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Top News - October - 2004
Published October 18, 2004
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Aboriginal department created
Government funding for MNS still on hold
Symposium looks at solutions for on-reserve housing issuesThis is only a partial listing of the stories featured in the October 2004 issue of Saskatchewan Sage. If you are not receiving your own copy of Sage, then you have missed out on a lot.
Cheryl Petten, Sage Writer, Regina
On Oct. 1 the provincial government changed the way it deals with Aboriginal issues with the creation of a stand-alone department of First Nations and Métis Relations.
Prior to Oct.1 Aboriginal issues came under the purview of the department of Government Relations and Aboriginal Affairs. The minister responsible for that department's Aboriginal Affairs division, Maynard Sonntag, will continue on with those responsibilities, but now within a new structure and with a new mandate. Nora Sanders, whose past experience includes six years serving as deputy minister of Justice in the Nunavut territorial government, will be the new department's deputy minister.
Sonntag, who first took over the old Aboriginal Affairs portfolio in November 2003, said he believes the new First Nations and Métis Relations department was created to recognize the important role First Nations and Métis people play in Saskatchewan and, with the Aboriginal population of the province on the rise, the increasing role they will play into the future.
"I think if we're going to be proactive and seek out all the opportunities that this province has we need to do that in every department. And what department should play a bigger role in that area than Aboriginal Affairs," Sonntag said.
"Historically ... it was just a division of Government Relations with a deputy minister that was responsible for sort of our divisions, if you will, within that department. Now we have a stand-alone department with a separate deputy minister, hopefully more resources once the budget's been developed for '05/'06, and a new mandate that we're working on yet. And also a change in name that I think better reflects the department itself."
What Sonntag hopes the new department will be able to do is make all provincial departments aware of the need to consider how different decisions and initiatives will impact on First Nation and Métis people in the province.
"So every time there's an issue related to First Nations or Métis people it will have to be, I won't say vetted through our new department, but it will certainly have to have the question asked, first of all, have First Nations and Métis people been consulted on this issue? How will it impact on their community?"
Two areas the new department will be focusing on will be education and economic development, Sonntag said, although the extent to which these areas can be explored will depend on what kind of money will be allocated to First Nations and Métis Relations come provincial budget time.
The department is taking the lead from Aboriginal leaders and communities in setting these two areas as high priorities, Sonntag explained.
"It will come up in the vast majority of meetings that I am involved with with First Nations or Métis people, the need for the opportunity to educate and train people within the communities that they represent," he said. "So we'll be involved in, I don't know if the right words are brokering deals, but we will certainly be involved in assisting any First Nation or any Métis community that wants to try to put together training programs and so forth."
On the economic development side, Sonntag said the new department will be working closely with First Nation and Métis communities and organizations and a number of other government departments to help develop plans and programs to help create employment opportunities.
"So hopefully we'd become sort of that single window for them where they can access information and access resources fairly quickly."
Sonntag said that ongoing consultations with the province's Aboriginal community will play an important role in the operations of the new department.
"It's about building bridges of respect ... about respect and relationships and I think that's what consultation is. So it's one of our priorities within the new department."
"I hope that this department is flexible enough and responsive enough that if we're not meeting the needs of First Nations and Métis people that the mandates and some of the programs that we might offer might change fairly quickly to better reflect the needs that there really are in those different communities," Sonntag said. "I hope it's flexible, that it can continue to evolve and grow with the growing population of First Nation and Métis people in our province."
Government funding for MNS still on hold
Cheryl Petten, Sage Writer, Saskatoon
The Métis Nation-Saskatchewan (MNS) has put its recent election problems behind it and is ready to move on, but the provincial and federal governments aren't quite ready to follow suit.
Both levels of government are continuing to withhold funding to the provincial Métis organization, and that isn't likely to change until a final report on whether its May 26 election was conducted properly has been reviewed. That report, prepared by former provincial chief electoral officer Keith Lampard, was received by the province on Oct 13.
Lampard was called in to investigate the election after a number of complaints were received by the province about the way the election was run. The most visible of these problems surrounded the bid for the position of MNS president, in which one candidate was declared the winner, only to have that win reversed just hours later after it was discovered that one ballot box had been missed during the official count.
In the end it was Saskatoon lawyer Dwayne Roth who took office as president, with Guy Bouvier as vice president, Ray Laliberte as provincial treasurer and Ralph Kennedy as provincial secretary. Twelve area directors were also elected.
Roth and the rest of the provincial Métis council were officially sworn in during a ceremony held on Oct. 7 following a press conference during which Roth indicated the federal government had committed $1.8 in funding for the MNS for this fiscal year, and called on the provincial government to release the $400,000 in funding it has been withholding since June 17. He also called on the province to renew discussions with the MNS on issues such as hunting rights.
But, according to Maynard Sonntag, minister of the new provincial department of First Nations and Métis Relations, the MNS is being a bit premature, both in the announcement of renewed federal funding and in its calls for the province to follow suit.
"Well, from our perspective, nothing has changed," said Sonntag, who held the portfolio for Aboriginal Affairs within the department of Government Relations and Aboriginal Affairs at the time the decision to withhold provincial funding was made.
"In recent discussions with my federal counterparts, they are equally concerned about what took place during the elections in Saskatchewan and have committed to me personally that no funds will be released until they also have a review of the independent analysis of the election, Keith Lampard's report," he said.
