If the door's locked, go in the window

Page 6

In Canadian Aboriginal politics, there has been one constant for a quarter of a century: Native leaders have been demanding a place at the constitutional table and the federal government has been denying it to them. At a meeting in Calgary last month, that recipe for frustration may have changed a bit.

The new ingredient is the provincial premiers. Over the same quarter century, the role of the premiers in Canadian politics has grown immensely. The growth in federal-provincial relations as the centre of power in this country has made an alliance with the provinces a useful tool for getting what you want. And that's exactly what Canada's Aboriginal leaders now have - an alliance with the provinces.

It shouldn't have to be this way. Most of Canada's Aboriginal people are the fiduciary responsibility of the federal government. One would have thought - naively, really - that the federal government would want Canada's Native people to be participants in the political process, but that's not the way it's been. The paternal hand on the Natives' shoulder has been there to firmly hold the Natives in their place.

Which is why there was a need for the alliance forged in Calgary last month. There is a commitment that the premiers and Aboriginal leaders will meet again before the next premiers conference. And there's a feeling that this may be the best way for Aboriginal representation in Canada's constitutional decision-making process. If it can't be written in by a Charlottetown agreement or the like, then to have it put in as much of Canada's law is, by common consent and practice, will be the best option.

Perhaps "getting in bed with the provinces isn't the best strategy for Canada's Native leaders," as Ron Irwin said, but there's a lot in Ralph Klein's response to that. He said, "I think that there are some political realities, even in Ottawa."

With the front door still firmly barred against Aboriginal participation in government, the political realities determine that Native leaders climb in through the window.