The first mandate letters Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gave his cabinet ministers in 2015 said no relationship was more important to him, and to the country, than the one with Indigenous Peoples.
He called for a new nation-to-nation relationship SA国际影视传媒� one based on the recognition of rights, respect, co-operation and partnership.
He promised to end boil-water advisories in First Nations communities within five years.
He said constitutionally guaranteed rights of First Nations are a sacred obligation.
SA国际影视传媒淚 know that renewing our relationship is an ambitious goal. But I am equally certain that it is one we can, and will, achieve if we work together,SA国际影视传媒� Trudeau told the Assembly of First Nations in December 2015. SA国际影视传媒淭his is a responsibility I take seriously, and I have instructed my government to do the same.SA国际影视传媒�
Eight years later, the shiny election-style promises about advancing reconciliation and forging a new path forward seem to have dulled for First Nations, Metis and Inuit who are on the front lines advocating for their communities.
And with the Liberals expected to focus more heavily on housing and other cost-of-living issues this fall in a bid to reverse the trend of sagging support in the polls, it is unclear whether that relationship still tops the list of priorities.
Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu, whose department oversees programs involving access to services such as drinking water, child welfare, housing and health care, said she has seen the relationship become stronger, but righting historic wrongs takes time.
SA国际影视传媒淲hat I have seen is an increased trust in the commitment to the ongoing work of the relationship,SA国际影视传媒� Hajdu said on Sept. 26 in an interview with The Canadian Press. SA国际影视传媒淎s much as I think some Canadians would like to turn the page and not talk about this, Indigenous people are still living the reality of a colonial country every single day. So that trust is actually super fragile and super important to protect.SA国际影视传媒�
Tracking progress
Trust might be hard to quantify, but there are ways to track the Liberal governmentSA国际影视传媒檚 progress on the promises it has made to Indigenous Peoples.
Many of those promises are outlined in the 94 calls to action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which investigated both the historic and ongoing harms of the residential school system in Canada and recommended specific ways to restore relations.
The Yellowhead Institute, an Indigenous-led think tank at Toronto Metropolitan University, publishes a yearly report on the governmentSA国际影视传媒檚 progress. The 2022 report concluded just two of the recommendations were fulfilled last year, bringing the total to 13. The institute said at this rate work on the calls to action will not be done until 2065.
Not all the calls to action are the sole responsibility of the federal government, including the July 2022 papal apology. Trudeau had personally asked Pope Francis to issue the apology in Canada, and the federal government spent at least $55 million to support the visit.But the content of the apology was considered lacking, including by making no mention of sexual abuse, and so the Yellowhead Institute considers that call to action to be incomplete.
HajduSA国际影视传媒檚 office also pointed to progress on other calls to action since the report came out, such as announcing in June that a site had been chosen for the Residential Schools National Monument on Parliament Hill.
Hayden King, executive director of Yellowhead Institute, said Ottawa seemed spurred into action when TkSA国际影视传媒檈mlups te Secwepemc Nation announced in May 2021 that ground-penetrating radar had detected potential unmarked graves at the site of a former residential school in Kamloops, B.C.
Three of the commissionSA国际影视传媒檚 calls to action were completed that month: appointing an Indigenous languages commissioner, establishing a National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, to be celebrated Sept. 30, and changing CanadaSA国际影视传媒檚 citizenship oath to include an obligation to upholding treaties with Indigenous Peoples.
Since those SA国际影视传媒渆asy callsSA国际影视传媒� were answered, progress has been SA国际影视传媒渕odest,SA国际影视传媒� King said, compared to the SA国际影视传媒渢remendousSA国际影视传媒� amount of activity after the Liberals were elected in 2015.
SA国际影视传媒淚t was the most active period of legislation SA国际影视传媒� period SA国际影视传媒� on Indigenous issues in Canadian history since Confederation,SA国际影视传媒� King said.
Paying in court
Cindy Blackstock, executive director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society, said federal governments have set up a pattern where they create policies that harm Indigenous Peoples and then Canadians pay the cost when courts side with communities.
In July, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal approved a $23.4-billion settlement agreement for First Nations children and their families who were harmed by the federal governmentSA国际影视传媒檚 underfunding of child welfare services.
Blackstock has been negotiating the settlement alongside the Assembly of First Nations.
The settlement comes more than 15 years after the two organizations jointly launched a human rights complaint that sparked a years-long legal battle with Ottawa around allegations that its underfunding of on-reserve child welfare services amounted to discrimination, and that First Nations children were denied equal access to support including school supplies and medical equipment.
But settling what she calls the SA国际影视传媒渂iggest policy failure in Canadian historySA国际影视传媒� is not something to celebrate, Blackstock said.
