Paul Keating Quotes

This is one victory that Canada cannot deny to aboriginal people.

It's time to bring dignity, honor, self-reliance, and self-government to people that have been held, not necessarily in bondage, but certainly as supplicants under an Indian Act that is archaic.

The existing aboriginal and treaty rights of the aboriginal peoples of Canada are hereby recognized and affirmed.

I think the Conservative Party has a great story to tell when it comes to relationships with First Nations. I want to be part of the solution-identifying process, talking about, 'What are the practical things that we can achieve that the Conservatives can offer?'

You have troubles with violent indigenous movement around the continent. Here, we are putting more power in their hands and creating a nonviolent indigenous society.

Food sovereignty is an affirmation of who we are as indigenous peoples and a way, one of the most surefooted ways, to restore our relationship with the world around us.

I'm a member of the American Indian Movement, and I'm from the indigenous nations of the Western Hemisphere.

The Apology opened the opportunity for a new relationship based on mutual respect and mutual responsibility between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australia. Because without mutual respect and mutual responsibility, the truth is we can achieve very little.

And Americans realized that native people are still here, that they have a moral standing, a legal standing.

I support the indigenous people anywhere in the planet.

I've heard people say South Africans are arrogant, that they act no differently from their colonial masters. That needs to change. It's in your business interest as an entrepreneur to form meaningful partnerships. That's how you do well for your shareholders.

The direction is going the right way for respect for aboriginal people in North America, and all we can do is stand up and say, 'Please do it faster.'

Many young Japanese were hearing for the first time the words of Native people from the West.

There is a perception of the general irrelevance of aboriginal culture….We haven't gone anywhere. We still exist. …. Get the hell out of our lives and give us our land back.

The proper treatment of the original occupants of this land—the Indians is one deserving of careful study. I will favor any course toward them which tends to their civilization and ultimate citizenship.

The utmost good faith shall always be observed towards Indians; their land and property shall never be taken from them without their consent

These fears, held by indigenous Fijians, must not be ridiculed but understood and addressed. In the final analysis it will be counterproductive to impose democracy on people who have yet to fully understand how it will sit against everything they believe in.

One of the first things that the First Nations are going to have to decide is, is it going to 640 communities, or is it, in fact, going to be some 50 to 60 nations.

I view Indigenous Canadians as an integral part of our society, proud of their contribution to Canadian history, great deal of respect for all they did pre-Confederation, the way that they have been partners in building this society we have, and I'm very proud to represent a dozen First Nations communities in my own riding.

I've got 12 reserves in my riding and have always been very available and worked very diligently on a few files. I've been out any time there is major events. So I've always had an open door policy with the chiefs and individuals on- and off-reserve.

We want First Nations and these people to be like Canadians on a lot of points of view. Right now, that's not normal that they cannot have running water on reserve. We need to fix that, but it must not be imposed by Ottawa, a top-down bureaucratic decision.

There are about 100 Aboriginal communities in Australia, and I'm trying to visit as many as possible to learn as much as I can.

It's time to listen to the stories of the Indigenous; we are blessed as a country to look to the wisdom of a really old country.

The federal government needs to make it clear that recognition of Indigenous rights means that when Indigenous bands and their leadership approve projects, we listen.

The First Nations Financial Transparency Act insulted the integrity of the very people in our communities who guide our economic policy and act as our mediators with provincial and federal governments.