Where is the voice of the First Nations, Aboriginal and the Inuit of Canada at the 2008 first ministers Conference?
In the recent agenda setting session leading up to the November 15th First Ministers meeting. There was a distressing lack of attention paid to the First Nations population of Canada and their concerns regarding health care. Of the provincial and territorial delegations present at the conference only four spoke to the issue of a First Nations health in any meaningful way. When asked directly, the federal government said “discussing First Nations health care concerns is too narrow a topic for the upcoming session”, and voted down its addition as a specific agenda item.
The representative from Alberta supported the federal governments position by stating Aboriginal and First Nations populations comprise roughly 4% of the Canadian demographic, thus not enough to warrant such attention at the conference. Perhaps the Minister should be reminded that 4% translates to over 1 million First Nations, Métis, Aboriginal and Inuit peoples in Canada. If we’re speaking strictly numbers then 4% of Canadians is equal to the populations of New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, The Yukon and Northwest Territories, and Nunavut combined, and larger then Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan, or Newfoundland and Labrador respectively. Should we exclude their concerns from the agenda as “too narrow a topic”?
The attitude in the room yesterday only shows regrettable consistency by the current Conservative government. At the November 2005 first ministers meeting held in Kelowna, British Columbia, a frame work was developed between the then Liberal government, the provinces and the First Nations delegation present. The frame work, titled The Blueprint on Aboriginal Health: A Ten year Transformative Plan, hoped to address the shocking deficit in First Nations health. By all determinants of Health the state of First Nations, Inuit, Métis, and Aboriginal populations is deplorable. According to a report published by Health Canada, diabetes is rampant, depression nearly uncontrolled, instances of tuberculosis are more then five times higher in Aboriginal populations, and HIV/AIDS infection rates are more then double those in the rest of the Canadian population. The plan set out through the ‘Kelowna accord’ allocated $1.3 billion over the five years to increasing access to health care, and Prime minister Martin pledged $5 billion in total to the ten year plan. The Conservatives however, abandoned the agreement upon taking power, and began actively opposing The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, a resolution Canada had fully supported and participated in drafting over the last 20 years. The resolution passed on 13 September 2007 despite the lack of Canadian support.
By these actions the Harper government has clearly shown their desire to avoid addressing issues facing First Nations and Aboriginal Canadians by walking away from or actively working to undermine agreements that would see improvements to the vital deficiencies in health and social development. Why does the Canadian government refuse to even discuss the topic? Why is there no First Nations delegation participating in the conference? Considering the frightening disparity between these populations and the rest of Canada there is clearly a need for these issues to be addressed. Once again we are failing a people we have consistently wronged throughout the history of our country. We can only hope that the Provincial representatives will hold the government accountable for such blatant negligence, and give voice to the concerns of all Canadians, not just those with economic influence.
Devon J Carr,
The Seditious Times
