2011 Federal Election Platforms and NAO Positions - Woefully Empty

Thanks for all your e-mails, texts, FB messages, and comments. I am encouraged to see so many people interested in the legal and political issues affecting our people. I know first hand that trying to sort out each political parties ACTUAL position on issues can be very overwhelming, confusing, and even impossible at times. There are so many political players out there saying one thing and doing another, or making promises that seem great but are not considered in the whole context, or even worse, saying things that have hidden meanings which are not so great.

How are any of us supposed to figure this out? I do am certainly no genie who can know anything for certain, but what I do know is that our issues have no priority in this election - which is a shameful situation given that we are the First Peoples of this land and that so many Canadians live off the prosperity gained from our lands and resources.

In my last blog, I provided a chart which compared how the platforms compared with my own list of important issues. I have now fully updated that chart with all the major parties' platforms.

http://indigenousnationhood.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparison-of-federal-parties-platforms.html

I admit that this chart is not the best as blogger has certain space limitations, so I will try to summarize the platforms here in a more concise way:

LIBERAL Election Platform:

http://cdn.liberal.ca/files/2011/04/liberal_platform.pdf

(1) a partial removal of the funding cap on First Nation post-secondary education with an extra $200M in the first 2 years;

(2) stable funding for First Nations University of Canada;

(3) $5M  per year (for 3 years) for a Metis scholarship;

(4) $300M for k-12 education in year 2;

(5) Will continue support for Aboriginal Headstart;

(6) Will create a First Nation Auditor General;

(7) Will have an inquiry into the number of Murdered and Missing Aboriginal Women; and

(8) "Retain lessons and spirit of Kelowna process".

CONSERVATIVE Election Platform: 

http://www.conservative.ca/media/ConservativePlatform2011_ENs.pdf

(1) New investment in First Nation Land Management to promote development of their land;

(2) Expand adult basic education in territories;

(3) Environmental safety upgrades to fuel tanks;

(4) Promote clean energy;

(5) Commemoration of War of 1812 celebrating First Nation veterans and others;

(6) Work with Aboriginal people and others to create National Conservation Plan;

(7) New national park in Rouge Valley and will try to talk to Aboriginal people and others;

(8) Hunting Advisory panel that will include some Aboriginal people;

(9) Will continue to work cooperatively with Aboriginal people, by enacting accountability legislation publishing salaries of chiefs;

NDP Election Platform: 

http://xfer.ndp.ca/2011/2011-Platform/NDP-2011-Platform-En.pdf

(1) Increase Canada Student Grants by $200 million, with focus on Aboriginal people and others;

(2) Legislation to target poverty reduction in consultation with Aboriginal and other governments;

(3) Recruit Aboriginal and other medical students;

(4) Lower carbon future in partnership with Aboriginal governments and others;

(5) New partnership with Aboriginal people on nation-nation basis;

(6) End discrimination faced by Aboriginal people - access to capital, improve housing and drinking water, remove 2% funding cap and increase education budget by $1 billion a year over 4 years;

(7) Federal response to violence against Aboriginal women and support funding their organizations;

(8) Work with First Nations and provinces to add 2500 new police officers

BLOC Election Platform:

http://www.blocquebecois.org/dossiers/campagne-2011/documents/EnoncePolitique-Anglais.pdf

(1) Establish nation to nation relations with Aboriginal Nations.

GREEN PARTY Election Platform:

http://greenparty.ca/files/attachments/vision_green_april_2011.pdf

(1) Small scale project funding to restore wild fish stocks;

(2) Greater role of Aboriginal people and others in managing fishery;

(3) Encourage Aboriginal eco-tourism;

(4) Work with Aboriginal people and others to extend land and marine protected areas;

(5) End trophy hunting but protect Aboriginal and other hunters' subsistence hunting;

(6) Eliminate exposure of Aboriginal people and others to toxins;

(7) No commercial seal hunt, only subsistence hunting by Aboriginal people and others;

(8) No bowhead whale hunting for Aboriginal peoples or others;

(9) Honour intent of land claims agreements;

(10) Regulate all arctic activity, except traditional Aboriginal activity;

(11) Restore $5.1B in funding and Kelowna Accord;

(12) Create baselines for Aboriginal health;

(13) End to policies of assimilation and strong support for health and education;

(14) Will ensure governments and corporations respect 1990 Sparrow decision and that Aboriginal people be consulted and accommodated;

(15) Nation to nation relations and no more shameful events like Oka, Calendonia etc;

(16) Honour fiduciary duty and inherent right to self-government;

(17) Implement treaties and land tribunal, respect Douglas Treaties of Vancouver Island;

(18) Fully implement Royal Commission on Aboriginal People's 1996 recommendations;

(19) Promote Aboriginal culture, language and history as part of Canadian identity;

(20) Set up task forces on violence against Aboriginal women and over-representation of Aboriginal peoples in the justice system;

FIRST PEOPLES NATIONAL PARTY Election Platform:

http://www.fpnpoc.ca/cgi-bin/news1.cgi?search_for=1302757723&action='search'

There is no real platform contained on their website. However they have a two-pronged "vision" which includes:

(1) Make Native studies courses compulsory in high school and university;

(2) Abolish Senate and replace with elected First Nations House.

