Conservative ideals needed on reserves

While the media was fuming over the conservative party’s rejection of a climate change motion at their convention, no attention was paid to the reopening of the party’s Indigenous policy for discussion. disappointingly, the conservatives focused on cosmetic tweaks, swapping out “Indian” and “Aboriginal” for “Indigenous.” The changes shouldn’t have stopped there.

conservative policy on First Nations is sorely in need of rethinking and if nothing else, it could use a grounding in conservative ideology — ideology that is supposed to include commitment to small government, individual rights, and a belief that Ottawa doesn’t know best.

The core of the conservative policy statement is focused on government accountability, including giving the federal Auditor General the power to investigate First Nations governments. however, this isn’t anything like the kind of accountability non-native canadians would expect for themselves. Under conservative rule, First Nations governments wouldn’t be responsible to the people they govern, but instead chiefs and councils would be accountable to distant Ottawa bureaucrats. This is only a change in degree to what is happening now.

currently, First Nations governments must submit dozens of reports to Ottawa for review, and inspection — accounting for every dollar of federal money. They do not have to face outside inspection or accountability for own source revenue (i.e. money they generate themselves) — the Tories do not address this gap in oversight. No thought is given to how individual First Nations citizens can check their own government’s spending, or how power is used.

Some parts of the Tory policy are right, while still somehow being wrong, specifically their proposal to extend charter rights to First Nations. Uncharacteristically for conservatives, they focus mostly on gender, and equality rights which are named in the policy, while fundamental civil liberties like freedom of expression and freedom of assembly are not mentioned. These latter two rights are under constant challenge on reserve by overreaching Indian Act chiefs and councils.

It is not uncommon in this country for media to be banned from reserve, for dissidents to face censure from their own reserve governments — as I myself have been. Some have been sued, some have lost jobs, and even their homes — with each act of repression enforced by canadian courts, and canadian police forces. In 2019, cbc’s Jorge Barrera released shocking footage of Ontario Provincial Police officers disrupting a pro-democracy meeting held by members of the Ojibway Nation of Saugeen, seemingly at the behest of their unelected chief. That same year the canadian human rights Tribunal fined the Sandy Lake First Nation $20,000 to be given as compensation to Angele Kamalatisit who, with her son, was banished from reserve because of her husband’s political activity.

In my work on free speech rights on reserve, I reached out to conservative Indigenous Affairs critic cathy Mcleod, who promised to monitor the situation, but who wouldn’t commit to more than that. Which was much more than we received from former conservative MP, the late Mark Warawa who represented the riding which included our First Nation’s main reserve. his office threw up their hands and said “it would not be appropriate for him to intervene in this matter”.

This from a party, and in fact a leader who has made such a big deal of free speech on campus. When it’s actual political repression O’toole is far more timid.

The Tories commit to working toward Indigenous self-government, but it would be defined by Ottawa and pointedly, it would be grounded in “democratic authority” — something that would be a problem for those First Nations which, like canada itself, have hereditary government. They also propose allowing property ownership on reserve, which has proved disastrous when tried on reservations in the United States. For an idea of how that would work out, just look at the Vancouver housing market — where the ability of foreign ownership of property has squeezed out “small-n” native-born buyers. An open market for property could see First Nations individuals put in the same boat as the non-native 30-somethings of Vancouver and Toronto — unable to afford to live in the places they were born.

every party has a role to play in Indigenous Policy. A policy dominated by Liberals — with no coherent criticism from the opposition — will only reflect Liberal ideals and priorities. No nation, including no First Nation, can function well if its policies are controlled by a single ideological wing. We need conservative ideology and conservative priorities to accurately represent the grassroots people on reserve against their governments. Not as the only way forward, but as a part of it — the part the Liberals won’t do. The Liberals won’t make individual rights a priority on reserve, they’ve shown no intention of making First Nations governments accountable to their citizens, and they aren’t being pushed to do more to make it possible for individual First Nations citizens to access credit to create small businesses. All of these are policies that only the conservative Party would stand up for — if they actually chose to extend their ideals to Indigenous people.

This desire for meaningful policy from every party is reflected in First Nations voting intentions, which are split almost evenly four ways between each of the parties. By putting together this antiquated and incoherent mess of an Indigenous Policy, the Tories are failing their responsibility to First Nations individuals.

One might wonder why the Tories specifically and canadians more generally are so poorly informed on Indigenous Policy. One reason is conservative media. The National Post, for example, often publishes people whose understanding of First Nations affairs was out of date when the Trudeau in charge was named Pierre. They’re too busy fighting a culture war against the loud non-native “allies” of Indigenous people in the academy, and on the cbc — to concern themselves with anything real or meaningful to people on reserve. Some writers here tilt at the windmills of representation, land acknowledgments, or something as pointless as whose ancestors invented which technology 500 years ago. conservatives follow suit and the result is seen on the mess that makes up their ill-considered Aboriginal, sorry, “Indigenous” Policy Guide.

In 2022, when the Tories meet again, they need to do more than make politically correct language changes to their Indigenous Policy, they need to look at the citizens of First Nations as voters, and create policy that puts them and their rights first.

The policy needs more Than political Correctness.

National Post Robert Jago is a Montreal-based entrepreneur and writer, he is a citizen of the Kwantlen First Nation. The big issues are far from settled. Sign up for the NP Comment newsletter, NP Platformed — the cure for cancel culture, at nationalpost.com/platformed