Will White Paper be revisited?

Page 5

Either the infamous 1969 White Paper is still alive or the central agencies of the Canadian government have just decided that enough is enough-or both.

Many Native leaders say the Prime Minister's efforts to limit Aboriginal rights in Canadian legislation can be seen in the way the central agencies, the most powerful officials in government, appear to be fighting to regain control of the First Nations agenda. That could be a sign the assimilationist agenda of the White Paper is still alive or it could just be that the government has seen that it is in danger of having to actually pay for its past sins, Native political insiders in the nation's capital say.

Either way there is so much going on in the legislative corners of government that First Nation bureaucrats can barely cope.

Many chiefs say Indian Affairs Minister Robert Nault's drastic cuts to the Assembly of First Nations' budget was just the artillery assault to soften them up before the ground troops moved in for the kill.

Dan Gaspe, the AFN's Parliamentary liaison, said as much when he reported to the chiefs at the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) special confederacy held on Feb. 20 and 21.

"It appears the government strategy is to overwhelm. It appears there is a deliberate strategy to overwhelm us and slip something through," he said.

One Aboriginal Ottawa political insider who cannot be named explained his view on what's happening on the legislative front.

"If Justice and Cabinet have a game plan it's to increase their power and influence in Aboriginal matters because they have been pummelled so badly, and insiders know it. Putting aside residential school cases and the 200 cases around the defects and mismanagement around the Indian Act, there are upwards of 1,000 court cases dealing with Aboriginal and treaty rights moving through the justice system," the source said. "What this means is negotiations have failed, and the contingent liability of the Crown is enormous.

"Just think of the Hobbema case dealing with over $1 billion in trust funds. This contingent liability is likely translating into ways and means to reduce liabilities, and perhaps not squarely dealing with Aboriginal and treaty rights head on. Pretending [Aboriginal rights] is a miniscule matter and not worthy of protection in a law or regulations is one way to do so. I think that one strategy is to portray our efforts to protect our interests and act on our own self-determination plans as criminal, unless sanctioned by Canadian law. In this way, it creates the illusion we are law-breakers, and that undermines public confidence in our leadership."