Transformative change?

Page 5

The grumbling is getting louder across the country. It started with the throne speech. It got louder and more noticeable after the federal budget was revealed last month. And it's gaining strength. We're hearing it from most corners of the country and we're pretty sure a lot of people in Ottawa are hearing it too.

Prime Minister Paul Martin raised expectations last April at the Canada/ Aboriginal roundtable. A year later and people are tired of holding their breath, waiting for the "transformative change" that the prime minister said was coming. Unless the transformative change that Martin was talking about meant that things were going to get worse.

Let's tally up:

After program review, the Indian and Northern Affairs Canada budget was cut by more than $200 million. Not a huge chunk in the world of federal departmental funding, we'll give you, but certainly not a step in a direction we'd call progressive.

And residential school survivors will tell you that they don't see things getting any better. Take one look at the money being chewed up by bureaucrats who seem to be under orders to waste more time and money and frustrate the Elders in their search for justice and closure.

And remember that $700 million that was promised to improve health conditions for First Nations during the first minister's meeting last fall? Not a penny has moved down the line and out of Ottawa yet, the Canadian Press reported on March 22.

And the chiefs tell us they're involved in battles on every front at the ground level: fights about health dollars, employment and training funds, education, membership. And now First Nation governments are the only governments in the Canadian constitutional family that are subject to garnishment.

That's a matter we've got to weigh in on. We question chiefs who run up big debts and then hide behind the Indian Act when the time comes to pay. That's corrupt and unethical and it damages the reputation of all chiefs who do pay their bills and follow through on their promises and obligations. We don't know how the case we reported on on page 8 will play out when the big brains get involved at the Supreme Court of Canada level. Maybe the decision is wrong legally; maybe it doesn't show a proper respect for the spirit and intent of the treaties; maybe the chiefs are right who say they have no choice but to run up deficits as they seek to provide basic services to their community members due to stingy government funding formulae.

But spending somebody else's money and then hiding behind the Indian Act is not the answer either. That much we're sure of.

There's lots of grumbling about the surprisingly quick passage of Bill C-20 through Parliament. The senators sure made the appropriate noises that indicated they would provide sober second thought to the bill that was whizzed through the Commons at warp speed. Then, suddenly it was law.

It's strange though that the only transformation that's occurred so far is a leftover from the Chretien era. Somewhere right now, former Indian Affairs minister Bob Nault is smiling. How comfortable are you with that thought?

Shortly after we go press, the chiefs will gather in Vancouver to go over the national chief's plan to work with the federal government and move towards First Nations self government. We're hearing a lot of the grumbling will surface there. Phil Fontaine is going to have to explain why we've all been running so hard all year just to end up in the same place. He staked his political reputation on working closely with the Paul Martin government and he's exposed right now.

There's a lot on the go over the next few months: a couple of special assemblies, the tabling of the AFN renewal report, a cabinet retreat, a first ministers' meeting on Aboriginal issues. If the national chief doesn't bring home something worthwhile at the end of that, he'd better start looking for another job.

And if the prime minister can't deliver somethig that resembles the vision he put in our heads with all that talk about transformation, he better get ready for serious troubles in Indian Country. You can't raise the hopes of marginalized people then fail to deliver and not expect some kind of repercussions. That's just the way it is.