It’s “an area that is a bit of an orphan in the federal system,” said Warren Johnson, who held a variety of positions at Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development (then known as Indian and Northern Affairs) including six years as assistant deputy minister.
The way the government handles aboriginal issues has been in place since the mid to late 1960s, he noted.
The federal government has a range of treaty and constitutional obligations towards Canada’s aboriginal peoples, and is responsible for administering social and economic programs, from safe drinking water and housing, to education, and training.
“The federal government, with these responsibilities, is effectively operating as a province would, not as the federal government does. That’s why it’s unusual,” he explained.
If the government decides to tackle any one of these issues, the process involves not just Aboriginal Affairs or the Privy Council Office, but the Justice department, Treasury Board Secretariat, Finance, and depending on the issue, Health, Natural Resources, Human Resources Skills Development and Canadian Heritage, to name a few.
“Our treaties are with the Crown, not with one department or the minister of aboriginal affairs and development,” said Saskatchewan Chief Perry Bellegarde, speaking on behalf of the Assembly of First Nations at a press conference Jan. 24.
Though all these voices are at the table, Aboriginal Affairs is still “the key policy department,” said Mr. Johnson.
When Aboriginal Affairs is developing new policy, it’s handled by the department’s policy committee, led by its associate and assistant deputy ministers.
“You have a number of significant portfolios within the department of Aboriginal Affairs,” explained Mr. Johnson.
Helming policy work is Josée Touchette, senior assistant deputy minister, policy and strategic direction, who was one of the government representatives at the Jan. 11 meeting between government and chiefs, alongside deputy minister Michael Wernick and Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan (Vancouver Island North, B.C.). She is responsible for provincial/territorial relations, constitutional issues, Cabinet, legislative and regulatory affairs, as well as short and long term policy, and departmental planning, according to Aboriginal Affairs.
Jean-François Tremblay is senior deputy minister for treaties and aboriginal government. He is responsible for negotiating claims and self-government, settlements, implementing claims and funding and fiscal arrangements. He was also at the Jan. 11 meeting.
Sara Filbee is assistant deputy minister, lands and economic development. She is responsible for Indian Oil and Gas, economic development and First Nations land management, among other items. She attends First Nations meetings and summits on business, economy and energy.
The assistant deputy minister responsible for education and social development programs and partnerships is Françoise Ducros, 50. She joined the department in July 2011, and meets with aboriginal councils and groups. Between 1999 and 2002 she was communications director for prime minister Jean Chrétien. She is responsible for the national programs redesign, community infrastructure policy and partnerships.
The assistant deputy minister of northern affairs is Janet King. She is responsible for natural resources and environment, northern oil and gas, and northern government.
Assistant deputy minister for resolution and individual affairs is Andrew Saranchuk. His responsibilities include the Indian Residential Schools resolution.
In charge of regional operations is senior assistant deputy minister Ron Hallman. He is responsible for delivering national and regional programs, emergency planning and crisis management, governance and community infrastructure.
Overseeing all the ADMs is associate deputy minister Colleen Swords.
“Depending on the overall strategy being pursued, and what are seen to be sort of the key levers in doing that, you can have a more or less prominent role being played by those individual ADMs,” said Mr. Johnson, who served as assistant deputy minister of treaties and aboriginal government and ADM of lands and economic development between 2000 and 2006.
On major proposals, a committee made up of bureaucrats from all affected departments will be put together, said Mr. Johnson. It will also have to be vetted by bureaucrats in Treasury Board, Finance and Justice.
Justice “has to figure prominently in any of these discussions,” said Mr. Johnson, who explained that any proposals to fundamentally change the way aboriginal leaders and the government interact would require Justice to do a major legal analysis.
An entire section of the department is dedicated to indigenous issues. The aboriginal affairs portfolio is managed by Pamela McCurry, assistant deputy attorney general for aboriginal affairs. Bill Pentney, formerly of the Privy Council Office, is deputy minister.
There are more than 200 people working in the Justice’s aboriginal affairs section, according to the government’s electronic directory. They work on treaties and aboriginal government, consultation, children’s issues, negotiations, specific and comprehensive claims, and on Canada’s obligations under the Constitution.
The department also manages the government’s response to aboriginal issues-related litigation.
“We’re facing billions of dollars of litigation in Canada on aboriginal issues. That requires a fair bit of management, just from a litigation side,” he said.
Another key legal driver of Canada’s aboriginal policies is the Supreme Court of Canada and the Federal Court, as evidenced by the recent decision to recognize the standing of Métis and non-status Indians.
“In the absence of policy change and movement on the overall agenda, the courts have ended up becoming one of the prime policy vehicles,” said Mr. Johnson.
“In that context, the whole role of the department of Justice, and the legal and risk analysis of the situation, becomes an issue that is unusual. You don’t, in any policy area, usually see that major role for that type of analysis.”
NDP MP Romeo Saganash (Abitibi-Baie James-Nunavik-Eeyou, Que.), his party’s intergovernmental aboriginal affairs critic, said that it took a ruling of Quebec’s Superior Court 10 years ago, which decided that the Forestry Act of Quebec was incompatible with the government’s treaty obligations, to get the province moving on aboriginal issues.
“It took that. Is that what we’re waiting for?” said Mr. Saganash to reporters Jan. 24.
