Canada Told to Butt Out Over Native Tobacco Ads

October 18, 2006
Marissa Nelson

Just as one storm cloud cleared over Caledonia, another settled in over cigarette billboards along Highway 6 that advertise Six Nations tobacco products and stores.

Some of the signs are on the reserve, some of them are off the reserve and some are within provincial highway right-of-ways.

A Health Canada official said they have notified their inspectors in the region and an investigation has been launched.

Tobacco companies are banned from advertising on billboards in Canada but the Six Nations people argue they are a sovereign nation and therefore not governed by Canadian laws.

A spokesperson for the federal health minister said any contravention of the ban on tobacco advertising would be "unforgivable."

Six Nations spokespeople were enraged by the controversy, saying it was just a ploy to divert attention from the main issue: land claims.

"We are not Canadians and we are not subjected to Canadian laws," said spokesperson Hazel Hill. "We adhere to the Great Law and Canada had better just back off. They're trying to force their taxes on us. They have no say on what happens on Six Nations."

Even if signs are off the traditional reserve land, Hill said they are within 10 kilometres of the Grand River and therefore part of their territory.

"I could put a sign in the middle of Caledonia and it'd be our territory. This is about land claims. (Canada) stole the land and now they have to deal with it."

Ontario's Aboriginal Affairs Minister David Ramsay said the tobacco signs won't scuttle talks at the main table -- set to resume Friday -- because they do not have anything to do with the land claims.

"There has to be an even application of the law, and that's all that's happening," he said, adding day-to-day issues come up in every community.

Tobacco was a hot issue at the rally Sunday in Caledonia organized by a Richmond Hill couple.

Haldimand Mayor Marie Trainer complained she would not be allowed to put an election sign where some of the tobacco signs are because of highway right-of-way regulations.

"It's two different laws. (Caledonia residents) want the signs down," she said.

Jim Watson, the province's minister of health promotion, pointed to one billboard which has a cartoon bull on it as an old "trick" used by tobacco companies to attract young people.

"This is a health issue: no one should be advertising tobacco products."

Six Nations spokesperson Janie Jamieson said if Canada is concerned about the health of First Nations people, there are many unaddressed problems beyond the use of tobacco.

Yesterday, Ontario's Transportation Minister Donna Cansfield told the legislature the tobacco billboards were being removed but contradicted herself minutes later, outside the House, when she told reporters the province was investigating the roadside signs to determine if their placement violates Ontario's Highway Traffic Act.

mnelson@thespec.com
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