Editorials

Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

A way out

By: Staff Writer

Posted: 01/23/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

A one-day meeting on Tuesday between aboriginal leaders and Prime Minister Stephen Harper won't settle all the outstanding problems in native communities, but it will be a failure if it doesn't lead to a process that can produce concrete results in a set period of time.

Mr. Harper believes education is the key to turning around the lives of aboriginals, but issues like housing, child welfare, drinking water, economic development and child welfare are high on the list of priorities, too.

It would be easy enough to spend a lot more money on the problems, but even aboriginal leaders realize money alone will not end the poverty and dysfunction on First Nations. A new approach is needed because, as former auditor general Sheila Fraser once remarked, "What we're doing isn't working."

The chiefs are undoubtedly expecting some short-term fixes for immediate challenges, but if the meeting is to be judged a success, it must produce a program that will improve the long-term relationship between Ottawa and the country's roughly 600 First Nations.

That means dealing with touchy matters such as governance and financial transparency, but also speeding up the painfully slow determination of aboriginal treaty rights.

Some aboriginal leaders want to meet with provincial leaders to discuss native claims to natural resources, such as sub-surface mineral rights as well as water rights, but it's not an issue that can be resolved quickly. The Constitution says the provinces control their resources, so native demands in this area are obviously going to end up in the courts.

Canadians have grown weary and impatient with the endless horror stories emerging from the country's First Nations, but mostly they want evidence that solutions are possible. If nothing else, Mr. Harper and the chiefs must show the way forward.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition January 23, 2012 A10

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