PM's committee ponders $11 billion proposal

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They call it "the reference group of the Prime Minister on Aboriginal people."

Leaders of all five national Aboriginal organizations met with the committee on Nov. 5. Thirteen of 15 Cabinet members attended, saying they wanted to hear the Aboriginal viewpoint.

Some sources within the Aboriginal organizations say they have been asked not to discuss committee business with the press.

But National Chief Matthew Coon Come provided some information.

"The reference committee is set up by the Cabinet," the national chief said on Nov. 19. "They are going to have about 30 hours of meetings across the country. We've already had one meeting with them and we made a presentation that was based on our pre-budget submission as a basis of saying 'here's what we're thinking about, here's how much money you need to invest.'"

Coon Come presented a sizable shopping list to the committee. He asked the government to commit to a down-sized version of the recommendations of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples by spending $1.8 billion a year over the next five fiscal years. That would be a total commitment of $11.6 billion.

"RCAP talked about a $24 billion investment over 15 years and that was based on various joint initiatives that were done and the background work and the data that we've got on housing for the backlogs and doing projections based on our populations, etc., how many new houses we would need. So the work has been done, including on education. So we tabled all this to the reference committee and they will produce a report. They thought originally in February. They might produce a report in December after having met with various groups. We're going to have another meeting with them," he said.

Information about this committee of Cabinet members is not easy to come by. A call requesting information made to Duncan Fulton, the communications person who handles Aboriginal issues for the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), was not returned. A call to the Privy Council Office (PCO) produced a suggestion, after communications staff relayed our request for basic information about the committee to senior officials, that we contact the Department of Indian Affairs. This despite the fact that Intergovernmental Affairs Minister and president of the PCO, Stephane Dion, chairs the committee.

There are 15 ministers on the committee. The members of the group are: Dion, Herb Grey, deputy prime minister and the man in charge of the Office of Indian Residential Schools Resolution; Ralph Goodale, Metis interlocutor; Industry Minister Brian Tobin; Heritage Minister Sheila Copps; Finance Minister Paul Martin; Justice Minister Anne McLellan; Health Minister Allan Rock; Solicitor General Lawrence MacAuley; Treasury Board President Lucienne Robillard; Human Resources Development Minister Jane Stewart; Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Herb Dhaliwal; Sharon Carstairs, leader of the government in the Senate; Secretary of State for Children and Youth Ethel Blondin-Andrew and Indian Affairs Minister Robert Nault.

Many observers wonder why Dion and not Nault is the chair of the committee. Government sources say that was Nault's idea because, as intergovernmental affairs minister, Dion is in a better position to co-ordinate the various ministries.

Indian Affairs expects to shoulder only about 30 per cent of the work that is expected to be done to follow through on the Throne Speech promises on improving the living conditions of Aboriginal people; other ministries will have significant roles to play.

The reference committee is a rare creature. Ottawa insiders say its mere existence is a sign that serious developments are about to unfold. Presently there are two Cabinet committees- dealing with the social union and the economic union-and three reference groups: Aboriginal affairs, energy, and security. The security committee wound down on Nov. 16.

The national chief said he was assured that action will be taken on theThrone Speech promises, hich government officials now admit is seen as a legacy issue by the Prime Minister.

"They said very clearly that they want to look at how they're going to implement the Throne Speech. They want to see how they can maximize the funds that are presently being allocated. They're asking very difficult questions in terms of where money should be invested, asking us to really prioritize, given the limited funds that are in the coffers and given the situation of Sept. 11. So there is on the table, at least as I see it, a willingness to involve us and we have a forum where we can present our views and it's going to be interesting what the outcome of the report will be and to what extent it will incorporate our issues. Before we didn't have a table and now we do."

Documents we were told were produced by or for the committee were obtained by Windspeaker. One paper shows that ministers have been asked to have their staff members perform a "diagnostic" analysis of their departments' spending and services that relate to Aboriginal peoples.

Minister Sheila Copps said as much in an interview with this publication last month. She said the Prime Minister had asked all committee members to take a close look at all departmental spending on Native programs and look for ways to improve outcomes.

Another document leaked to the publication, that we were told was a primer on Aboriginal legal issues produced by the department of Justice for the reference committee, shows the government is still strategizing to maintain political control of Native issues even as the courts are knocking down sections of the Indian Act that are the basis for government policy.

"The key legal issues emerging in the next five to 10 years create a choice for the federal government: respond to the issues framed by others (e.g. Aboriginal groups, provinces) with the consequent risk that federal policy objectives are subject to a constantly changing legal environment shaped by he priorities of others, or proatively manage legal issues strategically to support and advance government policy objectives," the memo reads.

Coon Come wasn't surprised to hear the government was trying to find ways to keep the upper hand even though the Indian Act is so vulnerable to legal challenge.

"Yes, the government has their own agenda. That's no secret," he said. "They are well aware of all the court cases that are going to be going through the judicial system. They're concerned about the decisions that's might be coming out and try to control as to what the interpretations or what their mandate is. I think everybody understands that."