Prime Minister Harper outlines the government's achievements for Aboriginal Canadians

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.

Thank you, Chief Brazeau, for your warm introduction; I am very pleased to have this opportunity to address the annual assembly of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples. This is my first speech to the national meeting of an aboriginal organization since becoming Prime Minister, so it’s my first opportunity to speak specifically and directly to native Canadians about our government’s vision for Canadian aboriginal policy. I think the Congress of aboriginal Peoples (C.A.P.) is an appropriate audience for this address because in many ways this organization and the Canadians you represent are the future of our country.

Off-reserve aboriginal people constitute the fastest growing segment of Canadian society, and our government wants their future to be the best hope for aboriginal Canadians, as it is for the millions of others who are attracted to Canada's urban regions. The "forgotten people," as you call your members, cannot be forgotten or ignored any longer. On the contrary, I believe you will play a pivotal role in the prosperous future that lies ahead for all citizens of Canada because Canada’s aboriginal population in general, and the off-reserve, urban aboriginal population in particular, are Canada’s new baby boomers.

I'd like to share a few dramatic statistics with you. Between 1982 and 2005, the total number of registered Indians in Canada more than doubled. During that same period, the total Canadian population increased by just 30 per cent. Meanwhile, the proportion of registered aboriginals living on reserve shrank in relation to those living off reserve. Those living off reserve – the people energetically represented by C.A.P. – were once in the minority. Now you account for nearly half of the total population on the federal Indian registry. And if you add to these numbers the non-registered aboriginals, including the Métis and others who define themselves as native, almost 70 per cent of Canadians of aboriginal descent now live away from reserves.

Like many other Canadians, like many of you here today, this rapidly growing segment of the population has chosen to live in Canada’s urban centres. Urbanization, of course, is no new phenomenon. At the time of Confederation just 20 percent of Canadians lived in cities. Today that figure surpasses 80 percent. Cities and towns are where we find the growing numbers and diversity of jobs, and naturally aboriginal Canadians are as anxious to be where the action is as anyone else. To deny this trend is like trying to turn back the tides in the Bay of Fundy.

At the risk of bombarding you with too many statistics, please indulge me for just a couple more. The median age of the non-aboriginal population is roughly 38 years. The median age of the aboriginal population is around 25 years. In short, the urban aboriginal population is not only increasing much faster than the general population, it is two-thirds of a generation younger – and getting younger by the year. As I said, you have a jump on the future. And what a future it can be.

All too often in discussions about Canada’s first peoples, we dwell on the negative. I am not suggesting that we deny or downplay the realities of the past. We should never forget the often misguided and sometimes racist policies of our predecessors, or the miseries suffered in residential schools, or the treaty promises unfulfilled, nor should we ignore the current situation on reserves and in our inner cities, where native people carry a disproportionate burden of poverty, illness and crime. Our government, through Minister Chuck Strahl, in conjunction with able organizations like yours, is working very hard with aboriginal communities on and off reserve to address the problems that need to be fixed. And in our first 21 months, I hope you will agree we have made a good start.

As you all know, the recent Speech from the Throne outlined the government’s five-point plan for moving our country forward. A number of these priorities spoke to initiatives for aboriginal Canadians towards whom, as you know, the national government has broad constitutional responsibilities. Since taking office, we have been working specifically on a five-point plan for aboriginal affairs:

economic development,

education,

empowerment and protecting the vulnerable,

resolution of land claims,

and last but certainly not least, reconciliation, governance and self-government.

The focus of this agenda is to build a record of real results through tangible, concrete actions with willing and able partners.

Economic development

As I said, the first priority is economic development. This is obviously the most essential step to improving the lives of aboriginal people and their families. We have been pursuing a range of initiatives, for example:

We’ve consolidated the aboriginal economic development tools of Industry Canada and Indian Affairs,

Invested significant new resources in the aboriginal Skills and Employment Program,

And refocused the Urban Aboriginal Strategy to concentrate on job training and entrepreneurship;

As you know, many aboriginal people live in places, especially in Western Canada, where there is a shortage of skills. This will be an increasing phenomenon in Canada in the years to come, and we want to ensure aboriginal people can take full advantage of these workforce opportunities.

