The corner, and parked there [editorial]

Finance Minister Joe Oliver calls his 2015
federal budget, delivered to the House of Commons on April 21, “Strong
Leadership”, but for Aboriginal people there is no mention in the document as
to where this government plans to take us.

It should be called the “Bare Minimum” budget or
the “Nothing To See Here, Folks” budget. What the federal Conservatives have,
in deed, done over the last number of years is lead us to the corner where they
plan to park us until after the October federal election so we don’t cause any
fuss or upset to their base, to whom this budget is lovingly dedicated.

But as that wise man Johnny Castle once said,
“Nobody puts Baby in a corner.”

Did you know that 60 ridings across the country
could be swayed by the Aboriginal vote? That’s what National Chief Perry
Bellegarde told interviewer Evan Solomon when he had a brief few minutes to
talk with him about First Nations issues on the national show Power &
Politics. Bellegarde’s planning to mobilize the votes in those ridings, because
he’s just not satisfied with the status quo.

Here’s another
interesting fact from 308.com, which analyzed the 2011 federal election
results. Had the First Nations turnout been higher, this Harper government
might have been denied its majority. We had the numbers to do that.

Bellegarde said the 2015 budget is pretty
sparse, pretty dry. It’s a status quo budget and the status quo is not
acceptable. He called the budget one of the weakest for First Nations tabled by
this government, setting out some minimal renewals, most at a reduced level of
funding.

If it’s only one of the weakest, we can’t
remember the others. This budget fails us in the areas of child welfare equity
(an Assembly of First Nations advisory reminds us that there are more of our
children in state care than at the height of the residential school era), in
education (when the on-reserve graduation rate is only 35 per cent, says the
AFN), it does nothing to address over-crowded housing or provide potable water.
There are 120 First Nations that do not have safe drinking water… in Canada,
which consistently ranks in the top 10 on the United Nations Human Development
index… but for others, not us. First Nations are ranked at 63. That’s more than
a sixth of all of our communities that can’t turn on a tap and safely drink the
water that comes from it.

“First Nations people are treated like second
class citizens living in Third World conditions,” said National Chief
Bellegarde. He said the Conservative government missed their opportunity
to work with First Nations on an approach to address these issues. 

But Bellegarde’s comments are easy to say, and
even easier for the Conservatives to ignore without bringing the hammer to the
ballot box. We have the numbers in 60 ridings, but not the muscle because First
Nations are not in the habit of voting in federal elections.

And boy, do the Conservatives know it.

If they were afraid of our numbers and our
influence, they wouldn’t have left us out of this budget, but they know we’re
not a factor, or at least, haven’t been a factor before.

We understand fully there is a reticence on
behalf of some nations and individuals to go to the polls for elections. But
for many, it’s not principle that keeps us from voting in Canadian elections.
It’s apathy.

If we don’t want to continue to bang our heads
against the wall on issues of importance to us, we have to begin by telling—
and showing— these people in Ottawa that we can make them, or we can break
them.

Windspeaker has always shied away from saying this
before, because we respect the sovereignty of our own nationhood, but we also
believe that if we have the opportunity to pick up an ax to fell a tree when a
tree needs to fall, then we should do it.

Indigenous people can no longer wait for the
magnanimity of a federal party to attend to our issues. We need to shape the
government, fill it with people who understand our issues, heed our advice, and
can force our needs to the top of the agenda in each and every budget going
forward. We have the numbers right now in 60 ridings, and as the fastest
growing and youngest demographic in this country we can have that clout for
decades to come. It’s time. If you can vote, do it.

Windspeaker