doug roche on canada losing un security council seat ...€¦ · her mp lapel pin into a ring...

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BY BEATRICE PAEZ

The global pandemic has shown the federal government

is capable of marshalling resourc-

es and a rapid response to miti-gate a fi nancial shock, and there’s no reason it can’t show similar resolve in addressing systemic racism in Canada, say experts

and some Parliamentarians. “What this period of the pan-

demic has shown is that whatever you want to do politically, you can fi nd a way to do,” said Anthony

Morgan, human rights and civil liberties lawyer and manager of the Confronting Anti-Black Racism

BY PETER MAZEREEUW

The rules that govern how and when RCMP offi cers use force

on civilians, and what they do af-

terwards, include just three of the eight policies that a police reform advocacy group says have been shown to save lives.

8 Can’t Wait is the name of an

activist campaign in the United States that has pressed for police forces to adopt those eight policies. It is part of a broader police reform group called Campaign Zero.

Police forces in the United States’ largest cities use exces-sive force against civilians less

BY MIKE LAPOINTE

A number of Black journalists with decades of experience

covering Parliament Hill between them have been speaking out about the ongoing, glaring lack of diversity in newsrooms in past weeks, with one reporter saying he believes this moment is one where “we’re fi nally realizing that we’re unafraid to speak loudly and publicly.”

“If anything, I think this moment is one where a lot of journalists of colour are tired of being polite and being kind when it comes to the lack of diversity within Canadian media,” said David Thurton, national politics reporter with the CBC.

“Journalists of colour, Indig-enous journalists—we’ve been fi ghting and saying that our newsrooms and that management of our newsrooms are not repre-sentative, the way we cover the stories is very skewed, so it’s a bit sad that it takes these moments for people to fi nally wake up,” said Mr. Thurton in an interview with The Hill Times.

Mr. Thurton said he and his colleagues have been working behind the scenes and holding discussions on this topic, but haven’t been very public about their dismay and dissatisfaction within their workplaces up until now.

“I think ‘the moment’ is that we’re fi nally realizing that that’s not enough,” said Mr. Thurton.

‘Journalists of colour are tired of being polite’: Hill reporters, editors weigh in on lack of diversity in Canadian media

RCMP use-of-force policies include three out of eight rules championed by police reform campaign

If feds can marshal massive, rapid response to pandemic, they ‘can fi nd a way’ to stop systemic racism, say top experts and some Parliamentarians

Continued on page 25

Continued on page 6


NewsNews

News

THIRTY-FIRST YEAR, NO. 1738 CANADA’S POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT NEWSPAPER MONDAY, JUNE 22, 2020 $5.00

While his record on addressing racial inequities has received mixed reviews, many have pointed to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s willingness to acknowledge systemic racism exists as a critical step.

Doug Roche on Canada losing UN Security Council seat

It’s no fun losing, but lots to be learned p. 11

Troubled times for transparency call for change p. 10

It’s time to strengthen our parliamentary system, now more than ever p. 14

Economic reconciliation policy briefi ng pp. 15-23

Liberal MP Greg Fergus, top left, chair of the Black caucus, Sen. Mobina Jaffer, civil rights lawyer Anthony Morgan, Sen. Rosemary Moodie, bottom left, NDP MP Matthew Green, and Sen. Wanda Thomas Bernard. ‘Looking at all the social sciences that already exist, it’s clear we do not need to have a commission or have some kind of new report or study,’ says Mr. Green. The Hill Times photographs by Andrew Meade; photos courtesy of Senate of Canada, Twitter

Current Parliamentarians and former Hillites marked the 30th anniversary

of Nelson Mandela’s fi rst historic visit to Canada in 1990 last week. Mandela, the iconic and late anti-apartheid leader, became the fi rst foreign leader to hold an Order of Canada in 2000 and the fi rst living person to receive an honorary Canadian citizenship a year later. His visit came just four months after being released from 27 years in prison, and about four years before he would go on to become the presi-dent of South Africa.

“Nelson Mandela will always be a sym-bol of liberation and freedom. His struggle, alongside countless others, to advance human rights, equality, democracy, and fi ght injustice laid the foundation for a new, democratic South Africa and inspired freedom movements around the world,” said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in a June 18 statement.

Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson, who was director of communications at the time for then-House Speaker John Fraser, recalled the occasion as one that allowed him to meet “one of the world’s greatest leaders.”

Chrétien, biographer hit the golf course

Globe and Mail veteran columnist Lawrence Martin hit the greens last week and was joined by former prime minis-ter Jean Chrétien at the Royal Ottawa Golf Club in Gatineau, Que. Mr. Martin tweeted some good-natured ribbing: “On the links this morning @royalottawagc with the little guy from Shawinigan. PM Chrétien looking great at 86 and shooting in the neighbourhood.”And Mr. Martin also tweeted: “On one hole, I told him, ’The par is 4. About the same number of times

you got kicked out of school!’ He laughed. Couldn’t deny it cause it’s true.”

Deputy PM Freeland turns her MP lapel pin into a ring

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Free-land was seen last month sporting her MP lapel pin in the form of a different, more creative accessory. At the government’s ministerial briefi ng on May 26, Ms. Free-land donned the distinctive lapel pin on a ring on her left hand. Normally handed out to MPs during their swearing-in ceremony, which is steeped in practice and tradition, the occasion sees the House of Commons Clerk invite each MP to sign the test roll, take an oath or affi rm, and receive the pin with other procedural documents before Parliament offi cially opens.

Each pin, which bears the House of Commons name, comes with its own unique number engraved on the bottom and features a gold mace superimposed onto a silver maple leaf. Former Liberal MP James Jerome, who was the House Speaker under the Pierre Trudeau and Joe Clark governments, was the fi rst to present the pin to MPs in 1979.

Green leadership hopefuls to be probed by TVO’s Steve Paikin

Shortly after the Conservative Party’s leadership contenders put their fi rst debate behind them, the Greens announced their own logistics. TVO’s Steve Paikin will mod-erate the two-debate format on June 23, which will feature Green Party leadership hopefuls Annamie Paul, Amita Kuttner,David Mernier, Glen Murray and Judy Green in one, and another with Meryam Haddad, Courtney Howard, Dimitri Lasca-ris, Dylan Perceval-Maxwell, and Andrew West. Those looking to replace longtime former leader Elizabeth May, who is now the party’s parliamentary leader, will con-nect remotely while Mr. Paikin moderates from TVO’s William G. Davis studio in Toronto. Debates will be streamed from 3 p.m. to just after 4 p.m. on The Agenda’s YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter pages. TVO viewers can see the broadcast of the fi rst debate on June 23 and the second one the following day, at 8 p.m., 11 p.m., and 5 a.m.

Book on NDP gets nod from political science group

Saskatchewan political science profes-sor David McGrane’s book, The New NDP: Moderation, Modernization and Political Marketing, picked up a Canadian Political Science Association award this month. Mr. McGrane, who is a candidate under the party’s banner for its upcoming provincial election, was awarded the association’s 2020 Donald Smiley Prize for his work chronicling the party’s trajectory from third party status to offi cial opposition in the House. The jury commended the book as an “authoritative account of how mod-ern campaigns are conducted in Canada,” and it was reviewed in The Hill Times last

year as offering insight into the evolu-tion of the party “from an undisciplined ideological group to a political marketing powerhouse.” It tracks the party’s progress under the helm of Alexa McDonough, Jack Layton, and Tom Mulcair.

Experts and diplomats talk debt, economic recovery, precarious work in new Pearson Centre’s webinars

In a series of upcoming webinars, the Pearson Centre, headed by Andrew Cardozo, will examine how other nations are coping with the fallout of the CO-VID-19 pandemic and how Canada stacks up, all while governments inch closer to an economic recovery. On June 23, South African High Commissioner Sibongiseni Dlamini-MnTambo, Chinese Ambassador Cong Peiwu, and Mexican Ambassador Juan Jose Gómez Camacho will look at the short, long, and medium-term global goals to help emerge from the pandemic. It’s currently slated for 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. And on July 7, economist and former Unifor policy director Jim Stanford will join Mr. Cardozo to talk debt repayment, labour, the public sector’s role in a post-pandemic world, and how sectors can change to adapt to new realities. A focus will also be on how front line, precarious, and remote work will change in the future. It kicks off at 3 p.m. and runs just under an hour. The discus-sion could be a timely one, as a rural Nova Scotian municipality last week embarkedon a nine-month long pilot project that will allow workers to test a four-day work week. The District of Guysborough is al-lowing its 60 workers to work the standard nine hours a day, with either Monday or Friday off.

Hoop dreams at Rideau Cottage in Ottawa

[email protected] Hill Times

MONDAY, JUNE 22, 2020 | THE HILL TIMES2

by Palak Mangat

Heard on the Hill

Politicos, former Hillites honour Mandela’s historic fi rst visit to Canada

Ball is life? Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, pictured June 18, 2020, speaking to reporters at that day’s daily briefi ng outside the Rideau Cottage, under the watchful gaze of his family’s basketball net that has been in his laneway for weeks. I hear the Raptors might need a new spot to practise, especially if they want to repeat as NBA champs. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

Nelson and Winnie Mandela are pictured with Mila and Brian Mulroney on Parliament Hill on June 18, 1990. It was Mr. Mandela's fi rst visit to Canada, four months after being released from 27 years in jail. Last week marked the 30th anniversary of the iconic anti-apartheid leader’s visit. The Hill Times photograph by Jim Creskey

Former prime minister Jean Chrétien is seen with Globe and Mail veteran columnist Lawrence Martin at the swishy Royal Ottawa Golf Club last week. Photo courtesy of Twitter

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland donned her MP lapel pin in the form of a ring last month, during a briefi ng on the government’s pandemic response. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

Green leadership hopeful Annamie Paul, pictured with Green Party Parliamentary Leader Elizabeth May at last year’s Pride parade in Toronto, will be part of a debate moderated by TVO’s Steve Paikin. Photo courtesy of Twitter

Andrew Cardozo, left, will host the webinar on June 23 along with South African High Commissioner Sibongiseni Dlamini-MnTambo, Chinese Ambassador Cong Peiwu, and Mexican Ambassador Juan Jose Gómez Camacho. Photographs courtesy of the Pearson Centre

Canada’s untapped cleantech opportunities can transform and help rebuild the economyRe-shaping of country’s workforce key to cleantech sector’s future.

Kevin Nilsen President & CEO, ECO Canada

ECO Canada has been workingwith government and industry

to grow and support the envi-ronmental workforce in Canada for almost 30 years. As a national organization, we provide support across the country to Canadians interested in developing careers in environment-related fields and to the employers looking to fill such roles to grow their business in a sustainable way.

As the steward for the environ-mental workforce, we are currently sharing our views on how enabling more people to work in the grow-ing cleantech sector can enhance the country’s economic recovery in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. There is no question Canada’s employment landscape has been shaken, and while some areas are facing significant down-turns others such as the cleantech sector are expected to be engines

for growth.

Research points to economic recovery opportunity

According to the report “Cleantech Defined: A Scoping Study of the Sector and its Workforce,” cleantech was a $1.2 trillion industry in 2015 and had been projected to reach $2.5 trillion by 2022. While the pandemic will certainly impact that growth trajectory, we still believe investment and interest from both the public and private sectors in cleantech in Canada will grow.

Our research findings highlight Canada as a top country in the world from a research and innovation perspective. And although this is worth celebrating, it is worrisome that we only rank number 16 in terms of global market share in cleantech.

We must ensure future funding is not only limited to “new” and “innovative,” but also encompasses commer-cialization and the building of a deep workforce. Doing so will help Canada gain a greater slice of that global revenue pie. Canada has a long history of breeding great innovators so with the relaunch of the economy follow-ing COVID-19 we also need to ensure we take the steps to commercialize and capitalize on our innovations.

