Cuts may be attempt to hurry assimilation

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A couple of weeks before Christmas, dignitaries from Native and non-Native communities gathered in centres around North America to welcome the United Nations sponsored International Year of Indigenous People.

Things got off to a rosy start with governments and communities pledging to act in concert to improve and promote vibrant First Nations cultures.

But like so many ceremonial pronouncements, they did little to cover up the dirty work being done by people who really run the governments.

It has become clear over the last few weeks that Canada's friendship centres will have their budgets cut this year. And if Ottawa's promises are fulfilled, the same will happen in 1994. Hardly what anyone would call a great show of support for Canada's First Nations.

Friendship centres, which have been with us since the late 1950s, serve thousands of people who attempt to keep links with their culture in urban settings. In the past, they have provided cultural and social services. In the past, they have provided cultural and social services. In the future they could become cornerstones of urban self-government regimes.

That depends, of course, on whether they are spared a gutting from Ottawa's deficit-minded bureaucrats.

News of the cuts smacks of politics. It is people living off-reserve who benefit most from the services and they will feel the loss as operations are reduced.

Cutting off-reserve support fits into a general pattern that has been emerging from the federal government . Look at last year's agreement with Alberta to transfer social service jurisdiction for off-reserve people to the province.

It looks as though the government of Canada only wants to deal with its fiduciary responsibilities when people are prepared to stay away from the mainstream. Kind of like saying "assimilate or get out of the way."

There is also a mean-spirited feel about these cuts. Could it be the Conservative government is exacting revenge for First Nations rejection of the constitution package?

It's interesting Brian Mulroney appointed Metis Federation of Manitoba president Yves Dumont - a strong supporter of the deal - as the province's Lieutenant Governor.

It has also been suggested that Metis Nation president Larry Desmeules - another supporter - is in line for a comfy Senate appointment.

There will be other ceremonies at the end of 1993 to mark the closing of the international year. Federal politicians will boast about Dumont's appointment and the nifty poster contest that is part of the celebrations.

However, people at the grassroots, especially in urban areas, will be remembering a year when cutbacks are the rule.