Has the corner been turned? [editorial]

Has the corner been turned?

Within the last week, governments of different political stripes have stood with First Nations and committed to changing—fundamentally—the relationship that their provinces have had with the Indigenous people of this land. Have we really, finally, turned a corner?

On Aug. 21 in Edmonton, NDP Premier Rachel Notley, of the fresh new ruling party in Alberta, joined the 50 Treaty 6
Nations in commemorating the signing of that historic agreement in 1877. Grand Chief Tony Alexis noted that there was work to be done around the infrastructure of communication, sharing information, and empowerment, but
there must have been some gratification that, in June, Notley had suggested substantial headway would be made towards a respectful relationship.

She apologized to Aboriginal people for staying silent on residential schools, for one thing. “We deeply regret the profound harm and damage that occurred to generations of children,” she told the legislature. “Although the province of Alberta did not establish this system, members of this chamber at the time did not take a stand against it. For this silence, we apologize.”

At that time she committed to a “fundamental shift” in the relationship between the province and the Indigenous people
within Alberta’s borders. Notley also that day called for a national inquiry into murdered and missing Aboriginal women—which the federal NDP has committed to within the first 100 days of taking office— “because it is the right thing
to do,” she said.

And then on Aug. 24, Premier Kathleen Wynne of the ruling provincial Liberal Party in Ontario, who has stumped for federal
Liberal leader Justin Trudeau, set the table for the Chiefs of Ontario with the signing of a political accord that will guide their relationship going forward.

She acknowledged that, in some cases, the accord was not even about rebuilding a crumbling relationship, but building one “from scratch.” The accord acknowledges the inherent right to self-government and the respectful way in which that right should be viewed.

The accord commits the parties to working together on resource benefits sharing and jurisdictional matters. Regional
Chief Isadore Day called it “the most important collective milestone in modern times,” advancing jurisdiction and treaty rights “on our own terms.”

So, what’s happening here? What’s the big change in perspective for these provinces? Are governments waking up, taking notice, that it’s hard to get anything done if you don’t have that ole’ ‘social license’ to develop in First Nations territory?

Well, that’s a tale yet to be told after the circus has left town. It’s the long-term progress of all this new-found lovey-dovey talk that we’ll be judging. Call us cynical, but let’s not forget that we are in the midst of a federal election and it wouldn’t be the first time that First Nations have been used as handy props to woo votes.

Now, not to throw cold water on the big party in Ontario, but, just days before this announcement, on Aug. 18, Chief Day was complaining bitterly to the Toronto Star about being completely excluded from the decision to sell Hydro One.

To the Star, Day said the sale could have a substantial impact on First Nations economic and environmental futures.

“There was virtually nothing leading up to (the sale), and we know the transmittal of that sale has begun through legislation,” he said, referring to the June 3 budget bill that approved the sale of 60 per cent of Hydro One,” reads the Star’s report. They also reported that it would be very difficult for that sale to be completed without First Nations support.

We’re not pulling a page from the Monte Solberg song book—remember that former Conservative finance critic from a decade ago who said a Harper government would not honour the Kelowna Accord because it was “something the Liberals crafted at the last moment on the back of a napkin”—but surely, with all the high level negotiations presumably going on to craft the new Ontario political accord, an important milestone in provincial/First Nations relations, that there would have been a more direct and effective avenue for Day to make his Hydro One complaint than to go public with such agro just days before the announcement.

The proof will be in the pudding going forward, is all we’re saying. We’ve become a little nauseated by the promises to First
Nations by provincial governments. There’s a big photo op and then the bubble bursts on the way home in the car.

Just ask B.C. about its New Relationship dog and pony show under the Campbell regime a decade ago. That too was based on “respect, recognition and accommodation of Aboriginal title and rights, including the inherent right of First Nations governance.” What happened to that? We still have the same Liberal government in power, just with a different leader, and she hasn’t come out to rescind the New Relationship document, yet we have B.C. nations fighting the province over the construction of Site C dam in Northeastern B.C., fighting the provincial government over the LNG terminal being built in the sensitive salmon habitat at Lelu in Northwestern B.C. Sewer
sludge is being poured all over the territory in the Kelowna Valley and five chiefs earlier this year had to occupy the current premier’s constituency office, just to get her attention. Where’s the love, Christy Clark?

These accords are just words on paper. The big story—the real story—happens after the cameras are gone and the work is done. It’s the implementation of the document that we’ll be interested in.

Windspeaker