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KELOWNA – The following is a transcript of Premier Gordon Campbell’s opening remarks at the First Ministers’ Aboriginal Summit in Kelowna.
“Let me start today by thanking the elders and the people of the Okanagan and the Westbank First Nations for welcoming us in their traditional way.
It's made me reflect, Prime Minister, that actually our entire history in Canada is part of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis people welcoming: welcoming us to their lands, welcoming us to their cultures, and guiding us to a future.
So today we have an opportunity, as Prime Minister, as Premiers, as chiefs, as leaders of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit people in Canada, to map out the beginning of a new future for the aboriginal people of this country.
I am joined, as are other premiers, by members of our First Nations and Métis people in British Columbia. I am pleased that all seven members of the new B.C. Leadership Council have joined me here today as we strive to establish a new relationship between First Nations people and the province of British Columbia and the government of Canada.
At last we each sit at the table of Confederation in a true partnership based on recognition, respect, and reconciliation. And it's important, as we embark on the next two days, for each of us to reflect on our history as a country. Canada's first peoples have been waiting for a seat at the table of Confederation. Today we face each other, and we face up to the failings of our past and look forward to a future that is worthy of every Canadian, every First Nation, Métis and Inuit child in this great land.
It has taken 138 years to bring us to this moment in our history, to bring us to the table as true partners in a common commitment to bridge the gaps that have denied aboriginal people their rightful place in Canada.
The day has come to build a new relationship for a new Canada, one that offers all Canadians an equal promise of a better tomorrow, with equal access to education, health care, housing, economic development, and opportunity; one that recognizes the fundamental fact of our common heritage as Canadians.
It's that we are a nation of nations, defined not just by two solitudes that have preoccupied the history of Canada but by a third solitude as well, a forgotten solitude. It's a third solitude that exists, that has been ignored, dismissed through most of our history; a third solitude that has been discounted by governments at every level and of all political stripes.
A third solitude exists that has struggled even for recognition of the rights and title explicitly protected in our Constitution. I am talking about Canada's aboriginal people: First Nations, Inuit, and Métis people.
For me, this meeting is about facing up to the failings of the past and the real needs of the present. [It's] not to find fault or to cast blame but to find new paths to a brighter future.
Prime Minister, I would be remiss if I did not say thank you to the leaders of our national aboriginal organizations who have come to this table with a positive agenda for change, with a positive commitment to build relationships based on trust and understanding, and to build relationships that are based on their true history and our true history as Canada, so that we can build the kind of future that is so essential.
This is not simply a matter of recognizing legal and moral duties which we accept as Canadians and live up to the rights and freedoms enshrined under sections 35 and 25 of the Charter. More fundamentally, each of us as leaders at this table have a duty to extend the full promise of Canada to all Canadians, aboriginal and non-aboriginal alike, regardless of where they live.
We have an obligation to build on the legal framework of our Constitution, to extend the same rights, entitlements, and range of opportunities to aboriginal Canadians that are available to all Canadians, on and off reserve or treaty lands.
A high quality education and health care system is the birthright of all Canadians. An education system that reflects the history, the languages, the traditions and culture of all the nations that make up this country is an essential component of building a top quality education for the people who live here and the people who will come here in the future.
Decent housing and equitable access to economic opportunities should be the reality of all Canadians.
This is, at the end, the point of this meeting. It is to proclaim our mutual commitment to begin as true partners, to build a new relationship that embraces the true promise of Canada. Indeed, that is the point of the new relationship we are now building in British Columbia. It is a relationship that recognizes we are all here to stay. It is a relationship that is rooted in recognition, mutual respect, and accommodation of aboriginal rights and title. And it is a relationship that speaks to a shared vision of who we are and what we want to achieve together for our children and for future generations.
This is our moment of truth. Canadians are watching, and they are counting on us.
The cynics may say that this is nothing more than a photo op. They may be thinking: We saw this movie years ago, 13 years ago, 18 years ago. You guys last met at a table and there's no reason to believe that anything's going change this time.