Pandemic leading people to seek new employment options The COVID-19 pandemic along with recent develop-ments in Canada’s economy, such as stalled energy proj-ects, are prompting workers to consider new industrial sectors for employment. This may be an effective way to build a talent pipeline to the cleantech sector. We know a number of industries are already expanding their de-mand for cleantech expertise in the near term.Energy, mining, manufacturing, forestry and hydro all present massive cleantech opportunities. Agriculture and construction are both making progress in reducing costs while promoting environmental sustainability. Trucking and transportation firms are also committed to looking at ways to reduce their footprints and decrease costs through route optimization and other innovations.

These are sectors of the economy which we want to get re-started and operating efficiently and effectively as they all provide major employment opportunities for Canadians. Jobs in cleantech are broad and range from engineers, geologists, and project managers to trades-people and machine operators. Employers we work with are seeing the marketplace moving away from some of the typical jobs in traditional industries to more opportunities in the cleantech space. These companies see the need for skilled and talented people who find ways to deliver value by developing new technologies, testing new services and producing higher efficiency products.

We know these workers’ expertise and abilities are vital

to us to recover our economy and take a leadership role globally in cleantech.

ECO Canada does a significant amount of research to determine what sectors of the economy will be growing, what skillsets are re-quired, and how the environmen-tal workforce can be developed to meet such demands.

A study we completed in early 2020 just prior to the pandemic outbreak pointed to major oppor-tunities for Canadian workers to enter a growing cleantech sector at a time when jobs were being minimized in other areas of the economy.

We feel just as strongly today that these jobs can be drivers for an economic recovery that benefits the country as well as helps to improve the environment.

Expanding skillsets will be required to develop capabilities According to the report “Cleantech Defined: A Scoping Study of the Sector and its Workforce,” cleantech was a $1.2 trillion industry in 2015 and had been projected to reach $2.5 trillion by 2022. While the pandemic will certainly impact that growth trajectory, we still believe investment and interest from both the public and private sectors in cleantech in Canada will grow.

Our research findings highlight Canada as a top country in the world from a research and innovation perspective. And although this is worth celebrating, it is worrisome that we only rank number 16 in terms of global market share in cleantech.

We must ensure future funding is not only limited to “new” and “innovative,” but also encompasses commer-cialization and the building of a deep workforce. Doing so will help Canada gain a greater slice of that global revenue pie. Canada has a long history of breeding great innovators so with the relaunch of the economy follow-ing COVID-19 we also need to ensure we take the steps to commercialize and capitalize on our innovations.

Our goal is a healthy economic recovery for CanadaA successful cleantech strategy will lead to healthier bottom lines for companies by reducing costs, improv-ing performance, reducing environmental impact and ensuring the sustainable use of natural resources. That’s something all Canadians, as well as our governments, want.

I’m excited by the opportunity new investment in the environmental workforce can bring to Canada’s eco-nomic recovery. We need government and industry working together to recover the economy and to put us on a strong footing globally. We are championing these efforts now.

ECO Canada is perfectly suited to bridge the gap between the people and the evolving skillsets required to support industry as employers generate new ways of doing business and find new markets globally. Our economic recovery depends on us developing such solutions and putting people and their talents to work in environment-related fields. We’ve been doing this successfully for some 30 years.

To review ECO Canada’s Cleantech Report or access other workforce reports, contact us at [email protected].

Learn Moreeco.ca

SPONSORED BY ECO CANADA

4

BY PETER MAZEREEUW

The start-date for a review of Canada’s assisted dying law in Parliament came

and went last week, with no one in govern-ment or Parliament claiming responsibility for the legally-required study.

The Liberal government legalized medically-assisted dying on June 17, 2016, one of the fi rst major reforms of Justin Trudeau’s government. The bill included a clause that required a review of the bill by Parliament at the beginning of the fi fth year after it passed.

June 17, 2020 was the fi rst day of year fi ve.The assisted dying law has come

under fi re, including from those who wanted a medically-assisted death but didn’t meet the criteria set out under the law. A portion of the law that restricted medically as-sisted deaths to those for whom a natural death was already “reason-ably foresee-able”—those who are terminally ill—was struck down by Quebec’s Superior Court in September of 2019, which ruled it was unconstitu-tional.

Justice Minis-ter David Lametti (LaSalle-Émard-Verdun, Que.) introduced a bill to reform the as-sisted dying law so that it fell in line with the court’s ruling. That bill, C-7, remains in Parliament at second reading; Mr. Lametti asked the court for a fi ve-month exten-sion to its deadline for reforming the law on June 11, arguing that the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted parliamentary proceedings and prevented the government from advancing the bill.

The House of Commons has not held regular sittings since mid-March, when public health offi cials advised that large public gatherings posed a risk of spreading the virus. The House is scheduled to return to normal sittings in September.

Mr. Lametti’s department has pub-lished a draft of new legislation that would extend a range of other legal deadlines in light of the disruptions caused by pub-lic shutdowns related to COVID-19. The requirement for a parliamentary review of the assisted dying law was not included in that draft deadline extension law, however.

Mr. Lametti pointed to the fi ve-year review as a way to address public concerns with the assisted dying law when he intro-duced Bill C-7 into the House in February.

“Many people have been touched by this. We as a government have to listen to that. I’m confi dent that this parliamentary review will be closely followed and [will be one] in which people will participate to a high degree.”

He said at the time that the parliamen-tary review would explore whether to make assisted dying legal for “mature” mi-nors; for those who are seeking relief from incurable mental illness; and for those who do not yet want a medically-assisted death, but wish to be approved to have it at some point in the future.

Mr. Lametti told The Hill Times in March that either the House Justice or Health com-mittee would most likely handle the review. However, the Justice Committee has not been meeting since the House suspended its regular operations in March. The Health Committee has been meeting virtually, but only to study the government’s response to the pandemic.

The Health Committee is chaired by Liberal MP Ron McKinnon (Coquitlam-Port Coquitlam, B.C.), and Justice is chaired by Liberal Iqra Khalid (Mississau-ga—Erin Mills, Ont.). Neither responded to requests for comment on the status of the parliamentary review last week.

Ms. Khalid told The Hill Times in March that Mr. Lametti’s offi ce was responsible for coordinating the parliamentary review. So did Liberal Whip Mark Holland (Ajax, Ont.). However, Mr. Lametti’s offi ce has denied that it is responsible for the study.

“It is Parliament’s responsibility to initiate a 5-year review of the previous bill C-14,” spokesperson Rachel Rappaport said in a state-ment.

The clause in the bill mandat-ing the review says only that the assisted dying law must “be referred to” a parliamen-tary committee. It does not say who is responsible for doing so.

The govern-ment is typically responsible for

introducing such a motion, after discus-sion with other parties, a spokesperson for Speaker Anthony Rota (Nipissing-Timiska-ming, Ont.) confi rmed.

House Leader Pablo Rodriguez (Honoré-Mercier, Que.) did not respond to a request for comment made to his offi ce last week.

The House is currently operating under rules that limit its activities to meeting as a committee of the whole to discuss the pandemic. It has also been recalled briefl y on several occasions to deal with essential government business or bills related to pan-demic relief. The Conservatives have called for the House to resume normal operation.

Conservative MP Rob Moore (Fundy Royal, N.B.), who serves as the deputy chair of the Justice Committee, told The Hill Times in an emailed statement that “The Liberals continue to block our abil-ity to review important legislative issues, including the government’s medical as-sistance in dying legislation.” He was not available for an interview last week.

The Health Committee has not dis-cussed taking on the assisted dying review, according to staffer in the offi ce of Matt Jeneroux (Edmonton Riverbend, Alta.), the Conservative health critic and vice chair of the committee.

[email protected]@PJMazereeuwThe Hill Times

BY PETER MAZEREEUW

The RCMP fi nished investigations into 1,511 allegations of excessive use of

force by its offi cers against civilians over the past three years, but the force found that less than two per cent of those claims were legitimate.

The RCMP “substantiated” just 1.6 per cent of the allegations of excessive force by offi cers made through the public com-plaint process over the past three years. It decided that another 63 per cent were “not substantiated.”

Another 22 per cent of the allegations were resolved between the complainant and the force informally, while 10 per cent were withdrawn. The RCMP also has the right to “terminate” an allegation from a public complaint, which it did in six per cent of the cases.

Those fi gures exclude some of the most serious cases of proven or alleged police brutality by RCMP offi cers, which are dealt with through special investigative bodies in each province. Those bodies—including B.C.’s Independent Investigations Offi ce, and Alberta’s Serious Incident Response Team—investigate cases where someone has been seriously injured or died during an interaction with police, including RCMP offi cers working in that province.

Complaints about RCMP offi cers that aren’t taken up by a provincial police investigation body are directed to the Civilian Review and Complaints Com-mission for the RCMP. The CRCC directs them back to the RCMP, which conducts its own investigation into the complaints, and makes a fi nding. That fi nding can be appealed for further investigation by the CRCC itself.

RCMP policies allow offi cers to use varying levels of force on civilians, depending on the circumstances. When an allegation of excessive force is made through the complaint system, the offi cer against whom the allegation is made is called on to explain their actions, and how they were justifi ed under the RCMP’s use of force policies.

“The information gathered through the public complaint process is examined and determinations are made on whether or not the actions or inactions of the sub-ject member were consistent with RCMP policy and procedures,” RCMP spokesper-son Cpl. Caroline Duval said in a written statement in response to questions from The Hill Times about how the force deter-mines if a complaint should be substanti-ated.

“Each case has unique circumstances and is assessed individually based on the totality of the circumstances,” she wrote.

The most allegations of excessive use of force occurred in the largest provinces that

do not have provincial police forces—Brit-ish Columbia and Alberta. RCMP offi cers do much of the policing in those provinces that is done in Ontario and Quebec by provincial forces.

Complainants can choose to appeal the RCMP’s decision about their complaint to the CRCC. Only about 10 per cent do so, according to the CRCC. That fi gure applies to all complaints, not just those centered around allegations of excessive use of force.

When a complaint is appealed, the CRCC investigates, and decides whether it is satisfi ed with the RCMP’s decision. If not, the CRCC will draw up a report that recommends that the RCMP change the way it deals with similar complaints or actions in the future. The public complaint process is designed to be “remedial,” not to discipline offi cers.

In the majority of appeal cases, the CRCC fi nds that it is “satisfi ed” with the RCMP’s decision: 64 per cent of the ap-pealed complaints ended in a “satisfactory” fi nding in 2018-19.

The CRCC does not reveal the content of the vast majority of public complaints about the RCMP, citing a desire to protect the privacy of complainants.

Allegations of RCMP misconduct can also be dealt with a third way, through the force’s code of conduct. That process is de-signed to deal with incidents that appear to violate the force’s rules governing offi cers’ behaviour, but aren’t serious enough to go to one of the independent investigative bodies. The most serious cases dealt with through the code of conduct can result in an RCMP offi cer being fi red.

Code cases for excessive force rareSection 5.1 of the code of conduct re-

quires that offi cers “use only as much force as is reasonably necessary in the circum-stances.”

The RCMP investigated 29 and 27 code of conduct allegations related to use of force in 2018 and 2019, respectively. It “established” the allegations in 12 of those cases. However, the RCMP does not make public the details of code of conduct inves-tigations unless they are serious enough to warrant a formal hearing.

One RCMP offi cer is currently await-ing a formal code of conduct hearing over allegations that include excessive use of force. Two more offi cers were put through formal code of conduct hearings over alle-gations that included excessive use of force in recent years.

Constable Simon Bigras was fi ned 12 days pay for using excessive force when he helped Edmonton Police to arrest an individual in 2017. According to the hear-ing summary, Cst. Brigas kicked a man in the head or upper body while the man was voluntarily laying on the ground waiting to be handcuffed.

Constable Mark Potts was fi ned 45 days of pay for punching a handcuffed man in the back of a police cruiser in 2016, after the man had spat in his eye.

