How not to deal with Prime Minister Harper
This:
OTTAWA — Canada could face an Arab Spring-style “uprising” if Prime Minister Stephen Harper doesn’t give a clear indication in his meeting with aboriginal leaders here Tuesday that he’s prepared to take their concerns seriously, a B.C. native leader warned Monday.
“We must do better. The honour of the Crown and the very integrity of Canada as a nation is at stake,” said Stewart Phillip, grand chief of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, in a news release issued by the Assembly of First Nations’ B.C. wing.
“Otherwise, an aboriginal uprising is inevitable.”
The PM’s response was utterly predictable, to those of us who study him.
Harper told chiefs that they should consider contacting their MPs and that he can’t just focus on Aboriginal issues because he has to run the country, according to three chiefs who were present at the meeting.
His comments left chiefs concerned the prime minister was not taking their issues seriously. …
When Harper announced the event in December, he said he hoped it would be “historic.”
The Prime Minister’s Office agreed to a meeting with limited number of delegates from each region. The parties met in a boardroom in the Langevin building, across from Parliament Hill, which houses Harper’s main office. The meeting ran from about 4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. local time. …
Now, chiefs will wait to hear what the prime minister says in his speech Tuesday and what gets accomplished during sessions with cabinet ministers to gauge what to do next. They’ll either continue negotiating or take their issues to the streets.
“After all of that takes place, there is going to be reflection from the delegates,” said Phillip. “There is an incredibly high level of frustration and anger and resentment that has been expressed by our elders, our traditional leaders, grand chiefs, and chiefs.”
Yeah, I think that was rather dismissive even by Harper’s Toronto WASP standards. Bit of a burn.
Well, we’ll see — aboriginal issues are very important, and, self-aggrandizing chiefs notwithstanding, deserving of a good amount of federal government attention.
Well, since we’re dealing nation-to-nation with quasi-sovereign entities in the First Nations, it’s definitely a burn.
But was it a calculated burn, as in taking the Quebec Approach (“If you’re going to leave, there’s the door”) or a spontaneous burn (“this was not the photo op I was expecting”)?
Starting down the road to resolution on a myriad of First Nations issues will require somebody willing to take a highly decentralised approach to federalism (which rules out about 90% of the front-bench Liberal party). I was hoping Harper would take a constructive stab at it. This is a can that can’t be kicked down the road for another 150 years.
I think Harper’s going to take a constructive approach.
As for whether it was calculated or spontaneous — can we ever know with this PMO?
Needlessly dismissive. Contact your MP is how teens on PEI get pointless government summer jobs. He’s now added backstroking to the task which is is solely his responsibility under the constitution as a fiduciary.
Harper’s point is reasonable and practical:
Inidividual chiefs are like mayors. That is the scale of the problems they should be solving for their people every day.
Like mayors, they have to build a relationship with their local MP. It is only an obvious, basic point of how to generate attention and build momentum for what you want – independent of the needs and wants of the collective group of nations.
That advice is very helpful. To think the opposite, one is not be honest about the realities of a government’s attention: there is always fierce competition for it. So, if he took your advice, he’d of sounded nice, but he would have been a lying sack. I prefer that he sounds not nice.
Prime Minister “Eat Your Spinach, It’s Good For You”?
Well, it seems to be an approach that works! :p
Actually, the approach that came out yesterday was quite good: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/harper-rules-out-total-repeal-of-indian-act-vows-aggressive-action/article2312916/
“His message: Canada’s resource sector is expanding, skilled labour is in short supply and the government is ready to make incremental changes to land and education policy that will boost first nations employment.”
I am impressed. Harper wants to solve the problem of aboriginal poverty by resource development, leading to jobs and land claim money. This also reduces opposition to projects like Northern Gateway and cuts the legs out from under enviro groups by putting the power of political correctness to use supporting resource development instead of opposing it. If he can pull it off, he will have done a great thing.