Prime Minister, our obligation is to prove those cynics wrong; it is to establish an environment of hope and opportunity for each and every Canadian that lives in this country. It is to reach out to our First Nations and say that reconciliation, recognition, and respect are the foundation stones upon which we will build our future. And we can do that.
Who can blame the cynics? The legacy of the past is a legacy of talks and fine words, inaction and frustration. But we cannot afford to let that happen again.
We cannot afford to let Canada down, to let First Nations children down, or Métis children, or Inuit children. More importantly, we cannot afford to forego the opportunities that our future presents to us in this great country.
We can shape Canada's future, and we can start today. And I underline that it will just be a start, but we can start that here.
We make the policies; we pass the laws; we control the budgets. We cannot pass the buck.
We have big challenges on the table that must be addressed with commitment, creativity, resolve and, yes, with resources. But we have an historic opportunity to set the wheels of progress irrevocably in motion right here at this meeting over the next two days.
We must leave this meeting committed to a working plan for meaningful progress that is achievable, that is measurable, and in which we all are held accountable.
As I crossed the country talking with premiers and aboriginal leaders, each of them called for a plan that had specifics, specific actions we could take to deal with the glaring problems and the glaring gaps that currently exist.
Resources must flow reliably.
And, Prime Minister, I appreciate the fact that you mentioned the issues that we dealt with last year.
We want to be sure that as resources are announced, they make their way to communities across this country. And the test for each of us will not be whether we can sit in a room and congratulate one another, it will be whether a young aboriginal child is graduating from high school, whether aboriginal people can have the health care they need, whether they see the same world of opportunities that each of us would expect for each of our families and each of our provinces and territories. That will be the test.
In British Columbia we will march together, and we will mark together our progress year after year after year.
I would encourage us all to meet again not in five years, but in two years so we can hold ourselves to account for the commitments that we each make. It's not too much to ask that we focus our attention on these issues on an ongoing basis until the gap is closed, and I ask each of us at this table to consider that.
Prime Minister, we have an opportunity that is before us. We are all committed to eliminating the gaps that exist on and off reserve for Canada's first people.
I want aboriginal young people, First Nations, Métis and Inuit young people to have the sense of excitement that learning offers them in each of their communities. And we can do that if we are willing to take this step by step by step and if we are listening to and guided by the leaders of the aboriginal communities of Canada. They will be the ones that will map out our future, that will map out our actions, that will give us the tools we need to measure our results and to hold each other to account as we move ahead.
I recognize we will not fix the world overnight. We cannot redress all injustices in a year or two, but we can begin.
I want to reflect on the fact that the Assembly of First Nations, when they first came to meet with me, talked about closing these gaps in ten years. Let us commit ourselves to that. Let us surprise ourselves by what we can do when we work together, build on the values that Canadians embrace regardless of political party, regardless of province: equality of opportunity and an expanding horizon for the dreams of the generation that will follow.
We are here as leaders, and we must lead. We must do so deliberately and emphatically to take our country to a higher level.
How blessed we are to live in Canada. How blessed we are for the history that we have received. But how important it is for us to recognize that our history was based on the foundation of First Nations, Métis and Inuit people welcoming us, inviting us in, guiding us to a future that today we should be proud of.
In British Columbia we are breaking new ground in areas like revenue sharing and cooperative decision-making that will hopefully move us beyond the roots of narrow mindedness.
It is time for us to open the future. It is time for us to break down the barriers that have separated us, institutional and otherwise, from the goals that we set for ourselves.
This should be the first of many meetings. We should meet until we have accomplished our goal. We should commit to one another and to the people we serve that we can provide for the future that everyone deserves.
Over the next two days we have the opportunity to light a flame of hope; we have the opportunity to fuel a beacon of hope for the future.
Let us not take timid and tentative steps. Let us take bold and decisive actions to bridge the gaps that have left aboriginal people behind for far too long. Let us seize this promising moment in our history to claim the full promise of Canada for all Canadians, aboriginal and non-aboriginal alike.
Thank you.”
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Press Secretary Office of the Premier 250 213-8218 |
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