Conduct board hearing reports do not reveal the identity or ethnicity of those who are mistreated by offi cers.


No signs of life for legally-mandated review of assisted dying law

RCMP ‘substantiated’ 1.6 per cent of allegations of excessive force by offi cers over three years The law requires that a

review of the act start soon—but it’s not clear who, if anyone, is accountable if it doesn’t.

Nearly two-thirds of the complaints were investigated and found to be ‘not substantiated’ by Canada’s national police force.

News

MONDAY, JUNE 22, 2020 | THE HILL TIMES

Justice Minister David Lametti has handled the assisted dying fi le for the Liberal government. A legally-mandated parliamentary review of the 2016 assisted dying law is due to begin soon, but Parliament has been derailed by an agreement between the Liberals and NDP to limit parliamentary activities until September amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

6

often when they have some or all of those policies in place, accord-ing to research compiled by the campaign.

That includes studies dating back to 1979, as well as original research conducted by one of the campaign leaders, Samuel Sinyangwe, in 2016. Mr. Sinyan-gwe found that there were fewer police killings per capita in cities where the police force had imple-mented one of those eight policies than there were in cities that had not—a difference of between fi ve and 25 per cent for each policy.

The campaign has pressed for police forces to explicitly include eight requirements in their poli-cies governing how their offi cers use force on civilians: banning the use of all types of choke or neck holds; banning shooting into moving vehicles; requiring that offi cers give a verbal warning be-fore using deadly force; requiring that offi cers attempt to de-esca-late a situation before using force; requiring that offi cers exhaust all other options before restoring to deadly force; requiring that of-fi cers work through a use-of-force continuum; requiring compre-hensive reporting of any incident in which they used force; and requiring that offi cers intervene if a fellow offi cer is using excessive force on a civilian, and report that offi cer to their superiors.

The City of Columbus, Ohio, became the latest to formally align itself with the 8 Can’t Wait campaign last week. Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther an-nounced that the city would join the campaign on June 17. The Boston Police Department com-mitted to enacting all eight poli-cies championed by the campaign on June 11—the department told WBUR News that it already had half of those policies in place. The town of Waverly, Iowa, committed

to enacting the 8 Can’t Wait poli-cies on June 16.

Roughly 200 police forces have said publicly that they do or will match the 8 Can’t Wait policies, said DeRay McKesson, a civil rights activist who is the leading voice for ‘8 Can’t Wait,’ in an inter-view with The Hill Times. Howev-er, Mr. McKesson said he had not yet done the job of examining the policies of those forces to confi rm if they had lived up to their word.

Police forces throughout North America and beyond have been put under the microscope after a white U.S. police offi cer, Derek Chauvin, killed a handcuffed Black man, George Floyd, on May 25 by kneeling on his neck for nearly nine minutes, while he pleaded that he couldn’t breathe. Mr. Chauvin has been charged with second degree murder. The three other police offi cers have also been fi red and charged. Pro-tests against police violence and anti-Black racism swept through

the United States and into Canada in the days and weeks following Mr. Floyd’s death.

The RCMP has come under fi re amid the protests, after news reports documented several cases of severe or disproportionate use of force against civilians by its offi cers, including one in Nunavut who knocked down a man with the door of his moving vehicle; a pair of offi cers who tackled and punched the chief of an Alberta First Nation whom they had stopped for an expired license plate tag; and an offi cer who shot and killed a woman in New Brunswick during a “wellness check.”

The RCMP operates at arm’s length from the government, but reports to Public Safety Minster Bill Blair (Scarborough South-west, Ont.).

The RCMP does not have a single, comprehensive policy document governing use of force by its offi cers, but rather several documents or policies that are relevant.

Three policies already in place

Chapter 17.1 of the RCMP’s operational manual sets out guidelines for use of force by of-fi cers. It includes a requirement that offi cers use lethal force “only when preventing death, or the threat of death, or grievous bodily harm to peace offi cers and the public, and when no lesser means is appropriate.” That requirement aligns with one of the eight re-quirements promoted by 8 Can’t Wait—that offi cers exhaust all alternatives to deadly force.

The RCMP also requires offi cers to complete a Subject

Behaviour/Offi cer Response, or SBOR report, each time they use force on the job. That aligns with the reporting requirement laid out by 8 Can’t Wait’

The RCMP’s code of conduct, meanwhile, requires that offi cers “take appropriate action” if a col-league violates the code—which also bars excessive use of force—and report that violation to a superior, marginally checking off the 8 Can’t Wait policy that would require offi cers to intervene when their colleagues are using exces-sive force.

The RCMP’s rulebooks don’t meet the criteria for the other fi ve 8 Can’t Wait policies, however.

Five policies not in placeDe-escalation is mandatory

Offi cers are trained in ways to de-escalate a dangerous situation, but are not explicitly required to do so, according to a spokesper-son for the force, Cpl. Caroline Duval, who addressed each of the remaining policies in a written statement to The Hill Times.

“There are some situations where crisis intervention and de-escalation techniques can be used but police intervention may still be required. There are also some situations where there simply isn’t an opportunity to use de-escalation,” said Cpl. Duval.

Training and guidelines aren’t enough, said Mr. McKesson: police forces must make hard and fast rules in order to change behaviour and outcomes.

“You can’t discipline someone when there is no rule,” he said.

“The rule is the only avenue to discipline. And there’s 40 years of research to suggest that the rules change behaviour.”

Shooting at vehiclesThe RCMP’s Discharge of

Firearms Policy instructs offi -cers to only shoot at a person in a vehicle “if the vehicle is being used as a weapon and there are no reasonable means of escape.” The 8 Can’t Wait model policy goes further, barring offi cers from shooting even at someone who an offi cer thinks is using their vehicle as a weapon.

“If you shoot the driver it doesn’t make the car any less dangerous. It’s not like killing the

driver hits the breaks,” said Mr. McKesson.

Two RCMP offi cers were charged earlier this month in Alberta after shooting and killing a man who was starting to drive away from them, CTV News reported.

Use of force continuumThe RCMP does have a use of

force diagram called the “Inci-dent Management/Intervention Model” (IMIM) that offi cers are trained to use as they determine what level of force is appropriate for a given situation. However, the RCMP says that the model is not used as a continuum, where offi cers must escalate through stages before resorting to force. Mr. McKesson called the IMIM “insuffi cient.”

An effective continuum “clearly denotes what is deadly force and what is not deadly force, normally in like four gradations, and then what can be done in each of the pockets,” he said.“It makes it clear that you can’t use a gun if the per-son is, like, sitting on the fl oor.”

The IMIM does not include any detail about specifi c situa-tions or use-of-force options.

“It’s an interesting graphic, but it doesn’t mean anything,” said Mr. McKesson.

ChokeholdsThe RCMP bars offi cers from

using some types of chokeholds, but not others. RCMP Commission-er Brenda Lucki told the CBC ear-lier this month that the force would “review” whether to bar the use of the “carotid control hold,” in which offi cers compress the arteries on either side of a person’s neck.

Verbal warningsThe RCMP does not require

that offi cers give a verbal warn-ing before resorting to lethal force, “because these situations are so dynamic, and there may not be an opportunity to pro-vide a verbal warning,” said Cpl. Duval.

Ms. Lucki said earlier this month that the RCMP would begin equipping offi cers with body cameras, in response to the protests against police violence. However, the evidence on wheth-er body cameras actually reduce incidents of police violence is mixed, at best.


RCMP use-of-force policies include three out of eight rules championed by police reform campaign ‘The rule is the only avenue to discipline. And there’s 40 years of research to suggest that the rules change behaviour,’ says DeRay McKesson, one of the activists behind the 8 Can’t Wait campaign sweeping through U.S. police departments.

News


Continued from page 1

RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki has come under fi re as a wave of protests and public concern about police racism and brutality have spread through Canada in recent weeks, with calls for reform or the abolishment of police forces growing. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

DeRay Mckesson is one of the leading organizers of the 8 Can’t Wait campaign. Photograph courtesy of 8 Can’t Wait

The RCMP’s Incident Management/Intervention Model doesn’t include enough detail about what actions can be used and when, says DeRay McKesson. Screenshot from the RCMP website

7

ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA—Last week, Canada lost a temporary United

Security Council seat it desperately wanted and it was certainly a crushing defeat for the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. He certainly campaigned for it, spent scarce re-sources and made it a priority of his government.

This followed Canada’s defeat losing to Portugal in 2010 under prime minister Stephen Harper, whose govern-ment had little interest in the workings of the United Nations and only present-ed a lukewarm campaign, to begin with.

But today, in a world dominated by the arrogance and nationalist agenda of U.S. President Donald Trump, there was a chance for Canada and for Prime Min-ister Trudeau to shine. However, for the prime minister, it’s now back to the drawing board.

Earlier this year, Trudeau visited three African nations, including Ethiopia where I am based. He talked about foreign aid re-peatedly. But trade is now more important than ever and the new African leadership is intent of having an adult conversation. Trudeau, however, offered more style and charm than substance. He brought along with him a Nigerian-born basketball coach in Ethiopia and a Canadian-Somali cabinet minister as backdrops.

While symbolism might be important and while Canada has been missing in Afri-ca for the last decade, Africa has embraced partnerships on how to build its infrastruc-tures, business and trade which China has taken note of more than anyone. In a world dominated by the extremist leadership of many important nations, including the

United Kingdom, Italy, Brazil, and certainly the United States, Canada’s moderate and progressive voice has seemed to be on mute.

In Ethiopia, Trudeau did not meet with ordinary Canadians—including Ethiopian-Canadians—or with those involved in a wide range of fi elds, which is usually the norm with visiting heads of states and he refused to engage with local media, with the exception of allowing a single local journal-ist to ask him a question in a media scrum.

He had an endless audience with African leaders which made his visit more of a cam-paign stop instead of a historic and mean-ingful visit of a Canadian prime minister, whose last visit was Jean Chrétien in 2003.

In a world where Canada’s international brand is on a downward curve, Trudeau missed shaping Canada’s new agenda in Africa. He left Africa more confused about Canada, rather than ready to support what-ever he was asking Africa to endorse. His visit was half-hearted and shaped by bureau-crats with little interest or know-how in the continent, intent solely on winning a seat on the UN Security Council and it showed.

There was no clarity on Justin Trudeau’s African agenda.

Let’s face it, though Canada has had a profound role in Ethiopia for decades, what transpired on the fl oor of the United Nations was not a referendum on the past, but on the future.

The Ethiopian Offi ce of Ombudsman was built by former cabinet minister Stephen Owen to emulate British Columbia’s. Ethio-

pia’s constitution is inspired by Can-ada’s. Countless Ethiopians were probably saved by Canada’s leader-ship during the infamous famine of 1984. As well, the often-brutal region has benefi t-ted from Canada’s peacekeeping role and its landmines treaty championed by former Canadian foreign minister Lloyd Axworthy. Canada’s past governments—both Liberal and Conserva-

tive—have done more good for Ethiopia and others, than not.

However, the continent is less interested in the old Band-Aid solutions of the past that seemed to endorse the narrative that the continent should always be dependent on handouts and is meant to be backward. Today’s reality is that it has one of the fastest-growing economies in the region, now paused because of COVID-19. The foreign aid that Trudeau was championing is an unrealistic dream from the past.

It was this old conception of how Cana-da and Canadians see Ethiopia that proved Canada has been missing in Ethiopia and the continent for a long time. That is why Canada what was ultimately rejected in New York.

Samuel Getachew is a journalist based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and former op-ed editor at @addis_fortune. He also writes for Huffi ngton Post and CNBC Africa.

The Hill Times

Opinion

THE HILL TIMES | MONDAY, JUNE 22, 2020

Samuel Getachew

Opinion

Canada’s been missing in action in Africa for a long time It was an old conception of how Canada and Canadians see Ethiopia that should prove Canada has been missing in Africa for a long time. That’s why Canada was ultimately rejected in New York last week.

