Meeting was just the beginning

Aboriginal people determined to exercise their constitutional rights

If one wants to understand just how great is the divide between Canada’s aboriginal and non- aboriginal populations, the Governor General represents the perfect metaphor.

If most Canadians think of the Governor General at all, they consider the position symbolic and its holder a figurehead. But the Governor- General has real constitutional powers and has only been reduced to ceremonial status because when these powers were last exercised in 1926, that decision was rejected by voters.

Most Canadians, more or less, accept that they are adequately represented in the House of Commons and are content to have a non- responsible head of state.

But aboriginals understand that, like the Governor General, they too have constitutionally and legally recognized authority that Canadians appear to believe is ceremonial.

They are a disparate population distributed from sea to sea to sea, but only represent some three per cent of Canada’s population. When it comes to representing their democratic rights, Parliament doesn’t speak for them.

Non- aboriginals complain about misspent funds on reserves. However, First Nations see that, for example, the lack of records on spending of the grants to the Attawapiskat reserve may not be ideal, but it isn’t much worse than the lack of documentation the auditor general complained about when cabinet minister Tony Clement spent more than $ 50 million on 32 projects in his Muskoka riding for the G8 summit.

And Parliament has been hopelessly unable to deal with the complicated relationship between the two peoples.

The current spate of activity by First Nations, led particularly by the Saskatchewanborn Idle No More movement, however, is a harbinger of things to come.

While Friday’s meetings in Ottawa among some aboriginal leaders and Prime Minister Stephen Harper may have advanced some issues, anyone who thinks that talking about jobs or education will be enough to close this file hasn’t been following the discussion.

First Nations increasingly understand they hold stronger cards than they have in the past. Canada is becoming increasingly dependent on the natural resources that exist on, under or near, and must travel through the forsaken corners of Canada they were allotted under the reserve system.

And the Supreme Court has ruled the government and developers have a duty to consult with the First Nations before they can begin to exploit these resources.

But Canada’s natives are feeling empowered to seek an even more substantial meeting. Over the last generation, more First Nations members have been getting educated and are now connected through social media.

They may not have a cohesive message but, like the rest of us, they know what’s right and what doesn’t work. The Ottawa meetings and activities this week indicate that we have only just begun the process of trying to bridge that gap.