The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.
History does repeat itself, it would appear.
Pierre Trudeau had his constitutional conferences that involved aboriginal leaders. Brian Mulroney had his too, plus a big session in British Columbia to launch the B.C. Treaty Commission process, which has been a discouraging flop.
Jean Chrétien often went on about how splendidly he got along with the chiefs, having been Indian Affairs minister early in his career. Paul Martin had his Kelowna Accord. Stephen Harper had his reconciliation/apology statement over residential schools and, Tuesday, a day-long session with the chiefs.
Along the way, the national leadership of the Assembly of First Nations has obviously changed, as have the local chiefs. But the dialogue seldom changes, on either side of the table. Sonorous clichés mix with history lessons about “settlers” and their perfidy, lessons are repeated about the “honour of the Crown” and treaties that are/were not respected.
Discreet references are offered about the discouraging economic and social statistics of aboriginal people, complaints are aired about insufficient public funding, occasional threats are made about the potential for violence and then things continue pretty much as before, out there in the real world, far removed from the conferences with their ceremonies and solemnities.
The Department of Indian Affairs recognizes 615 first nations. Within that tapestry are 60 languages, most of which are in decline for lack of population. According to the last Statistics Canada survey (2006), 29 per cent of aboriginals said they could speak well enough to carry on a conversation in their native language. Off reserve, the figure fell to 12 per cent.
Slowly, aboriginals are drifting away from reserves (where the chiefs dominate) because, despite whatever cultural support the reserves provide, many have little or no economic base, which is the real story behind the headlines about social and housing problems along James Bay.
Speaking of housing, that same Statistics Canada survey found 44 per cent of houses on reserve were in need of “major repairs” – up from 36 per cent in 1966 – compared with 9 per cent of homes in rural Canada. What accounts for such shocking indifference?
Is it because property ownership barely exists, so a renter mentality takes over? Is it because the people living in the houses have lost self-respect? Is it because the houses are often crowded, or poorly made to begin with? Is it because governments haven’t spent enough money, the usual answer from communities? Where are the chiefs who are supposed to be running their communities? Whatever the explanations, such dilapidation is a scandal, and one reason, among many, for the drift away from reserves.
For the rest of this article, please go to the Globe and Mail website: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/jeffrey-simpson/focus-first-nations-dialogue-on-self-sufficiency/article2313607/