4.10.5 Aboriginal policy

Canadians like to forget that white South Africa based apartheid on the Canadian Aboriginal policy. Many non-natives are unaware of the fundamental human rights violations occurring within our midst. Canadian Aboriginal peoples, First Nation, Métis, and Inuit, know that the fundamental assumption of colonial powers since the first Europeans arrived in what is now Canada has been a policy of assimilation.

Unbeknownst to most non-native Canadians, and even some First Nations, the ultimate disposition of land claims agreement is the extinguishment of Aboriginal title. This is an inherent right of indigenous people and its extinguishment violates international human rights law. Various human rights committees within the United Nations system have frequently been critical of Canada’s treatment of and laws regarding Aboriginal peoples.

Finally, in November of 2010, after years of stalling, the government of Canada quietly signed the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The delay was unconscionable and embarrassing. Now action is required.

As government, the Greens will speedily move to implement the UN Declaration. We will also restore the $5.1 billion commitment and the specifics of the Kelowna Accord. One of the central features of the landmark Kelowna Accord, reached between federal and provincial, territorial and First Nations governments in Canada in November of 2005, is the creation of ‘baselines.’ Baselines are critical to assess the levels of Aboriginal health and well-being.

The issues impacting Aboriginal people in Canada are complex and cannot be assessed without a full sense of the searing violence of generations of occupation and assault upon their traditional cultures and values. The legacy of the residential school system remains a factor in mental health and wellness. No Canadian should be satisfied with the failed policies of the Indian Act, the huge bureaucracy of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, and the enormous outlays of funding for lawyers and ‘experts’ in the interminable comprehensive claims process.

Something fundamental needs to shift. That shift must begin with dignity for all Aboriginal peoples: respect, an end to policies of assimilation, and strong support for health and education on and off reserve. Health specialists and behavioural experts need to be trained from within communities to provide the proper support for fetal alcohol syndrome children. Work must be intensified to ensure more programs that involve elders mentoring young people. Employment opportunities in resource-based industries on Aboriginal territories will be encouraged. Trap lines will be protected. We will work to sustain the Inuit hunting culture that is under rapid assault due to the impacts of the climate crisis. The Green Party of Canada will ensure that governments and corporations alike respect the 1990 Supreme Court of Canada Sparrow decision upholding Aboriginal rights such as fishing and the right of Aboriginal peoples to be consulted about decisions and accommodated in those decisions that impact their resources and their future. The June 2014 Supreme Court decision in the T’sicoltin case sets a blazing path for recognition of Aboriginal title. The intergenerational and communal nature of title must be respected.

We must work together to ensure no more communities are added to the list of shame in Canada: Oka, Ipperwash, Gustafson Lake, Sutikalh, Sun Peaks, Cheam, and Caledonia. Never again. Our shift in attitude will mean true nation-to-nation dialogue and negotiations. It will mean a just accommodation of Aboriginal peoples’ aspirations and an equitable sharing of Canada’s natural resources. It will mean full recognition of the cultural, political, and economic contributions of First Nations, Inuit, Innu, and Métis people to Canada and an end to the prejudice.

Green Party MPs will:

• Honour Canada’s fiduciary responsibility, treaty rights, and other rights of Aboriginal peoples, including their inherent rights of self-government;
• In partnership with Aboriginal Peoples, work towards the creation of an Aboriginal Lands and Treaties Tribunal Act to establish an independent body to decide on specific claims, ensure that treaty negotiations are conducted and financed fairly, and ensure that treaty negotiations and claims resolutions do not result in the extinguishment of Aboriginal and treaty rights;
• Immediately implement the lands claims agreements already negotiated and languishing for lack of funding, particularly for First Nations in the territories;
• Review all existing federal policies on self-government, in consultation with Aboriginal representatives, to ensure they are achieving the goals of Aboriginal peoples;
• Ensure that negotiations of treaties and self-government are not based on the extinguishment of Aboriginal title and rights, and on assimilation, but on reconciliation of rights and title, and that negotiations recognize the diversity of traditional self-governance;
• Fully implement the recommendations of the 1996 Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, thereby embarking on true nation-to-nation negotiations on a full range of outstanding legal issues and land claims;
• Ensure that Canada upholds the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples;
• Launch a full inquiry into missing and murdered Aboriginal women;
• Support the restoration of the $5.1 billion commitment of the landmark Kelowna Accord reached between federal and provincial, territorial and First Nations governments in Canada in 2005, with the proviso that the ensuing programs do not lead to greater infringement on Aboriginal and treaty rights;
• Ensure that every First Nations, Metis, and Inuit child has access to quality educational opportunities based on the expressed cultural, political, and social priorities of the First Nations, Metis, and Inuit governments following meaningful consultation;
• Increase access for First Nations education by removing the 2% funding cap and fully funding the program back log (at a cost of $424 million);
• Ensure that governments and corporations respect the Sparrow decision (recognizing the Aboriginal right to fish), the Haida decision (the right of Aboriginal peoples to be not just consulted but their concerns accommodated regarding decisions that may impact their resources and their future), and the Tsilhqot’in decision;
• Negotiate and legislate primary hunting, fishing, trapping, and logging rights for Aboriginal peoples on traditional lands, especially lands under federal jurisdiction, subject to standards of sustainable harvesting;
• Respect the Douglas Treaties of southern Vancouver Island;
• Launch and maintain new processes driven by Aboriginal priorities and legal entitlements, to provide for interim measures prior to settlement of treaties, and address governance issues, a just and fair share of lands and resources, legislative inconsistencies, policy inequities, reconciliation and, if in accordance with the wishes of First Nations, the phased-out elimination of the Indian Act;
• Promote Aboriginal culture, language, and history as a fundamental source of Canadian identity;
• Support the development of Aboriginal education curricula that are language and culture specific;
• Assist the delivery of health care, education, and other services in a way that incorporates traditional practices and recognizes the role of extended families and elders;
• Set up task forces to address the treatment of Aboriginals in the Canadian justice system and to investigate and address the disappearance of Aboriginal women;
• Ensure, through consultation with indigenous organizations representing the concerns of Aboriginal women, that the rights of Inuit, Métis, and First Nations women are protected.