New minister is where she wants to be

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Jane Stewart, the first woman ever appointed to serve as the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, was sworn in early on June 11. She and the rest of the new cabinet immediately met to discuss strategy that Wednesday and again the next day. That Friday, the new minister checked out her new office for the first time and began calling Aboriginal leaders across the country to introduce herself. She says she plans to take advantage of Parliament's summer recess to travel and meet many of those leaders.

"If you're interested in where the voice is going to be at the cabinet table. It's going to be very, very strong," Stewart said. "I've got a personal commitment to these files and this portfolio that goes back a long, long way."

Two First Nations - Six Nations of the Grand River and the Mississaugas of the New Credit - are adjacent to Stewart's riding and she says that growing up so close to those communities has prepared her for the job.

"It's been part of my life," she explained. "I feel like, I hesitate to say it, but I feel I have a natural comfort in this portfolio. It's where I want to be."

It's the second cabinet position for the woman who previously had a 17-month stint as the Minister of National Revenue. A rookie MP, Stewart was appointed to that post when Prime Minister Jean Chretien shuffled his cabinet in January 1996.

The need for a new face in the Indian Affairs ministry arose when Ronald Irwin retired from politics after the last election call. Like her predecessor, Stewart is from Ontario. She represents a riding which includes the city of Brantford (about an hour's drive northwest of Toronto).

Stewart's first assignment as an first-term backbench MP was to chair the National Liberal Caucus. She was also a member of the House of Commons' Standing Committee on Finance.

She graduated from Trent University with an Honors Bachelor of Science degree in 1978 and then worked in the human resources field before embarking on her political career. She was employed by Imperial Oil before becoming a self-employed human resources consultant.

When asked about her plans, Stewart praised Irwin and provided some vague assurances - understandably vague because of the newness of her ministry - that it will be more of the same with a few differences, emphasizing that she values the report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples.

"Mr. Irwin has done a lot to change the face of Indian Affairs and Northern Development over the last three-and-a-half years," she said. "It's not like we're starting from a standstill with the recommendations of RCAP. It is a beacon for the future and I view it that way."

She added that First Nations and the federal government must work in partnership to make the recommendations take life and building that partnership will be a priority. She did not answer a question about what the new government's budget will mean for her department and resisted an opportunity to endorse sovereignty for First Nations, saying only that she "strongly supports the inherent right to self government."

When asked about the possible re-birth of Bill C-79, the proposed optional changes to the Indian Act, which died with the dissolution of the last Parliament, Stewart said only: "I'll see. I'll have to take a look at it."