Can Trudeau heal broken relationship with First Nations?
Every prime minister for the past half century has vowed to improve the lives of Canada’s indigenous people. Each has failed.
It wasn’t for lack of effort. They set up royal commissions and inquiries. They held extensive consultations. They undertook tortuous land claims negotiations. They drafted modern legislation to replace the paternalistic Indian Act. They replaced decrepit housing and cleaned up polluted waterways. They spent billions of dollars. And they publicly apologized for pushing Canada’s first inhabitants off their lands; stripping them of their livelihoods; mistreating their children in native residential schools; “scooping” their babies to live with white families; and ignoring their right to self-government.
Yet Lester Pearson, Pierre Trudeau, Brian Mulroney, Jean Chrétien and Stephen Harper (Joe Clark, John Turner, Kim Campbell and Paul Martin weren’t in office long enough to judge) all ended up estranged from aboriginal leaders.
Will Justin Trudeau break the cycle? Will he succeed in building a relationship based on mutual respect? Will he deliver “fairness and equality of opportunity for indigenous peoples”?
History suggests the odds are long. His predecessors began their mandates with goals as estimable as his. Like him, they genuinely wanted to right the wrongs of the past. Like him, they initially received a warm welcome from aboriginal leaders.
But there are subtle differences this time — differences that might turn the tide.
For the first time, indigenous affairs is a top-tier ministry in Trudeau’s cabinet. Until now, it has been a low-visibility portfolio for a rookie or a consolation prize for the last name left on the cabinet list.
Unlike his predecessors, Trudeau appointed an 18-year veteran who sought the job. Carolyn Bennett had worked assiduously as an opposition MP to earn the trust of First Nations. She had become a familiar and trusted presence in many aboriginal communities.
The Liberal leader deliberately used the language of aboriginal leaders in his speeches and his campaign platform. Rather than talking about First Nations, Métis and Inuit, he spoke directly to them.
He began his tenure by acting on several long-standing aboriginal grievances. He announced an inquiry on missing and murdered aboriginal women. He lifted the 2 per cent cap on aboriginal funding. And he dropped the sanctions against bands that refused to comply with the Harper government’s First Nations Financial Transparency Act.
He affirmed that his government’s commitment to treat the constitutionally guaranteed rights of aboriginal peoples as a “sacred obligation.”
It will take more than these signs of good faith to build a productive longterm partnership between the Trudeau government and Canada’s 1.5 million indigenous people. Money alone won’t do it. Neither will legislation or negotiation.
The Liberals will have to accept — and convince the public to accept — a more inclusive vision of Canada that accommodates indigenous self-government. That will require a departure from the long-standing principle that there is one central government with the authority to speak for all Canadians, one justice system (delivered by the provinces and territories), one standard for education from coast to coast and uniform accountability rules for all recipients of public funds.
They will have to show enormous patience as aboriginal leaders heal the divisions in their ranks and build a consensus to move together. A four-year mandate may only be enough time to lay the groundwork, as Trudeau acknowledged in an address to the Assembly of First Nations last month.
Finally, Ottawa will have to collaborate more effectively with the provinces and territories than it has done in the past. They have jurisdiction over resource development, allocating infrastructure funds, training teachers, upgrading roads and housing and delivering non-stigmatizing social programs.
“October19 was a special day for us,” said Perry Bellegarde, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, who had never voted in a federal election until then. “We embraced the concept of dual citizenship. Huge numbers (of aboriginal voters) turned out in 50 key ridings.”
The result: a record 10 indigenous MPs in Canada’s current Parliament, (eight Liberals and two New Democrats) and two ministers in Trudeau’s first cabinet.
“It’s very powerful to see that,” Bellegarde said. “There is a warm wind of hope and change blowing across the land.”
Trudeau’s task is to convert that hope into unstoppable momentum.