Promises versus performance: The Trudeau government record
On Dec. 8, 2015, just a few weeks after he was sworn in as prime minister, Justin Trudeau spoke to the Assembly of First Nations annual meeting. He was warmly received, honoured with a ‘blanketing ceremony’ and, in the speech he gave that day, made five specific promises, telling the assembled chiefs, “I give you my word that we will renew and respect that relationship.”
Here are those five promises he made and an update on those promises, a year later:
“The creation of a national public inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in Canada.”
Promise kept. The inquiry is getting going though some groups, including the Assembly of First Nations, have some issues with the pace of the inquiry and its terms of reference.
“Make significant investments in First Nations education.”
Mostly kept, though a Parliamentary Budget Office report out Tuesday says that even when the Liberals spend an extra $3.7 billion over the next five years as they promised to do in Budget 2016, the funding gap between on-reserve education and off-reserve education could still be more than $3 billion.
“Our government will immediately — as part of our first budget — lift the two-per-cent cap on funding for First Nations programs.” Promise not kept. The funding cap has not yet been lifted.
“We will fully implement the calls to action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), starting with the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.”
There has been progress on a small handful of TRC recommendations but opposition politicians and indigenous groups say the government has backed away from implementing the UN declaration of rights.
“We will conduct a full review of the legislation unilaterally imposed on Indigenous peoples by the previous government.”
Incomplete. On Tuesday, Assembly of First Nations national chief Perry Bellegarde said the legislative and executive branch of the federal government has not caught up to court decisions that should force changes to many laws.
— David Akin