Allan MacDonald, director of the Office of the Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians, clarified the status of a portion of the $1.8 million the MNS is describing as committed federal funding-the $1.175 million the organization says it will be receiving for post-Powley communications. The Supreme Court's decision in the Powley case indicated that Métis people in Canada with a clear link to a stable Métis community have an Aboriginal right to hunt under the Constitution.
"What we have done here is that, following the Powley decision from September 2003 which affirmed that Métis rights existed, the federal government put aside some money in the budget, $20.5 million over the course of a year, about half of which would go to Métis organizations to assist them in identifying Métis harvesters like the Supreme Court said we had to do, to help them do research and help them communicate what the Powley decision means to their members," MacDonald said.
"The MNS, the Métis Nation of Saskatchewan, we've put aside about $1 million, $1.1 million, for their particular organization. No money has flown to that organization as of yet. There's administrative requirements to get the money flowing. They haven't met those requirements yet, and I make no comment as to when we're going to fund or how much we're going to fund of that $1.1 million, but so far nothing has flowed and I can't say when it will flow, if at all."
The money tied to Powley is in no way connected to the federal funding that was suspended in June, MacDonald said. That money was the federal government's portion under a tripartite funding agreement between the MNS, the province and Canada.
"The tripartite agreements are something separate. On the tripartite agreement side we can only fund if the province funds. And as you know the province has decided some time ago they were not going to fund anything. If they didn't fund the tripartite agreements we couldn't fund the tripartite agreements even if we wanted to, because our funding is tied to theirs," McDonald said.
Symposium looks at solutions for on-reserve housing issues
Deirdre Tombs, Sage Writer, Saskatoon
Two hundred and twenty people from First Nation communities across the Prairies gathered in Saskatoon Sept. 21 to 23 to discuss innovative methods for improving a dire housing situation.
The Our Homes ... Our Future housing symposium focused on furthering economic development and asset management for First Nation communities in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Workshops addressed the issues of alternative housing, energy efficiency, effective housing policies, property management and First Nation land development.
One of the strengths of the symposium was that the agenda was set by people at the grassroots level, explained Bud Jobin, co-chair of the First Nations National Building Officers Association (FNNBOA). "Therefore it wasn't something that was being forced on everybody. This was stuff that actually works."
During the symposium Jobin talked about the benefits of the association and its building inspector certification program. "We're offering ... technical expertise to ensure that the band is getting the best value for their dollars and that they are able to take advantage of innovative construction methods and materials," he said.
Vaughn Paul, the executive director of the First Nations Housing Development Corporation (FNHDC), spoke about this new not-for-profit company, which will work to give a much-needed boost to the rate of on-reserve housing construction and to provide financial advice and access to industry and government housing expertise.
To tackle the major issue of property management, the symposium held two workshops, one on managing housing assets and one on developing effective maintenance courses for First Nation communities. Lorraine Bellegarde, a senior advisor for assisted housing at the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) said the workshop focused on ways CMHC and other organizations can get information on preventative maintenance out to First Nation communities.
Jobin is familiar with the success of housing maintenance courses. The FNNBOA has found that calls to the local maintenance department have dropped in First Nation communities where new homeowners are taught essential basics such as how a circuit breaker works and how to replace furnace filters. "In fact, one of the communities, they felt that the ... home maintenance training program was so successful they are also requiring that it be mandatory for anyone getting a renovation to attend," he said.
Lester Lafond of Muskeg Lake Cree Nation, which has an urban reserve in Saskatoon, was part of a panel discussion that capped off the symposium. The panel addressed the issues surrounding urban reserve creation, economic development, home ownership and apprenticeship programs.
Lafond, who serves as business advisor for Muskeg Lake, was able to boast at the symposium about the success of one of the band's companies, Cree-Way Gas Limited, which has enabled them to contribute a substantial amount of money towards the construction of a state-of-the-art 30 bed Elder care home on Muskeg Lake's main reserve north of Saskatoon.
"That was something we had on the drawing boards for 21 years and without the success of our businesses here we wouldn't have been able to do it and [would have] continued to wait for government to make a decision on whether they want to help us or not," said Lafond. On the heels of its 16th anniversary, the Muskeg Lake urban reserve has nearly $20 million dollars in assets and the 45-plus businesses on the reserve employ approximately 400 people.
Other panelists included Chief Harry Cook of the Lac La Ronge Indian Band; Keith Hanson of Bridges and Foundations, a project designed to help build partnerships between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal organizations in order to increase the amount of affordable housing in Saskatoon; and Brenda Wallace of the Saskatoon Housing Initiatives Partnership. Greg Carter, director of housing with the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian First Nations, hosted the panel discussions.
Three keynote speakers also addressed the symposium delegates. Priscilla Settee, program director of the Indigenous Peoples Program at the University of Saskatchewan, spoke about housing and shelter as a human right and Chief Sophie Pierre of the St. Mary's Indian Band in British Columbia discussed the role of leadership, government, strategic planning and exercising jurisdiction to create successful economic development for Aboriginal communities. On the spiritual side, Bea Shawanda of the Wikwemikong First Nation on Manitoulin Island shared her thoughts on how to build a nurturing environment for children so that they may have integrity, compassion, self-confidence and a generosity of spirit.