Indian Affairs needs strong leadership

EDITORIAL

Page 6

Last week, "Windspeaker's" new Ottawa columnist, Owenadeka, offered a brief introduction to the new Minister of Indian Affairs, Bill McKnight.

It was not an encouraging report. Maybe part of the problem is his personal style, so different from his predecessor, the affable and enthusiastic David Crombie, who always seemed so eager to listen to Indian people and respond positively to his concerns.

As Owenadeka indicated in his column, McKnight did not seem eager at all to answer media questions, and indicated even less enthusiasm for finding out about the people who are his new responsibility.

It may be unfair to judge the new minister harshly on his basis of one brief interview, one column about him or even how he measures up to the small in stature,

big in service Crombie. But with so many critical issue facing Indian people in which McKnight will have a major role, we can't help but be concerned at the slow speed and reluctant manner in which McKnight is dealing with them.

And we can't help but be particularly concerned over the report that, as Owenadeka wrote, "as the minister of housing and labour... he intended to let the bureaucracy run the show. Civil servants would make the recommendations and set policy and he'd go along."

We have to agree with Owenadeka's conclusion that operating the Department of Indian Affairs that way "would be a recipe for disaster...especially since it's no secret that the real enemy of Indian progress is the department itself. Letting the bureaucracy run the minister would be like letting a child molester run a day care centre."

McKnight has said he plans to spend the summer months on his farm in Saskatchewan reading his briefing books - prepared by the DIA bureaucracy. We don't think he'll get a true picture of the Indian situation in Canada there. If would have been far more encouraging - and beneficial - if he had spent the summer travelling the country visiting powwows and Indian Days, meeting Elders and leaders and ordinary Indian people who are now his responsibility. If he really watched and listened, he would get a true and accurate picture no briefing book could provide.

Furthermore, neither McKnight nor Indian people an afford a summer's delay in dealing with the critical issue facing Native people.

For one thing, there is much to be done and precious little time to do it, in preparation for the final First Minister's Conference on Aboriginal issues scheduled for April 1987.

In addition there are a number of ongoing critical concerns which must be dealt with: land claims, self-government, funding, etc.

If McKnight won't act, and act fast then the onus must be on Indian leaders once again to push for such action.

If McKnight is not motivated to provide strong leadership, his bureaucrats can be expected to drag their feet again until it's too late, and too little has been done.