SA国际影视传媒淪top hurting the kids today and the ones to come tomorrow. ThatSA国际影视传媒檚 the No. 1 thing that people want, and that money will never get back the childhood they deserve.SA国际影视传媒�
Hajdu pointed to the settlement coming with another $20 billion that will go to revamping the First Nations child welfare system. She said this recognizes the need to shift from having to compensate for past harms to getting it right in the first place through SA国际影视传媒渂etter tools of self-determination and equity in place so that these kinds of things never happen again.SA国际影视传媒�
The broken promise to end all boil-water advisories by 2021 is often cited as another example of how the Liberal government has failed to live up to expectations on this file.
SA国际影视传媒淚t was a really ambitious goal and for those of us that didnSA国际影视传媒檛 much understand what water and water delivery looks like at First Nations, it seemed like a really attainable goal,SA国际影视传媒� Hajdu said. SA国际影视传媒淏ut, in fact, water and water delivery in First Nations is super complicated.SA国际影视传媒�
The federal government says it has lifted 143 long-term drinking water advisories since November 2015. Hajdu said most of the 28 long-term advisories, affecting 26 communities, are in remote areas where access to infrastructure is a greater challenge.
Still, she said more than 96 per cent of First Nations now live in a community where they can access clean drinking water from the tap. As for the rest: SA国际影视传媒淲e will finish this job.SA国际影视传媒�
Dawn Martin-Hill, a professor at McMaster University who leads an Indigenous water research program, said the scope of the Liberal governmentSA国际影视传媒檚 water initiative has been narrow. It focused on boil-water advisories, rather than access to safe drinking water on reserves in general, where infrastructure is chronically underfunded.
Hajdu is expected to introduce legislation this fall, co-developed with First Nations, Metis and Inuit, to address some of the bigger barriers to sustainable access to safe drinking water.
Labelled a failure
Carol McBride, president of the Native WomenSA国际影视传媒檚 Association of Canada, said that despite the hope she felt in 2015, she feels Indigenous Peoples are on the back burner.
In 2019, the federal government released the final report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, which included 231 calls to justice directed at governments, institutions, industries and Canadians.
Two years later, the government released a national action plan that sought to address those calls.
McBrideSA国际影视传媒檚 association has been keeping track of the governmentSA国际影视传媒檚 annual performance on implementing the plan, and called OttawaSA国际影视传媒檚 progress a SA国际影视传媒渇ailureSA国际影视传媒� in its most recent report.
Few of the promised actions have been completed, while others have seen SA国际影视传媒渕arginal progressSA国际影视传媒� or remain untouched, the June 2023 report says.
Hajdu said she understands the SA国际影视传媒渋mpatience.SA国际影视传媒�
But she said all levels of government need to be on the same page in order to get things done. Her job, she said, is to push the department and the government to take action as quickly as possible, and to push other jurisdictions to SA国际影视传媒渢ake reconciliation as seriously as we do.SA国际影视传媒�
She expects to bring that push to housing, too, as the Liberals prioritize that issue this fall.
The Assembly of First Nations said last year there was a need for $44 billion to address current on-reserve housing needs alone, plus another $16 billion to account for projected population growth to 2040 SA国际影视传媒� a figure Hajdu had publicly highlighted ahead of the 2022 budget.
That budget ended up committing $4 billion over seven years for building and repairing housing in Indigenous communities, which many viewed as a disappointment.
This yearSA国际影视传媒檚 federal budget earmarked $4 billion over seven years, starting in 2024-25, to implement an urban, rural and northern Indigenous housing strategy through the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. that is co-developed with First Nations, Inuit and Metis.
Hajdu said taking a self-determination approach to the housing issue will help fill the gap in a way that goes beyond money, including the need for more land to build on.
But she said that when speaking with her colleagues, she has also been framing the First Nations housing issue as a housing issue, full stop.
SA国际影视传媒淵ou canSA国际影视传媒檛 separate First Nations housing from everyone else,SA国际影视传媒� she said. SA国际影视传媒淚tSA国际影视传媒檚 all part of a continuum of the need for better and more affordable housing in this country, regardless of which community you live in.SA国际影视传媒�
It has been nearly six years since Trudeau split the Indigenous affairs portfolio into two separate departments: Indigenous Services, which Hajdu oversees, and Crown-Indigenous Relations, for which Gary Anandasangaree became the minister in July.
Hajdu said she has seen a lot change for the better in her corner of the government bureaucracy, including by having so many Indigenous public servants, including deputy minister Gina Wilson, working in the department.
SA国际影视传媒淏ut transforming a system from one thatSA国际影视传媒檚 primarily about controlling communities to one thatSA国际影视传媒檚 empowering communities? ThatSA国际影视传媒檚 really hard.SA国际影视传媒�
SA国际影视传媒擝y Alessia Passafiume, The Canadian Press