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, pictured on June 11, 2020, lost Canada’s bid for a temporary seat on the UN Security Council last week. Earlier this year, Mr. Trudeau visited three African nations, including Ethiopia, but his trips offered more style than substance, writes Samuel Getachew. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

8

Politicians, take note: history is watching.The wave of protests against anti-

Black and anti-Indigenous racism that began in the United States after George Floyd’s death at the hands of a police offi cer last month quickly spread into Canada, which has its own history and present of racism waiting to be truly confronted. The protests shone a spotlight on the routine abuses infl icted on Black, Indigenous, and people of colour in Canada, ranging from police brutality to the inability of some white Canadians to confront racism in their midst.

Together, the momentum has changed public opinion, even among white Cana-dians, about the need for serious action to push racism out of our way of life.

A poll conducted by Abacus Data for City News in early June, for instance, found that the vast majority of Canadians agreed that Black people were treated worse by police in this country than others. A majority agreed that racism is systemic in Canada. A Léger poll found that trust in police had slipped by nine percentage points in June compared to just the previous month.

Media outlets across Canada, includ-ing The Hill Times, that should have devoted more time and space to covering racism in the past are doing so now.

The COVID-19 pandemic has shown how tolerant Canadians can be of chang-

es to their lifestyle, if made in the pursuit of a worthy objective. It has also shown how far governments can go in order to achieve such an objective.

“What this period of the pandemic has shown is that whatever you want to do po-litically, you can fi nd a way to do,” Anthony Morgan, a human rights and civil liberties lawyer told The Hill Times last week.

Meanwhile, the Parliamentary Black Caucus released a lengthy set of recom-mendations on how the government can tackle racism in Canada at its root. Those included action in the criminal justice system, arts and culture, industry, the col-lection of data, and more. Decision-mak-ers now have a starting point from which to work. There are no more excuses, only opportunities.

As Senator Mobina Jaffer said in another interview last week: “It’s an issue of priority.”

Racism has come into the public spot-light in Canada before, too often only fol-lowing a tragedy or injustice. The needed work still has not been done. If this moment also passes by without concrete changes having been made by political leaders to the way Black, Indigenous, and people of colour are treated in Canada, they too will one day be judged to have been on the wrong side of history.

As Sen. Jaffer said, “You’re not going to eradicate it just by naming it.”

The Hill Times

The Nuu-Chah-Nulth Tribal Council denounces the actions of the RCMP

in the shooting of Rodney Levi on June 12. The NTC stands with Chief Bill Ward of the Metepenagiag, six chiefs in the Wolastoqey First Nation and the New Brunswick AFN Regional Chief Roger Augustine in calls to end systemic racism in policing and the senseless killing of Indigenous peoples. We demand answers as to why the shooting of Rodney Levi happened—just nine days after the killing of Chantel Moore.

The NTC urgently requests all chiefs, leaders, and Indigenous peoples to send emails, or make calls to the PM, the min-ister and commissioner to echo this call for critical action now.

We also ask all Canadians to support Indigenous peoples and demand action from the Canadian and provincial govern-ments in policing.

Immediate action must be taken to re-evaluate the role of police in re-sponding to crisis situations, as having offi cers trained to de-escalate situa-tions still results in senseless killings. What we need are trained, unarmed, non-violent fi rst responders to respond to crisis situations involving wellness checks, mental health and addictions. We need people who know how to work with individuals with mental health issues, or let us form teams of people who already have this training to deal with wellness checks and attend mental health incidents.

First and foremost, this is an act of self-determination. We determine how we care for our communities, but we must ac-knowledge the legacy of colonialism and the underfunding of our communities in education, housing, health, and economy. Indigenous peoples must be involved in this re-evaluation and process that will determine further changes for policing in our communities. We must re-examine the First Nations Policing Program, and invest in self-administered Indigenous alternatives. We must also stress that investment in economic and social pro-grams for on and off-reserve members must be part our calls of action.

Chantel Moore’s tragic death would have been different if the offi cer knew how to approach a single woman’s door respectfully—without arms and vio-lence—in the middle of the night. Rodney Levi would still be alive if the offi cers knew how to deal with someone who was having a mental health crisis. These are things we can’t take back, but things we can change in the future to prevent other Indigenous peoples from the same fate.

At the foundation of this police violence is colonialism. Chantel and Rodney’s deaths occurred during the same week we saw the senseless beating of Chief Allan Adam and a Dene man, Benjamin Manuel in Yellowknife. Since April, eight Indigenous People have been shot and killed by police. Eishia Hudson, Jason Collins, Stewart Kevin Andrews, Everett Patrick, Regis Korchinski Paquet, Abraham Natanine. This is not including the investigations of police violence in Nunavut. This police violence is a stark reminder that the historical role of polic-ing in forcibly controlling and displacing Indigenous peoples continues to this day. Indigenous peoples are disproportion-ately brutalized, criminalized, and killed as a result of policing in Canada. What is our crime? Being Indigenous.

We are at a turning point. We must recognize this violence as a problem and work together as nations to say enough is enough. Not one more life. Systemic racism in Canada exists because of colo-nialism and the goal of “getting rid of the Indian.” Many things have changed in our relationship with government, but polic-ing has not. From suppressing our culture and ceremonies during the potlach ban, to implementing laws that tried to get rid of us, our relationship with the RCMP has been violent since the outset. It is time for the federal, provincial, and municipal governments to recognize systemic rac-ism in policing and take immediate action with Indigenous peoples to address it.

Judith Sayers, president of the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council

Mariah Charleson, vice-president of the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council

Port Alberni, B.C.

Public support, policy roadmap for real action on racism are present, now it’s

up to governments to act

Since April, eight Indigenous people have been shot and

killed by police

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9

OTTAWA—The bad news is that Canada lost its second

bid for a seat on the United Na-tions Security Council.

The good news is that most Canadians don’t really care.

In autopsying the defeat, a journalist said that had the seat been secured, the discussion would have been around the ir-relevance of the win.

Ordinary Canadians do not lose any sleep worrying about Canada’s world status. We have a mildly misplaced belief in Canada’s role in peacekeeping and international aid.

But last week’s defeat should force us to take another look at how Canada has slipped so badly on the world stage.

It is not enough to tell the world that Canada matters. Cana-dian politicians need to convince Canadians that the world matters.

Our failing grade on interna-tional aid and peacekeeping were part of the reason that Canada did not succeed.

The other part had to do with strategy.

The key negotiator for Canada was named to the United Nations at the very moment that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau signalled his intention to pull out all the stops in his campaign for a tem-porary seat.

United Nations Permanent Representative Marc-Andre Blanchard has impeccable Ca-nadian credentials. As chair and CEO of McCarthy Tetrault, he has been named among the 25 most infl uential lawyers in Canada. He also served as a former president of the Quebec Liberal Party.

He knew the province inti-mately, but his international bona fi des were less evident. So, he needed the help of heavy hitters.

According to press reports, Blanchard recruited two retired politicians for the campaign.

Former Quebec premier Jean Charest and former prime min-ister Joe Clark both travelled the world in support of Canada’s bid last year.

These political fi gures are well-known in Canada but their infl uence on the international scene is less apparent. Charest

is also a partner in Blanchard’s former law fi rm.

Noticeably absent from the list of eminence grise political elders were names like Jean Chrétien, Brian Mulroney, and Lloyd Ax-worthy.

During his three majority gov-ernments, prime minister Chrétien established deep and strong rela-tionships with a number of coun-tries, including China. After he left politics, Chrétien also chaired the InterAction Council, a group comprised of former world leaders who advise the United Nations on issues like climate change.

As for former prime minister Mulroney, his relationships with political leaders in the United States and La Francophonie would have been very helpful. As Barrick International Advisory Board chair, his infl uence in Af-rica and Oceania is clear.

On the Security Council seat, China’s robust international aid program was reported to infl u-ence up to 50 votes. Canada was not the benefi ciary of that infl uence. Nor were we in good standing with our American neighbours.

As for Axworthy, he served as president of the United Nations Security Council back in 1999-2000. He was also nominated for a Nobel Peace prize for his work in banning land mines.

The trio share robust inter-national relationships across fi ve continents which could have made a difference in the outcome.

Attracting fi ve votes away from either Norway or Ireland would have forced the process into a second ballot, which could have yielded a different result.

It is certainly possible that there was an attempt to enlist the

trio. If they turned down the invi-tation, that also speaks volumes.

Successful politicians usually try to avoid being at the head of losing campaigns. Both Ireland and Norway had entered the race years before Canada.

And Canada has also had almost double the prior Security Council participation rate of either competitor.

Trudeau was obviously very invested in the campaign, but be-ing so personally committed also comes with its own risks.

Having made more than 50 calls to other world leaders, he obviously believed the seat was worth the effort.

The bruising his reputation will take is likely only an inter-national blemish, not a domestic disaster.

But on the home front, the government really needs to undertake a major review of our foreign policy.

Questions around military de-ployment for peacekeeping need to be answered. So does the time frame for Canada’s commitment to increasing our international aid envelope.

The growing infl uence of China in the world, and Canada’s Huawei conundrum are also major reasons for the Security Council loss.

Chrétien offered his help on that fi le at the very beginning of the Canada-China downward spiral.

His offer was spurned, by way of an aggressive public rebuttal by then Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland.

Maybe all-hands-on deck should be the new watchword for Canada’s foreign policy.

Sheila Copps is a former Jean Chrétien-era cabinet minister and a former deputy prime minister.

The Hill Times

OAKVILLE, ONT.—When I learned Conservative Party

leadership candidate Erin O’Toole had landed in hot water after it

came out his campaign had (hor-ror of horrors) hired American help, it gave me a chilling sense of déjà vu.

You see, I too was once in-volved in a political campaign which had employed a foreigner, and what made it especially diffi cult was, in this particular instance, that foreigner was me.

But before I elaborate on my traumatic experience, let’s back up a bit and review the mini-con-troversy that has embroiled the O’Toole campaign.

It all started when it was recently reported that O’Toole was paying an American-based call centre to contact Conserva-tive Party members.

Yup, that’s it; that’s actually the extent of the controversy.

Doesn’t seem all that terrible, does it?

Yet, if you listened to O’Toole’s political opponents, you’d think he had committed something akin to high treason.

A spokesman for Peter MacK-ay’s campaign, for instance, when commenting on O’Toole’s hiring

practices, was quick to play the nationalist card, saying “Our cam-paign employs Canadians. Every person we are paying to provide a service to the campaign is Cana-dian. We do not use foreign phone banks to contact voters.”

You can almost see the Cana-dian fl ag waving in the back-ground.

For its part, the O’Toole cam-paign’s response to this issue was a bit defensive.

Campaign spokesperson, Mel-anie Paradis, explained it to the media this way: “There was one small project where they needed overfl ow capacity in a short amount of time, and because of a lack of availability of Canadian conservative political call cen-tres [as other campaigns had hired them] the project was sent to an American call centre that could handle the work needed.”

At any rate, I totally get why O’Toole’s people might be anx-ious about this and why his op-ponents would be quick to make hay out of it, since political cam-paigns like to present themselves

as patriotic entities that employ homegrown talent as opposed to foreign mercenaries.

After all, politics is essentially an exercise in tribalism.

But the truth is, all mainstream parties in Canada have, at one time or another, hired American expertise, whether that meant em-ploying American political con-sultants or American pollsters, or American advertising experts or American web designers.

I myself have worked here with American hired guns.

One time, for example, I worked alongside an American pollster, who, other than the fact that he could never properly pronounce “Saskatchewan,” did a great job.

The point is, politics is an extremely competitive game and if you want to win, you have to hire the best that’s out there even if that means, at times, importing foreign specialists.

And given that globalization is all the rage these days, you’d think having non-citizens helping out with a campaign wouldn’t be much of an issue.

But as the O’Toole situa-tion proves that’s not the case.

