Pleasing No One

"There are two main points of contention. The first one is the lack of formal consultation. Even though Minister Valcourt has been cited saying on numerous occasions that there was extensive consultation, I know for a fact that they never spoke with us."
"The second one is the main point of contention in the bill, is if you look through the bill, is that it gives more control to the minister today than the current provisions in the Indian Act."
"We in Kahnawake -- I'll be selfish for a moment -- we've been in control of education going on five decades now and we've produced lawyers and Indian chiefs up and down the line."
"We've been successful. Why are we being taken back into the dark ages -- it's almost the residential school mantra now. You must conform. It doesn't make sense. A blanket approach will not work."
Michael Delisle, grand chief, Mohawk Council of Kahnawake

"There's lots of voices out there, and there are some voices saying it's time to get rid of the AFN [Assembly of First Nations] and I disagree with those. There is a need for a national voice for First Nations people. There's a lot of good work done at the AFN, and great leaders and we should build on that rather than starting from scratch."
"The AFN as it is needs to evolve and I think that what I've seen in the past two years especially is that the grassroots want in. The voices of the average First Nations person have become really powerful."
"If you look at Shawn Atleo, he is one of the great people First Nations have to offer. He's educated in the Western sense and strong in his culture and language. And he couldn't get it done, so could anybody?"
Wab Kinew, journalist and commentator, candidate for Assembly of First Nations

A Parliament Hill protest today drew more than 1,000 of people opposed to reforms proposed for the First Nations Education Act. (Karina Roman/CBC)

 

Within the AFN critics triggered the first meeting of the Confederacy of Nations in a decade. Critics also spurred the resignation of Grand Chief Shawn Atleo from the AFN. The Confederacy represents a group of chiefs meeting in times of crisis, or between scheduled AFN gatherings. On Wednesday, at its gathering, the Confederacy declared it was unilaterally assuming responsibility for the aboriginal education file, rejecting Bill C-33, the bill that the government worked painstakingly to alter to the satisfaction of the AFN, which then approved it.

A motion threatening to shut down the Canadian economy if Bill C-33 passed, came out of that same meeting: "First Nations will determine whether or not there is international economic certainty for economic development on Turtle Island", read the motion. It is set to go before the scheduled May 27 AFN meeting. Because of the general First Nations backlash against the First Nations education bill, Aboriginal Affairs Minister Bernard Valcourt has shelved it for the time being with the understanding that it cannot be forced upon them.

The Assembly of First Nations of Quebec and Labrador filed a request for a judicial review on the consultation process on the education bill, back in February. Apart from chiefs in British Columbia who feel that the process undertaken by the government and the AFN was sufficient as far as consultative activity was concerned, other provincial chiefs bitterly oppose the bill, claiming they should all have been consulted. Limiting the consultation to the AFN seemed reasonable since it represents the interests of the 617 First Nations communities within Canada.

What kind of process might it have taken for Aboriginal Affairs to conduct interviews and consultative procedures with 617 First Nations communities? The time, the cost, the effort, the frustration, and selecting which of the many and varied complaints and recommendations to be heeded and worked with, would have presented a gargantuan task. One that, in its final results, would have pleased no one.

First Nations chiefs are so accustomed to their belligerent oppositional attitude to anything that comes out of a government anxious to meet the needs of the aboriginal community in Canada that they cannot see the positive realities of moving as per the agreement between the federal government and the Assembly of First Nations, then headed by Shawn Atleo, to forge a better educational opportunity for First Nations children than currently exists.