The Treasury Board Secretariat and the Finance Department act as financial gatekeepers, explained Mr. Johnson.
“There’s a very critical role being played both at Finance and Treasury Board on anything involving any new expenditures in this area. Making sure that those senior officials and their ministers think that a specific proposal can be seen as an investment that’s actually going to produce results is key to any strategy, and very few major aboriginal strategies don’t involve some major expenditure issues,” he explained.
The Treasury Board Secretariat assistant secretary responsible for the social and cultural sector is Leslie MacLean. For aboriginal issues, any requests for new funding, to implement new programs or policies, or to change existing ones fall under Ms. MacLean’s responsibilities, according to the department.
Under the umbrella of the social and cultural sector is the 14-member aboriginal affairs and health team. Above Ms. MacLean are Treasury Board Secretary Yaprak Baltacioglu and Treasury Board President Tony Clement (Parry Sound-Muskoka, Ont.) who also participated in the discussions on Jan. 11 with First Nations leaders, including AFN National Chief Shawn Atleo, and Prime Minister Stephen Harper (Calgary Southwest, Alta.), as well as government officials.
At Finance Canada, under deputy minister Michael Horgan is Chris Forbes, assistant deputy minister of the federal-provincial relations and social policy branch. Among other things, the branch is responsible for the territorial financing formula, and works on the gamut of aboriginal policy issues. It also works on the aboriginal elements of the government’s larger economic or social policies that come from other departments, according to Finance Canada.
The department’s aboriginal policy is team made up of six analysts and economists.
Departments like Health, Natural Resources, Heritage, International Trade, the Environment and Human Resources and Skills development are involved when policy changes affect their portfolios, explained Mr. Johnson.
Natural Resources Canada’s deputy minister Serge Dupont and assistant deputy minister Stephen Lucas were both present for the talks Jan. 11. Because natural resources are a provincial responsibility, NRCan has taken somewhat of a backseat on the issue, noted Mr. Johnson.
“The federal government, by any objective measure has not really played an active role there, so much of the sorting out of how to move development forward in historical treaty areas, guided by these Supreme Court decisions, has been left to private industry and the provinces,” he said.
A key issue for aboriginal leaders is natural resources revenue sharing.
“There wasn’t an agreement to transfer all the natural recourses to the provinces. They never came to my territory, they didn’t ask my chiefs,” Manitoba Elder Raymond Robinson, who ended his 43-day hunger strike last week alongside Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence, stated Jan. 24.
Interim Liberal leader Bob Rae (Toronto Centre, Ont.) said that the federal government must figure out a way to examine revenue sharing, even though it’s a provincial issue, or risk putting major resource projects in jeopardy.
“There are real issues now on how we’re going to be able to proceed without the involvement and participation of the aboriginal people,” he said.
There is an aboriginal initiatives and programs division at the federal department of Natural Resources, as well as a number of liaison officers who reach out to indigenous communities.
Human Resources and Skills Development Canada is responsible for a number of aboriginal training programs and grants. Deputy minister Ian Shugart was at the table Jan. 11.
The department also has a team responsible for aboriginal program operations, for funding and oversight of programs.
Health Canada is responsible for First Nations and Inuit health, led by Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq (Nunavut) who was at the table on Jan. 11, along with Kathy Langlois, Health Canada’s assistant deputy minister, First Nations and Inuit Health Branch.
The health branch has offices in each region and it’s own strategic policy, planning and analysis team. It delivers community health and disease prevention programs, in-community medical care with a nod to traditional treatments, and home care while working on environmental health problems and other issues, according to the department
When a proposal finally makes it to Cabinet, it goes through the committee on social affairs, and if it’s broad enough, the priorities and planning committee, said Mr. Johnson.
Supporting it at this stage would be Meena Ballantyne, the assistant secretary to the Cabinet for social development and policy in the Privy Council Office. She monitors, coordinates work on, and provides advice about social policy, including aboriginal issues, according to the office. She also works with Finance, TBS and other departments on funding issues.
Also providing policy advice and strategic planning issues is Janice Charette, associate secretary to Cabinet and deputy minister for intergovernmental affairs at PCO.
She was present at the Jan. 11 meeting, where the government committed to “enhanced oversight” on aboriginal issues out of either PCO or the Prime Minister’s Office.
“In certain circumstances, and when the case is a large and broader case—and some might consider that to be the issue now, this isn’t just a matter of tinkering with a program or a few initiatives, but taking a more fundamental look at the problem in the relationship—this requires within the ministry more broadly a fair consensus across all those interests that we’ve been talking about,” said Mr. Johnson.
How involved Mr. Wernick as Aboriginal Affairs deputy minister is depends on how active a role Privy Council or the PMO takes on the file, he explained.
When the Paul Martin government was negotiating the Kelowna Accord in 2004, the PCO had an aboriginal affairs secretariat.
“People were contributing to it, but all of the coordination wasn’t necessarily being done by the deputy minister of aboriginal affairs,” he said.
In the end, whether anything gets accomplished on the aboriginal file depends on whether or not there is the political will for change, said Mr. Saganash. He cited the case of the James Bay-Quebec treaty negotiated in the 1970s.
“It is 500 pages long, it took us one year to negotiate that treaty. One single year. Why? Because there was an urgency, because there was political will on both sides. That is what is required of the Prime Minister today.”
Original Article
Source: hill times
Author: Jessica Bruno
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