Chief could take hit for raising hopes

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PM says hold up is 'on the Aboriginal side'

Comments by Prime Minister Stephen Harper on April 19 simultaneously raised the hopes and added to the concerns of residential school survivors who have been waiting for word that the residential school compensation package negotiated between the former Liberal government and the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) last year would go ahead.

At a press conference in Winnipeg, Harper said his cabinet had approved the compensation deal but one party 'on the Aboriginal side' was holding up the its completion.

Harper's remarks add some context to comments made on April 10 by Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice. Prentice confirmed that the early payments would not be made until all parties signed off on the agreement-in-principle. He said that talks were continuing and noted that one law firm, a firm he did not identify, was holding up progress.

Taking those two comments together, one can safely deduce that a law firm representing Aboriginal clients is the party holding up the finalization of the agreement. A senior AFN source confirmed that one law firm was resisting a provision of the agreement that would require that all lawyer billings be reviewed and justified. The source said that two law firms were getting the bulk of the money set aside to pay lawyers who would relinquish claims against the Crown in exchange for the compensation offered under the agreement.

Harper said he would not reveal the name of the holdout party "for legal reasons."

Windspeaker called the two largest law firms involved. Alan Farrer of Thomson Rogers in Toronto, the firm handling the national class action lawsuit, said he was heartened to hear that cabinet had signed off on the agreement. He said he did not know which party was holding things up. A call to the Merchant Law Group, the Regina law firm that perhaps has the most clients signed up, was not returned.

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Stephane Rondeau, a senior communications officer with the Prime Minister's Office, confirmed that one party was holding up the finalization of the deal. He was not able to verify whether or not the early payments promised to elderly survivors would go ahead in advance of the agreement being accepted by the courts, something that may not happen for months even if the current obstacle can be overcome.

As the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) settles into the routines of governing, two potentially historic accomplishments of National Chief Phil Fontaine and his Assembly of First Nations' executive board are conspicuously not moving forward.

The commitment to work towards ending poverty in First Nation communities, as made by the former federal government and provincial premiers at the first ministers meeting in Kelowna in November 2005, and the agreement to compensate Indian residential school survivors, are both stalled. On March 28 Rick Simon, AFN regional chief for Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, told this publication that the Kelowna accord is seen in the new Ottawa as "a Liberal brand." Other Ottawa sources say that's government slang for an idea that's associated with the Liberals. Simon said the CPC may want to make changes and re-brand it as their own creation before it goes forward but he remained confident that something along the lines of the Kelowna agreement could be worked out.

Indian Affairs Minister Prentice has said he wants "to put wheels on Kelowna" and that he accepts the general ideas behind the arrangement.

The AFN executive may be hopeful, but as the days pass without any firm announcement, First Nation citizens are getting increasingly nervous - and angry.

Prior to the federal election that saw the Liberals unseated for the first time since 1993, the national chief and the Paul Martin Liberal government promised that early payments of $8,000 would be made to sick and elderly residential school survivors. The Liberal cabinet passed an order-in-council that created the authorities to allcate that money on Dec. 2, 2005. cabinet issued order-in-council 2005-2313, which was sent to Cabinet jointly by the Office of Indian Residential School Resolution Canada and Treasury Board. The order granted "authority to make a payment of $8,000 to students who attended an Indian residential school and were 65 years of age on or before May 30, 2005."

Before the Jan. 23 election, in early December, Fontaine said the cheques would begin arriving soon.

"There will be an early payment to the elderly, meaning in this case 65 and over, in a matter of weeks," Fontaine told Windspeaker.

That statement was reported in our January 2006 issue. But the election brought a change in government and uncertainty was introduced to the equation.

Although the delay may not be Fontaine's fault, he acknowledged that every day of waiting is costly. In his opening address at the AFN special assembly in Gatineau, Que. on March 27, the national chief said, "Time is clearly of the essence. We lose four survivors every day, 1,500 a year. And behind every one of those numbers is a face and a name of a survivor who dies without justice, without healing, without reconciliation."