On the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, we’ve launched initiatives to provide greater participation for first nations in the fisheries, not just for ceremonial purposes, but in an integrated commercial fishery as well.

In the Northwest Territories, we’ve establish a fund to address the socio-economic impacts of the Mackenzie Gas Project,

We’ve announced a simplified process for first nations to access funding to improve infrastructure on reserves.

And, of course, there are other strategies in particular regions and communities.

Education

We're also investing in education. Canada has a solid, robust economy with a growing shortage of skills in many regions and sectors. We want to ensure that aboriginals can benefit from the jobs and opportunities that will be created, now and in the future. Our aboriginal youth, in particular, must be able to take advantage of the jobs and opportunities created by Canada’s robust economy. We’ve extended the first nations school net. We’ve also passed into law a historic tripartite agreement with first nations and the province of British Columbia.

We recognize that many of the services provided by Ottawa to aboriginal people are, for most Canadians, delivered with far more expertise by the provinces. So, rather than passing the buck, we’re partnering with the provinces – who have been responsible for social services since the dawn of Confederation,

To make sure native people get the best possible programs,

In this case educational services to natives in B.C. on the same standards as those delivered to other residents.

This agreement is a model of the kind of arrangements we would like to enter into with provinces on a range of service issues.

Empowering first nations citizens and protecting the vulnerable

Similar principles underlie our partnership with B.C. on health services and with the province of Alberta and treaty First Nations to implement a new prevention-based approach to child welfare. This is part of our efforts to protect vulnerable people and empower the citizens of our first nations, which is unfortunately and manifestly not the situation in many aboriginal communities today.

It is hard to believe that aboriginal people living on reserves are still not protected by the Canadian Human Rights Act. Are government is trying to pass such protection. I urge Parliament to pass that legislation.

Although it is an on-reserve issue, an important part of our program to empower aboriginal people is our proposal to repeal section 67 of the Canadian Human Rights Act

And to finally ensure that aboriginal people living on reserve have the same human rights protections as other Canadians.

Likewise we are conducting extensive national consultations to establish matrimonial real property laws on reserve and end discrimination against native women. We have also been pursuing a number of other initiatives to deal with the basic needs of ordinary people. Like:

Our action plan to improve drinking water quality standards and training on reserve, and to address the 21 communities with high-risk water systems.

New resources, on and off reserve, to improve aboriginal housing and home ownership;

The first nations wait-times pilot projects in diabetes and prenatal care;

And the first food guide specifically for first nations, Inuit and Métis.

Resolution of land claims

I can also say with some satisfaction that we are making real progress on the issue of unresolved claims. Unresolved land claims, of course, are a constant source of anger, frustration and uncertainty in First Nations communities, and we are making real progress on this file.

That’s why we have:

Signed a framework agreement with the Mi’kmaq here in Nova Scotia,

And are dealing with recognition of the Mi`kmaq in Newfoundland and Labrador, an issue with which I know this organization is deeply involved.

Although land claims are not generally the focus of this organization, I do want to point out the number of areas in which we have made progress.

We have settled major James Bay Cree litigation;

Signed the Nunavik Inuit land claim agreement;

Initialled the first three final agreements under the B.C. treaty process;

Accelerated treaty land entitlement settlements in Manitoba;

Settled the Bigstone Cree specific claim in Alberta;

And, most significantly, created the specific claims action plan to address the backlog of 800 unsettled claims. This is an historic initiative we have undertaken in concert with the Assembly of First Nations.

Reconciliation, governance and self-government

Finally, it is the conviction of our government that we will never move forward together into a better, fairer future as Canadians until we reconcile with the past and establish effective, accountable governance in aboriginal communities. As with the claims process, we are making real progress on aboriginal self-government, but certainly our most important accomplishment has been the legal settlement to resolve the Indian residential schools litigation

Including payments to survivors, support for community healing and mental health initiatives, and the establishment of its truth and reconciliation commission.

