Canada's human rights record lacks clout

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Until Canada can provide a quality of life for Native people which matches that of non-Native people, Canadians should be more modest about this country's achievements in human rights, said Canadian Human Rights Commissioner Max Yalden.

Canada is regarded as a country where human rights are given tremendous protection, but Aboriginal people have been left out, Yalden said. Not because Canada is a racist society, but because most Canadians are really not aware of what is going on, he added.

The big thing is to make people realize there is a serious problem and that something has to be done about it, Yalden insists. The commission has pin-pointed high Aboriginal unemployment, disease, suicide, incarceration and abuse as symptoms of the injustices and mis-management that have undermined the human rights of Native Canadians.

Yalden believes the best line of defence for Aboriginal groups battling discrimination is to choose their leaders well.

"I think you need good, strong, eloquent leadership and I think that leadership has to be forceful, very forceful, but not extremist," said Yalden.

According to its 1993 Annual Report, the commission's view is that while the right to self-government is inherent, formal recognition in the Canadian Constitution would contribute to a more 'successful partnership.'

When the Human Rights Commission tries to say something about self-government it realizes it's wading into dangerous waters, said Yalden.

"We, the commission, believe that the right to self-government is inherent in the sense that the Aboriginal peoples were governing themselves when the Europeans got here, and they never surrendered that right. Or if they did, they did so under very dubious circumstances.

But Yalden recognizes Canadians are constitutioned out.'

"If Chretien called a constitutional conference on Native rights, he wouldn't get very far with it."

Yalden believes the work being done by Assembly of Manitoba Chief Phil Fontaine and the new federal government has to be given a chance. But in any self-government agreement, the Charter of Rights will apply, said Yalden. Or if not the Canadian Charter, then a charter written by Native people to which they themselves give their moral sanction.

"Nothing is sacred about the particular text, but the ideas in the text, and the requirements in the text, the guarantees in the Charter have got to be fundamental to any political situation," Yalden insists.

Native women's groups, in particular, have expressed concern self-government deals would not provide them with the same protection enjoyed by other women in Canada. Yalden believes if Native women felt their rights were at risk they would see tremendous support for their cause across the nation.

If people feel they are suffering some kind of discrimination they should to go

the human rights commission and insist on filing a complaint, he said. The commission provides a forum for those complaints.

Although the commission is less complicated than courts, Yalden admits it's not always quicker. In the case of Melvin Swan, a former military policeman from Lake Manitoba First Nation, the process has taken five years. Swan's complaint of discrimination against the Canadian Armed Forces was filed in February 1989. Final arguments at a human rights tribunal took place in June. No decision has yet been reached.

"If I let out a deep sigh when I hear that, it's because we work so hard to try and avoid (lengthy hearings)," said Yalden. "The armed forces is a huge organization, making any dealings with it extremely slow, he said. The tribunal indicates the Department of National Defence has acted to delay proceedings, confirmed Yalden's assistant Donna Balkan. In general, the investigation protection of human rights complaints take an average of 11 months.

Regardless of how quickly the commission deals with the complaints, the problems and injustices suffered by Aboriginal Canadians aren't going to magically disappearany time soon, said Yalden.

"If you let things go unattended for three or four hundred years you're not going to suddenly sit down at Meech Lake or Charlottetown or someplace and solve it all," he cautioned. "Although I'm not by nature an optimistic person, I do think that awareness of the problem is the first step. If you're not aware or you don't care, then it will never be solved. But we are aware and there's a genuine desire to do something about it."