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Yukon News
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
UN official calls for inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women The Canadian Press OTTAWA he federal government should set up a national inquiry into the “disturbing phenomenon” of missing and murdered aboriginal women, a senior UN rights official said Tuesday. James Anaya, the UN special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, has spent the last nine days touring the country, talking to aboriginals and both federal and provincial government officials. And while governments across Canada have pledged a number of steps to deal with the problem of missing aboriginal women, it’s not enough, Anaya told a news conference in Ottawa as he wrapped up his visit. “I have heard from aboriginal peoples a widespread lack of confidence in the effectiveness of those measures,” Anaya said. “I concur that a comprehensive and nationwide inquiry into the issue could help ensure a co-ordin-
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ated response and the opportunity for the loved ones of victims to be heard and would demonstrate a responsiveness to the concerns raised by the families and communities affected by this epidemic.” There has been strong pressure from aboriginal groups and some provinces for an inquiry into the disappearances, which some say run into the hundreds. The Native Women’s Association of Canada estimates there have been more than 600 such cases in the last 20 years. The federal government, however, has so far refused to entertain the idea of an inquiry. Anaya, a professor of human rights law at the University of Arizona, also has a Canadian connection, having done several stints as a visiting professor in the law faculty of the University of Toronto. He acknowledged that Canada has made significant progress on aboriginal issues since his predecessor delivered a tough report in 2004. But many challenges remain, he said.
CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
United Nations special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, James Anaya, holds a press conference at the National Press Theatre in Ottawa.
“Canada faces a crisis when it comes to the situation of indigenous peoples of the country,” Anaya said.
The economic gap between aboriginals and non-aboriginals hasn’t narrowed, treaty and land claims remain unresolved and “there appear to be high levels of distrust among aboriginal peoples towards government at both the federal and provincial levels.” Liberal aboriginal affairs critic Carolyn Bennett pounced on Anaya’s report as evidence of a hard-hearted Conservative attitude towards Canada’s First Nations. “The Conservatives’ adversarial approach to aboriginal peoples on a host of issues has created conflict and distrust, rather than reconciliation and better lives,” Bennett said. “As Mr. Anaya noted today, Canada needs to change direction urgently towards a new, collaborative partnership with aboriginal peoples to achieve progress and shared prosperity.” Anaya also noted that aboriginal education in Canada could be improved quickly if money given to native authorities for schooling was equal, on a per-student basis, to
spending in the provincial system. But he warned the federal government against going ahead with its proposed First Nations education bill. He said he heard “a remarkably consistent and profound distrust” about the measure and urged the government to take its time and redraft the legislation in consultation with aboriginals. Anaya also said housing remains a dismal problem. “I urge the government to treat the housing situation on First Nations reserves and Inuit communities with the urgency it deserves,” he said. “It simply cannot be acceptable that these conditions persist in the midst of a country with such great wealth.” Anaya also said the residentialschools era continues to cast “a shadow of despair” over aboriginal communities and he urged the government to extend the mandate of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to as long as it needs to do its work.
Senate abolition gains momentum inside Conservative caucus Jennifer Ditchburn
uncomfortable speaking publicly about the matter – say the Senate should simply be done away with, OTTAWA rather than wait for reforms that hile the NDP bangs the drum could take years to achieve, if at all. for Senate abolition in the “Personally, I think the country Commons, Prime Minister Stephen could be well governed without it,” Harper is likely to hear the same said one Conservative MP. beat coming from inside his own Added another MP: “I’m ready Conservative caucus. to campaign on abolition.” Government MPs got an earful Some even pointed to the politfrom constituents over the spring ical toll that the concept of Senate and summer about the ongoing reform is taking on Harper himself. Senate expenses scandal, which “The Senate is a longer-term has already prompted the ouster of problem where without action, the three high-profile Tory senators and prime minister is perceived as the Harper’s chief of staff. An RCMP person who is responsible for the investigation and auditor general’s Senate and the status quo,” said one review will keep the story alive Tory MP. indefinitely. “That’s not a position he wants Many members were riled up to be in.” after a Conservative private memAny movement on the Senate ber’s bill on union accountability will have to wait until the Supreme was gutted with the help of some Court of Canada answers a series of their own caucus mates in the of questions the government posed upper chamber. earlier this year – including how to As a result, patience is running thin. A number MPs who spoke to The new Yukon home of The Canadian Press – some on the record, others preferring to remain anonymous because they are The Canadian Press
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to see the kind of Senate reform that Harper has proposed in the past, but not at any cost. “If it comes to pass that (reform) cannot happen without some kind of constitutional upheaval – meaning the general amending formula and all the provinces have to agree – if we’re going to go down that path, then certainly abolition might be the better bet,” Stanton said. Other MPs are holding out for a healthy discussion inside caucus – and later this month at the Conservative convention in Calgary – on possible solutions for making the Senate more effective and less costly. “You still need that sober second thought because we could still ram stuff through Parliament rather quickly if we wanted to, and that may feel good one day but the damage could be a year or two down the road when you don’t take the time to really vet something properly,”
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go about abolition. As a result, Senate reform is not expected to garner but a passing reference in Wednesday’s throne speech. Harper has tried unsuccessfully to introduce term limits to the Senate, and to create a framework whereby the provinces could elect their senators. Industry Minister James Moore raised the threat of abolition last weekend, saying taxpayers should have some sort of election process to allow them to do away with senators they feel aren’t up to the task. “But if we can’t do that, then the Senate should be abolished,” Moore told CTV’s Question Period. “Either elect or abolish, but serious reform or abolition has to happen, and we want it to happen yesterday.” Ontario MP Bruce Stanton said the Senate expenses issues became “water-cooler talk” in his riding over the summer. He would prefer
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one western Conservative MP said. “That’s where the Senate provides that strength – do we really need to have them here doing that committee work? Do we need to have them travelling all over the world?” Manitoba MP Steven Fletcher, the former minister of state for democratic reform, said the legal advice he’s seen would suggest that introducing Senate elections and term limits is entirely possible. Expecting Canadians to unite in supporting abolition, however, is unrealistic, Fletcher said. “Anyone who says that the Senate as a first choice should be abolished, such as the NDP, are being disingenuous when they say it because they know that’s not going to happen,” he said. “That’s not because we don’t want it to happen, it’s just because it can’t happen.”