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Column: Canada plans First Nations overhaul
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Filed Under: First Nations

"The Conservative government is set to unveil a new approach to its relations with Canada’s First Nations that will see fresh money flowing to bands when Ottawa believes there is a good prospect of economic success, while bands with a track record of failure will be frozen out.

As part of its move toward a more market-oriented approach, the government is also keen to reform the electoral system used to elect aboriginal chiefs.

Chuck Strahl, the Minister for Indian Affairs and Northern Development, will outline the policy Thursday in a speech in Ottawa. “There will be a shifting of resources. If you take economic development as an example, there has been a tendency to sprinkle it like pixie dust and hope for magic results. I’m increasingly convinced we have to reward those who are ready to take that kind of help,” he said in an interview with the National Post.

In his speech, he will say that the single defining feature of the new approach is that the government is not prepared to “waste time on unproductive and unsuccessful processes”.

Phil Fontaine, National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, said that he was surprised that the government is going down this path. “The Prime Minister spoke of reconciliation last year with the historic apology [on residential schools], in effect setting the stage for a new era that ended unilateral decisions and the ‘we-know-best’ approach. We’re committed to partnership but we don’t want the imposition of government will,” he said in an interview."

Get the Story:
John Ivison: Tories plan First Nations overhaul (The National Post 6/3)

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