And by the way, Americans too can get up in arms if foreigners show up in U.S. campaigns.

This brings me back to my story. About 10 years ago, I was

hired to work as a communica-tions consultant on a U.S. Senato-rial primary campaign.

Unfortunately, however, an enterprising blogger discovered I was Canadian, which for a while made things a little awk-ward.

But rather than getting overly defensive, our team embraced it; we released a statement to the media with the candidate saying something like “I’m proud to have a communications expert like Nicholls on our campaign.”

After that, the issue quickly went away.

It’s almost as if the hiring practices of political campaigns matter more to partisans than they do to the public.

Gerry Nicholls is a communi-cations consultant.

The Hill Times

Opinion


Maybe all-hands-on deck should be the new watchword for Canada’s foreign policy

O’Toole’s team hired Americans, so what?

Our failing grade on international aid and peacekeeping were part of the reason that Canada did not succeed. The other part had to do with strategy.

If you listened to Erin O’Toole’s political opponents, you’d think he had committed something akin to high treason.

Gerry Nicholls

Post-Partisan Pundit

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, pictured June 18, 2020, at the Rideau Cottage in Ottawa. The bruising his reputation will take is likely only an international blemish, not a domestic disaster. But on the home front, the government really needs to undertake a major review of our foreign policy, writes Sheila Copps. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

Sheila Copps

Copps’ Corner

10

OTTAWA—Shocking revelations and events can stir the public. But that does

not mean offi cials want to give up systemic secrecy practices and bring in wholesale corrective changes.

So it was refreshing to see the Canadian military’s medical team under Operation Laser acting as whistleblowers and raising public attention about the dismal condi-tions and the ongoing plight they found in long-term care homes. The data they pro-vided about these homes would normally have been withheld.

But now The Ottawa Citizen is report-ing that National Defence is checking out if DND employees are leaking more unclassi-fi ed data on its pandemic work.

Recent public opinion polls like the one conducted by Léger and the Association for Canadian Studies are showing that half of respondents do not think they are getting suffi cient and accurate COVID-19 information.

Veteran FOI user and now independent journalist Dean Beeby, in a submission to the Senate Finance Committee, reinforced just how diffi cult it is going to be to get data on the millions of COVID-19 funds going out the door.

He cited his past efforts of being un-able to get the details about the write-offs against the multi-billion 2009 auto bail-outs, funds that went through the Canada Account via Export Development Canada (EDC); that included not getting elemen-tary information, such as the exact amount of the loans, the loan rates and the repay-

ment terms and actual repayments made or written off.

The Globe and Mail recently found, as well, that the government is not sharing more specifi cs on the Canada Account. The Globe sought, unsuccessfully, more details on the estimated $650-million Canada Accounts loan to U.S. General Dynamics, reputedly provided because Saudi Arabia has not been paying enough for the LAV armoured vehicles it purchased from Gen-eral Dynamics.

Considerable COVID-19 funds are to go through the Canada Account and EDC with little known about the infl uences and backroom dynamics. The Canada Account is just one of numerous black holes where basic information is hidden by Canadian authorities.

All Treasury Board President Jean-Yves Duclos has said so far in a letter to federal agencies during pandemic times is not to shut down access-to-information units.

Most federal agencies, however, are having problems functioning. iPolitics, for instance, reported that Canadian Heritage was unable to respond to requests as it had limited access to the needed web servers. The Canadian Border Services Agency is telling requesters like me they can look at trying to collect electronic records only, but with no fi rm response dates.

Something as simple as requesting re-cords on the Canadian Transport Agency’s fumbling consumers’ wishes for refunds from cancelled air fl ights is being met with a 260-day extension, with COVID-19 thrown in to rationalize the long delay period.

All signs point to the one-year statutory Bill C-58 review originally scheduled to start this month, as not being an occasion that the government will willingly give up its many exemptions and delay-causing powers. But there are those in the public who want drastic change for real disclo-sures.

The Canadian COVID-19 Account-ability Group, an ad hoc group of journal-ists, academics, and activists, wants full health inspection reports released within 15 days of their completion which would cut out the normal several months or longer wait-times and the many exemp-tions applied. They want whistleblowers to be better protected and come forward to bring out government agency prob-lems, and advocate establishing a special COVD-19 ombudsman to probe public and private sector pandemic-related health problems.

They also want much greater transpar-ency and accounting of the billions of dol-lars in new spending during the pandemic that has received little parliamentary scrutiny.

But now, with a protest movement spurred on by George Floyd’s murder in the United States and Indigenous deaths in Canada at the hands of police, more is wanted, especially greater police accountability and transparency. Shin-ing a light on the underlying racial and social injustices and how public safety is funded and carried out has become a dominant issue.

Racism, misogyny, corruption, and health threats are some conditions that you’d expect some movement on.

But in Canada to date, it’s still a time of offi cials taking more backward steps. Access to information has already been reeling from regressive steps implemented under Bill C-58 which put in a defensive system of selective releases to head off substantive disclosures.

Canadians deserve more than lacklustre and limited data in changing times.

Ken Rubin is reachable at kenrubin.caThe Hill Times

Opinion


Ken Rubin

Opinion

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technology companies in the world as recognized by Fast Company Magazine.Based in Ottawa or Markham, and in partnership with the Vice President of Government Affairs, the candidate will work to generate business opportunities and shape public policy within the various Federal, Provincial and Municipal levels of government across the country.

The Director will be responsible for:• Champion oneself as a subject matter expert and thought leader within government.• Building and expanding our business partnerships with government departments and agencies across the country;• Driving new product solutions, usage and user experiences in the execution of strategic priorities to the business;• Developing collateral, internal and external product content as well as collaborating with in-country, regional

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This is a diverse role that will be structured to best suit the assets of the right candidate. Ideally, those interested in the role should have extensive experience in any number of the following: • 10+ years’ experience working within government(s) shaping public policy and/or generating business leads in

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emerging technologies;• Must know and have experience with government & public sector procurement policies and procedures• Knowledge and/or relevant work experience on matters related to Canada’s bilateral relationship with China,

Asia and its geopolitical complexities;

After numerous successes within the public service, this would be an excellent role for someone who is thinking about the next chapter of their career in the private sector and is also interested in mentoring the next generation workforce at Huawei. The candidate must be a Canadian resident and have the ability to travel both domestically and overseas. While not required, fluency in either French and/or Chinese is an asset for the role.Globally, Huawei is one of the world’s largest telecommunications and ICT companies, employing over 185,000 people, and operating in 170 countries worldwide.This is an exciting and unique opportunity to be at the forefront of a number of major public policy files for Canada. The successful candidate in this search has a passion for taking on a challenging opportunity, and recognizes the value of a managing a complex file in support of multiple stakeholder interests.Salary will be commensurate with experience.

Director of Government Solutions

Troubled times for transparency call for change

Canadians deserve more than lacklustre and limited data in changing times.

Hundreds of members of the Canadian Armed Forces were called in to help out in at least two dozen Ontario and Quebec long-term care homes in April and May hit hard by COVID-19, and reported allegations of elder abuse and neglect in at least fi ve long-term care homes in Ontario. Photograph courtesy of Department of National Defence

CAREERS

EDMONTON—The jugs of maple syrup weren’t enough.

Canada tried to sweet-talk its way onto the UN Security Council, but getting elected to the UN’s highest body is a nasty busi-ness. The Trudeau charm did not work, and Canada lost to Norway and Ireland.

The Canadian mission to the UN handed out maple syrup good-ies to the delegates to open the election campaign and Prime Min-ister Justin Trudeau put his own brand on it (“Canada is back!”). But the campaign itself was devoid of any overarching theme and, in fact, served political mush at one of the great transformation mo-ments in world history, in which serious people are searching for new ideas for human security.

I write about this sadly, for I wanted Canada to win. I have had the honour of representing Canada as an ambassador at the United Nations and I know how much respect was accorded our country by diplomats from all regions, largely because great Ca-nadian fi gures of the past—Lester Pearson, George Ignatieff, and Stephen Lewis—projected strong policies that came out of the Ot-tawa political process. Peacekeep-ing, the Landmines Treaty, the Responsibility to Protect, the In-ternational Criminal Court—these powerful instruments that helped to build the architecture of peace came out of Canada.

Just at the moment when nationalist populism around the world undermines the whole UN system and new voices are need-ed to offer a vision of a culture of peace, Canada offered bro-mides. The basic elements of the Canadian campaign were: sustain peace, address climate change, promote economic security, ad-vance gender equality, strengthen multilateralism. No thinking person opposes these laudable goals. But such generalities were not enough to go up against the tangible work of Norway, whose international aid programs are outstanding, and Ireland, whose peacekeeping efforts put Canada’s in the shade. Canada could have grabbed the spotlight by champi-oning a permanent UN Peacekeeping Force, which, if it existed, could have fended off the un-speakable miseries in Syria and Yemen.

Trudeau did show leadership in global cooperation by con-vening, on May 28, along with Jamaica’s prime minister, a virtual international conference aimed at adapting world fi nancial systems to help vulnerable countries plunged into debt by the COVID-19 pandemic. There is no doubt that Canada’s ambassador at the UN, Marc-André Blanchard, and his team campaigned ferociously, but their political masters gave them little of substance to sell and, worse, handicapped them with disastrous policies: cease-less arms sales to Saudi Arabia, excessive support for Israel at the expense of Palestinian rights, pro-tection of domestic mining com-panies responsible for ecologi-cal and human rights abuses in several countries.

I thought the letter written by 100 persons, mostly Cana-dian, denigrating Canada for its alleged sins and sent to every UN ambassador with a plea not to vote for “an unworthy Canada” was very unfair. It had noth-ing good to say about Canada’s outstanding track record in the six times it has served on the Security Council. Perhaps it had little infl uence on the vote. But I’m not so sure about the effect of another letter, signed by 58 former Canadian diplomats and politicians (including four Chré-tien-era cabinet ministers), who called on Trudeau to show stron-ger resistance to the planned Israeli annexation of a large part

of the occupied West Bank. This put Trudeau on the defensive in a very public manner as he scram-bled to reaffi rm Canada’s two-state policy in the Middle East. Both of these attacks charged the government with not adhering to the rule of law.

I found it remarkable that, throughout the long campaign, there was no discernible domes-tic support for the government’s efforts to get elected. The peace groups, whom you would expect to push Canada forward with waves of cheerleading, were si-lent. These people are my friends

and I know them well. With just a few exceptions, they certainly did not want to oppose Canada’s bid, largely because they thought that if Canada won it would force the government to perform at a high-er standard. But neither could they lend their support because of Canada’s low performance on issues of peace and security.

Walter Dorn, the highly regarded defence analyst, has criticized, in these pages, the low number (35) of Cana-dian troops in UN peacekeep-ing missions compared with the hundreds deployed to the NATO mission in Latvia. Also, the government has ignored an unanimous recommendation from a parliamentary committee that Canada urge NATO to re-examine its nuclear weapons policies.

And perhaps most egregiously from the peace movement’s perspective, Canada has refused to sign the 2017 Treaty on the Pro-hibition of Nuclear Weapons. In an offensive sideswipe, Trudeau called the negotiations for this treaty “useless,” on the grounds that the nuclear states were not participating. Stigmatizing the possession of nuclear weap-

ons as illegal is the very point of the treaty.

Standing up for international law is the basic function of the Security Council, charged by the UN charter to maintain “interna-tional peace and security” in the world. Shockingly, the council is currently in a state of disrepair, unable even to agree on a resolu-tion endorsing Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ appeal for a worldwide cease-fi re to enable all states to unreservedly com-bat COVID-19. Would Canada, based on the record of this government, have stood up to the

bully powers? Would the U.S., Russia and China really have cowed under the stern admonition of Canada?

This raises the question of why Canada wanted to be on the Security Council in the fi rst place. The campaign began in 2016 when the newly elected Trudeau government put Canada’s name forward for the 2021-2022 term. Two Western seats were open. Ireland had announced its can-didacy in 2005 and Norway in 2007.

