Not so old warrior with a new idea

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COMMENTARY

Harold Cardinal is in his mid-fifties if I'm doing the math right. Thirty years ago, when he was one of the main protagonists in the fight against the 1969 White Paper, he was in many ways just a child. But he and his contemporaries stopped the Trudeau government in its tracks when that government tried to deliver a final blow to Canada's "Indian problem," even getting the much feared and respected former prime minister to admit that he and his Cabinet had underestimated the legitimacy of the legal rights of Indigenous people.

According to Ron Barbour's story in this month's issue, Cardinal sees that win as just putting up one obstacle that the political power elite in this country were forced to admit they couldn't go over or through - so the last 30 years have been about the Canadian establishment searching for a way to go around it. He doesn't see any peace or good will or good faith when it comes to the federal power structure grappling with the challenge of sharing power with Indigenous peoples.

Cardinal's idea that the residential school system was an assault on entire races of Indigenous peoples and that compensation should be aimed at those groups as well as the individuals who were harmed, is a new one for me. Like many quality ideas, it seems so obvious once it's out there, but it takes a shrewd mind to be the first to see it.

Most high-profile political leaders in this world are just putting the finishing touches on their plans to begin their careers when they're at Mr. Cardinal's age. Mid-50s is a starting point for those getting ready to take their place at the top. I'm encouraged by the fact that he is preparing to re-emerge into the political arena in one way or another when he finishes his doctor of laws studies.

Maybe this is going over the top, but Cardinal's ideas remind me of a conversation I had with Ovide Mercredi in early 1997. During a press conference at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont. I asked Mercredi if he would seek a third term as national chief. He paused and decided the moment was right to make the announcement that he would not. Then, in a cozy setting with only one other reporter present (who was there representing a mainstream daily only because it was Mercredi and people of his prominence didn't make it to Steel Town all that often), Mercredi explained why he'd made that decision.

He talked about what his people needed to take the next step. He talked about the need for the equivalent of a Malcolm X or a Martin Luther King. He modestly excluded himself from the ranks of those immortals because he lacked the charisma or the fire to lead where those men had led.

He said he believed the Aboriginal rights movement was similar to the civil rights movement in the United States, with just as many battles to win and just as many obstacles to overcome before his people could expect to see the promised land. Of course, he later changed his mind, ran and lost to Phil Fontaine.

But he was talking - with the insight of one who's been there - of the need for a new approach to leadership in Indian Country.

It's an idea that's haunted me ever since. Like most reporters, I take great delight in trying to accurately predict future events. Political reporters are a lot like horse race handicappers. They're always trying to anticipate what's going to happen next, and if they're constantly being shocked and surprised by the unfolding of events, they start to worry they're not really plugged in. I've been watching for the leader or leaders that Mercredi says must come in order for his people to get where they deserve to be.

Reading the comments of Harold Cardinal, I started wondering if he is positioning himself to become a leader of that calibre. Long years of experience combined with advanced studies, relative youth and the freedom to ponder his earlier experiences away from the public eye for a couple of decades, seem like the ideal conditions for a man of ability to make plansof that sort.

I'm going to be watching closely.