Scott Feels Public Will Back Aboriginal Strategy

Scott Feels Public Will Back Aboriginal Strategy

Wednesday, August 24, 2005 at 13:33

Indian Affairs Minister Andy Scott believes the Canadian public is behind what the federal government is trying to do to improve the lives of Aboriginal people.

The government signed political accords with the country’s five largest Aboriginal organizations in May.

In November, Prime Minister Paul Martin will host a First Ministers meeting in Vancouver that will — for the first time — include Aboriginal leaders and focus on Aboriginal issues.

Various reports indicate those discussions will include revamping the way education and housing are delivered to Native people.

The government is also expected to inject billions of dollars in new funding for those initiatives.

Scott notes there are a lot of different opinions about why the current system isn’t working for Native people, but feels the public will support this new approach if the government explains it well enough.

When asked if his government would follow through with a plan it was confident would work but was unpopular with the mainstream public, Scott said he has a history of making unpopular decisions — but doesn’t think it will come to that in this case.