Ottawa Report

Page 3

A recent two-day meeting in Toronto may-repeat may-have broken the constitutional logiam. Native leaders and federal and provincial government ministers were hopelessly deadlocked when they went behind closed doors. Indian, Inuit and Metis leaders went into the meeting with the same hard line. They insisted that the Constitution be amended to recognize the Aboriginal right to self-government. On the other side of the table, the federal government and most of the provinces refused to budge from their position. They said Native people should get self-government but only if the terms and powers are defined first by negotiation. Neither side showed any willingness to given in at the start of the meeting.

The break came when the province of Nova Scotia tabled a compromise proposal. The development was no accident. The Native Council of Canada had been lobbying the province for some time. On the night before the Toronto meeting, Native Council President Smokey Bruyere and Nova Scotia Minister Edmund Morris sat down to draft the compromise.

Under the Nova Scotia plan, Native people will still be required to negotiate the terms and powers of self-government. But the compromise would place strict demands on the provinces because they would be required to negotiate specific issues such as land, resources and finances.

As things turned out, just about everyone had some complaint about the Nova Scotia proposal. Most of the provinces thought it went too far. The Native groups thought it didn't go far enough. And the federal government didn't like the part that would make Ottawa pay the bill. But by the end of the meeting, almost everyone agreed to use the Nova Scotia proposal as the basis of further talks to be held this coming week. If the talks go well-a bit if-the Nova Scotia proposal will form the agenda for the First Minister's Conference. But one province-Alberta didn't go along. Even Saskatchewan and British Columbia looked like moderates when Alberta refused to consider the Nova Scotia plan as the basis for further talks.

The Native groups say the Toronto meeting was another example of Ottawa's failure to play a strong leadership role. They complained that all Ottawa wanted to do was push its proposal-a proposal they didn't like in the first place.

The interesting thing about the complaint is that it was the one thing that prompted the federal justice minister, Ray Hnatyshyn, to speak English. When he met with reporters at the Toronto meetings, Ray Hnatyshyn was always helpful and friendly. The trouble was that when he spoke it all came out as smiling, meaningless mumbo-jumbo. But when he was questioned about the leadership complaint, he became visibly annoyed. His annoyance pushed him pasted the edge of coherence, almost to the point of eloquence, to say that Ottawa is the best friend the Native groups have at the constitutional table.

That may be true, but the federal government is not the only friend the Native groups must have. The only other government with an absolute veto is the government of Ontario. Although it doesn't hesitate to throw its weight around at other federal-provincial gatherings. Native leaders say Ontario, normally a pro-Native province, has been strangely silent. In fact, they say Ontario's attitude at the Toronto meeting was not just neutral, it was negative. So much so, they say, that the province has reversed its position over the past year.

The province's attorney-general, Ian Scott, got much of the blame. He certainly didn't make many friends when he said at one point in the closed door meetings that he didn't want self-government to be defined by the Supreme Court of Canada because the court was just, as he called it, "seven old men and one old women".

Ian Scott, remember, is the number one lawyer for the government of Ontario.

The four Native groups went into and came out of the meeting with a common front. Federal officials, however, were happy to point out the cracks in the comon front and hint that a split is just below the surface. A few days before the Toronto meetings, federal officials said Ottawa had made no decision on just how many Native groups would have to support a constitutional amendment for it to proceed. But just four days later, Ray Hnatyshyn told reporters that a constitutional deal does not have to have the support of all four Native groups. His statement was aimed at the Native Council of Canada and the Metis National Council. Both groups agreed with the weaker offer on the table at the 1985 conference. Ottawa clearly hopes the Metis, and possibly the Inuit, will desert the hard-line Indian position and use the last chance offered by this conference to make a deal.

Officially, the common front hasn't cracked-at least not yet. At the close of the meeting, the Metis National Council said they will go down fighting for the deal they want rather than accept a federal deal they say is not good enough.

But the big problem facing the Native groups may be that there just won't be enough provincial support at the conference for the Nova Scotia plan or even for the federal proposal. If that happens, the conference is doomed. The first ministers and the Native leaders just might make a deal. But there's a lot of work to be done and there isn't much time left. The way things are going now, no one will know if a deal on self-government can be reached until the last minute of the last day of the last constitutional conference on Aboriginal rights.