President David Granger on Thursday met with representatives of a number of Indigenous organisations as talks continue on the controversial Lands Commission of Inquiry (CoI) which has been strongly criticized by several groups most notably, the National Toshaos Council (NTC).
A release from the Ministry of the Presidency said that Minister of State, Joseph Harmon and Minister of Indigenous People’s Affairs, Sydney Allicock were also present at the meeting. The visiting delegation was led by Chairman of the NTC, Joel Fredericks and included President of the National Amerindian Development Foundation, Ashton Simon; Toshao of Shulinab Village, Nicholas Fredericks; Toshao of St. Cuthbert’s Mission and NTC Vice-Chairman, Lennox Shuman; Toshao of Chenapau, Edward McGarrel; Coordinator of the National Amerindian Development Foundation, Zelita Debedin; Executive Director of the Amerindian People’s Association (APA), Jean La Rose; Colin Klautky from the Guyana Organisation of Indigenous Peoples (GOIP) and Peter Persaud from the Amerindian Action Movement of Guyana.
Last week, the President convened a similar meeting with the executive members of the APA in response to the concerns that have been raised in the public domain following the establishment of the Commission in March.
At Wednesday’s meeting, the release said that President Granger explained to the delegation that contrary to the impression that is being created, the Administration never intended to set up a Commission to deal with Indigenous lands and not involve Indigenous peoples.
“In fact, that Commission’s mandate was to engage with communities in order to examine and make recommendations to resolve issues and uncertainties surrounding the individual, joint or communal ownership of lands and Amerindian land titling issues”, the release said. However, observers note that the major concern of the NTC was that the CoI would be addressing all land matters together including Amerindian land titling and the claims of the descendants of freed slaves. The NTC is against this as it feels that Amerindian rights might be abridged. There was no mention in the Ministry of the Presidency release about this.
The release said that Granger also spoke of the five-point plan that he proposed to the APA last Wednesday as a means of healing the divide over the CoI..
This plan encompasses a review of all existing agreements and conventions relating to Amerindian lands, a review of the Terms of Reference of the Commission, endorsement of the principal of Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC), a reconciling of the positions of the NTC and the Government on the objectives of the Commission of Inquiry and a review of the Amerindian Act.
In the release, Allicock described the discussions as a step in the right direction. “It’s about understanding the issues and coming together to discuss the said issues. That is what is really important here. I think that for too long we have not been communicating the way we should and I look forward for the continuation of this kind of dialogue.”
NTC Chairman Fredericks said that he was pleased to have the opportunity to discuss some issues surrounding the Lands COI with the Head of State, particularly as it relates to mining and governance. He added that “I want to say that the NTC had the opportunity to bring these matters to him so that we can see how best these organisations, who represent the Indigenous peoples, can all work together with the Government in addressing some of them.”
