AFN National Chief Perry Bellegarde with FSIN Chief Bobby Cameron at a recent smudge walk in Saskatoon. Photo by Joel Willick
One year ago, Justin Trudeau was elected as Prime Minister of Canada and shortly after, made several promises to Canada’s First Nations people.
Assembly of First Nations National Chief, Perry Bellegarde, says while the relationship between the federal government and First Nations people is continuing to grow, he says these promises are not moving along fast enough.
“There is still work to do,” said Bellegarde. “It’s a good, cooperative, working relationship, but it’s not perfect, so we have to keep working to improve that.”
At the AFN Assembly last December, the Prime Minister made five promises to First Nations people.
He promised an inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, the implementation of all calls to action from the TRC, a removal of the two per cent funding gap, investments in education and a federal law review on laws and policies negatively affecting First Nations.
According to Chief Bellegarde, some of these promises are moving along, while others have already hit snags. The National Inquiry on missing and murdered Indigenous women was announced last summer, and $8.4 billion was directed to First Nations during the federal budget.
However, one of the calls to action from the TRC was the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People. Recently, Justice Minister, Jody Wilson-Raybould, announced adopting the declaration as is may not be possible. A federal law review process has yet to be put in place.
Chief Bellegarde says these are a few examples of bureaucracy getting in the way.
While the AFN Chief says he didn’t expect these promises to be taken care of in one year, he is concerned government bureaucracy may block some of the promises from being completed.
“These promises will be done over a five, ten or 15-year period, as long as we have the plan going forward,” said Bellegarde. “It is more a matter of overhauling the bureaucracy as well to ensure these dollars get out to the communities.”
He says in order for those promises to be fulfilled, bureaucracy needs to work for First Nations people.
“As soon as that happens, I think you will see a more positive impact on these investments put in place. Young First Nations men and women are the fastest growing demographic, so start investing in human capital and there will be huge returns in the future.”