Steps in the right direction
by MNO President Tony Belcourt

The news that the Government of Ontario will not appeal our recent court victory in the case of R v. Laurin, Lemieux and Lemieux and the recent announcement that Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty has created a new Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs are definitely steps in the right direction. How big they become is yet to be seen; and we are also missing a similar step by the federal government.

We have always advocated negotiations in preference to litigation or confrontation. Unfortunately, until now, the governments have preferred litigation. The 1991 Interim Enforcement Policy provided that “an aboriginal person” hunting and fishing for food and for social and ceremonial purposes “will not be subject to enforcement procedures” unless they are violating principles and laws regarding conservation and safety. Even though the Constitution of Canada clearly defines our people as one of the Aboriginal peoples of Canada, the Government of Ontario ignored their own policy and charged our people.

In 2003, in the historic decision by the Supreme Court of Canada in R v. Powley, the courts confirmed the existence of Métis constitutional rights and called for governments to make accommodation to enable Métis people to access their rights. On July 7, 2004, we reached another historic day when Ministry of Natural Resources (mnr) Minister, David Ramsay, and I concluded our 4-Point mno/mnr Harvesting Agreement. Shortly after that the mnr unilaterally declared that this Agreement only applied in our traditional harvesting territories north and west of Sudbury and promptly started to charge our people. So much for negotiations and reaching agreements to settle issues! Again we were back in court—litigation instead of negotiation.

On June 12th the court firmly declared that our agreement was binding on the Crown and dropped the charges in the case. Thankfully the government has announced that it will not appeal that decision. Finally, after long battles with the government over the recognition of our rights to harvest, we now have a step in the right direction.
In my statement following the release of the Ipperwash Inquiry Report I said:

“We have been advocating for many years for a Minister who would have a clear mandate and authority to deal exclusively with Aboriginal issues at the Cabinet table. We need the tools to work towards reconciliation. We need the tools to ensure justice and fairness to Aboriginal peoples and to make the changes to existing systemic discriminatory policies and processes that impede us. We need the tools to say to our own people the place to work out our issues is at the negotiations table. We need the tools to develop reconciliation and understanding between Aboriginal peoples and other citizens of Ontario and all of Canada.”

Premier McGuinty’s decision to create a Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs is definitely a step in the right direction, but until there is a “stand alone” minister and not one who is also a minister of a conflicting ministry—such as the mnr or the Attorney General—this is not quite, in my opinion, a full step forward, but a hesitant one. Nevertheless , we now have the leverage to call on the government to take perhaps what it considers a “giant leap” by removing the shackles on the minister whose sole mandate should be to advocate for us and whose attention will be solely on those issues of concern to Aboriginal peoples.

I hope these steps in the right direction will be the catalyst for similar steps to be taken at the federal level. Very regrettably, the Métis were excluded from the recent announcement of a new land claims process that the Federal Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs called “Justice for All - Justice at Last”. Métis National Council President, Clement Chartier, issued a plea for an expansion of this new policy so that Métis would finally have a process open to them for the negotiation of their long-standing land claims. The only process now available is to resort to the courts. President Chartier characterized the federal announcement as not “Justice for All”, but “Justice for Some”.

I am very anxious to return to the table with the Government of Ontario to urge that the steps they are taking will result in justice for the Métis Nation. The Premier stated, in creating the new ministry that it will “work with the federal government on a new process that would expedite land claims here in Ontario”. I call on the Premier and the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs to work with the federal government and us to ensure that the “new process” does not perpetuate the past practices of exclusion of the Métis but that there will be clear provisions to allow our people and our communities to address their legitimate claims. Justice demands a step in that direction.

The Premier’s announcement also calls for the “Launch of a New Relationship Fund, which will help Aboriginal communities strengthen their skills and resources to work more seamlessly with governments.” That too is a step in the right direction, but where the Métis Nation is concerned it does not go far enough. While the government has announced a new offer to First Nations for funds from gaming in Ontario that will be in the billions of dollars, the Métis have been glaringly excluded from any such funding. Establishing a fund from gaming revenues specifically for the Métis Nation will be a matter high on the agenda in our future discussions with the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs. It is a fundamental step in the direction of finally according equity and justice for the Métis.

I wish to congratulate the Premier and the Government of Ontario for taking the positive and important steps it has taken. As the Premier said: “We have to roll up our sleeves and do the hard work to building trust and forging a more productive relationship with Aboriginal people - because we know from the past that confrontation doesn’t work”. I agree with him. He has taken the first steps in the right direction. I am anxious to build on them..

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Katelin Peltier
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