The more things change, the more
they stay the same. June is Aboriginal History Month and is being subsumed by
the overwhelming, and annoying, Canada 150 activities and preparations, while
the Canadian government is continuing to not do the right thing while promoting
how they are doing the right thing. The difference, of course, is this is Mr.
Trudeau and not Mr. Harper, which seems to be a surprise to everyone except
those of us who have ever paid attention. The Canadian government has always
acted against the interests of First Nations people, regardless which of political
party has been running the show at any given time. Trudeau promised a new
relationship, a Nation-to-Nation relationship with First Nations. As per the
norm, this is proving not to be the case.
Into this regular feature of
Canada-First Nations relations, the Assembly of First Nations has re-emerged as
the titular voice of the First Nations, despite the fact that this is just not
true. The AFN represents the Canadian recognized Chiefs of the First Nations and
not the actual people. It is mind-boggling that they keep claiming the voice of
the people, well, not really, they keep making the claim and the federal
government keeps acknowledging them as such despite the fact that they are not
a representative body, they are a lobby group for Chiefs and they are all too
often not in step with the needs and challenges faced by First Nations people
on the ground. In fact, the current leadership pushed out the former leadership
because of its too cozy relationship with the Harper regime and its presumption
to be able to sign binding agreements with the government on behalf of First
Nations people. The outcry, led by Idle No More, #nofnea, Theresa Spence and
many other “grass roots” actually toppled that former leadership and left a
rift between First Nations and Canada which was quite an interesting and
amusing thing to see. The Feds were awfully vindictive and Trudeau was able to
make all sorts of promises that the new leadership chose to believe.
And continue to believe despite
the fact he has gone against many of his promises: he approved Site C; he
approved the TransMountain pipeline; he continues to ignore the court orders to
implement Jordan’s Principle and properly fund and protect Indigenous children;
fought against equality for Native women in Bill S-3; failed to follow through
on his promise to increase funding to First Nations’ schools… it goes on and
on.
Today, AFN Chief Perry Bellegarde
signed a memorandum of Understanding with Trudeau to start making progress on
First Nations issues, regardless of the fact that he does not have the
authority to do so, NOT BEING A REPRESENTATIVE AUTHORITY for First Nations
people and the fact that this is just another photo-op for the Prime Minister.
AFN fell into the trap it always falls into: it was flattered, told it was the
voice of the oppressed, by the oppressor and jumped at the chance. They forget
that this has always been the way it works. The Federal government handpicks
the people it will work with from the First Nations, makes them the leaders and
then controls them. If not, they seduce the new leadership with promises of
power or change and eventually bring them over. The people wake up, push back,
remove these “Indian Act leaders,” there is a cold spell, repeat. So we are in
the situation we were in with Atleo, only now with Bellegarde, one of the
loudest AFN critics of Atleo’s relationship with Harper.
The AFN isn’t a representative
body and shouldn’t be treated as such by the Federal Government. It isn’t
treated as such by the rest of us not in it. Just because we may or may not
have elected a Chief of our First Nation does not mean that we have endorsed an
AFN body. In fact, I suspect that many would prefer someone other than the
Chief as a representative to a larger body. I do not know if it is time to
start having that conversation about whether we need a representative body to
work with Canada, but I know that the AFN is not it, whatever Canada and the
AFN try to tell you.
No comments:
Post a Comment