Solutions impractical

Page 6

It took five years, more than $50 million and countless hours to produce the five-volume report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. Never has the Aboriginal reality in Canada been so well articulated.

Let it be said that the report is so unwieldy that any criticism must be done on what amounts to a glance.

A report such as this one comes out of the real world, and must be implemented in it. We don't believe that many of the hopeful solutions are based on an understanding of what actually can come to pass over the next 20 years.

Time after time, the report calls for governmental solutions to problems. Thus, in the arts, the commission proposes the establishment of an Aboriginal Arts Council, at a time when arts councils are pared to the bone everywhere. To solve the problems of urban Aboriginal; people, there is to be yet another level of bureaucracy established in the cities. When government is widely being recognized to be more of the problem than the solution, these kinds of answers seem outdated, probably ineffective, and costly.

Many of the solutions are based on a post-contact historical fallacy, best expressed by this quotation from the published highlights: " Early in the relationship, colonial governments respected Aboriginal land rights and title." We don't believe that very many historians would agree with this statement.

The hope that "nations that are well-off will help those that are not," is similarly unlikely, given the track record. Rich First Nations grow more and more prosperous today while neighbors languish in poverty.

Finally, many solutions do not seem to take into account that there is no over-reaching pan-Aboriginal nationality in Canada. The Nisga'a, Mohawk, Blackfoot, Innu and Salish have as little in common as do the Norwegians, Spanish, Russians and English. Teaching "Aboriginal realities" in all schools is essentially impossible.

Instead of threats from Aboriginal leaders involved in writing the report to the effect that this is the last chance for Canada to avoid violence, it would be wise to begin a frank discussion on the merits of each point, keeping resolution clearly in mind. Only by dealing with things point-by point will be able to make anything out of all the effort that this report represents.