Federal candidates not addressing Aboriginal issues

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The front-runners in the federal election are not addressing Aboriginal issues in their race for Prime Minister, Native leaders across Canada say.

None of the parties are meeting the expectations of Aboriginal leaders, said Assembly of First Nations Grand Chief Ovide Mercredi as he emerged from a day-long, closed session meetings with several assembly chiefs.

"Right now, I want to believe Kim Campbell when she says she is a politician with a new outlook and a policy of inclusiveness. When I see a politician say that, I believe it until I see it otherwise, so I'm waiting for her to make some pronouncements."

The Conservatives are, however, the only major party that has not produced a policy statement on Aboriginal issues for the election, he said. The NDP, Liberal and Reform parties all issued their own policies week ago.

And so far, NDP leader Audrey McLaughlin is the only candidate to raise Aboriginal issues during the campaign. A spokesperson from NDP headquarters in Ottawa said McLaughlin was scheduled to hold a forum on Native issues at a meeting in her home riding of Yukon, Sept. 22.

But few Aboriginal leaders say they are satisfied with policy statements or campaign speeches. President of the Metis National Council Gerald Morin said Canadians should be pushing the candidates for a live television debate on issues like self-government.

The absence of any stand on that issue is disturbing to Natives because self-government can only come about with federal support, he said. The vast majority of the premiers said they believe in the inherent right to self-government and that right can be implemented within the current constitutional framework.

"The federal government will have to play a leadership role but right now we don't know where the national leaders stand," he said.

No one is offering Natives any reason to get out and vote, said a Saskatchewan politician.

If, in fact, the political parties wish to bring out the treaty Indian vote, they're going to have to offer some substance that the treaty Indian people can identify with, specially self-government and treaty rights protection," Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations Vice-Chief Dan Bellegarde said.

Grand Chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Phil Fontaine said his assembly wrote to both the CTV and CBC television networks last month to suggest the national party leaders debate the Aboriginal issues as in previous elections.

There has been no response from either network, he said.