Off-reserve priorities

Page 17

A new approach to dealing with off-reserve issues could be one of the many dramatic changes in store when Paul Martin takes over the reins of power from Prime Minster Jean Chretien.

This new approach could inspire the division of the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs into two seperate deparments, one for the north and one simply called Aboriginal Affairs. It's a plan that's being openly discussed at the senior levels of government.

Martin's own comments suggest that he intends to bring sweeping changes to the federal system. The term "changing the machinery of government" is on everyone's lips in the nation's capital.

Dwight Dorey, the national leader of the Congress of Aboriginal People, the group that lobbies on behalf of urban Aboriginal people, said he is hearing that the department may be restructured and believes that it's an idea that's long overdue.

A number of factors have combined to persuade the government to admit that its obligations are not only to status Indians living on reserve, he said.

"It's a combination of recent developments, not just Powley," Dorey said referring to the recent Supreme Court decision that brought life to the concept that Metis people have constitutional Aboriginal rights, specifically the right to hunt for food.

"There were other recent Supreme Court decisions recognizing off-reserve people have equal rights to those people on reserve. It's been part and parcel of this governance process that we've been engaged in with respect to the Corbiere decision," he said.

The Corbiere decision recognized that off-reserve people have a right to significant input into the decisions made on their home reserves.

"[P]eople off reserve have certain rights and entitlements that they were being denied over time," explained Dorey. "Certain rights that First Nations' people have are mobile rights; you take them with you. The Powley decision adds to that. It's not only registered treaty or status Indians, but also Metis now have new rights that are registered in the Constitution."

Dorey believes the government is ready to admit that Canada's drop in the United Nations human development index is related to its treatment of Aboriginal people. Canada has dropped from number one in the world to eighth on the UN index that measures basic quality of life benchmarks.

"In my opinion, and I think [Indian Affairs Minister] Bob Nault is seeing it, that's a reflection on their Aboriginal policy. I really believe it's not so much an issue relative to the conditions-which are still pretty bad-on reserve, but it's more this growing problem of the larger population of Aboriginal people off reserve being left in no man's land," he said.

Since all the discussion about such issues can only be speculation until Martin is established as prime minister and commits himself to a firm policy, Windspeaker asked Dorey if he had been given any commitments by anyone about changes in approach to off-reserve issues.

"Nothing yet but, obviously it's a good sign when you have a minister of Indian Affairs expressing those kinds of opinions. And he did that when he came to my general assembly to talk about mobility rights. The fact that he as a minister of Indian Affairs came to the assembly of the non-status, off-reserve organization was a positive move," he said.

"He and I have occasion to meet fairly frequently and discuss issues. What I often find happens with those meetings... he just tells me that he would like to, and believes that he should be, responding to these issues but he's not entitled to. He can't because of his departmental mandate. It doesn't allow him to. I think he's understanding and sympathetic to the causes of our people and feels that it needs to be addressed, but he's not in a position to do that at the moment."

The other minister with responsibility for Aboriginal issues is also hamstrung, Dorey said.

"And unfortunately, when we look at the position of Ralph Goodale as the fedeal interlocutor for Metis and non-status Indians off reserve, he doesn't really have the departmental infrastructure or the budget to deal with us. His role is primarily just a door opener to other departments for us," he said.

Asked if he had met with Martin, Dorey said yes but "not lately."

"I believe from my discussions with Paul Martin that he does want to try and fix things, that some things need to be fixed," he said. "What shape or form that takes is yet to be seen and he's not showing his hand on that. In fact, he may not have any concrete ideas yet but he's definitely of the view to work on it and to develop some new thinking in that respect.

"I'm taking the view that with respect to the stats that are showing that it's the off-reserve population that is going to be the biggest issue in the future down the road, he's going to not only want to fix the problems of the past but prevent the current problems from escalating.

"This whole notion that Bob Nault and I have been talking about, the restructuring of the department, is I think an ideal first step that Paul Martin might want to look at and take. It would demonstrate a pretty strong conviction on his part to deal with the broader issues of the Aboriginal agenda in Canada."

Dorey was asked if he had noticed a difference in attitude from the minister after Phil Fontaine was elected national chief of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) in July. He admitted that Nault turned to CAP when he couldn't deal with former national chief Matthew Coon Come.

"There's no question that had something to do with it," Dwight Dorey said, adding that the decision to work with the minister was made to advance off-reserve rights and not, as his critics charge, to simply access government funding.

But he said that CAP has not been left out now that a national chief the government is more comfortable with is in office.

"As a matter of fact, at the first opportunity after the AFN election I put the question right to [theminister]. I said I hope that given the past co-operative spirit that there was between Phil Fontaine and the federal government, that [Fontaine's re-election] was not going to negate or take away from our relationship. He said very directly, 'No way. We have a good working relationship and I believe there's an on-going need for that and we need to maintain it,'" Dorey said.

CAP will need to play a role in any revamped federal system because the chiefs have not shown much commitment to off-reserve issues, Dorey believes.

"I don't think that they're committed to do it. I don't have hard facts based on research but I've just heard reports, for example, that the chiefs in Saskatchewan have just openly and publicly stated that they are not including their off reserve people in their business. We know that right now that under the current legislation which allows for custom bands, specifically since Corbiere, that approximately one-half of the bands have [excluded offs]," he said. "You can't convince me that these chiefs are providing any services to those people. I don't buy that argument at all. It's not a matter of my opinion versus the AFN; evidence is there."