Aboriginal leaders ready to work with Conservatives

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It's out with the old and in with the new on Parliament Hill, as Stephen Harper and the Conservatives prepare to form Canada's next federal government. Across the country, Aboriginal leaders are also in preparation mode, gearing up to work with the new regime and hoping Harper will honor promises made by the Liberal government prior to the Jan. 23 election, most notably the compensation package for residential school survivors announced in November and the 10 year, $5 billion plan to improve the lives of Aboriginal people that came out of the first ministers conference in Kelowna.

The election saw the Conservatives earning 124 seats, well under the 155 they would need to win to form a majority government. The Liberals won 103 seats, the Bloc Quebecois took 51 and the NDP were victorious in 29 ridings. One independent candidate from Quebec was also elected.

The Liberals remained the party of choice in Ontario, winning 54 seats to the Conservatives 40. The remainder of the province's ridings were won by the NDP, who will be sending 12 MPs from Ontario to the House of Commons.

Some in the Aboriginal community had painted a Conservative win as a doom and gloom scenario during the election campaign. Now that it has become a reality, many Aboriginal leaders seem cautiously optimistic about the change in government.

Ontario Regional Chief Angus Toulouse said he wasn't surprised with the Conservative win, believing the Canadian people had a number of reasons to want a change in Ottawa.

"We've gone through the Gomery inquiry and certainly any time the government has demonstrated that kind of trust issue with the Canadian public, I think generally speaking you'll see a change."

What's unfortunate about the change, Toulouse said, is the uncertainty about what impact it will have on the progress made by Aboriginal people under the former government.

"I guess that's really the questionable part now, is how do they view those accomplishments. And I guess what I'm referring to is the first ministers meeting outcomes and also the residential school agreement. And an earlier accord that was signed with the Liberal government back in May that speaks of a new way of doing business. Hopefully those aren't lost and the incoming government will recognize those as things that any government would want to accomplish with the First Nation leadership in Canada," he said.

"I'm certainly not going to prejudge the Conservative government. If they had a majority government I may have a different outlook. Seeing as it is a fairly close minority, I think there's the sense that people do have to find a way to work together and this is what I'm banking on, that they will want to work and they do recognize, I believe, that the Liberal government, along with the premiers, arrived at some of the outcomes of the first ministers meeting ... This showed some commitment on the part of the federal government to begin addressing the huge gap that's there between First Nations people and the Canadian people in general.

"I'm really hoping that they do see it as a priority, that they do commit to it in the budget and that we do get going on some of the initiatives that were spoken of. And certainly addressing the health issues of First Nations communities, the education, the infrastructure and those kinds of things that are really needed to be addressed."

During the election campaign, Harper and the Conservative Party spoke of their commitment to working with First Nations people, Toulouse said. Now that the campaign is over and the Conservatives are in power, he hopes they meant what they said.

"I sincerely hope that they are sincere in what they've said leading up to the election, that they do want to work with us. They do want to continue to consult with First Nations before they develop policies that are going to affect us and legislation that will affect us. So I hope they do mean what they say."

While the Metis National ouncil, the national association of Canada's Metis people, had urged its membership to throw its support behind the Liberal Party, portraying a Conservative win as a serious threat to Metis rights, Tony Belcourt, president of the Metis Nation of Ontario (MNO) doesn't expect things to change much for the Metis people in Ontario under a Conservative government.

"I don't think we're headed to extreme change for a number of reasons. First of all, it's a minority government, so it doesn't have the kind of freedoms that it might have if it were a majority. It will still need to depend on the opposition parties to pass legislation and to remain in government. And both the Liberals and the NDP have been very supportive of Aboriginal issues, and for that matter so has the Bloc. So I don't think we're in for sweeping change, politically, because of that. But also, legally, there's a reality that Aboriginal peoples have constitutional rights and there's a special relationship that Aboriginal peoples have with the Crown. Or rather, to put it another way, special responsibilities that the Crown has for Aboriginal peoples. And it cannot ignore or cannot turn back the many, many decisions of the Supreme Court of Canada on Aboriginal rights since the Sparrow decision in 1991."

"These are decisions that now obligate government to consult, obligates government to take a positive, proactive position where Aboriginal rights are concerned. So we're fine there," Tony Belcourt said.

"We also have many long-term multi-year contracts that we've signed for the delivery of programs and services. I don't expect the Conservative government will want to get in there and tinker with those."

Belcourt is also optimistic that Harper's victory won't have a negative impact on the agreement reached at the first ministers meeting held in Kelowna in November.

"That agreement is one that involved all governments. It's not a partisan agreement and I think that the Conservatives will take tat approach," he said.

"I don't, and I never have, considered the Conservatives to be sort of mean-spirited people who don't care. Canadians by and large do care about others, especially those in need and those who can make a good case. Conservatives are business-minded, business-oriented. They're going to see the value in supporting our aspirations for self-sufficiency. They will, I'm sure, want to work with us in what we are doing to try to stabilize and enhance the economies of our communities. Once they're in power and they're actually doing business as a government, they will see us in a different light, I'm sure."

While Belcourt is optimistic about life under a Conservative government, he made it clear he is personally disappointed Paul Martin won't be returning as prime minister.

"I deeply regret the loss of the potential of another Paul Martin government," Belcourt said.

"There is no prime minister I know of that has done more for the Metis people than Paul Martin. We've had others who have been very supportive of us ... but Paul Martin stands head and shoulders above the others because he recognized the Metis Nation for the first time in a very positive way. In the kind of way that in all of my years I was hoping we could be recognized by the government of Canada-as a people, as a government of our proud nation that has constitutional rights and the constitutional right and inherent right of self-government-and was prepared to deal with us on that basis."