Government must act on commission's findings

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The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples has made its first visit to Alberta.

The commission is addressing concerns from people in Lac La Biche, Hobbema and Edmonton.

Given the broad mandate, it comes as no surprise that submissions at the Alberta hearings ran a gamut of topics. In Edmonton alone the commission heard about urban self-government, violent and accidental death rates, women's constitutional concerns and even the problems some wildlife advocates have with treaty hunting rights.

A picture of sorts emerges after boiling down the long list of been noted on several occasions that Ottawa has a habit of studying issues to death when it wants to avoid action.

For example, the 1983 special committee report on self-government -- informally known as the Penner report -- made many recommendations that are only now coming into play. The Penner report recommended entrenching the right to self-government in the constitution.

The Meech Lake process in the late 1980s completely overlooked this point. And if it wasn't for Manitoba MLA Elijah Harper stirring opposition that helped sink the constitutional pact, it is doubtful that Native concerns would be playing a lead role in the current round of negotiations.

The point here is obvious. The royal commission may develop a program of recommendations that will be of great benefit to the Native community. But recommendations will mean little if they fall on deaf ears. They are useless until there is the political desire to blow some life into them.

For all the good intentions Ottawa may show in forming study groups like the royal commission, it has not been putting their money where its mouth is in recent years.

In a recent book called And The Last Shall Be First, Native affairs researcher Angus Murray shows several examples of how government support of Native programs has declined over the last decade.

According to Murray, the government's own figures show that spending on housing and community infrastructure declined by nearly 15 per cent in the five years prior to 1990. Meanwhile, spending on programs and services during the same period declined 10 per cent.

Government budget figures for the period show annual increases in the Indian Affairs budget. But funding has not kept pace with inflation and the booming Native population rates.

Given Ottawa's preference for cutting spending over raising taxes to reduce the deficit, it is unlikely future governments will want to get involved in more expensive programming.

Hopefully, the royal commission will bear these thoughts in mind when it comes time to write their final report.

Their first and strongest recommendations should address the issue of finding sustained revenue bases to support the emerging Native governments. Such recommendations could include strong support for expanded resource royalty regimes

on First Nation land and an expansion of sub-surface rights in land claims.

If a revenue base is not built now for sustaining Native control of Native communities, it is quite possible the royal commission's findings will become another

study collecting dust on the shelf.