Last month, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau split the long lamented Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada, or INAC, into two separate departments.
Minister Carolyn Bennett became minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs, while Trudeau shuffled Health Minister Jane Philpott to minister of Indigenous Services.
Inuit leaders, including Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami's Natan Obed and Nunavut Premier Peter Taptuna, welcomed the move, but signalled cautious optimism.
Perhaps this is because Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs sounds awfully close to Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada. Just as that sounded an awful lot like the name before that -- Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada. Or Indian Affairs and Northern Development. Or Indian and Northern Affairs Canada.
The name has changed so many times over the years but the difference this time is that Indigenous Services SA国际影视传媒揾ealth care, water, and other community services SA国际影视传媒� will get special attention. Heaven knows Indigenous communities in Canada need it.
Trudeau promises this move signals not only a rebranding of INAC but its death. He promises his government is making a serious push for decolonization through the pending death of the Indian Act. The act's intention was to assimilate Indigenous people in the land now called Canada.
Seven generations after the implementation of that Act, we can see its effects.
Nunavut remains hampered by household crowding, the country's lowest health outcomes, the lowest percentage of high school graduates, and an infrastructure deficit that would require an impossible investment to match national standards. The Conference Board of Canada has shown Nunavut's social outcomes SA国际影视传媒� Indigenous income distribution, poverty, and employment SA国际影视传媒� to be the worst among Canadian provinces and territories.
Remote Northern Ontario reserves such as Kashechewan continue to come to national attention for their perennial struggles dealing with water and health crises.
And last week, the bus company Greyhound said it can't afford to continue servicing the infamous Highway of Tears in northern B.C. If the company pulls out, the First Nations people will be forced to hitch-hike to travel between communities, and leaders fear the move will leave more of their women at risk from predators who have already taken so many.
Colonialism has a long tail, and it will take a great deal of effort and investment to make life easier for Indigenous people in Canada.
Trudeau's decision to split INAC is inspired by a long-overlooked Royal Commission report from 1996, which laid out a roadmap for decolonization. The Toronto Star notes the Chretien government saw implementation as too expensive. But Trudeau has taken the first steps to follow the guidance of that commission.
The commission's report calls for providing Indigenous nations with the land and resources needed to establish self-government, the right to levy taxes, and control over their own social systems, as well as control over who can do what on their lands.
Sound familiar? Nunavut has shown the way, and yet we have so far to go. The federal government needs to be prepared for devolution, major infrastructure investments, and increased funding for health care and poverty reduction.
Trudeau has a long road to building trust but the first signs are promising.
The government now needs to back up its rebranding with actions that make a measurable difference on the ground here and in southern Indigenous communities.
