On Feb. 14, 2018, Colten Boushie, a 22-year-old man from Red Pheasant Cree Nation killed in 2016, was mentioned multiple times in the House of Commons.
Representatives from Red Pheasant Cree Nation (including Boushie’s mother Debbie Baptiste, his cousin Jade Tootoosis and his uncle, Alvin Baptiste) recently travelled to Ottawa to meet with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Minister of Justice Jody Wilson-Raybould.
Trudeau gave a speech that began at nearly 3 p.m. Central Standard Time. He said the criminal justice system is an area that needed reform, in order to ensure that, among other things, Indigenous peoples might once again have confidence in a system that has failed them all too often in the past
Trudeau said the Liberal government will “bring forward broad-based concrete reforms to the criminal justice system, including changes to how juries are selected.”
Among other comments, Trudeau also said “that the government will develop, in full partnership with First Nations, Inuit, and Métis people, a new recognition and implementation of Indigenous rights framework that will include new ways to recognize and implement indigenous rights.”
One set of rights Trudeau repeatedly referenced was section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982, which former area activist John Tootoosis advocated for in the early 1980s.
The text of section 35 (excluding 35.1) is as follows:
“35(1) The existing aboriginal and treaty rights of the aboriginal people in Canada are hereby recognized and affirmed.
(2) In this Act, “Aboriginal Peoples of Canada “includes the Indian, Inuit, and Métis Peoples of Canada.
(3) For greater certainty, in subsection (1), “treaty rights” includes rights that now exist by way of land claims agreements or may be so acquired.
(4) Notwithstanding any other provision of this act, the aboriginal and treaty rights referred to in subsection (1) are guaranteed equally to male and female persons.”
Consultation of the framework would come from a number of different people in Canada, particularly First Nations, Métis and Inuit, and would be led by the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Carolyn Bennett, with support from Wilson-Raybould.
In addition to recognizing and implementing rights, Trudeau said the framework could resolve disputes and align Canadian legislation and policies with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Trudeau also said federal leaders are working with Indigenous partners on developing a First Nations, Inuit and Métis languages act.
Cathy MacLeod, Conservative MP for Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo, spoke next. Among other comments, she spoke of the Conservative Party’s actions regarding Indigenous matters.
MacLeod said a Conservative government apologized for residential schools, created the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, apologized for the relocation of Inuit families, and honoured the Métis veterans who fought on Juno Beach. She also said the previous government repealed Section 67 of the Canadian Human Rights Act “to ensure that Indigenous people in Canada have full access to the protections of the Canadian Human Rights Act when living on reserve,” and enacted the Family Homes on Reserves and Matrimonial Interests or Rights Act, “providing spouses on reserve with basic rights and protections that any Canadian would expect. In so many instances where the act took effect, the primary beneficiaries were women and children.”
Regarding decisions by the Liberal government, MacLeod said “the government has too often fallen short of them, even in its brief time in office."
It has been unable to adhere to its own standard of openness and transparency, despite arguments to the contrary, she said. Community members have been deprived of basic financial information by the government, she added, saying it is unable to hold its leadership to account.
“This is not democracy.”
The government is on track to fall well short of some of the deadlines it set in the most recent election when it comes to promises made, she said.
Reconciliation isn’t true and lasting, said MacLeod, without economic reconciliation, which she said would “[empower] Indigenous communities to share in the wealth that Canada is so capable of creating for all of its citizens.”
MacLeod also mentioned issues that arose regarding the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
Romeo Saganash, NDP representative of the Quebec riding Abitibi-Baie-James-Nunavik-Eeyou, began comments in Cree, which Hansard didn’t translate, then continued in English.
Regarding the Prime Minister's comments, Saganash said “I heard the same words from the mouth of the Prime Minister during the last federal election campaign. I heard the same words from the Prime Minister after his election. I heard the same words from the Prime Minister when he spoke in December 2015, after his election, to the Assembly of First Nations. He talked about the United Nations declaration. He talked about delivering on that promise. Let us make sure that it happens for real this time.”
Saganash said there were a number things that could be fixed in the short term, and that frameworks already exist, particularly section 35.
“Let us start going beyond the MOUs, the framework agreements, the engagement sessions, and the litany of expressions the Liberals have been using. I have negotiated for 30 years with governments and third parties. In our jargon, we call that delay tactics. We call that a policy of ‘we will do it, eventually.’”
Saganash said a new framework should contain 12 elements, which include human rights, special measures for safeguarding certain aspects of Indigenous cultures, equality and non-discrimination, repudiating the doctrine of superiority, consultation, environment and development, restitution of lands and territories, and revitalizing Indigenous languages and cultures.
Elizabeth May of the Green Party also gave a speech, supporting repudiating the doctrine of discovery and abolishing peremptory challenges as recommended by legal scholar Kent Roach, who has commented on the Stanley trial.
Full text of the debate can be found at ourcommons.ca under Parliamentary Business.
