Fontaine receives assurances from new minister

Assembly of First Nations National Chief (AFN) Phil Fontaine's talking points on the day after Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced his new cabinet were all about reassuring First Nations citizens that there was no reason to panic about the new Conservative government.

And Aboriginal people were concerned that a government with Reform Party roots was now in office in Ottawa. A number of phone calls were received in the Windspeaker newsroom in the days after the federal election on Jan. 23. Many were about whether or not the early payments to elderly survivors of the residential schools would still be arriving soon, as was promised by the national chief.

The AFN invited Aboriginal media across the country to participate in a conference call with the national chief on Feb. 7. Fontaine returned repeatedly to several key points, all seeming to focus on the contention that his administration is still a key player in the new Ottawa.

The national chief said he had spoken to newly-appointed Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice and received several key commitments. Fontaine said the minister had assured him that "there's absolutely no plan to introduce even small changes to the residential school compensation package."

The national chief said Prentice also assured him that there are no plans to reintroduce the First Nations governance act. He also said the minister had pledged that the new government would work to honor the Kelowna first ministers meeting commitments.
And for those wondering if Fontaine's close relationship with the previous Liberal government would be a problem for the AFN now, he said Prentice would "continue to have a good working relationship with the AFN and we will continue to have this political relationship at a high level."
Asked about the early payments for elderly residential school survivors, Fontaine acknowledged that they had been delayed.

"We were expecting that cheques would be mailed out soon, but all of the good work that went into crafting the agreement-in-principle came to a halt with the fall of the government and the eight-week campaign," he said. "On the settlement package for residential schools, they said that they would honor the agreement, so we expect them to do so. One of the things that has to happen very quickly is to move forward on the early payment to the elderly. But now that we have a cabinet and a minister responsible, [Heritage Minister] Bev Oda, we expect that the decision to move forward on the payments to the elderly will be made very, very soon."

The Conservatives would have to un-ring the bell if that doesn't happen. The Martin cabinet passed Order in Council number 2005-2313 on Dec. 2. It granted Treasury Board and the Office of Indian Residential School Reconciliation Canada "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."

Fontaine welcomed the appointment of his former fellow colleague at the Indian Claims Commission.

"We see the appointment of Jim Prentice as minister of Indian Affairs as a good appointment. He's very knowledgeable on First Nations' issues. We will do our utmost to develop a good, effective, respectful relationship with Mr. Prentice," he said.

Saying he had heard the Conservatives say they supported the ideas and targets of the Kelowna meeting, and adding that the new government had been "unclear about the money," Fontaine pointed out the Harper government had "agreed to sit down at a future first ministers meeting to assess targets."

"If we're going to be assessing targets we're going to need resources to see if we can reach those targets. So at some point we're going to have to conclude an agreement on money," the national chief said.

Fontaine was reminded that there was no Aboriginal component at all at Rideau Hall when the Harper cabinet was sworn in. And there certainly was nothing that matched Elder Elmer Courchene's smudging of former prime minister Paul Martin when he was sworn in.

"That's right. But it's not part of the tradition that the national chief of the Assembly of First Nations be present at the swearing in. We must admit we were very impressed with the tone of the previous swearing in. It was very respectful of First Nations people," he said.

Asked if it was an indication that the AFN would be marginalized, he said "No. Our position is that we're prepared to work with the Harper government."