Invisible Canadians

An editorial in Monday's Calgary Herald, 'Strange duality in priorities', addresses the sad reality that the Harper government has now decided to send hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to foreign governments while having rejected appropriately funding the Kelowna Accord, which was a long-needed agreement to end the third-world living conditions faced by Canada's first nations peoples reached by the Liberals before they were ousted from governing.

The federal budget's promise to commit up to $320 million to foreign aid -- a sizable chunk of which is destined for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria -- highlights a peculiar duality in the government's mindset.
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While 2.2 million people die annually around the world from TB, there are only 1,600 cases a year reported in Canada. Yet, that gulf in the numbers is no justification for virtually ignoring the Third World conditions here in Canada -- crowded housing, a dearth of sanitation and lack of running water -- that are a breeding ground for TB on reserves.
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It is a national disgrace aboriginals continue to live in Third World conditions that breed diseases no urban Canadian would be expected to shrug off as just one of the hazards of everyday life.

The editorial details the story of tuberculosis run rampant on the Garden Hill reserve in Northern Manitoba.

Indeed, when doctors flew in to Garden Hill -- after an eight-month delay in diagnosing the TB -- Chief David Harper wryly reported: "They told us to cough with our hands over our mouths and then wash our hands. We had to tell them that in this community there is no such thing as turning on a tap and having easy access to safe water. Things other Canadians take for granted is not the reality in our community."

While in opposition, the Conservatives - and rightly so - demanded that the rights of first nations peoples to live as most Canadians do be recognized. Yet, when the Liberal party finally did address those concerns, the Conservatives simply turned around and gutted the agreement and decided to fund only one third of the promises, undoing 18 months of negotiations. The Conservatives have not produced a new plan to replace the Kelowna Accord. And, the fact is that they don't need a different plan. They're simply against promoting anything that the previous Liberal government endorsed. While they attempt to reinvent the wheel, aboriginal people continue to live in squalor. Why? Simply because the Conservatives want to play politics with their lives.

While some aboriginal organizations did embrace the Conservative budget, the chief of the Assembly of First Nations, Phil Fontaine, expressed his deep disappointment at the setbacks that would be experienced by his community.

Meanwhile, Monday's Globe and Mail has revealed:

Ottawa — Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice has been urged by top public servants in his department to bring in the "basic approach" of the controversial first nations governance act.

The governance act, which died in 2003, would have required native bands to adopt minimum standards of accountability such as holding regular elections and publishing financial records. The bill, which had been put forward under former prime minister Jean Chrétien's leadership, was rejected by then prime minister Paul Martin.
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Mr. Prentice has stated that he would not bring back the governance act, and a spokesman from Indian Affairs said yesterday that the government "has not initiated any reforms of the Indian Act at this time. Any future changes to the Indian Act will be the result of substantial consultations with first nations, aboriginal stakeholders and other Canadians."

However, Prime Minister Stephen Harper wrote a letter to the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples during the election campaign that said the governance act "was a strong pillar to advance the important reforms and we strongly support that bill."

Mr. Harper's seven-page letter laid out a detailed plan for aboriginal policy that would mark a dramatic shift from the current approach by realigning federal spending so there is a greater focus on off-reserve aboriginals.

So, it appears that not only has this Conservative government failed to address the living conditions that aboriginals are dealing with on reserves, they may also be prepared to introduce an act that the first nations communities long ago rejected.

It's clear that this government and, specifically, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, are no friends of the aboriginals as they have claimed to be. Rather, they would seek to impose complete control over their lives in a way that will see that any progress will take decades to accomplish. I thought we had already moved beyond that mindset. Apparently not.