Prime Minister Harper announces major reforms to address the backlog of Aboriginal treaty claims

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Good afternoon Minister Prentice, National Chief Fontaine, fellow Parliamentarians, chiefs and elders, ladies and gentlemen. 

First of all I want to thank you, Jim, for your kind introduction.  I also want to congratulate you on the leadership and perseverance that you've demonstrated in your portfolio – you’ve been a passionate advocate for Canada's First Peoples.

Our government is dedicated to improving the lives of Aboriginal people, and thanks, Jim, to your hard work, we have been making tremendous progress. 

We've made progress, for example, on housing with our First Nations Market Housing Fund, which helps people living on reserves build equity in their homes and experience the pride of home ownership. 

We launched a new urban Aboriginal strategy that emphasizes employment training as the key to the future for Native people and their families. 

Last year we achieved a landmark agreement with the BC government that will give the province's First Nations unprecedented control over their children's education, and in Alberta, we reformed First Nations child welfare policy so there will be more emphasis on protection and prevention and fewer child apprehensions. 

We're also taking action to ensure that Aboriginal women have the same matrimonial property rights as all Canadian women, and we're moving to ensure that all Native people enjoy the same protections all Canadians enjoy under the Canadian Human Rights Act. 

We're addressing the problem of unsafe drinking water in Aboriginal communities, and we're investing in education so our fast-growing Aboriginal youth population will be able to take full advantage of the jobs and opportunities created by Canada's robust economy, particularly in the west. 

Furthermore, we concluded a final Indian residential schools settlement agreement and launched the advanced payment program, and we continue to make progress on land claims and self-government agreements with First Nations in the North, BC, Ontario and Atlantic Canada.

Today we are making an announcement on another issue that is vitally important to First Nations.  Virtually from the day our country was born, Aboriginal people have had grievances about the government's attempts to live up to its obligations under their historic treaties. 

These grievances involving land, compensation or government handling of First Nation assets are known as specific claims, today.  But they're nothing new.  In fact, Sir John A. MacDonald himself grappled with a Mohawk land claim at Caledonia back in 1887. 

Over the next century, Ottawa failed to come up with a process for resolving such claims.  Prime Minister John Diefenbaker first tried in 1962, but was thwarted with his minority government was defeated in the House. 

Another Prime Minister, Brian Mulroney, finally created the Indian Specific Claims Commission, or the ISCC, in 1991. 

But it was only intended as an interim measure pending the creation of a permanent body with the power to resolve claims once and for all. 

Last year the Senate standing committee on Aboriginal peoples, under your chairmanship, Senator, under the chairmanship of Gerry St. Germain, issued a report that provided clear direction on the way forward. 

And in budget 2007 our government made a commitment to achieve fair and timely resolution of specific claims. 

The current backlog of more than 800 claims is simply unacceptable.  The fact that it takes 13 years on average to process a claim is unacceptable. 

And the fact that the federal government acts as both judge and jury is also unacceptable.  The time is long past due for a new approach, and that is our purpose here today. 

I'm very pleased to announce a comprehensive package of reforms that will revolutionize the claims resolution process.  These reforms include three key elements: first, we propose to finally create a fully independent claims tribunal.  Instead of letting disputes over land and compensation drag on forever, fuelling frustration and uncertainty, they will be solved once and for all by impartial judges. 

Second, we propose to transform the ISCC into a neutral dispute resolution body.  Relieved of its role as the government's arbiter of claims, the commission will focus on mediation. 

And finally, we propose to introduce practical measures to speed up the resolution of small claims.  Roughly half of all claims are for less than $3 million, and to increase flexibility in the handling of large claims. 

Now, ladies and gentlemen, we believe these measures represent an historic breakthrough on the intractable logjam of specific claims.  With us today in this room are scores of people representing First Nations, other levels of government and the national resources and transportation industries. 

Collectively they represent hundreds of thousands of Canadians, Native and non-Native, from every part of the country, who want and need us to succeed with this initiative. 

The principles of fundamental justice and fairness compel us to succeed.  The quest for a strong, stable economy and equal opportunity for all Canadians to work and prosper compels us to succeed, and most important of all, the desire for respect, reconciliation and harmony within our communities compels us to succeed. 

Over the course of the summer, Minister Prentice will be taking our proposals to communities from coast to coast to coast.  He will be working closely with National Chief Fontaine whose support and input has been enormously helpful in getting us this far.  Actually, please give him a hand. 

Working together, we will put the finishing touches on the plan so we can introduce enabling legislation in the fall.

Let there be no misunderstanding: patience, goodwill and respect are essential to the success of this initiative.  I'd like to conclude with some wise words from the late Senator James Gladestone, or Akay-na-muka, "Many guns", as he was known in the Blackfoot language of the Blood tribe of Southwestern Alberta. 

Appointed by Prime Minister Diefenbaker in 1958, Senator Gladstone was Canada's first Aboriginal legislator.  In his 1971 farewell address to the Senate, he made an eloquent plea for Canadians to imagine the possibilities for our country if we look beyond race, culture and history.  He said, "This country will come of age when all people, whatever their origin, will forget their national differences and unite in one nation."  In my view, those words point to a simple, elegant, incontrovertible truth: Canada will be a better, stronger, more united country when all its citizens enjoy full equality of opportunity, and today's announcement, I believe, represents a quantum leap toward that goal for Canada's first peoples. 

Thank you.

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