MNC leader seeks premier's help

Metis National Council (MNC) leader Clem Chartier sent a letter to Saskatchewan Premier Lorne Calvert on June 6 in an attempt to get Aboriginal groups involved in the talks about the fiscal imbalance in Canada's regions.

The western premiers were about to meet in Edmonton to discuss how the federal transfer payment system could be made fairer. All premiers will gather for a First Ministers' Meeting on the subject in the fall. Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty has been travelling the country trying to make the case that Ontario is paying too much into the $11 billion annual fund that Ottawa collects and redistributes to so-called "have not" provinces.

The Edmonton meeting did not end harmoniously and the premiers will continue to work on the matter over the next several months in preparation for the First Minister's Meeting that will be chaired by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Chartier is seeking a voice at the table with the assistance of the Calvert. His letter makes a simple request: Tell the Metis people where they stand by defining the federal responsibilities to the Metis and those of the provinces.

It's a issue the Conservative Party of Canada pledged to do something about when they held their policy conference in Montreal before they were elected in January. Legislating the exact limits of federal responsibility for Aboriginal issues would prevent federal bureaucrats from off-loading responsibility for programs and services for First Nation, Metis and Inuit people onto the provincial and territorial governments.

But Chartier wrote that he found the Harper government position paper on equalization payment reform, entitled Restoring Fiscal Balance in Canada: Focusing on Priorities, to be "troubling."

"Simply put, the current lack of clarity with respect to roles and responsibilities for the Metis people facilitates federal off-loading vis-a-vis Metis and creates a fiscal imbalance for all involved (except the federal government)," the MNC leader wrote.

He later noted that the Harper plan included federal and provincial governments but contained no mention of Aboriginal governments.

"What we're essentially stating is that there is a commitment by the federal government, by Mr. Harper, to deal with the issue of restoring accountability to the clarification of roles and responsibilities," Chartier told Windspeaker during a June 7 phone interview. "We're saying 'Well, you can do this with the provinces but you also have to do this with the Aboriginal peoples and governments and involve us in a meaningful way.'"

First Nations have the Indian Act and Inuit have a 1939 Supreme Court of Canada ruling that states that Inuit are Indians for the purposes of Section 91-24 of the Constitution, the section that deals with the division of federal and provincial power. Those clearly place the jurisdiction and responsibility with the federal government. But the Metis have no such legislative support and are most prone to fall between the federal/provincial cracks, Chartier said.

He said last November's Kelowna Accord saw federal and provincial officials beginning to work towards a solution to that problem.

"Kelowna sort of said, 'Let's park the issue of jurisdiction at the door and let's deal with how do we accommodate all Aboriginal people, including Metis.' So there were some solutions therein contained which we thought went a significant distance in accommodating Metis people. So, in a sense, the roles and responsibilities for all Aboriginal peoples were being worked out without dealing with the legal issue of jurisdiction," Chartier said.

In Kelowna, former prime minister Paul Martin said in his closing remarks and in response to questions from the media, that the federal government accepts its fiduciary responsibility or jurisdiction for all Aboriginal peoples, including the Metis Nation.

"So that was a significant breakthrough for us, which I think would have gained momentum and eventually would have resolved this legal dilemma, this policy position of the federal government," Chartier added.

Noting the premiers still support the Kelowna agreement, Chartier said he was seeking their support to "press the prime minister to engage us within this new process, and within this process the Metis Nation would seek to deal with the whole issue of roles and responsibilities of all governments."

Windspeaker asked Chartier if he was alarmed that the Harper government document did not include Aboriginal governments.

"Yes, it is a bit disconcerting. It seems that the current view of whoever is developing this policy or this strategy is to relegate, again, Aboriginal peoples to the status of mere organizations, as opposed to either being governments or emerging governments with the inherent right of self-government with constitutional rights who should be at the table," he replied.