Self-government struggle's just begun

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The constitutional ups and downs of 1992 stand out easily as the biggest story of the year. It represents the first time first nations have been invited to participate at a fundamental level in determining their future in the country.

And the failed referendum vote, the rejection of the package on the inherent right, showed how much Ottawa, the provinces and even national native leaders have to learn about building a future for grassroots communities.

But it would be wrong to consign the 1992 constitutional debate to history. It is not the kind of story that can be contained as a simple event. It is one that continues to shape the future of first nations development.

If anything, the constitutional process, from Meech Lake to Charlottetown, has been an education for the rest of Canada, one that dispelled a number of myths.

When Manitoba MLA Elijah Harper used procedural tactics to help sink Meech Lake, he showed the rest of Canada first nation concerns could be left on the shelf. It ended an era that saw Native affairs as a back-burner issue.

Likewise, the defeat of the Charlottetown Accord, which dealt had-on with self-government, shattered the notion that lobby groups like the Assembly of First Nations can act as representative governments.

But looking towards 1993, some optimistic and useful thinking is emerging from the constitutional debris that fell from great heights over the last few years. They are the renewed efforts to build first nations control over their own communities from within, tempered by the goals set during high level negotiations.

If there is one lesson to be learned from the last year of meetings, negotiations and round-tables, it is that self-government emerges at the community level first.

Self-government can only be enshrined in the constitution when people have something in their hands. This doesn't mean the devolution of powers must be complete before another effort is made. But the leap of faith first nations will be asked to take will be much smaller when they know which direction they are jumping.

1993 is not likely to be a year of high-flown rhetoric and powerful meetings. It should, however, be a year in which all governments start taking serious action towards self- government - one solid step at a time.