Consultations proceeding but results not posted

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Information on the Indian and Northern Affairs Web site about the feedback federal officials are receiving from community consultations on Minister Robert Nault's governance act initiative is not as detailed as the minister's comments have led observers to expect.

He promised the information gathered at each session would be posted within 24 hours, but in many cases, that just hasn't happened. When asked what was happening on that front, Nancy Pine, the minister's press secretary, said she would attempt to find out. But she was not able to provide the information by deadline.

Last month, Nault made a point of saying he saw the immediate and comprehensive posting of the information gathered from the consultation sessions as important in demonstrating that the government is paying close attention to what is being said.

"One of things I did make quite clear at the very beginning of this exercise of consultation is that we would be completely transparent and open with our partners as to who we would be talking with, what we would be talking about -it's pretty much well known at this point-and we were going to follow through on the exercise of putting it on the Web what the results of the consultation were in the different communities," he said last month. "Within 24 hours of the discussion of a consultation, you would be able to access that on the Web. We want to implement change based on what we heard, not what some bureaucrat or some other individual might think we should be doing."

So far, the INAC Web site is lagging far behind that promise. A check of the Web site at 8:30 p.m. (EDT) on July 11 showed a July 10th session scheduled for Obedjiwan, Que. was not posted. Of nine sessions scheduled for Manitoba between June 13 and June 28, not one was posted. Twenty-nine of the 40 scheduled sessions in Saskatchewan were not online. None of the six meetings scheduled for Alberta had results posted on the sites. Sessions scheduled for other regions are set for later this summer or in the early fall.

Other aspects of the government's consultation efforts are making news in various parts of the country. The Atlantic Policy Congress (APC) caused a stir this month when the chiefs advised their members to burn an INAC mail-out. Ontario Grand Chief Larry Sault issued a press release calling on the department to scrap the questionnaire that is being mailed to First Nation members' homes.

"The questionnaire is biased and contrived to produce answers INAC wants so that it can make the Nault initiative look good. Its distribution must be stopped and the questionnaire scrapped."

First Nations officials say the online consultation questionnaire and the paper version being mailed out can both be easily accessed by non-Native people.

"The results cannot help but be skewed," Sault said.

How is this considered as consultation when they have no idea who is responding to the questionnaire," asked APC co-chair Lawrence Paul. "For all we know, the government will receive more responses from the non-Native population and this will not reflect the true visions of the Mi'kmaq, Maliseet and Passamaquoddy people."

The APC announced in June that its member chiefs will conduct their own consultation process. Media relations officer J.J. Bear said dates have not yet been set but the sessions should begin soon.