OTTAWA – It’s time to update the Indian Act to bring it in line with modern practices, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said as he opened a major meeting with First Nations leaders.
He said the act has lead to problems over the years, but the government has no plans to repeal the legislation.
“After 136 years, that tree has deep roots,” he said. “Blowing up the stump would just leave a big hole.
“However, there are ways, creative ways, collaborative ways, ways that involve consultation between our government, the provinces and First Nations leadership and communities, ways that provide options within the act, or outside of it, for practical, incremental and real change.”
Shawn Atleo, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, said some will see the meeting as just another meaningless exchange, but he said it is an important and historic day because “we must repair the trust that has been broken.”
He said it is time “to undo the damage that has been done” by the Indian Act, which he described as a boulder in the path of progress.
Atleo also called for concrete action, “to smash the status quo in tangible ways.”
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“Our people cannot wait,” he said. “They insist that we stop lurching from crisis to crisis.”
Education has to be a top priority. “Our kids … deserve good schools.”
Harper said he wants to work in partnership with First Nations to put more modern legislation and procedures into the act.
With mutual respect and trust, much can be done, said the prime minister.
The day-long meeting involves native leaders, cabinet ministers and senior civil servants.
The chiefs hope their talks with Harper and senior officials can produce a two-track approach to deliver both short-term fixes for immediate crises and progress toward a fundamentally different long-term relationship within 12 to 18 months.
Immediate challenges could include inadequate funding for housing, child welfare, education and water.
Long-term issues include crafting a pathway to self-governance and recognition of treaty rights, a more reliable fiscal framework, economic development, financial transparency, and speeding up talks on comprehensive land claims.
Among other items, chiefs and federal politicians are widely expected to endorse a plan for legislation to give native communities the power to set up their own school boards, and to change the structure of government financing so that it’s more predictable.
The spirit of tradition is strong at the meeting. It opened with drums, chants, prayers and a smudge ceremony. A historic wampum belt was used for the first time in centuries to help rebind the relationship between First Nations and the Crown. Aboriginal leaders from Ontario brought the replica of the 1764 Treaty of Niagara belt to Ottawa for Tuesday’s summit.
Sewn from 10,076 purple and silver shells, it symbolizes the link forged between First Nations and the Crown in the year following the 1763 Royal Proclamation that defined the relationship between the two sides.
The belt is a replica of an original since lost to history. The belt had been made as part of the Treaty of Niagara, signed between the Crown and 24 First Nations marking one of the first land deals.
The chiefs presented Gov. Gen. David Johnston with a replica wampum belt. In turn, he presented the chiefs with a painting by John David Kelly showing native and British soldiers fighting as allies at the Battle of Queenston Heights.
It’s these historic ties that chiefs across the country want to draw on in the meeting that’s billed as an opportunity to reset that relationship.
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