Throne speech a big yawn for Aboriginal people

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There wasn't much to celebrate for Aboriginal people as the 38th Parliament of Canada opened with the speech from the throne on Oct. 5. In fact, as Conservative Opposition leader Stephen Harper pointed out, the government devoted only six paragraphs to Aboriginal peoples in the document.

In that six paragraphs, there was only a rehash of the commitments to Aboriginal health made in September at the First Ministers meeting on health care. At that meeting, $700 million was announced to encourage greater Aboriginal participation in the health professions, address disease, such as diabetes, and to create a transition fund designed to improve efficiencies between jurisdictions.

Much of what was left in the throne speech was devoted to measuring how badly off Aboriginal people are in Canada.

"The Government and Aboriginal people will together develop specific quality-of-life indicators and a 'Report Card' to hold all to account and to drive progress," read Gov. Gen. Adrienne Clarkson. No money, no process, no specifics as to how this was to be done and what progress was to be achieved were mentioned.

The commitments in the speech sparked no real reaction from Aboriginal organizations from across the country. Only the Assembly of First Nations sent a press release to this paper, and only after it was requested.

In it, Assembly of First Nations Chief Phil Fontaine said a major item missing from the speech was the commitment for "a full First Ministers meeting on First Nations issues, including the critical determinants of health, such as housing, education, economic opportunity, lands and resources and self-government."

He said he hoped Prime Minister Paul Martin would address this oversight in his response to the speech the next day.

And in fact, Martin did, saying he looked forward to the meeting "to pursue agreement on a comprehensive agenda of action for the benefit of all Aboriginal people."

Neither Fontaine, nor the assembly's Alberta representative, Jason Goodstriker, made themselves available to answer a variety of questions we had about the throne speech. Nor did Metis Nation of Alberta president Audrey Poitras. Perhaps that's because no sooner had the speech been read, the leaders of the parties in opposition, the Conservatives and the Bloc Quebecois, threatened to join forces to bend the governing Liberals to their will or bring the government down.

Though a negotiated rewording of an amendment presented by the Bloc averted a vote of confidence in the house, the muscle being flexed by Conservative and Bloc members alike in the first minority government in 25 years may force voters back to the polls sooner rather than later, making moot the question of what Aboriginal peoples can expect from this government.