Conservative policies will send more aboriginal kids to jail than to school, former prime minister Paul Martin charged.
The Liberal party stalwart and ex long-time finance minister called it an “act of discrimination” that the federal government killed the Kelowna Accord — a shortchanging of aboriginal youth that has fuelled high illiteracy and drop-out rates.
“The fact that the federal Conservative government walked away from Kelowna, walked away from providing the same funding for aboriginal education as is provided for non-aboriginal education, is nothing but an act of discrimination against the youngest and the fastest growing segment of our population,” Martin said after speaking to a convention session with the Aboriginal Peoples’ Commission.
Delivering a blistering attack against the Harper Conservatives for abdicating its responsibilities on health and aboriginal funding, Martin called it “fundamentally beyond belief” that the government was not aware of the problems plaguing First Nations such as Attawapiskat. He also accused the Conservatives of fudging numbers, misleading the Canadian public and pointing fingers of blame instead of fixing the roots of the “tragedy.”
Harper cancelled the $5-billion Kelowna agreement after taking office in 2006, leaving behind aboriginal children who are illiterate and dropping out of school at high rates.
“That’s not deferring a road. That is not deferring a building. That is deferring a young person’s future — and he has no right to do that,” he said.
But just as important as the dollars attached to the Kelowna Accord was the significant new direction it marked in federal-First Nations relations, focused on aboriginal priorities and carried out through a consultative approach. Never again will any federal government be able to say, ‘Our way or the highway,’ Martin said.
Liberal Leader Bob Rae called substandard health, education and housing in native communities the most pressing human and civil rights question facing the country — and said Liberals are the only party to address it.
“This is the issue of our time, and we need to embrace it, because if we don’t, nobody else will,” he said.
Rae said there are as many aboriginal children in foster care today, proportionately, than there were during the residential schools experience. Reconciliation must not only be an acknowledgement of what went wrong, but also a genuine promise to fix it with an approach that is free of paternalism.
“The only thing that will work is if it’s a genuine dialogue between people who truly respect and understand each other. That’s where we’re going to have some real fights with this current government, that in my mind still has a real problem understanding the importance of self-government,” he said.
Liberal MP and aboriginal affairs critic Carolyn Bennett agreed the Liberals are best party to fix problems plaguing aboriginal communities, and said much of the work must go on outside parliament because of the current “arithmetic.” She said the party must establish real goals and targets, and noted that 69 electoral ridings have been identified where the aboriginal vote would make a “huge difference” in helping achieve those goals.
“When will 100 per cent of First Nations communities have running water? When will every First Nations, Métis and Inuit child have the same investment in their human capital, in their education, as everybody else?”
Original Article
Source: iPolitico
The Liberal party stalwart and ex long-time finance minister called it an “act of discrimination” that the federal government killed the Kelowna Accord — a shortchanging of aboriginal youth that has fuelled high illiteracy and drop-out rates.
“The fact that the federal Conservative government walked away from Kelowna, walked away from providing the same funding for aboriginal education as is provided for non-aboriginal education, is nothing but an act of discrimination against the youngest and the fastest growing segment of our population,” Martin said after speaking to a convention session with the Aboriginal Peoples’ Commission.
Delivering a blistering attack against the Harper Conservatives for abdicating its responsibilities on health and aboriginal funding, Martin called it “fundamentally beyond belief” that the government was not aware of the problems plaguing First Nations such as Attawapiskat. He also accused the Conservatives of fudging numbers, misleading the Canadian public and pointing fingers of blame instead of fixing the roots of the “tragedy.”
Harper cancelled the $5-billion Kelowna agreement after taking office in 2006, leaving behind aboriginal children who are illiterate and dropping out of school at high rates.
“That’s not deferring a road. That is not deferring a building. That is deferring a young person’s future — and he has no right to do that,” he said.
But just as important as the dollars attached to the Kelowna Accord was the significant new direction it marked in federal-First Nations relations, focused on aboriginal priorities and carried out through a consultative approach. Never again will any federal government be able to say, ‘Our way or the highway,’ Martin said.
Liberal Leader Bob Rae called substandard health, education and housing in native communities the most pressing human and civil rights question facing the country — and said Liberals are the only party to address it.
“This is the issue of our time, and we need to embrace it, because if we don’t, nobody else will,” he said.
Rae said there are as many aboriginal children in foster care today, proportionately, than there were during the residential schools experience. Reconciliation must not only be an acknowledgement of what went wrong, but also a genuine promise to fix it with an approach that is free of paternalism.
“The only thing that will work is if it’s a genuine dialogue between people who truly respect and understand each other. That’s where we’re going to have some real fights with this current government, that in my mind still has a real problem understanding the importance of self-government,” he said.
Liberal MP and aboriginal affairs critic Carolyn Bennett agreed the Liberals are best party to fix problems plaguing aboriginal communities, and said much of the work must go on outside parliament because of the current “arithmetic.” She said the party must establish real goals and targets, and noted that 69 electoral ridings have been identified where the aboriginal vote would make a “huge difference” in helping achieve those goals.
“When will 100 per cent of First Nations communities have running water? When will every First Nations, Métis and Inuit child have the same investment in their human capital, in their education, as everybody else?”
Original Article
Source: iPolitico
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