Both have always been staunch support-ers of the wide range of UN programs and they are well respected. Why then

would Canada challenge them?The answer lies in the hubris

of Justin Trudeau, who quickly manifested a sense of entitle-ment, and the bad advice of a political coterie around him, who had no real knowledge of how the UN works. The prime min-ister was seen as an interna-tional star, which, of course, he is (this must be true because The Economist magazine said so and promoted him as the saviour of multilateralism).

But this altruism, if that is what it was, came up against hard-ball politics. Countries running for seats on UN bodies customarily trade their votes (you help me and I’ll help you), and, by the time Canada arrived on the scene, Norway and Ireland had locked up big chunks of votes. Canada was already behind the curve when it entered the race. Other than proclaiming its con-vening power, based on member-ship in the G7, G20, and a host of international bodies, Canada did not give committed nations any real reason to change their votes.

Moreover, although Canadi-ans don’t like to think about this, there are a number of countries

that do not like Canada. The vet-eran Canadian diplomat Marius Grinius said: “Neither China nor Russia wanted to deal with Cana-da as a Security Council mem-ber … both regimes would have played their bit to dissuade others from voting for Canada.” The gov-ernment of India let it be known it would oppose Canada.

Of course, we will never know who voted for or against Canada because it was a secret ballot. The fact that Canada won 108 votes, not far behind Ireland’s 128 and Nor-way’s 130, indicated that, whatever its problems, Canada does have a lot friends in the world. It might have picked up a few more had it followed Norway’s and Ireland’s example and put a woman as its chief ambassador at the UN.

Richard Gowan, a UN expert at the International Crisis Group in New York, told me: “Despite the de-feat, Canada came within a whisker of an upset against Ireland. What strikes me is that Canada was able to eat into the two lead candidates’ votes pretty successfully. I think that’s to Ottawa’s credit.”

Nonetheless, this is the second successive defeat for Canada in trying to be elected to the Secu-rity Council. The Harper govern-ment lost in 2010. It will likely be another 10 years, or even longer, before Canada gets another chance. Canada has to consider how to infl uence international affairs at this challenging time in world history without being on the Security Council. I agree with Paul Meyer, chair of Canadian Pug-wash, who told me: “We shouldn’t be despondent over this defeat—we were very late to the contest. Let’s recall that some of the most successful Canadian diplomacy occurred when we were not mem-bers of the Security Council.”

The UN human security agenda is based on four pillars: economic and social develop-ment, arms control and disarma-ment, environmental protection, and human rights. None of these fi elds depends on the Security Council for progress, and each presents opportunities as well as challenges to a creative middle-power country. This is a moment for Canada to fi gure out how to use our strengths and advantages. A formal review of Canadian for-eign policy is desperately needed to move beyond our absorption with the U.S. and chart a path for-ward to respond to the growing cry around the world for peace and social justice. It isn’t fun los-ing an election, but there’s a lot to be learned from it.

Former Senator Douglas Roche chaired the UN Disarmament Committee in 1988 as Canada’s ambassador for disarmament and is the author of The United Nations in the 21st Century (2015).

The Hill Times

11

PoliticsIt isn’t fun losing UN Security Council seat, but there’s a lot to be learned from it Canada’s campaign itself was devoid of any overarching theme and, in fact, served political mush at one of the great transformation moments in world history, in which serious people are searching for new ideas for human security.


Douglas Roche

CommentJustin Trudeau, who quickly manifested a sense of entitlement and had the bad advice of a political coterie around him, had no real knowledge of how the UN works when his government put Canada’s name forward for a 2021-2022 UN Security Council seat. The prime minister was seen as an international star, but he unsuccessfully challenged Norway, which had announced its candidacy in 2007, and Ireland, which announced its candidacy in 2005, and are two staunch supporters of the wide range of UN programs. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

12

HALIFAX—There are four reasons the Conservative Party of Canada should

leave Andrew Scheer right where he is.All of them were were on display in last

week’s televised “leadership” debates in the person of the candidates themselves.

The debates, like the party’s 10-thumbed leadership itself, was an event designed for masochists, insomniacs, and close rela-tives.

How do you hold a debate in Canada’s other offi cial language when all four candidates would be puzzled by cereal-box French, let alone a real conversation with a real voter from Quebec?

Rather than a new beginning for a hopelessly outdated party, the leader-ship hopefuls wallowed in platitudes that Stephen Harper might have scribbled on a napkin during a long and particularly tedious plane ride.

We learned from Erin O’Toole that he is a patriot and loves Canada. He apparently hasn’t heard that patriotism is sometimes known as the last refuge of a scoundrel. O’Toole did, however, unconsciously offer

a moment of levity. He claimed that un-less the party had a detailed climate plan, “we’re not going to be able to get pipelines built.” That ought to bring in Greenpeacers by the boatload.

Peter MacKay made a plea for party unity. I guess he meant a unifi ed effort to get that “stinking albatross” of Andrew Scheer’s social conservative values off his back—you know, the ones MacKay is now championing. Where was party unity when MacKay clothes-lined Scheer with that zinger during the last election?

MacKay’s silliest moment was when he blamed Canada’s failure to get a seat on the UN Security Council on Justin Trudeau talking behind Donald Trump’s back.

The real problem was the exact oppo-site. Trudeau has shied away from saying to Trump’s face the things that need to be said to a bigot, bully, and a rogue. After all, if John Bolton has it right, Trump thinks shooting journalists, locking up Muslims in concentration camps, and having foreign dic-tators help him to get re-elected is just fi ne.

Leslyn Lewis hung her hat on a tired attempt to reclaim the CPC as the party of family values. The Toronto lawyer said that if she became PM, should would pass parental rights legislation. Such an effort would make reopening the Constitution to reform the Senate look like a low level checkers game.

If they awarded a dunce cap for worst debate performance, it would be sitting askew on Derek Sloan’s head. He wants to take the wheel of the national Batmobile and jam it into reverse. I kept waiting for him to rip off his rubber mask and reveal Donald Trump.

The rookie MP talked about legislation on abortion. What legislation?

Forget a COVID-19 vaccine. Sloan is suspicious of vaccines.

Sloan wants to ditch the battle against climate change, dump UN Rights for Indigenous Peoples, and like the Donald, abandon the World Health Organization in the midst of a pandemic that has killed over half a million people worldwide.

And hello, did he really say kids with gender dysphoria “will grow out of it”? What, no re-education camp?

Sloan’s most memorable belly-fl op involved Donald Trump, a president so ignorant according to his former national security adviser that he thought Finland was part of Russia and that invading Ven-ezuela would be “cool.”

Sloan promised to personally call up Trump when he wins the November elec-

tion to congratulate him. If there are any suburban women voters left for the CPC in Canada, that ought to complete their jour-ney to some other party in jig time.

Ironically, it was the right-leaning Erin O’Toole (at least this incarnation of him), who came up with the only sensible change to Stephen Harper’s chronic failure to regulate the energy industry. He dis-cussed his plan of “making industry pay” for carbon emissions through a national regulatory and pricing regime. Suddenly O’Toole was Dracula, and his opponents ran for the holy water, garlic, and cruci-fi xes.

All three of them denounced one of the only real ideas to emerge in the debates as nothing short of a gussied-up carbon tax. MacKay intoned that such a tax would hurt consumers and businesses alike.

The one candidate with a degree in environmental studies, amongst others, agreed. Such levies, Lewis said, would put the Canadian oil and gas patch at a competitive disadvantage globally. As if the burning issue in the environment is creat-ing an even playing fi eld for the industry that is driving global warming. Might be a few seats in Alberta for that view, but here’s the catch. The CPC already has them.

The most telling line in the deeply forgettable CPC leadership debates came from Peter MacKay on the environment.

It didn’t sound like much, but it spoke volumes about what voters would get if they returned the Conservatives to power.

The CBC’s John Paul Tasker noted that MacKay’s plan was really the same one that Scheer unsuccessfully offered Cana-dians in the 2019 election—improved tech-nologies in the oil and gas sector, including carbon sequestration, and the aggressive marketing of Canadian natural gas to dis-place coal burning worldwide.

So here was MacKay’s bottom line. There was nothing wrong Andrew Scheer’s environment policy with respect to the oil and gas sector. It was just the way it was rolled out by a grinning salesman who, as one wag put it, managed to step on every rake on the lawn. In other words, MacKay would get the “comms” right, but you still get Stephen Harper’s cold plate of policy leftovers.

And that’s the problem with a party that wants to return to power without doing what every good dinosaur must—adapt.

Michael Harris is an award-winning author and journalist.

The Hill Times


Four reasons the Conservative Party should leave Andrew Scheer right where he is Rather than a new beginning for a hopelessly outdated party, the leadership hopefuls wallowed in platitudes that Stephen Harper might have scribbled on a napkin during a long and particularly tedious plane ride.

APPOINTMENT NOTICE

Canada’s Building Trades Unions are pleased to

announce that Sean Strickland has joined CBTU as the new Executive Director.

Sean is a well respected, senior construction executive with over 20 years working in the construction sector, with proven results for success. His deep knowledge of the industry combined with a strong government relations background will serve CBTU well to grow the workforce of tomorrow. Sean holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Waterloo, and is a graduate of the Executive Management Program at Wilfrid Laurier University as well as Leadership Development from Harvard University.

Canada’s Building Trades Unions (CBTU) Welcomes Sean Strickland as new Canadian Director

Sean Strickland Executive Director

Politics

CPC leadership contenders Peter MacKay, Erin O’Toole, Leslyn Lewis, and Derek Sloan took part in their French and English televised debates on June 17 and June 18 in Toronto. How do you hold a debate in Canada’s other offi cial language when all four candidates would be puzzled by cereal-box French, let alone a real conversation with a real voter from Quebec, asks Michael Harris. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade, file photo, and photographs courtesy of Twitter

Michael Harris

Harris

LONDON, U.K.—Never bring a knife to a gunfi ght, the saying

goes, but China does it differently. It brings clubs.

On June 15, China and India had the nastiest frontier incident since their border war of 1962. In the Galwan Valley of the Aksai Chin, a disputed region the size of Switzerland in the western Hima-layas, Chinese and Indian border patrols clashed and twenty Indian soldiers were killed—yet not a shot was fi red. The killing was all done with clubs, stones, and bare hands.

This is bizarre. Not even in the movies will you see a bar fi ght or

street fi ght that leaves 20 dead. Killing people without fi rearms is actually quite hard.

To make things even weirder, the Chinese report blames the incident on India but does not complain of any Chinese casual-ties. And the fi rst Indian reports said that three Indian soldiers had been killed, only many hours later admitting that an additional “17 Indian troops who were criti-cally injured in the line of duty” had died from their injuries.

At fi rst glance, this looks quite serious. The two countries contain about a third of the human race, most of their long border is in dispute, they have fought over it in the past, and they both have nuclear weapons. And while neither India nor China wants a nuclear war, obviously, they are both angry and determined.

Neither side is being forthcoming about the details of this clash, but we can use the available information to fi gure out the broad outlines of what happened. First of all, it was prob-ably a Chinese ambush. It’s hard to see how a fi ght without fi rearms could have killed twenty Indians and few or no Chinese unless the Indians were taken by surprise.

Secondly, local media reports say that the Indian troops were “beaten to death,” which suggests that the Chinese were much bet-ter prepared: there are no clubs wrapped in barbed wire just lying

around in the Aksai Chin. This looks like a pre-planned Chinese operation, carefully designed to kill enough Indian troops to warn the Indian government off but minimize the risk of escalation.

And how to account for the 17 Indian soldiers who died from their injuries after a few hours? So many injured dying so quickly makes no sense unless the rest of the Indian force withdrew, leaving the injured to die of exposure in the sub-zero temperature 4,000 metres up—and the Chinese with-drew too, leaving nothing behind but a message.

