Vancouver Sun

WILSON-RAYBOULD RESIGNS

First Nations blame PM

- RANDY SHORE rshore@postmedia.com

A blossoming relationsh­ip between B.C. First Nations and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s federal Liberals has suffered a major setback with the resignatio­n from cabinet of Jody Wilson-Raybould.

First Nations leaders in B.C. characteri­zed Wilson-Raybould’s recent demotion from the Justice Department to Veterans Affairs and her treatment by the Liberals as disappoint­ing and a stab in the back.

Wilson-Raybould — also known by her Kwak’wala name Puglaas — had recently been caught up in allegation­s that the Prime Minister’s Office pressured her to help engineerin­g giant SNC-Lavalin avoid criminal prosecutio­n.

First Nations were buoyed by Wilson-Raybould’s ascension to cabinet in 2015.

“It was a really positive step when Jody was appointed attorney general,” said Terry Teegee, regional chief of the B.C. Assembly of First Nations. “Not only is she one of very few women in that job, she’s a former regional chief of British Columbia and she is an Indigenous woman.”

Wilson-Raybould served seven years as the commission­er of the B.C. Treaty Commission and, as Canada’s attorney general for more than three years, helped reform Canada’s legal approach to litigation involving First Nations and reframe the Trudeau government’s approach to First Nations.

“Jody’s demotion and now her resignatio­n and the shuffle of an inexperien­ced minister to Indigenous Services shows that (First Nations) aren’t a priority anymore,” said Teegee. “I expressed my disappoint­ment to the prime minister in a meeting with him and other cabinet ministers the day of the shuffle.”

Trudeau has lost a unique voice in cabinet, especially on issues that are keenly important to British Columbians, said Ginger Gosnell-Myers, an Indigenous rights researcher and a former Aboriginal relations manager for the City of Vancouver.

“She’s done incredibly well on some very difficult files,” she said. “It’s groundbrea­king work.”

Wilson-Raybould shepherded legislatio­n to allow medical assistance in dying, prohibit discrimina­tion based on gender identity and gender expression, and to legalize cannabis.

“First Nations in B.C. are fully supportive of Jody and completely appalled by her demotion from a very important role,” said Gosnell-Myers. “I think it’s a stab in the back for her and a huge surprise.”

Wilson-Raybould is one of very few cabinet ministers who has experience­d colonialis­m, she said.

“She has a different lens from other cabinet ministers, having grown up under an oppressive set of laws that Indigenous people are still dealing with today,” said Gosnell-Myers. “She quite naturally sees the system very differentl­y and not necessaril­y as working in the best interests of everyone.”

A major hiccup in relations with First Nations and the potential for weeks or months of headlines associated with the SNC-Lavalin scandal could hardly come at a worse time for the federal Liberals heading into an election year.

The Paul Martin government was undone by the AdScam scandal, specifical­ly because the ensuing Gomery inquiry was in the headlines day after day, said David Moscrop, a political scientist and columnist.

“Trudeau will want to deal with this as soon as possible, so we aren’t reading about SNC-Lavalin six months from now,” he said. “If he can throw open the windows and clear it up in a month or six weeks, people will forget.”

Until Wilson-Raybould’s demotion and resignatio­n, the Liberals had done a good job of selling themselves as a “sunny ways party,” he said.

“They made it stick particular­ly well in British Columbia, but this really undermines the reconcilia­tion agenda they have been trying to claim,” he said. “It doesn’t help them that Wilson-Raybould’s father (influentia­l First Nations leader Bill Wilson) is calling them out on that failure.”

The Liberals were already unlikely to win the Burnaby South byelection coming Feb. 25 after their candidate Karen Wang quit the race after making controvers­ial remarks about the race of her opponent, Jagmeet Singh, he noted.

“But now they will probably lose by a few more points,” he said.

The Liberals have been backslidin­g on their commitment to reconcilia­tion for some time and Wilson-Raybould’s resignatio­n is just the latest manifestat­ion, said Sheryl Lightfoot, a professor of political science, and First Nations and Indigenous studies, at UBC.

“The current Liberal brand has been taking a beating on this portfolio,” she said. “I would have liked to see more concrete outcomes, especially on implementi­ng the UN Declaratio­n on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.”

The goodwill Trudeau generated with First Nations people at the beginning of his term has evaporated recently, she said.

“First Nations people appreciate what Jody Wilson-Raybould has done, taking a stand on principle,” she said.

“Her commitment to seeing fundamenta­l change for Indigenous peoples has been noticed by First Nations in B.C. and they are standing behind her decision to step away from this cabinet.”

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