letters from the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, in which the Committee urged Canada to cease forced evictions of Wet’suwet’en people from their lands, the federal police (under contract with the government of British Columbia) conducted a series of raids using tactical officers, helicopters, assault rifles and police dogs to arrest 74 Wet’suwet’en land rights defenders.”
Back here oil is a threat. An oil company has contacted Amerindian villages in the North Rupununi. These Amerindian communities can use the power of the Amerindian Act to say no and protect their land and their future. Or they can believe the propaganda of NGOs and anthropologists and act as if they have no power. But if they fail to use the Amerindian Act, they cannot blame the law for subsequent problems.