Indigenous governor general would be vital step

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 25/05/2016 (2891 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Some 3,000 Liberals delegates, parliamentarians, senators and other stakeholders are assembling in our great city of Winnipeg today for their first policy convention since the party’s historic election breakthrough in October.

On Friday, delegates will debate one of the most significant resolutions, which calls on the government to rotate the appointment of the governor general between anglophones, francophones and indigenous peoples every three years.

Another resolution will call for official status for indigenous languages. Both resolutions would begin to express the new relationship Canadians are committed to pursuing with indigenous peoples in a meaningful and powerful way.

These motions are highly consistent with the government’s emphasis on indigenous peoples reflected in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s mandate letters, where he states emphatically, “No relationship is more important to me and to Canada then the one with indigenous peoples. It is time for a renewed, nation-to-nation relationship with indigenous peoples based on recognition of rights and mutual respect.”

The appointment of an indigenous governor general would be perhaps the greatest affirmation the Trudeau government and the Liberal Party of Canada are serious about forming a strong relationship with the indigenous people of Canada. It would be a response to the continued marginalization of indigenous peoples, their exclusion, their isolation and their treatment as second-class citizen since Confederation in 1867.

It is fitting this debate is taking place in Winnipeg, where the poverty and racism indigenous peoples continue to endure are on stark display every day. Flooding has ravished First Nations communities, forcing them out of their homes to be lodged in downtown Winnipeg hotels.

As well, boil-water advisories, epidemic suicide rates and higher-then-average chronic disease are ongoing afflictions in Manitoba. In 2014, Maclean’s magazine described Winnipeg as Canada’s most racist city. It brought indigenous leaders and municipal leaders together to collectively combat the negative forces and stereotypes that continue to persist in Winnipeg, and throughout Canada.

The idea of an indigenous governor general has been discussed in the past, but was sidelined because most notable and suitable candidates were not fluent in Canada’s two official languages. To be bilingual has always been interpreted as being fluent in French and English since the colonial fathers gave birth to this nation in 1867, and this excluded the indigenous peoples and their languages. However, any contemporary dictionary will define “bilingual” as being fluent in two languages. This is why the federal Liberal party resolution to recognize and give official status to indigenous languages is a giant leap toward reconciliation.

On Feb. 23, 1996, Canada’s first Acadian governor general, Roméo LeBlanc, spoke eloquently of native role models. LeBlanc asserted, “We owe the aboriginal peoples a debt that is four centuries old. It is their turn to become full partners in developing an even greater Canada. And the reconciliation required may be less a matter of legal texts then attitudes of the heart.”

LeBlanc proclaimed June 21 as National Aboriginal Day in recognition of indigenous peoples and saw it as another opportunity for indigenous and non-indigenous peoples to understand each other better.

Unfortunately, we haven’t made the progress he had anticipated.

If the resolutions debated on the floor Friday pass, this will be a groundbreaking and historic step toward acknowledging indigenous peoples’ deserved rights at confederation.

The world took great notice when the prime minister revealed a cabinet that was a thoughtful combination of gender parity, diversity and experience. It would be a powerful and remarkable expression of reconciliation if her majesty Queen Elizabeth II announced on July 1, 2017 — Canada’s sesquicentennial — our first-ever indigenous governor general.

Ajay Chopra is principal of Chopra Consulting Group and a former adviser to former Assembly of First Nations National Chief Phil Fontaine and former attorney general of Canada Martin Cauchon.