With an election looming on the horizon, the national chief knows that being able to deliver on these two initiatives will be enormously important to his chances for re-election. A preliminary sign that Fontaine is starting to worry about the lack of progress was evident moments before his comments on the residential school agreement when the national chief fired a warning shot across the new government's bow.

"I hope you are all aware of the letter written by former finance minister Ralph Goodale to the prime minister on March 22. He states that his 2005 economic and fiscal update, issued Nov. 14, provided enough 'fiscal room' to provide the needed financing for the Kelowna commitments and that by Nov. 24 the announcements were made and the money was booked," Fontaine told the chiefs. "In fact, the ltter notes that the Kelowna commitments were handled in exactly the same way as a $755 million allocation in special federal funding for grain and oilseed producers. What is notable is that the Conservative government has proceeded with that $755 million commitment. Clearly, the Kelowna commitments can proceed as well. Clearly, where there is a political will there is a political way."

Should the residential school accord be finalized, it will have to be approved by courts in seven different jurisdictions, which are monitoring 21 class actions. As many as 15,000 individual claims for compensation would have to be set aside before the negotiated process could proceed.

"We're not surprised that it's taken so long. We're just getting a bit anxious," Fontaine said.

As are First Nation people across the land.

On April 4, Governor General Michaelle Jean informed the country in the throne speech that opened the first session of this 39th Parliament that Canada will apologize to, and compensate, the Chinese-Canadians who were forced to pay a head tax when they immigrated to Canada. The tax was a form of racial discrimination because immigrants from European countries did not pay it. But First Nation citizens watched in shocked disbelief as no mention of any follow-up on residential school compensation was made.

In fact, the throne speech was notable for how Aboriginal issues were not mentioned.

Congress of Aboriginal Peoples leader Patrick Brazeau was asked if he was concerned. He backed the Conservatives during the election campaign and is staying loyal to the new government, but he acknowledged that it did not look good to mention the Chinese and leave out Aboriginal residential school survivors.

"Even though at one point we congratulated the AFN for being able to negotiate the [residential school] package, unfortunately we weren't consulted on the package and some of the issues and the dollars attached. I don't want to make this a political issue but opics-wise it was a little bit surprising not to hear anything mentioned in regards to that issue," he said.

Grassroots people have a variety of perspectives on the goings on in Ottawa.

Lillian Shirt, a 66-year-old survivor of the Blue Quills school in Alberta, lives in Edmonton. She told Windspeaker she had heard of cases where survivors borrowed money in the belief they would soon be receiving those $8,000 cheques. Hopes were raised and these people could find themselves facing financial difficulty if the money doesn't arrive soon.

"There's lot of people hanging in there through prayer that they'll be able to provide something to their children or now their grandchildren," she said.

Graham Courtoureille is a residential school survivor from the Tallcree First Nation in northern Alberta. He's angry and frustrated that things are not happening as fast as he was led to believe they would.

He notes that non-Native victims of institutional abuse have their claims dealt with far more quickly and with less apparent reluctance.

His brother-in-law is of Japanese heritage. Then prime minister Brian Mulroney issued an apology on the floor of the House of Commons to Japanese Canadians who were interned in camps and, in many cases, were stripped of their property during the Second World War simply because of their race. Each of the internees also received a $21,000 compensation package.

"And he said to me, why didn't you guys get anything," he said. "I told him the big problem is that we're Indians."

When the residential school agreement was announced, Phil Fontaine said separate talks were being held about a government apology for the residential school system.

Dave Dennis, vice-president of British Columbia's United Native Nations, attended the AFN meeting in Charlottetown in July, 2004 as a proxy. At the time he was working for the Nuu-Chah-Nulth tribal council and was directed to push the national chief to seek an apology. The national chief could