Of course, not all the initiatives that benefit aboriginal people are initiatives undertaken solely for aboriginal people. If you look at our $1,200 child care benefit, our crackdown on crime, and our tax cuts, Aboriginal people greatly benefit from our government's policies. I’ve just enumerated the actions we have undertaken specifically for aboriginal people.

Many government initiatives that are designed for the general population will also benefit – sometimes disproportionately - aboriginal people - especially those off reserve who are represented by this congress. Our hundred-dollar-a-month universal child care benefit, for example, is particularly helpful for young natives with large families.

There is also our comprehensive crackdown on crime. Aboriginal people are disproportionately victims of crime in this country, and want safer streets and communities as much as anyone. And, of course, there are our deep, broad-based tax reductions. These may not mean as much to tax-exempt reserve residents, but natives living off-reserve get the full benefits of our reforms, starting with the two-point cut in the GST and all the various cuts to personal income tax. But let me mention one tax reform in particular because it has not received enough attention.

It is a progressive measure designed for those struggling at the very low-income end of our society. That is WITB, the working income tax benefit. It is designed to tear down the so-called "welfare wall" and it gives low-income Canadians greater incentives and benefits from moving from welfare to the workforce.

Ladies and gentlemen, as much as we have been doing in the past couple of years, we recognize that there is still much to do. Many of you here today no doubt have suggestions about what can be done and how to accomplish it. I look forward to hearing some of those ideas a bit later today. We want to work with you, and I urge you to focus on the future and the promise it holds, because that’s what successful aboriginal people and organizations in Canada are doing today.

Let me cite one example; the Osoyoos Indian band in the British Columbia interior, headed by Chief Clarence Louie. For those of you who don’t know Chief Louie, I should explain that he lives and breathes economic development. He is the chair of the new National Aboriginal Economic Development Board created by former Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice. Under his leadership, the Osoyoos reserve has been transformed from a bankrupt desert scrub into a successful, multi-million-dollar corporation.

Among other businesses, they run a winery, a logging operation, a trucking company, a resort with a golf course, an RV park and an interpretive centre. Chief Louie takes pride in being plain-spoken – a man who tells it as he sees it.  A couple of years ago, he appeared before the Senate Committee on Aboriginal Peoples when it convened in British Columbia. "I am sick and tired of welfare programs coming down from the federal and provincial governments," he told the senators. "I just hope your committee gets the message to the federal government, the provincial governments, that you want to deal with aboriginal poverty by giving first nations the dignity of jobs, the ability to create our own and make our own money."

Chief Louie walks the talk. He has created a future for himself and his people where, a decade ago, there seemed no future.  He has done so through perseverance. And he has done so not by isolating his people on the reserve, but by fully engaging with the wider community.

The Osooyôs band works in cooperation and collaboration with the non-native population, drawing on outside expertise where necessary to train band members in the running of their successful companies. I’m not suggesting all of us have the ability to create multi-million-dollar empires – or would even want to. I’m not suggesting that making money is the be-all or end-all for any community. What I am suggesting is that the future belongs to those who are willing to embrace it.  And we want all to be able to embrace it.

We are proud of Canada, this tremendous land of opportunity, where people of all nations have come from the world over and shared in peace, progress and prosperity. Our ambitions for our country will not be fulfilled until the day when our first peoples fully share the benefits of this country. Today, for you and for all Canadians, a future of opportunity stands before us like never before.

It was once said that the 20th century would belong to Canada. I believe that the prediction was off by a century. With our wounds healing and our eye on the future, I believe that the century that just begun shall be the one we make our own. And I believe we shall do so together.

I'd like to conclude with some words from the late senator James Gladstone or "many guns," as he was known in the Blackfoot language of the blood tribe of south-western 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. He said, and I quote, "[that] this country will come of age when all people, whatever their origin, will forget their national differences and unite in one nation."

The Congress of Aboriginal Peoples represents Canadians of native descent who are on the cutting edge of Senator Gladstone’s dream. You are breaking down the old walls of isolation, separation and estrangement. You are creating new and better lives in our cities. You are Canadians’ neighbours, co-workers, friends and family.

You are the future and I am confident that our government and your Congress can and will work together to make that future a reality.

Thank you again for your invitation.

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