"It's time to end the appalling social and economic conditions of reserve communities across the country."
Special to the Canada Native Issues Examiner - Me, Joel Benoit!!
By Patrick Macklem
The Hill Times
TORONTO—With a logo based on the Inukshuk, mascots inspired by indigenous myth, and an opening ceremony laden with aboriginal culture, Canada proudly showcased the heritage of First Nations in the winter Olympics to the world. What it didn’t showcase are the appalling social and economic conditions of reserve communities across the country.
Throughout Canada, aboriginal people living on reserves endure conditions akin to some of the poorest developing countries in the world. Some 73 per cent of First Nations are in need of affordable housing, 12 per cent have to boil their drinking water and the unemployment rate is nearly four times greater than it is for the rest of Canadians. Since 1996, the federal government has maintained an arbitrary two per cent cap on spending increases for core services for aboriginal peoples—less than one-third of the average 6.6 per cent increase that most Canadians enjoy. In 2005, average aboriginal per capita funding from the federal government was approximately $8,500, whereas non-aboriginal per capita funding from municipal, provincial, and federal governments was approximately $15,188.
The Kelowna Accord was meant to address some of these disparaties but the government cruelly reneged on its commitment, slowing down our capacity to remedy the situation, lowering the standard of living on reserve communities, and weakening Canada’s already tenuous commitment to improving the social and economic conditions of First Nations.
This situation has been aggravated for select First Nations in Ontario by arbitrary funding formulas. The funding formulas used by Indian and Northern Affairs Canada were the subject of a 2008 study PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP which found the five largest First Nations in Ontario receive substantially less funding per capita than smaller First Nations. This disparity remains even after accounting for factors such as economies of scale and urban proximity.
It is time for the Canadian government to end chronic and discriminatory underfunding of reserve communities in Canada. The social and economic conditions on all reserves in Canada not only violate the Constitution of Canada, they represent grave violations of civil, political, social, economic and cultural rights enshrined in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Canada is party to these treaties and, as such bears international legal obligations to comply with their terms.
Four of the five largest First Nations in Ontario—the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte, Oneida Nation of the Thames, Wikwemikong Unceded Indian Territory, and Six Nations of the Grand River—have requested that the United Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous People to review Canada’s international and constitutional obligations to remedy the social and economic conditions of reserve communities. They have also requested the Canadian Human Rights Commission work with the UN Special Rapporteur. Despite the government’s open hostility to the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the Canadian Human Rights Commission recently voiced its support for both the UN Declaration and the work of the UN Special Rapporteur.
Hopefully, these initiatives will begin to hold the government to account for its discriminatory underfunding of First Nations. With Parliament resuming this week, Canadians will be basking in the well-deserved glow of a successful Olympics. But, on Thursday, attention will immediately shift to the government’s proposed budget, which threatens to make matters even worse for First Nations across the country. Organizing a country’s fiscal affairs in ways that worsen the condition of the worst off of its members deserves global shame. That’s why Canada didn’t showcase the social and economic conditions of First Nations to the world. They’re too shameful.
Patrick Macklem is the William C. Graham Professor of Law at University of Toronto, the author of Indigenous Difference and the Constitution of Canada, and a co-founder of The InJustice Project—Advocating for Indigenous Justice.
To learn more about The InJustice Project, go to:
http://www.facebook.com/ pages/The-InJustice-Projectadvocating-for-indigenous-justice/ 285421587179.
Republished from The Hill Times
Original article: http://www.thehilltimes.ca/page/view/macklem-03-01-2010
Special to the Canada Native Issues Examiner - Me, Joel Benoit!!
By Patrick Macklem
The Hill Times
TORONTO—With a logo based on the Inukshuk, mascots inspired by indigenous myth, and an opening ceremony laden with aboriginal culture, Canada proudly showcased the heritage of First Nations in the winter Olympics to the world. What it didn’t showcase are the appalling social and economic conditions of reserve communities across the country.
The Kelowna Accord was meant to address some of these disparaties but the government cruelly reneged on its commitment, slowing down our capacity to remedy the situation, lowering the standard of living on reserve communities, and weakening Canada’s already tenuous commitment to improving the social and economic conditions of First Nations.
This situation has been aggravated for select First Nations in Ontario by arbitrary funding formulas. The funding formulas used by Indian and Northern Affairs Canada were the subject of a 2008 study PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP which found the five largest First Nations in Ontario receive substantially less funding per capita than smaller First Nations. This disparity remains even after accounting for factors such as economies of scale and urban proximity.
It is time for the Canadian government to end chronic and discriminatory underfunding of reserve communities in Canada. The social and economic conditions on all reserves in Canada not only violate the Constitution of Canada, they represent grave violations of civil, political, social, economic and cultural rights enshrined in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Canada is party to these treaties and, as such bears international legal obligations to comply with their terms.
Four of the five largest First Nations in Ontario—the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte, Oneida Nation of the Thames, Wikwemikong Unceded Indian Territory, and Six Nations of the Grand River—have requested that the United Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous People to review Canada’s international and constitutional obligations to remedy the social and economic conditions of reserve communities. They have also requested the Canadian Human Rights Commission work with the UN Special Rapporteur. Despite the government’s open hostility to the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the Canadian Human Rights Commission recently voiced its support for both the UN Declaration and the work of the UN Special Rapporteur.
Hopefully, these initiatives will begin to hold the government to account for its discriminatory underfunding of First Nations. With Parliament resuming this week, Canadians will be basking in the well-deserved glow of a successful Olympics. But, on Thursday, attention will immediately shift to the government’s proposed budget, which threatens to make matters even worse for First Nations across the country. Organizing a country’s fiscal affairs in ways that worsen the condition of the worst off of its members deserves global shame. That’s why Canada didn’t showcase the social and economic conditions of First Nations to the world. They’re too shameful.
Patrick Macklem is the William C. Graham Professor of Law at University of Toronto, the author of Indigenous Difference and the Constitution of Canada, and a co-founder of The InJustice Project—Advocating for Indigenous Justice.
To learn more about The InJustice Project, go to:
http://www.facebook.com/ pages/The-InJustice-Projectadvocating-for-indigenous-justice/ 285421587179.
Republished from The Hill Times
Original article: http://www.thehilltimes.ca/page/view/macklem-03-01-2010
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