Racism? What Racism?

If the old adage that says the first step towards healing is admitting you've got a problem is true, then it appears the first step the fight against racism in Canada still needs to be taken.

That's the conclusion shared by most Native people-and a few non-Native people-we talked to this month after they watched National Chief Matthew Coon Come and Indian Affairs Minister Robert Nault spar in the press over Coon Come's remarks at the World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa in late August and early September.

The Assembly of First Nations national chief caused a national stir in July with his remarks at his organization's annual general assembly. He said Canada was slow to address the social problems experienced by First Nations people "because we are Indians."

But that was just the start. In South Africa, he relayed a similar message to a global audience, causing an angry backlash back home.

Coon Come talked about "the oppression, marginalization and dispossession of Indigenous peoples" and the "racist and colonial syndrome of dispossession and discrimination."

He said government policies meant Indigenous people in Canada were being "pushed to the edge of extinction."

The Indian Affairs minister came out swinging when he was asked to comment on Coon" Come's remarks.

"Quite frankly, I think Matthew Coon Come owes us an apology," Nault said. "There's no proof of this in modern time that the Canadian government and the general population are racist towards Aboriginal people."

For those who follow Aboriginal issues closely, that remark at first seemed stunningly naive. The pages of this publication and many others are dotted with examples of racism directed at Native people in Canada. Practically all observers agree-from Ipperwash to the Helen Betty Osborne case to vigilante actions directed at First Nations fishermen in Burnt Church to the starlight tours in Saskatchewan to the disproportionate number of Native people in Canada's prisons to the shocking state of the health of Native people to the disturbing suicide statistics in First Nation communities-there can be no doubt that Native people are treated worse than non-Native Canadians.

When contacted by Windspeaker, Nancy Pine, the minister's press secretary, expanded slightly on what meaning the minister's, comments were intended to convey.

"Obviously, he's taking the strong point of view that some of those comments are generalized to say that all Canadians are racist. He's saying he's thinking it's not helpful to make those kinds of generalizations as referred to in the comments by our national chief," Pine said. "He's saying in any society we're going to have people who are in a particular scenario that you outlay as being racist. But overall, generally, for the most part, Canadians are supportive of Aboriginal people and our relationship that the government has with them. What he's meaning by this is that there's no proof in modem times in government policy, he's saying, that the Canadian government, and the general population are racist towards Aboriginal people as a whole," she said. "Is it the general population that are racist towards Aboriginal people or are we looking at instances here and there? I think what he's saying for the most part in general is that we're not dealing with a racist nation here. Canadaisn't a racist nation. Or is it? Is that the debate?"

AFN communications director Jean Larose said that isn't the debate at all. He called the minister's description of Coon Come's remarks "a serious attempt at misinformation."

"The national chief never said all Canadians were racist. All he said was that there is institutional racism in Canada and he gave examples. He gave examples not in his words, but in the words of [Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples] and the UN commission on human rights. [The minister] stated that the national chief had made comments which he hadn't, then around that threw up this image of someone who was going around just to paint Canada black, to smear all Canadians, when in fact that's not what the national chief did," LaRose said. "He was very, very careful in using independent observers' statements to show what the situation was in Canada.

"At the same time, he was very careful to state in his presentations and also to media that Canada does a lot of good, in Canada and around the world, when it comes to human rights. But they are still not recognizing. the fact that there is still institutional racism in Canada. The perfect example is the Indian Act. The Indian Act is recognized by everybody. Even the government, some ministers have stated it's.. .not patently racist, because they won't, use that word, but they say it's paternalistic. And yet what's the minister doing? He's. not changing the act, he's playing with elements of it to suit his own agenda."

The national chief told Canada how the international community sees the way it treats Native people, Larose said.

"The Indian Act still is racist. It's the product of an institution -his department. And what is the department doing? It's not looking at the legislation and saying, 'Yes, this is racist. We're treating these people as wards of the state; we're treating them in a way that no other Canadians would accept; we're treating them that way because of their race, they are Indians. We decide who is an Indian, who is not, who gets status, who doesn't, who gets class one, two, three,' said LaRose. "The legislation is racist. It's part of an institution, but yet he's not changing the legislation. He's not saying. 'Yes, this is racist we need to correct it.' All he's saying is, 'I'll make these guys a bit more accountable and I think we should have elections every three years. Let's see what they think about that."'

During a speech to the Atlantic First Nations economic summit in Halifax on Sept. 19, the national chief explained his comments. He said he was quoting from the final report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples when he spoke in South Africa.

"I quote," he said. "Aboriginal people have tried for more than a century to maintain their own mandate, to derive a decent living from the natural resources and revenues on their traditional territories, but these aspirations have been frustrated. Reserves and community lands have shrunk drastically in size over the past century. They have been stripped of their most, valuable resources It is not difficult to identify the so lutions. Aboriginal people need much more, territory to become economically, culturally and politically self-sufficient. Currently. on the margins of Canadian society, they will be pushed to the edge of economic, cultural, political extinction. The government must act forcefully, generously, swiftly, to ensure the economic, cultural, political survival of Aboriginal nations."

He told the audience the back lash against his remarks was really a backlash against the findings of the royal commission.

"I was attacked in the media in Canada for saying this. Minister Nault told Canadians these words would set back relations with First Nations by several years. Even the prime minister jumped into the fray when he said he had offered to get rid of the reserves in 1968 but we had turned him down," Coon Come said. "I remind you it was the royal commission that I quoted. It was a former Supreme Court justice who reached these conclusions, not Matthew Coon Come."

He noted that the commission had pointed out that "It was not difficult to identify the solutions," and suggested that Canada, despite criticisms from United Nations committees and domestic groups, has done little to alter the balance of power to address the problems.

Native leaders say decision makers in Canada's corridors of power, in colonial times, were in the business of enforcing laws and policies that were established on very shaky legal and moral ground. Colonialism is now described by many academics as pure racism. The only way to justify "discovering" land that is already inhabited, is to deem, those inhabitants racially inferior, less than human, they say.

Colonialism has been hard on Indigenous peoples the world over and Canada is not immune, Coop Come was saying. The former minister of Indian Affairs, Jane Stewart, said as much in her Statement of Reconciliation.

Canada, with the policies the current minister is so proud of, is slowly addressing the legacy of colonialism, the national chief admits, but at a speed that suits the government's needs, not First Nations' needs. And when the relatively wealthy majority feels it has the right to decide how quickly, and with how much inconvenience, it should undo the harm it has done to Indigenous peoples, Native leaders see that as the perpetuation of colonial policies.

Larose said the stubborn stance the government takes in trying maintain its control over land, resources and the political power over the Indigenous peoples in Canada who have the right of self determination, and the frequent acrimony that is sparked when the two sides clash over those issues, leads the general population to resent Native people. They may not spend much time trying to understand 'the' issues, but, they know Native people are trying to upset the status quo and challenge the authorities. That resentment causes many of the nasty racist incidents that are reported in the media, he said, and they can all be traced back to political disagreements over how Canada will address the legacy of colonialism.