Today, Indigenous and Métis people constitute a growing demographic and must be included in the province’s political future.
Once again the people of Saskatchewan are going to the polls and once again Indigenous issues have been shoved to the back burner.
Under the Canadian constitution, the responsibility for First Nations rests with the federal government, giving successive provincial governments an excuse to ignore us.
Hospital care, for example, has been transferred to the provinces and the federal government provides an annual grant to administer this program. The only problem is that we have little involvement in the provincial health-care programs through control of employment. We are merely consumers.
The Natural Resources Transfer Agreement states that the provinces will make land available to satisfy the outstanding land required by First Nations. The land available is land owned by the federal and provincial governments.
A few years ago, the federal government transferred the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration pastures to the provinces and we should have been given the first right of refusal, but instead we were ignored, and the pastures were either sold off or granted long term leases to cattle co-operatives.
This is an outstanding issue in Indian Country, but it has not been discussed in any political party’s platform.
Another issue that has been soundly ignored is the issue of resource revenue sharing. The federal government transferred the natural resources to the provinces in 1930 and the understanding that our people had about resources was not included.
When the treaties were negotiated our leaders were told that the government wanted the land for agriculture. The promise of future resource development was never discussed. If something is not mentioned in an agreement, then it stays with the former owner.
This piece of unfinished treaty business has impoverished our people and left us at the largesse of successive governments. Resource revenue sharing could provide us with the finances to lift our people out of poverty.
Party leaders are reluctant to discuss this because it would open the door to negotiations, and it would result in a political backlash from the redneck element that is all too prevalent in this province.
Governments like to take credit for job creation, but governments have very little to do with the operation of private companies. Companies operate by making business decisions. Governments, on the other hand, control Crown corporations and large institutions like health care and education.
Years ago, when Ross Thatcher was premier, he instituted a program that stated hiring in the civil service would reflect the population. At the time, it was determined that First Nations people constituted five per cent of the population and departments such as highways hired Indigenous people to reflect the demographic.
Today, Indigenous and Métis people constitute about 25 per cent of the provincial population, but I doubt that our numbers are reflected within the civil service or related institutions. I also doubt that hiring quotas and training are included in provincial tendering and contracts.
Colonization has alienated our people and many feel that their vote will have no impact. I’m not telling people who to vote for, but instead to get involved and vote to bring First Nations issues to the fore.
If politicians see a large turnout in our communities, it will focus their attention and work to reach out to an important demographic.
We have a lot of issues that need to be addressed, both related to treaties and to our place within the provincial body politic.
Doug Cuthand is the Indigenous affairs columnist for the Saskatoon StarPhoenix and the Regina Leader-Post. He is a member of the Little Pine First Nation.
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