Congress of Aboriginal Peoples reaches out to urban peoples

Jasmine, from New Brunswick, stood up at a recent open forum, hosted by the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples in Edmonton Jan. 14, and gently chided Alberta for not having a CAP affiliate.

“It’s been a culture shock. The disparities between the Aboriginals we have in the east as opposed to here in the west. Right away my daughter and I noticed the homelessness. It’s so rampant here. It’s mindboggling,” she said.

Jasmine and her daughter had recently moved to Edmonton. “Why don’t you guys have (a provincial-territorial organization) here? We have one back home …. It would address the problem of housing. It would address the problem of education. It would address the problem of health care. These PTOs are the voice of us, of us urban Aboriginals.”

It’s this outspoken attitude, paired with the numerous concerns voiced by Indigenous people living in cities throughout the country, that has CAP National Chief Dwight Dorey confident that his organization is on its way to becoming a stronger voice for urban Aboriginal peoples.

CAP represents the interests of MÈtis, off-reserve status and non-status Indians, and southern Inuit Aboriginal peoples.

“I’m quite optimistic that before long the congress will have affiliates from every province and territory,” he said. He notes that even in the Yukon there’s a strong possibility of a CAP affiliate. When the territory moved to the self-government process a number of years before, the organizations worked together toward land claims and shared priorities.

“Now I’m hearing a different story,” said Dorey, noting that his predecessor heard “things aren’t as harmonious and people are feeling left out.”

Right now, CAP has affiliates in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Ontario, Saskatchewan and two affiliates in Newfoundland. An affiliate in Manitoba is the most recent addition.

Edmonton was Dorey’s last three-city stop in Alberta. He says the concerns voiced in that forum—affordable housing, access to post-secondary education funding, access to culturally appropriate health care, appropriate funding for prescription drugs, living in isolation and without support in the city, culturally appropriate recreation, access to Indigenous women’s shelters, lack of knowledge about services that are offered, and hassle by the city police—were similar to those voiced in Red Deer and Calgary earlier in the week. Each location had high turnout.

“With exceptions of some regional differences, priorities change in the east and the west, the issues are pretty much the same right across the country,” said Dorey.

And as far as Papaschase First Nation Chief Calvin Bruneau is concerned, the priorities of Edmonton’s urban Aboriginal people are not being carried forward by the existing organizations. Bruneau says he approached both the Assembly of Treaty Chiefs and the Metis Settlement General Council for support and received none from either organization.

Dorey notes he has had a similar experience.

“I’ve already extended my hand to the other national (Indigenous) leaders, almost immediately after getting elected,” he said. While he has met with the presidents of the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami and the Native Women’s Association of Canada, he says his overtures have not been returned by either the Assembly of First Nations or Metis National Council.

“My sense is they have no interest in meeting with me one-to-one. That’s just the way it is. I’ve extended my hand and I’m not going to stand there holding it out. I’ve got to get on with the work and that’s exactly what I’m doing.”

From Alberta, Dorey went to Whitehorse and Yellowknife. The open forums are a way for him to get a handle on the “main issues” facing urban Aboriginal peoples. Those issues will be used to create policies and proposals, which CAP will take to the “appropriate jurisdiction,” which could be federal, provincial or municipal governments.

Dorey feels that once urban Aboriginal people can present a unified voice, the various levels of government will listen.

“It’s important in terms of the timing and focus … with this government, with the priorities (Trudeau has) identified, with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, so much of these things that the people were talking about here that are needed are things that were committed to by this country, by this government,” said Dorey.

“I don’t think we need to push this government. I think we need to just demonstrate we’re ready to work in partnership with them and being ready means creating a situation where they or the bureaucracy or anybody else is not going to question these people, who they are, who they represent if those questions don’t come up, then I think we’ll get favourable response from this government in addressing the concerns,” he said.

CAP is one of five national Aboriginal representative organizations recognized by the federal government.

Photo caption: The Congress of Aboriginal Peoples hosted an open forum in Edmonton: (from left) local organizer David Turner, National Chief Dwight Dorey, and senior advisor Jerry Peltier.