Tansi Nîtôtemtik,
Today on the blog, we are evaluating Calls to Action #55 and #56, which pertain to reporting mechanisms in relation to the National Council for Reconciliation. These Calls to Action state:
- We call upon all levels of government to provide annual reports or any current data requested by the National Council for Reconciliation so that it can report on the progress towards reconciliation. The reports or data would include, but not be limited to:
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- The number of Aboriginal children—including Métis and Inuit children—in care, compared with non-Aboriginal children, the reasons for apprehension, and the total spending on preventive and care services by child-welfare agencies.
- Comparative funding for the education of First Nations children on and off reserves.
- The educational and income attainments of Aboriginal peoples in Canada compared with non-Aboriginal people.
- Progress on closing the gaps between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal communities in a number of health indicators such as: infant mortality, maternal health, suicide, mental health, addictions, life expectancy, birth rates, infant and child health issues, chronic diseases, illness and injury incidence, and the availability of appropriate health services.
- Progress on eliminating the overrepresentation of Aboriginal children in youth custody over the next decade.
- Progress on reducing the rate of criminal victimization of Aboriginal people, including data related to homicide and family violence victimization and other crimes.
- Progress on reducing the overrepresentation of Aboriginal people in the justice and correctional systems.
- We call upon the Prime Minister of Canada to formally respond to the report of the National Council for Reconciliation by issuing an annual "State of Aboriginal Peoples" report, which would outline the government's plans for advancing the cause of reconciliation.
According to the Government of Canada website, in 2017, the federal government created an interim board of Indigenous leaders to “define the scope and scale of the mandate” of a National Council for Reconciliation (NCR).[1] This interim board presented a final report in June 2018, which recommended that the NCR’s actions include in part, “reporting to Parliament and the people of Canada on existing, future and generative (decisive, instrumental and enabling) possibilities to advance reconciliation.” In its report, the interim board noted that, “[t]he NCR can only fulfill this oversight mandate if it has adequate and timely data and information. Lack of data and information will cripple the NCR's attempts to monitor and oversee the progress on reconciliation.”[2] We recognize the truth in this statement and will point out that failing to create an NCR in the first place has not just crippled reconciliation efforts-—it has failed reconciliation efforts in Canada.
Two and a half years have passed since the interim board submitted recommendations to the Government of Canada, but the federal government has not taken steps to table enabling legislation in Parliament. This stagnation has implications for Call #56 as well.
Under Call #56, the Prime Minister would issue an annual “State of Aboriginal Peoples” report in response to the NCR’s reports. The interim board reiterated this requirement in its final report.[3] As the NCR does not yet exist, the Prime Minister has not formally responded to its non-existent reports. However, in 2020 the Prime Minister independently outlined the government’s plans for advancing the cause of reconciliation to mark the fifth anniversary of the release of the TRC’s Calls to Action.[4] In this statement, Prime Minister Trudeau states that “80 per cent of the Calls to Action implicating the Government of Canada are now complete or well underway.”[5] Respectfully, our analysis of the federal government’s actions does not tell the same story. Certainly, the government has posted “what’s happening” under each Call in their website, but often the explanations of the government’s actions do not have much to do with delivering action on the Call at all. For example, under Call #56, the government first reiterates the Call’s requirements and then states that it is “committed to establishing the National Council of Reconciliation and will take into consideration the advice and recommendations provided in the final report during the decision-making process.” That is good news. Encouraging, even. But our question to the Government of Canada is, “what, if anything, have you actually done to establish the National Council for Reconciliation?” The interim board provided the government with step-by-step instructions for establishing the NCR that reiterates the importance of timely data, but what has this government done in response? From what we can tell, the answer is nothing.
We assign the federal government failing grades for Calls to Action #55 and 56. In the past two-and-a-half years since receiving the interim board’s report that reiterates the Calls to Action, the federal government still has not tabled the necessary legislation required to create the National Council for Reconciliation.
Until Next Week,
Team ReconciliAction
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[1] Canada, “National Council for Reconciliation”, online: https://www.rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca/eng/1524503926054/1557514163015.
[2] “Final Report of Interim Board of Directors”, online: https://www.rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca/eng/1528918116610/1559828522501#chp3
[3] Ibid.
[4] Prime Minister’s Office, “Statement by the Prime Minister on the fifth anniversary of the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission” (15 Dec 2020), online: https://pm.gc.ca/en/news/statements/2020/12/15/statement-prime-minister-fifth-anniversary-final-report-truth-and.
[5] Ibid.
