PM wants new approach to Indigenous affairs
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is planning to overhaul the way the federal government relates to Indigenous Peoples, proposing a new legislative framework designed to pave the way toward stronger rights and greater control over their own destiny.
“We need to both recognize and implement Indigenous rights,” Trudeau said Wednesday in a speech in the House of Commons.
“Because the truth is, until we get this part right, we won’t have lasting success on the concrete outcomes that we know mean so much to people.”
The prime minister said the new approach, to be developed in partnership with First Nations, Métis and Inuit, is needed to tackle the many challenges facing their communities, including overcrowded housing, unsafe drinking water and high rates of suicide among Indigenous youth.
“All of these things demand real, positive action — action that must include the full recognition and implementation of Indigenous rights,” Trudeau said. “We need to get to a place where Indigenous Peoples in Canada are in control of their own destiny, making their own decisions about the future.”
The new Recognition and Implementation of Indigenous Rights Framework — to be unveiled later this year following consultations led by Carolyn Bennett, the minister for CrownIndigenous relations, and Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould — will include new legislation.
It will not, however, require reopening the Constitution, where Section 35 already recognizes these rights, despite, Trudeau acknowledged, the initial reluctance of the Liberal government led by his father, Pierre Trudeau, to include them.
The problem, Trudeau said, is that federal governments have not been fully implementing those rights, forcing Indigenous Peoples to engage in long and costly battles to get the courts to enforce them — a reality the prime minister said has played a role in breaking the relationship time and again.
Many of the details have yet to be decided, but Bennett said one of the real-world implications of the framework will be an easier path to self-determination for individual or groups of First Nations, including by establishing control over a specific area such as education or child welfare.
Right now, there is no way for the federal government to facilitate that without relying on the Indian Act, which Bennett said enforces colonial structures and creates a daunting process that can take two decades of negotiations and millions of dollars to resolve.
“They have to be willing, ready and able to get out from under the Indian Act, and we are trying to make that much more attractive,” Bennett told a news conference following the speech.
The consultations, which Trudeau said will also involve provinces, territories, the business community and other nonIndigenous Canadians, will include looking at finding more collaborative ways to resolve disputes.
Assembly of First Nations National Chief Perry Bellegarde welcomed the statement from Trudeau, adding that it comes during what he called a tough week for Indigenous people.
Bellegarde, referring to the not-guilty verdict late last week of the Saskatchewan farmer who killed 22-year-old Colten Boushie of the Red Pheasant Cree Nation, said the case has brought issues of systemic racism against Indigenous people to the forefront.
He called the new framework a great opportunity, but said he has reservations that proposed changes would be “dictated” to Indigenous leaders.
“We have to do this jointly in a co-operative, co-developed manner and fashion with treating our leadership as equals around that table,” Bellegarde said in an interview Wednesday.
“We want to make sure that we do this legislation properly and do it right from the beginning with full partnership and inclusion of our people.”
Trudeau’s speech came as the family of Boushie wrapped up their visit to Parliament Hill, where they said they have felt both welcomed and supported in their effort to press the federal government for change following the acquittal of Gerald Stanley, charged in the young man’s death.
Trudeau mentioned his meeting with the family in his speech.
“Through all their grief and anger and frustration, their focus was not on themselves and the tragedy they have endured, but on how we must work together to make the system and our institutions better,” Trudeau said.