Congress of Aboriginal Peoples and the Off-Reserve Majority

[CAP's Urban Strategy Wins]

Speaking Notes for an Address by National Chief Patrick Brazeau Congress of Aboriginal Peoples

July 25th
Cornerbrook, Newfoundland
Check Against Delivery

Thank you, Premier, and good afternoon, ladies and gentleman, and fellow leaders. It’s a pleasure to join you here today in Corner Brook.

I’d like to begin by saying how important I consider these meetings to be. There are some who say that such brief exchanges provide for nothing more than a photo opportunity. Others call these occasions mere gestures. But to those who underestimate the value of consultation, dialogue and a raising of the bar on healthy debate that these meetings permit, I say, “think again”.

For, the simple truth is that we have a shared responsibility as Aboriginal and mainstream political leaders, to advocate on behalf of all Aboriginal peoples in Canada, regardless of where they live or whether they have been given status by the federal government.

What’s more important is that we not just talk, muse or debate – we must act – in a meaningful way, providing one another with advice, guidance and direction towards effective and sustainable solutions.

Let’s be clear, Canada has been grappling with the so-called “Indian problem” for over 130 years now.

To date, no lasting solution has been found. No panacea identified. No means discovered for building real and lasting hope amongst the disadvantaged Aboriginal peoples from sea to sea to sea.

It is true that many of these disadvantaged live on Indian Act reserves -- First Nations, as they are now termed. But there are a greater number of Aboriginal peoples who share equally in the poverty and devastation that torments Canada’s indigenous peoples. They are in our great North, as well as living on the land, away from communities.

And then, there are the growing numbers of the displaced of our peoples living in urban centres.

It is these of our people upon whose behalf I speak today. Premiers, we must begin to open our minds to the reality that the majority of Canada’s Aboriginal peoples – First Nations citizens, Métis and Inuit of all ages, genders and circumstance – now live away from Indian Act reserves.

This means they gain almost no benefit from the $9.1 billion the federal government invests in Aboriginal programming and services. It is staggering to consider that for every $8 the government spends on-reserve, only $1 is spent on off-reserve programming and services.

What’s more, we are not suggesting that accommodation of off-reserve Aboriginal peoples come about at the expense of the needs of our on-reserve Brothers, Sisters and Elders.

The urbanization of Canada has been going on in this country for as long as the Indian Act has been around, perhaps even longer. To this day, many in this country from villages, towns and hamlets make their way to the big cities with hearts filled with dreams of success, heads yearning for knowledge and hope that knows no bounds.

Sadly, Aboriginal peoples don’t have the same circumstances awaiting them. They are often forced by the hopelessness of reserve communities to leave, in anticipation that something, anything better than what’s at home, will await them in the city.

All too well, we know exactly what does await newfound urban aboriginals, in many cases: homelessness, unemployment, racism, violence, incarceration, drugs and intolerance.

These realities have for years been dismissed, ignored, discounted and rebuffed. We can no longer do this. Premiers, ask the mayors of your largest cities if you need proof of the sense of real and pressing need in our urban centres.

Ask your Chiefs of Police, or those who run your homeless shelters, drop-in centres and health clinics. All of us are already paying the price for ignoring this real and growing shift in Aboriginal demography.

The point I wish to make today is simple: Investments of any kind in dealing with improving Aboriginal quality of life must aim to address the needs of all Aboriginal peoples, regardless of their government-given status or where they live.

Otherwise, they are doomed to the same fate as all the other attempts at ending the despair and poverty that continues to rob this country’s Aboriginal peoples of the prosperity and hope for a better life that they so richly deserve.

Proposed solutions that cater to “distinctions” of Aboriginal people are equally doomed to failure. Need knows no distinction. And suffering is a very portable commodity.

The needs and aspirations of First Nations are worthy of recognition and accommodation, whether on- or off-reserve. The suffering of a Métis or Inuit family is equally legitimate, whether they are living on the prairies, in the North, or on the streets of downtown Saskatoon, Winnipeg or Toronto.

Premiers, for the most part, this is a situation that affects you and your governments. This fiscal imbalance is alive and well in Indian country. We must begin to address it together – we have asked as much of the new national government, and they have
responded favourably.

The Harper Government aims to increase funding to the Provinces and Territories for Aboriginal programs and services through legislative means, while continuing to affirm their own fiduciary responsibilities in Aboriginal affairs.

The so-called Kelowna investments of last November were never rationalized; What’s worse, they sought to entrench a distinctions-based approach that would have left the majority of Aboriginal peoples in this country wanting.

As someone who was at the table throughout the entire process running up to Kelowna, I can tell you I knew of no specifics regarding any investments destined for the off-reserve Aboriginal community – with one exception, and that is the $300 million in funding for off-reserve Aboriginal housing.

Thankfully, these investments saw the light of day in the Harper government’s budget, tabled early this Spring. With respect to these investments, I ask you, Premiers, to engage our Provincial affiliates in the delivery of off-reserve housing programs flowing from these investments. They have a long successful track record of success in housing Aboriginal peoples regardless of status or distinction.

