Prime minister commits to process to move beyond Indian Act

OTTAWA · Prime Minister Mark Carney said Monday he shares the view that Canada should look into reforming or even abolishing the Indian Act. Carney made the comments after a meeting in Ottawa with some provincial premiers and First Nations leaders, including Assembly of First Nations National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak. He said he is committed to a process that moves Canada beyond the Indian Act and is directing his ministers to work in partnership with First Nations to chart that path. The prime minister acknowledged that not everyone at the meeting agreed with the proposal.

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew first raised the issue publicly earlier Monday, telling reporters Canada should abolish the act. "It's time to abolish the Indian Act," Kinew said. "It's long overdue that we have a relationship with Indigenous Peoples in Canada that reflects who we are as Canadians today." During a break in the meeting, Kinew held up his status card, which he said identifies him as an "Indian within the meaning of the Indian Act." He said Canada should no longer have a race-based form of identification. Carney credited Kinew for his advocacy and said he was open to modernizing, reforming or abolishing the act based on a consultation process still to be determined. "I am committed to a process that moves Canada beyond the Indian Act, and I am directing my ministers to work in partnership with First Nations to chart that path together," Carney said. He added that if the Indian Act is abolished, then "fully modernizing the governance relationship is the desirable end state."

Woodhouse Nepinak said she looked forward to discussing the idea with the Assembly of First Nations. "There is a diversity of First Nations from coast to coast to coast. We're in every province and territory in this beautiful country that we all share, and that question is going to be up to them to decide, right? And they're going to have to decide for themselves," she said. Carney noted the discussion was starting from the right place because participants in the meeting raised the desirability of change. "And it's not the federal government deciding something should be done," he said.

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The prime minister said the leaders also discussed a proposed First Nations Sovereign Wealth Fund, which he described as an opportunity for First Nations to share directly in the wealth the country is creating. Carney said he has instructed Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne to look into the fund and other ways First Nations can benefit from major projects. He said the fund could work in tandem with the government's proposed Canada Strong Fund. "There have been various models that have been suggested. I think all need to be explored. One could work alongside the Canada Strong Fund. Some in the room, not us, suggested that, or different models could be developed," Carney said.

The meeting comes as Carney tries to win over First Nations leaders for a slate of planned major projects, including a pipeline from Alberta to the West Coast, that are already facing legal jeopardy. Tensions between Ottawa and First Nations spiked after Carney's government passed legislation to create a new office tasked with streamlining major project developments. First Nations leaders warned the compressed timelines would interfere with their rights. Provincial governments have enacted similar legislation.

Carney said the government is addressing a number of issues contained in the Indian Act, including consultations around the second-generation cutoff. That is where the law strips a person of their legal Indian status after two consecutive generations of parenting with a partner who does not have status under the act. The prime minister described the meeting, the first of its kind in two decades, as sobering. "Our task is twofold. First is to work together to create opportunities for all our peoples, while building a country that is stronger, more sovereign and more independent," Carney said. "And secondly, our task is to live our values fully of a fair and inclusive Canada."

With files from National Post, iPolitics and APTN News