Martin puts big money into Indian Affairs

Page 1

Even though Finance Minister Paul Martin made it through the first 20 minutes of his 82-minute Feb. 16 budget speech before even mentioning the Indian Affairs department, and then provided no details at all about what new money would go to that department, budget day turned out to be a memorable one for Indian Affairs Minister Jane Stewart.

"My colleagues - most particularly the prime minister through the minister of Finance - have said, 'OK, this is working and we want to fund the outer years for Gathering Strength to the tune of $352 million of new money.' So, that is very good news for me," Stewart told Windspeaker during a phone interview conducted three hours after the budget speech ended.

"Over the course of the four years we'll probably have a total investment of about $750 million for Gathering Strength. I feel very good. It's a significant amount of money and it's really targeted at making the kinds of reforms that we need in the area of education, housing, welfare-to-work . . . all those challenges that are real in First Nations communities," she said.

Despite the fact that many analysts say the robust state of the Canadian economy is as much a result of a booming United States economy as anything the federal government has done, budget day was a good day to be a Liberal. As he delightedly announced that his government was reporting a balanced budget for the second straight year (something that hasn't happened in Canada in nearly half a century), Martin told House of Commons members that the numbers show the books will balance for at least the next two years. He then announced a long list of spending initiatives, in most cases mentioning figures and explaining why the decisions had been made. But when it came time to talk about money for Indian Affairs he said only that money had been set aside for the implementation of Gathering Strength, before moving on to report that new money would be available to improve living conditions for members of the Armed Forces and other announcements.

In addition to the approximately $8 billion worth of new spending, Martin said the half-trillion dollar national debt would be paid down by $3 billion for the second straight year.

National Chief Phil Fontaine was in the Commons to watch Martin's speech. He was invited to participate in the minister's interview with this newspaper. The budget represents a major victory for the Assembly of First Nations leader, who in recent months has lobbied for this kind of financial support.

"I'm encouraged by the government's response to our intervention," Chief Fontaine said. "Numerous meetings that we've had with the minister of Finance, Minister Stewart, [Health] Minister [Allan] Rock, so many ministers that we've met with, and on each occasion we've tried to emphasize the importance of dealing with First Nations issues as a priority and we feel that government has accepted what we have to say. It gives us, I think, an opportunity to bring about some changes, to improve health conditions or just to improve conditions overall in First Nations communities.

"Last year's budget announcement had to do with the past. This year's has to do with the future."

Fontaine said the budget announcement was the first installment on the part of the government to address in "a very serious way" First Nations issues.

In addition to funding for Gathering Strength, there were also significant new monies identified for First Nations and Inuit health care - $190 million primarily targeted at long-term homecare and community services.

"There are also a couple of other areas where there will be a First Nations carve-out," said Fontaine. "I'm talking about the prevention and promotion part of the health budget that'll focus on diabetes, the health information systems . . . $43 million for that, well there'll be a First Nations carve-out. Both of these will be accomplished through negotiations with Minister Rock and his health officials. The same is true s well for monies being allocated for youth and the Canada Jobs Fund," the national chief said. "The final tally is not in yet."

Stewart credited the AFN leader with earning the trust of her Cabinet colleagues and added he had found a way to convince them that First Nations issues should be a priority.

"It's the partnership," she said. "And I give the national chief full marks for the courage he's shown to walk a different path. There's no question, in terms of convincing my colleagues that Gathering Strength was the right approach, it fundamentally comes down to their belief that we have a new partnership and that by working together as opposed to in opposition we can make a lot more progress. So, I give him full credit for it."

By meeting with other ministers, Fontaine made it easier for Stewart to persuade Cabinet to increase funding, she said.

"There's a recognition, at least at our Cabinet table, that each minister has to appreciate the role that he or she can play in ensuring that First Nation communities are healthy and viable and economically sound. So that's why you see in Minister Rock's budget the carve-out for Aboriginal health, and, in Minister [Pierre] Pettigrew's youth strategy, $75 million for Aboriginal programming. This bodes very well as the whole government really takes to understanding that, if we're going to have a government-to-government relationship, it has to be developed not just through the minister of Indian Affairs but through every ministry," she said.

Fontaine has found himself in an unfamiliar - perhaps even uncomfortable - position for a First Nations leader: He had no real gripe with the actions of the federal government. Because there has been criticism that he is working too closely with the federal government, Fontaine felt the need to point out that he had found a way to work with the government without compromising the bottom line.

"Eighteen months ago, I made a commitment to the chiefs - because this is what they were askin for - that we would be more conciliatory and co-operative and less adversarial and less confrontational in our approach to this relationship with the federal government. We've tried to maintain our position and I think we've been able to achieve some significant successes as a result of this approach," he said. "But that approach doesn't mean that we somehow are less firm in our resolve to maintain our treaty positions, the historic special relationship with the federal Crown, Aboriginal title, the need to salvage an independent claims body, the importance of Delgamuukw, the need to do something significant to deal with the intolerable housing situation . . . all of those have been stressed in our discussions with government and we've maintained a very strong position. But we also recognize that the best way to secure your position is at the table through negotiations. This has been our approach and it's been to our advantage to have a minister and a government that are prepared to listen."

"I would make this point as well," Fontaine added. "I've said that we're encouraged by the budget announcement today. We are of the view that government accepts all of the arguments we've made about why it is of critical importance to deal aggressively with First Nations issues, whether we're talking about health or housing or governance. I would add this other point, that we're cautiously optimistic that we will finally be able to turn the corner and do what needs to be done so that we can eradicate poverty in our communities. That's the big challenge that we face."

But, despite all this good news, all is not well in Indian Country. While Metis, Inuit and First Nations organizations can expect to see plenty of new program dollars coming their way from Ottawa, a large percentage of the Aboriginal population in this country appears to have been intentionally left out.

Harry Daniels, the president of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples (CAP), the national group whose job is to loby the government and protect the rights of off-reserve residents, says the budget may make it look like the government is doing the right thing for First Nations people, but the truth is that more than half have been abandoned.

"We're not sure how they're defining Aboriginal, anymore - or Native," Daniels said. "The budget did not clearly delineate or say who the Aboriginal people were. Most of the money is going to the AFN and on-reserve Indians. That's all I can see. We have to wait for an announcement now from Mr. Pettigrew [Human Resources Development minister] on how he's going to cut up his budget now in terms of job creation. Health benefits: most of that's going on reserve; education: most of that's going on reserve. So, for the 800,000 people I represent, there doesn't seem to be a very bright future."

Daniels says the government refuses to deal with off-reserve Aboriginal people.

"Jane Stewart won't even talk to us about the off-reserve situation. I've tried to get meetings with her and all she says is 'My responsibility is for Indians on reserve and that's it.' Seventy per cent of all the Aboriginal people don't live on-reserve," he added. "There's between 450,000 and 600,000 Indians. The numbers vary depending on what stats you take. Two hundred and twenty-five thousand live on reserve and that's the responsibility of the AFN and Indian Affairs," he said. "Where are the rest of those Indians? They're living in Slave Lake, they're living in Edmonton, Calgary, Lethbridge, Saskatoon, Regina, Prince Albert. Who's taking care of them? The town councils don't. The provincial governments don't. So you have this larger, off-reserve population. They aren't getting dental. They aren't getting housing. If the band council wants them to, they might get education."

CAP's $300,000 annual core budget already looks mighty slim when compared to the $15 million the AFN gets, Daniels says, and that gap would appear to be about to get a lot bigger as a result of the budge