In closing, I urge the Premiers, and the other national Aboriginal leaders here today to adopt a more progressive, more open-minded, and much less partisan approach. A generation with diverse needs across equally diverse geography awaits our intervention.

An effective step in that direction would be the convening of a forum on urban Aboriginal Peoples. The Congress of Aboriginal Peoples is prepared to work with any interested Province to hold such an event. Such a summit would permit to us to attack head-on the issues confronted tens by of thousands of off-reserve Aboriginal peoples.

A wise man once said, “If not us, whom? If not now, when?” Today, I ask all of us gathered here today to consider these same questions, and to act with courage and conviction.

Together, we have the will and the creativity to put an end to Aboriginal poverty, and to tackle the fiscal imbalance in Canada’s Aboriginal affairs.

Quite simply, I believe, as I trust you do, that “where’s there’s hope, there’s quality of life”.

I want to build hope for Aboriginal peoples from sea to sea to sea. And I’m asking for your help today to do just that.

Thank you, Meegw’etch.

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The Congress of Aboriginal Peoples Strategic Plan Works and Wins!

"Federal Budget . . . a down payment." CAP National Chief Patrick Brazeau

News and Comment
by Tehaliwaskenhas
Bob Kennedy, Oneida
Copyright
Turtle Island Native Network
http://www.turtleisland.org
May 6, 2006

In the world of advertising and marketing, it is known as "Positioning". Few Aboriginal leaders can say they came out on top, after the unveiling of the 2006 Budget in Ottawa.

However, Patrick Brazeau, following in the footsteps of his colleague and predecessor Dwight Dorey, has not only captured the atttention and friendship of the federal Conservatives, but also their financial support.

As much as $300 million. That money is to address, "immediate pressures in off-reserve Aboriginal housing," explained the Minister of Finance in his budget speech to the nation. (The funds will flow to the provinces, so we still must wait to see how much and when the money makes its way into the lives of urban Aboriginals)

For Brazeau's Congress of Aboiginal Peoples constituency, it translates in successful, valuable political positioning, at a time when the rest of Aboriginal Canada's cacophony cries, "foul". Their furor was aimed at what the budget didn't include - all of the $5Billion plus, promised in the Kelowna Accord of last year's First Ministers' meeting.

But Brazeau has a much different perspective, "The Federal budget was a down payment on the prosperity the Kelowna commitments seek to deliver . . . a significant step in the right direction in its recognition of the needs and aspirations of off-reserve and non-status Indians".

Unlike the Friendship Centres that are in the business of direct delivery of programs and services, the Congress is a political organization that advocates on behalf of urban Aboriginals. It now finds itself in the enviable position of budget broker to the Friendship Centres, whose national body recently signed a partnering arrangement with the Assembly of First Nations - Cap's arch-enemy ( if I am allowed to invoke poetic licence here).

Brazeau believes the budget is the foundation for a launch pad for his ongoing efforts to have a federal government that will ensure, "Aboriginal programming and services become better targeted to all Aboriginal peoples regardless of place of residency or status".

Funnily enough, CAP was not alone in Kelowna as an outspoken critic of the lack of committment to the off-reserve population. Friendship Centres staff were also among those protesting at the meeting site.

Seems to me, there is a fairly healthy dose of irony included in what the AFN and others find hard to swallow in the budget.

In the ensuing debate, the Prime Minister, Finance Minister and the rest of the Conservative budget defenders, have frequently cited Brazeau's support. Speaking from his position of strength, the CAP leader finds no reason to be stingy, with his euphony of sycophant support for his newfound allies, "There are some who believe this budget represents an abandonment of the Kelowna commitments. We disagree completely with this. Through this budget, the government has set about to honour its commitments, which include a pledge to revisit the Kelowna investments. Off-reserve Aboriginal peoples were promised investment of $300 million in the Kelowna commitments. Through this budget the Harper government has delivered on this promise".

It appears that the Congress will be front and centre when the time comes to inject a Conservative flavour into the Kelowna Accord. After all, Prime Minister Harper has made it clear that while he intends to live up to what was promised at Kelowna, it must be more to his liking.

Once again, Patrick Brazeau is on board, "We believe the only commitment from Kelowna that deserves abandonment is the distinctions-based framework put in place by the former Liberal government. This approach sought to exclude non-status and off-reserve Indians, as well as Aboriginal women and children, from sharing in the considerable investments Kelowna aimed to deliver.

Further, the Congress remains concerned that little if any attention was paid at the First Ministers Meeting to ensuring that there would be proper accountability and transparency around the Kelowna commitments. We support the new national government’s aim to revisit the approach to the Kelowna commitments, and develop workable solutions to the already-established targets. We applaud their commitment to working with national Aboriginal organizations and with the Provinces and Territories to “put wheels on the Kelowna targets” as Minister Prentice has termed it".

Being on top, you can more easily be directive in your pronouncements to the one you are looking down on, wouldn't you agree?

Brazeau apparently thinks so, "In considering the Aboriginal component to the Federal budget, we would encourage other Aboriginal organizations to take a more prudent and pragmatic approach to making the Kelowna commitments a reality. The government continues to honour its commitments to the Congress and the Forgotten People for whom it speaks".

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