Passing for progress

Here's the Star's account of that "historic" meeting summit between the Prime Minister, 20 cabinet ministers and about 70 Indian native aboriginal First Nations leaders.

Martin said the government will now: Write a report on the summit; Convene a meeting between the Cabinet Committee on Aboriginal Affairs and native leaders to devise a course of action; Arrange roundtable discussions among individual ministers and aboriginal experts, provincial and territorial leaders and the private sector about developing goals. Annually release a government report card "to tell us and all Canadians how we're doing, what progress we're making and where we simply have to do better if we are to deliver our objective of closing the gap of living conditions for aboriginal Canadians."

That's the Prime Minister's "four-point plan" for rescuing natives from the morass of dependency and bureaucracy that governments have trapped them in for many decades -- Reports, meetings, reports about meetings and meetings about reports. Oh, and several more steps in the direction of dividing Canadian society irrevocably by race: possible participation by native leaders at meetings of the premiers First Ministers Council of the Federation (the Justice minister has mused about reserving seats for aboriginals on the Supreme Court); aboriginal school boards; "the creation of an Inuit Secretariat within Indian and Northern Affairs Canada," etc. etc. That, and a pledge to "reconsider" Louis Riel's place in Canadian history. (There's a bill before Parliament -- has it passed? -- to make him a Father of Confederation, declare a national day in his honour, etc.) Apparently, having twice raised an army against the government of Canada isn't enough to count as treason in this country, or not any more. You have to do it three times. All of this treading water and symbolic diversions, yet at least one native leader complained that the meeting was too substantive.

Russell Diabo, a Mohawk from Kahnawake, Que., applauded Martin's willingness to talk, in contrast with his predecessor Jean Chretien, but said Martin was focusing too much on programs and services and not enough on rights. "Maybe there will be some more houses built, maybe there will be some more money to build some schools, maybe some curriculum development, but ... without lands and resources and some clear recognition of inherent authority or sovereignty -- some degree of sovereignty internally within aboriginal groups, the freedom to make decisions and mistakes -- you're not going to see those changes to solve those other problems."

This is what passes for radical thinking within what Tom Flanagan calls the "aboriginal orthodoxy": replacing overgovernment by remote bureaucrats with overgovernment by local despots. There's your problem.