What message? Don’t mess with us. We don’t really care about this useless, frozen valley, and we’re happy to leave it as a no-man’s-land. But if you keep pushing forward, we’re going to smack you down. And we can.

India has been pushing forward, building a new road in the most remote part of the Aksai Chin. No doubt the Indian military told themselves that they were just improving their tacti-cal position—and no doubt the Chinese military saw it as a land-grab. That’s how it usually works on this frontier.

The confrontations over this new road began 40 days ago, and they have all been conducted without gunfi re because the two sides signed an agreement in 1996 that says “nei-ther side shall open fi re … conduct

blast operations or hunt with guns or explosives within two kilometres of the Line of Actual Control.”

They have kept to that agree-ment for almost a quarter-century because neither side wants a war over this uninhabited wasteland; they both have much bigger fi sh to fry elsewhere. But the Chinese clearly got fed up with the endless shoving and stone-throwing ses-sions and decided to tell the Indians it’s time to stop. That’s pretty much what happened back in 1962, too.

The confl ict started along the eastern part of the border that time, but all of it is in dispute to some ex-tent. There have been many failed attempts to pin the line down by governments that no longer even exist—the Dalai Lamas in Lhasa, the Qing dynasty and the National-ist regime in Beijing, and the Brit-ish Raj in Delhi—and the fact that hardly anybody lives there makes defi ning it even harder.

The problem in 1962 also began with Indian troops trying to improve their positions in the disputed territories: a so-called ‘Forward Policy.’ Mao Zedong’s government decided to drive the Indian army out of all the land under dispute, and then, after the Indians had been ‘taught a les-son’, to declare a unilateral cease-fi re and pull all China’s troops back to their original positions.

It was a major military opera-tion, with 700 Chinese and over 3,000 Indian soldiers killed or missing. But Mao predicted that it “will guarantee at least thirty years of peace” along the frontier, and that’s just what it did.

Think of this as just another 1962, but in miniature and with-out bullets.

Gwynne Dyer’s new book is ‘Growing Pains: The Future of Democracy (and Work)’.

The Hill Times

OTTAWA—I would imagine that few Canadians are pay-

ing attention to what is happen-ing in Afghanistan these days, especially with the continuing lockdowns over the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the demonstrations against anti-Black racism, systemic racism, and accusations of systemic racism in police forces and other institutions.

It’s too bad because there is a lot happening in Afghanistan and very little of it is good. Despite an ongoing ‘peace process’ directed by the Trump administration with the Taliban as the primary inter-locutors, terrorist attacks occur on a daily basis in that forsaken land. Some are particularly hei-nous, such as an Islamic State in Khurasan attack on a maternity hospital in Kabul on May 12 in which terrorists killed infants and young mothers. This incident led the international charitable group Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) to close its operations in the Af-ghan capital.

I do not have the words to describe a raid of this nature. Big, brave “holy warriors” slaugh-ter babies and their mothers. I know that terrorists often scrape the bottom of the barrel in their

“exploits,” but this has to be a new low, even for ISIS.

Alas, this act is the rule, not the exception. Every day Afghan forces, police, and civilians die at the hands of the Taliban and ISIS. Every day. I cannot recall the last 24-hour period in which there was not an attack. The situation is simply that bad in Afghanistan.

And what of the “peace part-ner,” the Taliban? Well, they have categorically refused to talk with the elected Afghan government (even taking into account issues with the state of democracy in that nation), refused to stop at-tacks during Ramadan, and even denied that al-Qaeda (AQ) has a presence in Afghanistan. And these guys are our choice for defi ning the future for the Afghan population?

The bottom line is that Af-ghanistan is nowhere near “peace” and it is unlikely to get any closer in the foreseeable future. We would all agree, I think, that that country’s citizens have suffered from enough violence over the past 40 years and yet it is set to continue indefi nitely. You have to feel for them.

All this has called into ques-tion the point of Western involve-ment, at least from a military standpoint, since 9/11. Canada, of course, was among the fi rst to join the U.S. in sending troops to hunt down the actors behind the attacks in New York and Washington. Yes, progress has been made here and there but at what cost? (This is by no means a slur against the diplomats, aid workers and soldiers who went to help).

For what it is worth, I do not think we had a choice in Septem-ber 2001. A NATO ally, neighbour, and longstanding friend had just suffered from the single great-est terrorist attack in history and sought help in bringing those re-sponsible to justice. We did what we needed to do.

But we have already heard from senior U.S. offi cials that it is uncertain what we achieved all this time. This perceived lack of “progress,” married with a presi-dent who seems to want to get out of all kinds of commitments, is driving these so-called peace talks.

Here is the problem. Military operations that include open-end-

ed occupation are a damned-if-you-do and damned-if-you-don’t situation. We had to go in to get Osama bin Laden and the al-Qaida because, well, because. The longer we stayed there, however, the more we overstayed our wel-come. Civilians died in collateral damage airstrikes. Corrupt offi -cials took advantage of us. All the efforts to build civil society and a semblance of democracy were hit and miss. And, perhaps most importantly, our mere presence leads to more, not, less terrorism as violent extremists use our ac-tions to recruit others.

I do not have the answers to any of this and I am not sure any-one else does. We will likely face similar conundrums in the com-ing years and I wish I could say we will do things better next time. I am sure there are examples of successful military deployments historically, but I fear they are few and far between. Anyway, can we really apply older models to current realities?

Maybe it is best to sit the next one out. That would be problem-atic, probably immoral, and politi-cally unpalatable. Anyone else have any good ideas?

Phil Gurski is a former CSIS strategic analyst and a specialist in Islamist terrorism.

The Hill Times

13

GlobalThe Chinese way of war

‘Peace in our time,’ Afghan style?

Think of this as just another 1962, but in miniature and without bullets.

Can we really apply older models to current realities? Maybe it is best to sit the next one out. That would be problematic, probably immoral, and politically unpalatable.


On June 15, China and India had the nastiest frontier incident since their border war of 1962. In the Galwan Valley of the Aksai Chin, a disputed region the size of Switzerland in the western Himalayas, Chinese and Indian border patrols clashed and twenty Indian soldiers were killed—yet not a shot was fi red. The killing was all done with clubs, stones, and bare hands, writes Gwynne Dyer. Image courtesy Bloomberg

Gwynne Dyer

Global Aff airs

Phil Gurski

National Security

14

TORONTO—Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet may have been

a bit over the top when he described Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as a would-be “king” of Canada. But he wasn’t too far off the mark.

Trudeau’s disregard for Parliament and the proper role of MPs as representatives sent by Canadians to develop public policy and oversee public spending has been ap-parent ever since he became leader of the Liberal Party. Criticized for his absence from Parliament at the time, he argued his time was better spent elsewhere—an attitude seemingly shared by then-prime minister Stephen Harper.

But never has his disregard for Parlia-ment been more evident than in the current pandemic crisis. In March, the Trudeau government tried to get powers to unilater-ally make tax and spending changes to the

end of 2021 without any kind of scrutiny or approval by Parliament. In an unprec-edented effort to circumvent Parliament, the Trudeau government was effectively banishing Parliament and taking away even the basic rights of MPs to hold them to account. Once the plans were unveiled, the Liberals were forced to backtrack be-cause of public outcries.

But we still have an unacceptable situ-ation. Trudeau has refused to consider recalling Parliament and, with the help of the NDP, has largely shut down Parlia-ment until Sept. 21—with just four hours of planned debate on $87-billion of spending last Thursday. In effect, this means close to zero scrutiny since this process bypasses normal procedures to examine spending estimates.

Trudeau has also been forced to back-track on his initial refusal to deliver a fed-eral budget or even provide a fi scal update on government spending. Now, we are told, MPs will get a “fi scal snapshot” of federal fi nances on July 8. Parliament needs much more—for example, it needs to know where government thinking currently is on how economic recovery and rebuilding will occur, and what is the current thinking on how the government sees the path back to fi scal stability after a massive run-up in federal debt, In other words, MPs need much more than a “snapshot.”

The Trudeau government’s dismissive attitude towards parliamentary democracy should also be seen through a political lens. We have a minority government and its actions are also being driven by posi-tioning for the next federal election, which could come in the next couple of years.

By holding nationally televised brief-ings each day, Prime Minister Trudeau has been able to achieve a higher standing in pubic opinion polls while opposition par-

ties lack a similar access to Canadians. If Trudeau was subject to daily questions in Parliament, he would not enjoy the same free ride in reaching voters.

This brings us back to a broader issue that goes beyond the pandemic: how do we restore the paramountcy of Parliament so that it once again fulfi ls its central role as the essential institution for democracy and good government.

In the 2019 federal election, not quite 66 per cent of eligible voters cast a bal-lot. While the CBC hailed this as “a strong turnout” and “a sign of engagement,” in fact it was neither. Although there have been nine federal elections after 1988, not one of them has seen a voter turnout reaching 70 per cent. This suggests a waning public belief in the importance of Parliament.

In contrast, in the 18 federal elections between 1930 and 1988 all but three saw turnouts above 70 per cent with many in the 75 per cent range and some close to 80 per cent (the 1958 federal election had a 79.4 per cent voter turnout; the 1962 election 79.0 per cent; and the 1963 election 79.2 per cent). If 79 per cent of eligible voters had voted in last year’s election, there would have been an extra 3,538,163 ballots cast, enough to poten-tially produce a different outcome from the one we got.

Why are we getting such low voter turn-outs? There are a number of theories, but one explanation, I believe, is that we have few Parliamentarians—MPs who champion the role of Parliament as the centrepiece of our democratic society.

The leader’s offi ces, staffed by unelect-ed individuals, are focused on controlling “the message” and glorifying the leader, treat MPs as people who are supposed to do what they are told, and regard MPs as subservient to their own agenda. But part

of the problem is that MPs have allowed themselves to be treated this way.

Going forward, we need some serious thinking about how to strengthen the role of MPs and enable them to be the true mas-ters of the House. Oversight and approval of government spending is one big chal-lenge—today, the system is a farce. House committees need to play a much greater role in oversight, with strong support from the Parliamentary Budget Offi ce, as the accounting systems for the spending esti-mates and for federal budgets are different so that the two cannot be compared easily.

We also need to make House of Com-mons committees much more powerful, as the British have done, by choosing com-mittee chairs by secret ballot in the House of Commons, by strengthening the power of committees to compel attendance by ministers, senior offi cials and others, and by having the right to demand papers from government departments.

We also need to change the practices of our political parties so that candidates are chosen by constituency ballots, not by rules imposed by party headquarters. In a report last year, the Samara Centre for Democracy found that between 2004 and 2015, fewer than 20 per cent of candidates were chosen by a competitive party nomi-nation process at the constituency level. The party brass were deciding who would run—another erosion of our parliamentary system.

This is why I think we need, on an urgent basis, some kind of national com-mission on how to strengthen our parlia-mentary system and restore its role as the central institution in a healthy and relevan-cy democracy.

David Crane can be reached at [email protected].

The Hill Times

Opinion


This just in: it’s time to strengthen our parliamentary system, now more than ever MPs need to restore its role as the central institution in a healthy and relevant democracy.

Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet may have been a bit over the top when he described Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, pictured in the House on May 13, 2020, as a would-be ‘king’ of Canada. But he wasn’t too far off the mark, writes David Crane. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

David Crane

Canada & the 21st Century

ECONOMICRECONCILIATION

June 22, 2020The Hill Times Policy Briefi ng

Indigenous businesses could play big role in recovery, experts say

Inclusive growth is more than jobs and

GDP

Social assistance as economic

reconciliation

Economic reconciliation starts with equitable

access to education for Indigenous peoples

Economic reconciliation can only

begin when colonial practices are completely

dismantled

Economic reconciliation: removing the chains that bind

First Nations’ main streets

Reconciliation isn’t up to

Indigenous folks

Indigenomics: what lies beyond the socio-

economic gap

Investing in Indigenous conservation to create a more

resilient economy

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BY AIDAN CHAMANDY

Indigenous businesses made up a fast-growing part of the

economy before the COVID-19 pandemic, but were often hit harder than most by the result-ing shutdowns. Now, Indigenous business leader Tabatha Bull says those businesses can play a big role in getting the country back on track—with a little bit of help.

