Trust must be mutual…
The recent meeting between Aboriginal leaders and the Prime Minister was a moment when serious leadership was needed. It was a moment almost lost; and, will only be redeemed if there is a serious change in the process going forward. I beseech the PM to not fall into the apparent on-going trap of the past decade. I have said it before and I will doubtless have to say it again, but there will be no serious reconciliation until we have a serious commitment to the entire truth.
The PM came to listen. Good start. He wants to establish trust. Good concept. Then the inevitable unfolded. The only one seriously attempting to establish trust was the PM. Again I heard bleating, wailing and gnashing of teeth over how poorly treated the Aboriginal peoples have been treated in the past. Boo hoo… Where is the commitment to trust on the Aboriginal leadership side of the conversation? Where is the willingness to come to the table and actually try to work in the 21st century reality? In the early days of contact, there was serious business between all parties – such was the trust that many of the Gaelic community actually decided to stay and create a new life, particularly on the prairies. That was then. Now due to the evolution of life in the world, there is a different economy. The fur trade (the prime resource of that era) has all but collapsed (primarily due to earlier woke attitudes towards the beaver & the seal pups) but other resources are readily available.
This is where it is time for the Prime Minister to get elbows up and lay it on the line. Either join the 21st Century, or retreat and live in the past totally. By this I would suggest that only those Aboriginal leaders (& concomitantly their communities) that want to really provide an ongoing economic resurgence be invited to the table. There are plenty of those leaders already available and there are many examples of working arrangements and partnerships. These range from real estate in Vancouver & Calgary, to oil & gas services (from northern BC through to Saskatchewan), to railroads (Manitoba), to countless other small and not so small ventures. Major breakthroughs in training & employment have occurred in places like Prince Rupert and Prince Albert as well as within universities & technical institutes in various provinces. Cultural re-birth is evident in the number of publicly attended pow-wows and other Aboriginal events such as music & art festivities.
Therefore let’s drop the catering to bleating, wailing and gnashing of teeth and intensify the efforts at building strong new economic ventures with those Aboriginal organizations that are ready, willing and able. Again, a good place to start is with emphasis on the Port of Churchill. Using the Port of Prince Rupert as a model, let’s immediately establish serious training and business development with the interested Aboriginal peoples all along the railway from Flin Flon & Winnipeg to the Port. Let’s draw on the expertise of the northern Alberta Bands who are heavily involved in the oil & gas industry to help train & develop people to lead the building of a major pipeline alongside the railway right-of-way that links with the resources in Saskatchewan and Alberta. Let’s invite other Prairie Bands to get involved in the grain & potash shipping industry so that these also increase their presence at products going through the Port. And finally, let’s get the Canadian Forces actively recruiting, training and developing skilled military-fit Aboriginal young adults from all through the north; creating not only more relevant Forces for Arctic deployment but also talented people who can transition into roles in local police and security services, work as blue collar professionals in equipment repair and maintenance, pilots both in the air & on the water, railroad engineers & trucking leaders in the cab or at the dispatch office. The list goes on and on…
It’s just that we can no longer wait. Trust in those who are ready to trust in us. If we can’t work completely within the Golden Rule, at least work so that we are respected by all our peers as we try to create the new reconciled world, built on 2030’s realities. I may not have voted for the Prime Minister, but I am certainly willing to support him if he decides that now is the time to get the elbows up and get to work. Those who don’t want to, can return to their reserves and watch the progress on the evening news…
With hopeful anticipation...
g.w.