Canada’s Liberal leader, Bob Rae, says it is high time the Indian Act be repealed — but he does not support a private members bill to do that.
That bill was introduced by northern Saskatchewan Conservative MP Rob Clarke.
On Monday, Rae will introduce a motion that calls for a process to rewrite the Act. He says that process will involve the Aboriginal community:
“I think there’s a lot of things that need to get worked through, and the only way to do it is to create a set of tables which will allow these things to be negotiated — and, eventually, replace an Act which is part of our colonial past.”
Clarke’s bill was debated in the House of Commons yesterday.
One Conservative MP commended Clarke for launching it — saying he showed courage in stepping forward to try and get it through Parliament.
The bill would change certain provisions in the Indian Act, and require band councils to do things like publishing their bylaws publicly.
However, not everyone applauded the bill.
NDP MP Jonathan Genest-Jourdain said it is being pushed through without consultation with First Nations:
“It seems that my colleagues opposite have a rather paternalistic attitude toward these communities by imposing unilateral legislation.”
Genest-Jourdain adds a summit held earlier this year between the government and First Nations leaders emphasized the need to work as a team — but he believes it was largely a “smoke-and-mirrors” show put on for the media.
Conservative MP Brian Storseth says all parties have different ideas on how to proceed, but there is also some general agreement:
“There is nobody, where they be on the other side today or this side, that hasn’t called this Act a paternalistic piece of legislation that is a failed opportunity for us to move forward.”
Meanwhile, the FSIN says it has “deep concerns” with the federal government’s backing of Clarke’s bill.
Vice Chief Bobby Cameron notes the Prime Minister told First Nations leaders at last January’s Crown-First Nations Gathering that there was “no grand scheme to repeal or unilaterally re-write the Indian Act”.
Cameron also points out Clarke has previously said the bill was his idea, and there was no larger agenda at play.
The FSIN says there is still a need for meaningful consultation and accommodation before anything is changed or replaced in the Indian Act.
According to Cameron, “whenever the government makes changes to the Indian Act, there are usually long range unforeseen effects” — a reference to 1985’s Bill C-31.
Bill C-428 will be debated again down the road before it is voted on.