Métis National Council Vice President Audrey Poitras called on the Western Premiers to re-affirm their support for the Kelowna Accord, an agreement aimed at closing the socioeconomic gap between aboriginal and non-aboriginal Canadians.


The 18-page document contains 10-year targets in areas such as health, education, housing, and economic development. The $5.1 billion agreement with Canada was reached just days before the last federal election was called.

“Over two years of time and effort have been spent on the Kelowna blueprint. Now, we need to start implementing the institutions and initiatives that were agreed to. We cannot afford to go back to the drawing board. We hope the Western Premiers will echo this message with us to the new powers that be in Ottawa,” said MNC Vice President Poitras in her address to the Western Premiers meeting in Gimli, MB.

“There is an absolute need for the federal and provincial Ministers of Aboriginal Affairs and National Aboriginal Leaders to meet in the near future in order to discuss where we go from here. We ask the Western Premiers to call upon Prime Minister Harper to instruct Minister Prentice to convene such a meeting,” said Poitras.

The premiers came out of the meeting unified in their reaffirmation of support for the Kelowna agreement. As well, the premiers agreed to encourage the federal government to pull together a meeting of all the aboriginal affairs ministers to start planning the next steps with respect to the agreement, so named after the city in which it was signed.

Manitoba Premier Gary Doer said it would be ‘morally wrong’ to back out of the commitments in the Kelowna accord. “In my view, the Kelowna accord could never deal with 120 years of Canadian history, but at least it was a start.”

Doer said he hopes that by publicly reaffirming their support for the Kelowna deal, the federal government will reconsider its position. “The will of the public always determines the best way to go,” said Doer.

Leading up to the election, Aboriginal leaders were concerned about the old Reform party ideas lingering quietly within a Harper government. The old Reform party, of which Stephen Harper was a founding member, was not receptive to aboriginal claims of special status.

Since taking over the Prime Minister’s office, Stephen Harper has shown limited support for the Kelowna deal. No commitments were made in his government’s first federal budget announced in May that might support the goals agreed to in the accord. Nor does it mention the Métis Nation.

In a statement from Métis National Council regarding the budget announcement, MNC President Clément Chartier says, “Despite years of hard work and great progress as we experienced with the previous government, Stephen Harper’s Conservatives have not stood up for the Métis Nation. It is not acceptable to ignore the years of work which lead to last November’s historic signing of the $5.1 billion dollar Kelowna Accord. The accord was endorsed by all provinces, territories and national Aboriginal organizations and yet, despite receiving clear support for this investment and record federal surpluses, this new government has not made the welfare of Canada’s first peoples and in particular, the Métis Nation, a priority.”

In March, Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice offered a glimmer of hope for the Kelowna agreement saying the Conservatives were willing to “put wheels on Kelowna”.

“What was discussed at Kelowna,” said Minister Prentice, “was a transformative agenda to move this country forward to make sure the aspirations and the needs of Aboriginal Canadians and first nation Canadians are respected, and we’re working on that.”

Despite no mention of resources for Kelowna in the federal budget, BC Premier Gordon Campbell says he remains hopeful the agreement has not been abandoned. Premier Campbell is suggesting the provinces proceed saying, “My hope is that all the provincial governments will have laid out their plans for First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples on how they are going to close those gaps and bring the federal government in to provide the kind of resources that are necessary over the long term.”

MNC Vice President Poitras says, “We all accept the reality that the new Harper Government will want to “re-brand” Kelowna, we cannot accept further delays in really dealing with the unique challenges Aboriginal peoples face in relation to health, education, housing and economic opportunities.”

‘Re-branding’ is a marketing term that describes changing the perception of a product or service by giving it a new name or image.
 
 
 
By Patricia Russell