OTTAWA– Liberal Aboriginal Affairs critic Dr. Carolyn Bennett made the following statement today on tomorrow’s Crown-First Nations Gathering:
“The Crown-First Nations Gathering presents a historic opportunity for Prime Minister Harper and his Conservative government to embrace a new partnership with First Nations and begin the process of removing the systemic barriers to progress.
First, funding for essential services like education, housing, water and community infrastructure must be based on real cost drivers and needs rather than an artificial and discriminatory 2% cap. Increased funding must be directed to areas of transformative change, including creating First Nations school boards, improving capacity in water and wastewater management, and closing the housing gap.
Second, negotiations must begin on how to reform the fiscal relationship, address the lack of clarity on land claims and treaty implementation, and ensure that the full, prior and informed consent of First Nations is obtained before introducing any legislation.
Finally, now is the time to establish a long-term consultation process for moving beyond the Indian Act, which successive First Nations leaders and prime ministers have acknowledged is a failed colonial legacy that is an impediment to resolving long-standing social inequities.
We hope that the Crown-First Nations Gathering will produce meaningful action on these fronts, affirm Aboriginal inherent, treaty and constitutional rights, as well as the rights guaranteed under the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and restore the government-to-government relationship between Canada and First Nations.”