So that is the overview of the party platforms with regard to Aboriginal peoples in Canada. There is also the English leadership debate that can be viewed online at CBC:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canadavotes2011/leaders-debate/#

While I had fully intended to do a thorough debrief of everything said by the party leaders with regards to Aboriginal peoples, it turns out that Aboriginal issues were not raised or discussed. The SOLITARY comment made about Aboriginal issues was made by Jack Layton of the NDP at 1 hour and 30 minutes into the 2 hour debate. Layton commented that violence against women needs specific attention by addressing underlying issues like those raised by Aboriginal leaders around housing. That's it - not a single word was raised by anyone else on any other issues specific to Aboriginal peoples. It was simply too brief to debrief.

What about information and positions from our own National Aboriginal Organizations (NAOs)? I reviewed the websites for the Assembly of First Nations (AFN), the Native Womens' Association of Canada (NWAC), the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples (CAP), the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK); the Metis National Council (MNC) and even included the National Association of Friendship Centres (NAFC) for good measure. While the AFN had the most information posted, CAP and NWAC's websites were embarrassingly empty.

The AFN provided information related to the AFN's election platforms, questions they asked of the parties, a survey asking for feedback on election priorities, news releases and statements about election issues and a summary of the party platforms.

http://www.afn.ca/index.php/en/news-media/current-issues/2011-federal-election-first-nations-count-our-communities-our-nations-our

They also provided an easy to read chart on how the party platforms measured up to the AFN's priorities:

http://www.afn.ca/uploads/files/summary_of_2011_election_platforms_final.pdf

The MNC has an "Election Page" which highlights the MNC election priorities, the questions they asked of the federal parties and the corresponding responses they received:

http://www.metisnation.ca/2011election/index.html

The ITK has one media release about the election questions it asked of the parties but no other information was posted.

http://www.itk.ca/media-centre/media-releases/national-inuit-leader-delivers-11-questions-election-2011

CAP and NWAC on the other hand had nothing posted on their websites. In fact, if their constituents relied solely on their organisations' websites for information, they'd be out of luck. CAP's homepage has outdated information from October of 2010 and NWAC's most recent announcement concerns the Joint Process for Bill C-3. These two organisations, which allegedly represent the majority of the Aboriginal population, and especially the urban Aboriginal population should be more "present" in the lives of their constituents.

Even the NAFC has information posted on their website for urban Aboriginal people and they are not even a political organization:

http://www.nafc.ca/nafc-federal-election-party-questions.htm

For all those Aboriginal people that want to vote and want to be informed about the party they may vote for, I think we all need to help inform each other. I hope you all find this summary useful and if not, please keep emailing me about what you would like to see. With regard to my own opinions, I will be offering my commentary on these platforms in the days to come, but for now I will try to highlight as many resources as possible based on the questions and comments I get in the interim.

Comparison of Federal Parties Platforms on Aboriginal Policy

Below you will find my chart of some of the election issues that are important to me and my family. What I did was compare what was important to us against the election platforms of the major federal parties.

The first three issues are fundamental to First Nation-Crown relations and the most important to me. After that, the issues I listed are in no particular order, but are all important.

If you are wondering why there are so many blank spaces in my chart -so am I. I have reviewed all the election platforms on all the parties websites and it is SLIM PICKENS when it comes to real meaningful promises or commitments for Aboriginal peoples.

I wonder if the parties think that because Harper was so bad with Aboriginal issues that we are so desperate as to accept any promise, no matter how small?

