Frosty relations

The Trudeau government’s oft-promised commitment to build a new relationship with Canada’s First Nations isn’t working out exactly as either side expected.

Despite numerous photo opportunities and some well- publicized visits by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to native communities, aboriginal leaders find t hemselves complaining about inadequate consultation and lack of respect for native concerns. In three important instances, native Canadians have been offered excuses in place of the action they anticipated.

In July, Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould abandoned a promise to adopt the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. She told the Assembly of First Nations ( AFN) that embracing the declaration as Canadian law was “unworkable,” just as the Harper Conservatives had said. Although Wilson-Raybould promised the declaration would be absorbed in one form or another over time, the Liberals’ fudge puts them in the same position as the Conservatives, who treated the declaration as “aspirational” and argued they had taken specific measures to address pressing native concerns.

Trudeau’s government has also made little progress in solving a housing crisis on aboriginal reserves. Figures compiled by the New Democratic Party show the Liberals plan to build just 300 new homes across Canada this year, despite acknowledging a need for 20,000. The cost of the shortfall is estimated at $6 billion, yet the 2016 federal budget provided funding for First Nations housing of just $206.6 million. Although Ottawa says it has signed agreements to build, renovate or retrofit nearly 5,000 units this year and next, these remain far short of the need.

Perhaps the most contentious issue, however, has been an $ 8.8- billion dam project in northern British Columbia, which has been criticized by Robert- Falcon Ouellette, a Liberal MP of Cree background who was a star candidate in the last election.

The project would flood 83 kilometres along the Peace River to provide hydroelectric power to about 450,000 homes, according to B.C. Hydro. The utility says the dam, known as Site C, would “be a source of clean, renewable and cost-effective electricity in B. C. for more than 100 years.”

But local aboriginal communities are opposed to the plan, arguing it would flood a “main artery” for wildlife and obliterate important native heritage sites. Two First Nations are challenging it in court, while native leaders say the Trudeau Liberals have failed to follow through on their pledge to fully consult with them over their concerns.

Ouellette has pointedly sided with the local leaders, despite the fact that Transport Minister Marc Garneau has approved the project.

“I understand that there’s going to be jobs for a few years. But once the dam has been built and the jobs are gone … once you’ve handed out the beads, what do you have that’s going to benefit the community in the long term?” he said. The UN declaration, he noted, calls for “prior and informed consent” from indigenous Canadians.

“I think we should be really careful, because we are starting and trying to build a new relationship with indigenous people,” Ouellette told the CBC.

Before she became justice minister, Wilson- Raybould was openly critical of the dam project. The former AFN chief attended a demonstration against the proposal in 2012 and warned that “running roughshod over aboriginal rights, including treaty rights, is not the way to improve (Canada’s) reputation.”

Chief Roland Willson of the West Moberly First Nation, one of eight affected by the dam, accused the Liberals of appointing Wilson-Raybold as “the token Indian” and said she should resign. “I think she is being, you know, muzzled," he told APTN, a native news service. "I think they told her not to say anything. I know Jody, she wouldn’t, at least I hope she wouldn’t, abandon us … She knows full well what is going on."

Liberals predictably blame the previous Conservative government for the controversy, but have continued to sign permits allowing construction to progress. “To approve another project that could have … irreversible impacts I think is deeply concerning. It’s not fair to the community, it’s not fair to the Mikisew, it’s not fair to the heritage site that they’re supposed to be managing," said Melody Lepine, of the Mikisew First Nation. Additional concerns were raised Wednesday when Trudeau’s government approved a massive liquid natural gas development on B.C.'s northwest coast.

As previous governments have discovered, it’s easy to promise solutions to the complex issues that pockmark relations with Canada’s aboriginals. Results are far more difficult, and fraught with deep sensitivities and continuing distrust. The Liberals won’t help matters if they continue to hand natives a reason to maintain that level of suspicion and doubt.