Some opponents would rather fight than win

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/02/2019 (2547 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It is highly unusual for me to come to the defence of our current prime minister, but having personally experienced the frustration Justin Trudeau felt last September when meeting the chiefs of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) in Saskatchewan, there came to me an overwhelming sensation of déja vu.

Trudeau understood eight chiefs would attend the meeting last September; there were 20 to 30. The meeting was to last an hour. Chief after chief spoke, leaving the prime minister no time to engage, respond, offer solutions, debate, empathize or act as would befit any leader in a reconciliatory nation-to-nation relationship.

On several occasions during my time as a provincial cabinet minister, while meeting with Manitoba chiefs, I experienced the same difficult moments. I remember one meeting as if it were yesterday. I was Manitoba’s constitutional affairs minister, at a meeting with a similar agreed time cap as that of our prime minister. Dozens of chiefs attended.

After listening to presentations by many of them (no time allowed for me to say anything at all), it was time for me to move on to my next engagement. (It was not unusual for me, a provincial minister, to have as many as nine meetings in a day; I can only imagine the demands on any prime minister’s time.) However, the door to the meeting room was deliberately blocked so that I could not leave without creating a nasty scene.

I politely protested, as did our prime minister last September. In response, I, too, was lectured about “respect.” I turned to the chairman of the meeting, a high-ranking Manitoba chief, for assistance in making a clean and respectful exit. To no avail, even though I could sense his embarrassment at the behaviour of his colleagues. I can’t remember how I eventually got out of that meeting, but I do know that it produced little for Indigenous Manitobans.

Is this the kind of “nation-to-nation” relationship Canadians want or support? Experience has shown us repeatedly that even after listening intently to our litigious chiefs, and learning, it is futile to act.

Last September, FSIN Chief Bobby Cameron scolded the prime minister: “One hour is not enough time to give the respect our chiefs deserve. How can we get real answers for all of the issues that are plaguing our people?” I ask, how can there be any meaningful answers when the answers given are rarely accepted anyway?

Respect, demanded far too often, should be reciprocated.

Former Conservative national leader Robert Stanfield once said that some people would rather fight than win. He wasn’t thinking about some of our Indigenous leaders when he said it, but the expression fits them to a T.

Since the repudiation by the chiefs of Pierre Trudeau’s White Paper in 1970, and the 1982 enactment of Section 35 of Canada’s constitution, the “fight” has been enriching the chiefs and their friends — lawyers, consultants, politicians, bureaucrats, commissioners of inquiry, journalists — while doing nothing to alleviate the wretchedness endured by ordinary Indigenous Canadians, who are hurting more each and every year.

Perhaps shuffling reportedly popular ministers responsible for Indigenous issues — Jody Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott — is Justin Trudeau’s way of throwing up his hands and saying, “Good luck, chiefs. I’ve had it with you.” Up until now, he’s been jumping through hoops for the chiefs and talking incessantly about impossible nation-to-nation relationships, at taxpayers’ significant expense. But it seems the chiefs are the ones who are not listening.

I depart now from my defence of the prime minister.

Trudeau’s government has been on the wrong “nation-to-nation” track all along. I hope someday soon we will all recognize, at long last, that Trudeau’s father had it right: equality for all. Instead of wasting precious time talking for the past three years about sovereign relationships and special Indigenous status, Justin Trudeau should have been working toward equality for everyone.

The chiefs and their lieutenants might not like that concept, but its reality would make life a whole lot better for hundreds of thousands of less highly placed Indigenous people.

The recent federal cabinet shuffle may be a sign of things to come. Or not. Perhaps it’s a signal that it’s now the chiefs’ turn to listen and learn.

But to whom are they willing to listen?

James C. McCrae was a member of the Manitoba legislature from 1986 to 1999. Under premier Gary Filmon, he served as attorney general, consumer and corporate affairs minister, health minister, environment minister and education minister.