BLOC - The word "Aboriginal" only appears once in the Bloc's platform and simply says they will deal with First Nations on a Nation-to-Nation basis.

 http://www.blocquebecois.org/dossiers/campagne-2011/documents/EnoncePolitique-Anglais.pdf

NDP - The NDP's platform outline on their website lacks any details yet and there is no mention of Aboriginal issues - more to come I am sure.

http://www.ndp.ca/platform

FIRST PEOPLES - Even the First Peoples National Party has next to nothing on their website except for a call to abolish Senate and replace it with elected Aboriginal people and to ensure all schools and universities teach Native Studies courses.

http://www.fpnpoc.ca/cgi-bin/news1.cgi?search_for=1301720468&action='search'

GREEN - The Green Party commits to add $800M a year to federal funding for education, housing, and water. They also promise to have Canada implement UNDRIP as well as Kelowna.

http://greenparty.ca/files/attachments/vision_green_april_2011.pdf

PC - The Conservatives do far more boasting than offering any real substantial commitments to Aboriginal peoples. It ends up being more assimilation with a side order of paternalism with their tiresome focus on chief's salaries.

http://www.conservative.ca/media/ConservativePlatform2011_ENs.pdf

LIBERAL - Then there is the Liberal Party, who has produced a detailed platform which does mention Aboriginal peoples. The Liberal promises are as follows:

(1) a partial removal of the funding cap on First Nation post-secondary education with an extra $200M in the first 2 years;

(2) stable funding for First Nations University of Canada;

(3) $5M  per year (for 3 years) for a Metis scholarship;

(4) $300M for k-12 education in year 2;

(5) Will continue support for Aboriginal Headstart;

(6) Will create a First Nation Auditor General;

(7) Will have an inquiry into the number of Murdered and Missing Aboriginal Women; and

(8) "Retain lessons and spirit of Kelowna process".

http://cdn.liberal.ca/files/2011/04/liberal_platform.pdf

So, as the weeks go on and the parties speak more about their platforms and release more details, if they make any promises for Aboriginal peoples, I will add them to my chart. In the meantime, this chart should stand as a glaring reminder of how little attention our issues have received so far and to demand more from these parties.

What is being promised so far leaves something to be desired. Perhaps if any of the parties are reading my blog, they might want to consider either including or beefing up their sections on Aboriginal peoples. We are the First Peoples of this land and our rights are constitutionally enshrined. We have treaties signed between Nations that have yet to be recognized and implemented.

We also have a crisis in First Nation poverty caused by colonial policies of land and resource theft, denial of basic rights and freedoms and an active policy of assimilation. Until those issues are addressed, a few election promises won't make much of a difference in the everyday lives of Indigenous peoples.

Issue	Liberals	Conservatives	NDP	Bloc	Green	FPNP
Nation-Nation Relations		Honour FN vets in War 1812 commem.	Yes	Yes	Yes	Remove Senate, elect Abs
Treaty Recog & Implementation					Priority funds to enhance fish stocks, greater FN role, Land & treaty tribunal, respect douglas treaty
Address Land Claims		Invest in FN land management			Eco-tourism for FNs, extend protect area, honour intent of land claims agrees, no extinguish
Remove 2% Funding Cap	Partial, $200M/2 yr		Yes plus capital $ for business
Implement Kelowna	“lessons & spirit”				Yes, restore $5.1B in funds	“fight poverty”
Increase PSE Funding	FNUC stable $, $5M Metis scholarship	Adult education in north, skills training in north	Yes, $1B per yr for 4 years, grants for Ab students		Yes *$800M/yr
Increase k-12 Funding	$300M in yr 2				Yes *$800M, promote culture & language	No,Native courses
Proper Funds for Housing		safety upgrades to fuel tanks in north	Yes		Yes *$800M
Proper Funds for Water		promote clean technologies	Yes		Yes *$800M
Child & Family Equal Funds					Reduce toxin exposure
Make all Laws s.35 Compliant		work in collab w FN re national conservation strategy, hunting advisory panel, respect economic groups			Respect s.35, but no commercial seal hunt, no whale hunt
Ab Headstart	Will “support”
Make all laws s.15 Compliant			recruit more Ab doctors		task force re Abs in justice system
Fund FN police, fire & EMS	No, but FN AG
Murdered & Missing Ab Wom. Inquiry	yes		federal response to violence, funds for Ab women orgs
FNs Lead Any Legislative Changes re FNs		accountability legislation re chiefs salaries			phase out Indian Act
Implement UNDRIP					Yes
Consult & Accommodate!!!			Consult with Abs in poverty legislation, lower carbon

(c) Pamela D. Palmater

I welcome all comments and feedback on this chart as it gets filled out - well, at least I hope it gets filled out. For anyone who is interested, the following link provides details on all the Aboriginal people running as candidates in the federal election for the various parties:

http://www.mediaindigena.com/tim-fontaine/issues-and-politics/an-aboriginal-who%e2%80%99s-who-of-canadas-2011-federal-election