Aboriginal members appointed to provincial cabinet

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When Premier Roy Romanow announced he put together a coalition government with the Liberals he shocked most observers but he also made some Aboriginal leaders happy.

Romanow called on Buckley Belanger, a Metis MLA from Ile la Crosse, to serve as minister of Environment and Resource Management and also to be the associate minister of Intergovernmental and Aboriginal Affairs.

"Anytime an Indigenous person can be put to those portfolios they always have a sensitization and awareness of all the issues facing Indigenous and Aboriginal people," said Perry Bellegarde, chief of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations.

Bellegarde says he's optimistic about Belanger's new job and has a lot to talk about with the new minister.

He said resource revenue sharing, hunting and trapping rights come to mind but it's the gaming agreement that needs addressing.

"Our gaming agreement comes to a conclusion in the next four of five months," he said. "That's a big issue with us, getting a new one in place or an extension to the existing one."

About a dozen Aboriginal people, mostly friends and relatives of Belanger, attended the swearing-in ceremony at Government House.

The new minister said the next couple of weeks will be used to meet with government bureaucrats and get up to speed on policy and issues.

"We're going to take our time to know what's going on in the department," Belanger said, "and make sure we're not jumping the gun on getting some of these things solved."

Last year Belanger called it quits with the Liberal party and resigned his Athabaska seat in the Saskatchewan legislature. He then took out an NDP membership, ran under that party's colors and won in a by-election.

Many observers felt that Belanger would get rewarded for his move but no one expected he would get this much responsibility.

"The thought that Buckley and I are again partners, working together, definitely that was a personal plus in this offer," said Jack Hilson, a North Battleford Liberal MLA who was appointed the minister of Intergovernmental and Aboriginal Affairs. "He's a close personal friend."

Hilson says one of the priorities will be Aboriginal job creation.

"I believe that bringing Aboriginal peoples in full participation in the economy is the single biggest issue this province faces in the coming century," he said. "It is an issue important to all of us not just Native peoples."

Hilson said he always raised Aboriginal issues in the legislature because he knew they were important to the province.

Clem Chartier, the president of the Metis Nation of Saskatchewan, said right now the government recognizes the right Metis people have to hunt in northwest Saskatchewan but Metis people in other parts of the province want that same right.

"I will be interesting to see how a Metis cabinet minister deals with it," Chartier added.

Belanger's appointment to Cabinet may pay off because an Aboriginal person may argue a lot harder for issues that are important to his people, said Chartier.

Shortly after the provincial election, when it was determined that there would be a minority government, Chartier said some of the Liberal platform ideas would help Aboriginal people.

"The Liberal platform held some good news. They would be looking at some revenue sharing and talking about some regional governance for northern Saskatchewan," Chartier said. "And the premier, I've been told, would look favorably at that as well."

And if this does hold true, then the people of northern Saskatchewan may very well be the winners in the new coalition government.

With Belanger's appointment, the Romanow cabinet now has two Aboriginal ministers, the other being Keith Goulett, the minister of Northern Affairs.