Feds to sort out jurisdictional tangle

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Advocates for disabled Alberta Aboriginal people expressed mixed satisfaction and concern over a recent federal report that recommended that the federal government take some responsibility for the "jurisdictional complexities" that bind Aboriginal people with disabilities.

"I was very happy (with the report) but at the same time I was wondering if it's just going to be another study," said Toni Tallman, president of the Calgary Native Disable Society and a member of the Premier's Council on the Status of Persons with Disabilities.

Although the findings of the Federal Task Force on Disability Issues urges that the federal government begin working with provincial governments and Aboriginal communities to provide "flexible, client-centred services and supports to Aboriginal Canadians with disabilities," the report offers no specific directions.

According to the new report, "the Government of Canada should recognize the ways in which it has contributed to the jurisdictional complexities that prevent Aboriginal Canadians from gaining access to the supports and services they need.

"The net effect of this jurisdictional morass is that Aboriginal Canadians with disabilities are much more disadvantaged than their fellow Canadians."

The report's finding were not new. The 1993 federal report on the Standing Committee on Human Rights and the Status of Disabled Person, called Completing the Circle, also focused on jurisdictional problems.

"It is fair to say that not that much has changed since the committee issued its report," according to the latest task force findings.

The task force of four members of Parliament was formed last may under the leadership of Andy Scott of Fredericton-York-Sudbury. Representatives from 22 national organizations had input into the 113-page report, which made 52 recommendations.

One of the report's eight chapters focused specifically on Aboriginal Canadians with disabilities. Besides recommending that the federal government work to untie the jurisdictional know hampering Aboriginal Canadians with disabilities, the report also singled out Aboriginal people with disabilities in a recommendation about Native employment programs.