Stephen Harper and the myth of the 'crooked Indian'

[Oscar]

Stephen Harper and the myth of the crooked Indian

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By Pamela Palmater | November 26, 2014

Can you think of any Prime Minister, President or World Leader that would withhold food, water, or health care as a bullying tactic to force its citizens into compliance with a new government law, policy or scheme? Can you ever imagine this happening in Canada? I don't think most of us could.

Yet, this is exactly what is happening with Harper's implementation of the illegal C-27. Minister of Aboriginal Affairs Bernard Valcourt has threatened to cut off funds for food, water and health care if First Nations do not get in line and abide by this new legislation -- despite the fact that it was imposed without legal consultation and is now being legally challenged. How many First Nations children will have to die for Harper to sit down and work this out with First Nations?

Bill C-27 (formerly C-575), the First Nation Financial Transparency Act (FNFTA), is the classic deflection tactic by Harper's Conservatives to distract Canadians from the extreme poverty in many First Nations and Canada's role in maintaining those conditions. The solution to chronic underfunding of essential human services like water, food, and housing lay not in more legislation, but in addressing the problem: the underfunding. Presenting accountability legislation as the solution implies that First Nations are the cause of their own poverty -- a racist stereotype Harper's Conservatives use quite frequently to divide community members from their leaders and Canadians from First Nations.

Stereotype of the "crooked Indian"

This racist stereotype is recycled again and again when Harper is pressed to account for the fourth world conditions in some First Nations. The response always seem to be: "Well, we gave them x million dollars, where did all the money go?" What Harper never tells Canadians is that in giving First Nations x million dollars, that he has given them half of what is needed to provide the specific program or service. Without all the facts, this propaganda serves to distance Canadians from First Nations.

In the last couple of years, Harper has been hit hard in the media about Canada's persistent failure to address the basic needs of First Nations.

The following high-profile poverty-related crises in First Nations meant that Harper needed some instant damage control and distraction -- which he got with C-27:

◾Cindy Blackstock's discrimination case for inequitable child and family service funding to First Nations kids in care;
◾Numerous housing, water and suicide crises and states of emergency in individual First Nations;
◾Auditor General’s numerous findings related to inequitable funding in housing, water and education;
◾RCMP's report about over-representation of murdered and missing Indigenous women; and
◾United Nations finding that Canada's human rights violations leads to "abysmal" poverty in First Nations despite Canada's enormous wealth;

The Cons also use third parties, like the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, to advance their racist propaganda and deflect from the real issues. How many times have we heard the phrase "millionaire chiefs" or "exhorbitant salaries"? Yet there has never been a millionaire Chief in the history of Indian Act Chiefs. Canada has failed to show where any Chief ever received a million dollar salary from federal funding.

But let’s pretend all 633 Chiefs in Canada got million dollar salaries (which they do not). That would mean $633 million dollars a year in salary to Chiefs. The annual budget for First Nation programs and services is approximately $10 billion. It would be pretty hard to argue that six per cent of the budget going to give all Chiefs a million dollar salary would be the actual cause of First Nation poverty.

We simply can’t have this conversation around accountability without the facts. The facts are this: the average Canadian salary is $46,000 per year. The average elected First Nation leader's salary is $36,000 per year. Yet, there are numerous municipal librarians making $100,000 a year to manage books, while First Nation leaders must manage human lives.

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Dr. Pamela D. Palmater is a Mi'kmaw lawyer and member of the Eel River Bar First Nation in New Brunswick. She teaches Indigenous law, politics and governance at Ryerson University and heads their Centre for Indigenous Governance.