Harper government provides their vision of First Nations by leaving them out of meeting
Guess who wasn't coming to dinner - The first ministers meeting left aboriginal leaders on the outside looking in
GINA COSENTINO - January 15, 2008
In schoolyard politics, the in crowd is always invited to all the cool parties. So is the case in Canadian politics. While it would have consoling to learn that Phil Fontaine's invitation to the first ministers dinner meeting was simply lost in the mail, the reality is that the national chief of the Assembly of First Nations wasn't on the guest list to Friday's event at 24 Sussex Dr.
The federal government's omission of a national leader representing more than 800,000 citizens across the country carries symbolic, political and material implications for first nations communities. It signals the kind of relationship Ottawa envisages.
It's a disquieting vision indeed: The Conservative government does not respect constitutional norms about the participatory and consultative dimensions of indigenous rights. Its piecemeal approach to consultation with indigenous peoples has failed to evolve into a clear strategy for effective dialogue based on stable and reliable consultative mechanisms.
This should come as little surprise, given the government's opposition to the Kelowna agreement and to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, both of which acknowledge that indigenous peoples' governments are key players in governing the Canadian federation.
But the latest exclusion is still disappointing, especially given the important discussions and decisions that come from such meetings. The political menu at Friday's first ministers dinner put the economy as the main course, flanked by talks on the rising dollar, resource revenues, resource development, labour-market training and reducing barriers to internal trade.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper's announcement on Thursday of a $1-billion "community development trust fund" to aid communities in crisis as a result of economies based on "traditional industries" such as fisheries and forestry would have also animated the dinner discussion. Being absent from such talks further marginalizes our communities, amplifying the socioeconomic crises that so many of them face.
Economic and resource development policy is intimately tied to first nations' well-being, and freezing us out of the decision-making reveals that Mr. Harper's closed-door style of executive federalism does not fit well with his government's commitment to "open federalism."
According to his party's stated principles, open federalism is based partly on embracing "the importance of building a long-term partnership with aboriginal peoples." And in October's Throne Speech, the government committed itself to "improving the lives of Canada's aboriginal people" by continuing "to foster partnerships that help aboriginal people get the skills and training to take advantage of [mining and resource] job prospects in the North and across Canada."
To achieve a long-term partnership, indigenous leadership must be fully engaged in the fiscal rebalancing process and in economic and resource development policy. As a result, closed-door decision-making on matters that directly affect first nations citizens harkens back to a regressive style of politics and federalism in which indigenous peoples were not seen as constitutional partners with distinct rights.
We invite the first ministers to engage in effective and meaningful tripartite consultative deliberative processes to ensure that first nations voices are heard and that our objectives are met in discussions on the federation. We also extend an invitation for sustained and regularized bilateral consultations with Ottawa to ensure that the needs and views of first nations are a routine part of the policy-making process.
We also ask the Prime Minister to convene a first ministers meeting on indigenous issues as soon as possible to assess first nations well-being and the impact of federal economic initiatives to close the fiscal gap. We need to discuss our shared economic development priorities, our objectives and our collective vision of the way forward.
We call for the federal government to make "open federalism" include processes for the full and meaningful participation of first nations organizations.
We also invite the Prime Minister and all provincial and territorial leaders to meet with indigenous leadership, in the spirit of consultation and in accordance with the principles of government-to-government relations embodied in the Constitution and in our internationally recognized treaties with the Crown.
These hold far-reaching implications for the participation of aboriginal peoples in decision-making — not only during times of high-stakes constitutional reform, as guaranteed under section 35.1 of The Constitution Act, 1982, but more widely across many fields of public policy. Canada's first nations possess a distinct status not afforded to any other group as a result of our inherent aboriginal and treaty rights, our unique relationship with the Crown and the Crown's duty to consult, which flows from that relationship.
Gina Cosentino is a senior policy adviser on parliamentary affairs to Phil Fontaine, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations.