Siddon sees end of Indian Affairs

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Most of the work now handled by the Indian Affairs department will be administered by first nations governments by the end of the decade, Indian Affairs Minister Tom Siddon said.

And Native communities will be responsible for setting the course of the devolution of powers in a set of complex self-government negotiations that will likely flow from the failed constitutional process.

"In terms of what we call machinery of government, I think there is an end in sight to the department as we know it," Siddon said.

There are currently about 20 groups - representing approximately 40 band across the country-involved in self-government negotiations.

Talks had slowed to a crawl during the constitutional bargaining surrounding the Charlottetown accord. But now that constitutional issues have been relegated to the back burner, the government is resuming community negotiations, Siddon said.

"Having the provinces willing to be at the table and negotiate and promise constitutional protection was an advantage, but it does not prevent us from moving forward to concluding self-government agreements," he said.

But the provinces will have a big role to play in the ongoing process, because many of the powers that will eventually devolve are currently under provincial administration.

Siddon also said any new power-sharing arrangement will be more susceptible political winds because they will only be written in laws that can be changed by acts of Parliament.

But Ottawa is working on a framework agreement that will see as many as 25 areas of jurisdiction that first nations are seeking control over in the current talks, he said.

"I guess you could say most (new self-governments) will be a modified form of community government," he said. "The principle is to get out from under the Indian Act and have an alternative legislative framework within which they can operate autonomously."

Siddon also said he would like to see his title - which he said implies paternalism - changed to something like minister of aboriginal relations. The new name would better reflect the relationship between Ottawa and Canada's first nations, he said.