“We’ve seen some real success and we want to make sure COVID doesn’t make us go backwards,” Ms. Bull - who took over as presi-dent and CEO of the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business right when the lockdowns began - said in a June 16 interview with The Hill Times.

The COVID-19 pandemic and resultant lockdowns have caused two of the biggest crises the country has faced in decades, and could reduce Canada’s GDP by double digits, according to the Or-ganization for Economic Cooper-ation and Development. More Ca-nadians—13.5 per cent, according to the latest Statistics Canada fi g-ures—are unemployed now than in any other period in the nation’s history. The federal government has doled out hundreds of billions of dollars in relief, considerably raising Canada’s defi cit and debt, which the Parliamentary Budget Offi ce reports could sit at nearly $250-billion and nearly $1-trillion, respectively.

Parts of the Indigenous economy were doing well before the pandemic. According to two studies by TD Economics and the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business (CCAB) in 2011 and 2015, the overall size of the Indigenous economy in Canada—defi ned as including personal business income along with discretionary government revenues for people both on and off-reserve—had increased from just over $10-billion in 2001 to just over $30-billion in 2015.

Several factors had been driving this growth, according to a 2019 study from the National Indigenous Economic Develop-ment Board (NIEDB), including demographic trends toward a younger, more urban population, improvements in education, infra-structure, taxation, and more. The NIEDB study reported increased high school and college comple-tion rates, lifting of some long-term water advisories, and more First Nations communities with taxation bylaws as some of the important factors. The report also noted that “although there has been progress, not all indicators have shown improvement, and improvements have not occurred equally across all Indigenous identity groups.”

The gap between the Indig-enous and non-Indigenous labour force participation rate actually increased from 3.9 per cent in 2006 to 4 per cent in 2016, the study reported. While median Inuit income increased from just under $17,000 in 2005 to $24,500 in 2015, the unemployment rate also rose, which “indicates that more Inuit were available and looking for work, but were unable to fi nd employment,” the study reads.

One industry outstripping all past growth projections is Indig-enous tourism. A May 2019 joint study by the Conference Board of Canada and the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada reported the industry grew 23.2 per cent between 2014 and 2017, from $1.4-billion to $1.7-billion, compared to a 14.5 per cent in-crease of overall tourism activity in Canada. The study reported nearly 2,000 businesses and close to 40,000 people, with over half in Ontario and British Columbia, operate in the Indigenous tour-ism industry. A May 2020 update that looked at the sector prior to the pandemic put the value of the Indigenous tourism sector at $1.9-billion.

The 2011 study by TD Eco-nomics and the CCBA reported total Indigenous business income in 2001 at just over $4-billion. A 2017 Statistics Canada study found that number had increased to over $10-billion, a 250 per cent increase over 16 years.

Now, the pandemic is putting that hard-earned progress in jeopardy.

“For Indigenous businesses, this crisis is worse than a fi nan-cial crisis, where most businesses faced only a slowdown. In this case, we are looking at a com-plete stoppage of operations as few Indigenous businesses are able to work remotely,” reads a letter from six national Indig-enous economic organizations to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (Papineau, Que.).

A survey currently being drafted by the CCAB is looking at

the overall impact of the pan-demic on Indigenous businesses. The CCAB said the survey will be published soon, but shared some preliminary fi ndings with the House Indigenous and Northern Affairs (INAN) Committee.

At the May 29 INAN meet-ing, Ms. Bull, testifi ed that of the 843 respondents up to that date, “more than 90 per cent” have “experienced a very or somewhat negative impact on their business operations.”

“Almost 30 per cent of Indig-enous business respondents have reportedly shut down their offi ces

and facilities, while almost 20 per cent have closed their business entirely due to COVID-19,” Ms. Bull said before the committee. “Forty-four per cent of Indigenous businesses have indicated that without support they are likely to fail in three to six months, in addition to the 12 per cent that have already or will close their business within a month.”

When the pandemic hit and the federal government put all hands on deck to craft a response that would keep individual Ca-nadians and businesses afl oat, many Indigenous-owned busi-nesses found themselves without ready access to funds, according to testimony before the House committee.

“There have been a number of programs that were rolled out initially that didn’t take into ac-count the unique circumstances of Indigenous business,” Ms. Bull told The Hill Times in a June 16 phone interview.

For example, the Canada Emer-gency Business Account (CEBA), which provides zero-interest, par-

tially forgivable loans to certain eligible businesses, was initially set up in a way that excluded on-reserve Indigenous businesses. The initial eligibility criteria was based on a business’s payroll. First Nations employees working at an on-reserve business don’t pay income tax, resulting in these businesses being initially deemed ineligible for CEBA loans, Ms. Bull said before the committee.

The $73-billion dollar Can-ada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS), also had gaps that ex-cluded some Indigenous busi-nesses.

Aboriginal Economic Development Corporations (AEDCs) are economic development wings of Indigenous governments that invest in, own, or man-age subsidiary businesses with the inten-tion of driving money back into the com-munities they represent. There are over 400 AECDs in Canada

employing over 15,000 Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.

AEDCs are set up so that the Indigenous government is a shareholder to provide an improved risk rating, because the Indigenous government does not own the Crown land and cannot use it as collateral. When the fi rst round of the CEWS was announced, entities with a government as a shareholder couldn’t apply, leaving AECDs out of the program’s scope. Ms. Bull told The Hill Times that she and many in the Indigenous busi-ness community quickly notifi ed the government and the problem was rectifi ed quickly, but there was a three-week delay to AECDs receiving CEWS money.

Ms. Bull told The Hill Times that her organization stressed to several federal departments the need to change the criteria to allow Indigenous business to qual-ify, and was successful in getting changes made to the programs.

“We’re quite pleased with how the government has listened to the gaps and has made changes,”

Ms. Bull said. However, “it is a bit disheartening that we have to point out these issues when they’re specifi c to the Indigenous community and a number of them are specifi c to the Indian Act.”

While the pandemic continues to limit business activity, busi-nesses that can pivot to meet the federal government’s procurement requirements during the pandemic are well positioned to be key play-ers in an economic recovery.

Many Indigenous-owned busi-nesses, according to Ms. Bull, are capable of meeting at least some of these needs, and Public Service and Procurement Minister Anita Anand’s (Oakville, Ont.)mandate letter included a plank to have In-digenous businesses fulfi l at least fi ve per cent of federal procure-ment contracts.

The CCAB website currently maintains a list of 25 Indige-nous-owned businesses capable of producing personal protective equipment. At the May 29 INAN committee hearing, Ms. Bull said “there are Indigenous busi-nesses that can readily provide supplies or equipment to meet Canada’s medical needs or that have the capability to rapidly scale up or pivot production to provide PPE.

“The CCAB and other organi-zations have provided lists of such indigenous businesses to numer-ous federal departments through the course of the pandemic. How-ever, not one of them has secured a procurement contract to date,” she said before the committee.

Despite this,there is a tender currently open for 25-million non-medical masks that is “strictly limited” to Indigenous-owned busi-nesses, which Ms. Bull called an “incredible step.” The tender says multiple contracts will be awarded, with the mask quantity ranging from one to ten million units per contractor. The tender opened on June 6 and closes June 23 at 2 p.m.

Going forward, the CCBA and other national Indigenous organi-zations that make up the recently-established Indigenous business COVID-19 task force are working to set up a more formal database of Indigenous-business that can fi ll COVID-specifi c procurement orders from the public and private sector. The task force is also administering the survey Ms. Bull referenced in her committee testi-mony, and the results will be made public at the end of the week.


Hard-hit Indigenous businesses looking to recoup past gains post-pandemic ‘There have been a number of programs that were rolled out initially that didn’t take into account the unique circumstances of Indigenous business,’ says Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business president Tabatha Bull.

16

Economic Reconciliation Policy Briefi ngMONDAY, JUNE 22, 2020 | THE HILL TIMES

CCAB president and CEO Tabatha Bull is part of an Indigenous-lead task force along with other national Indigenous organizations working to get Indigenous businesses more involved in federal procurement. Photograph courtesy of the CCBA

Minister of Indigenous Services Marc Miller, pictured April 2, 2020, speaking at the daily press conference from West Block in Ottawa to update Canadians about the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. On April 18, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced an additional $306-million to support Indigenous businesses. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

OTTAWA—There is an old saying, “If you give a person a fi sh, you feed them for

a day. If you teach a person to fi sh, you feed him for a lifetime.” Under the Indian Act, First Nations would add another line, “If you make laws and policies that only allow a person to get fi sh from you, you effectively control them.” This fi nal line describes the economic hampers within the Indian Act that have prevented First Nations from raising the fi nancial resources to fulfi ll their collective goals, build their own infrastruc-ture, create growing main streets, and sup-port their own cultures and languages.

One example of these economic sanctions within the First Nations governance system is the non-taxation of First Nations people who live and work on reserve, which is often seen as a gift given out of the goodness of the Canadian heart. The reality of it? Canadian communities support local goals and culture through the use of local taxation. Lawmakers, in creating the Indian Act, meant to impose their will and limit the resources First Nations had to fulfi ll their goals and support their cultures. This law was purported to protect against the collection and imposition of taxes from other governments on First Nations and lands set aside for their use. However, some may also say the main purpose was to prevent First Nations access to economic development opportunities through land use and from hav-ing access to the legal resources and infra-structure supports that allow for investment to fl ow into First Nations freely.

The defi nition of “economic reconciliation” from the First Nations’ perspective means the dismantling of these economic hampers that prevented First Nations, as societies and nations, from having the resources to govern themselves in the modern context, from build-ing economies from the lands they want to use, and from fi nding ways to self-resource First Nations dreams and development. This cannot be done without First Nations, as col-lectives and individuals, being able to build their own economies in a culturally relevant way, and express who they are through the pursuit of their aspirations.

Access to traditional territories and the means to benefi t from them is crucial to economic reconciliation. Canadian commu-nities use access to land base, the charging of taxation, tariffs and fees for accessing of resources and space within their land base. However, if you add up all the reserve land

in Canada, it is slightly larger than the size of Vancouver Island. There are real econom-ic reasons why there are not 630 Canadian communities within such a small area. In order to create self-suffi ciency, First Nations need to be consulted on and benefi t from any development on their traditional lands.

In the recent Speech from the Throne, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau committed to working jointly with First Nations on legisla-tion to implement the United Nations Decla-ration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It will become the foundation of reliable invest-ment in large projects in Canada, which is also crucial to the reopening of the economy. Stability will be created when Indigenous peoples are properly engaged on any devel-opment that impacts their lands, territories and resources, consistent with the principles

of free, prior and informed consent as set out in the UN Declaration. The AFN recognizes the UN Declaration as laying out a path to reconciliation, economic and otherwise.

Economic reconciliation must happen on the individual level as well as the community level. The Supreme Court of Canada, in the Marshall decision, affi rmed a right to hunt, fi sh and gather in pursuit of a “moderate livelihood.” However, First Nations are still hampered in living out this long-existing and Supreme Court-reaffi rmed right due to poor policies and government apathy to clarify to their employees how this right should be properly recognized by Canada. First Nations have been accessing the resources of this land to build better lives for their families from time immemorial. Economic reconciliation means that Canada must step

out of the way and allow First Nations to cre-ate a moderate livelihood from the modern expression of traditional activities.

Economic reconciliation is really about creating a system where First Nations can use their own law and policies to access the econ-omy and build their own future. Only through the recognition of First Nations inherent and treaty rights can Canada’s history and economy be reconciled. As the fastest grow-ing population in Canada, First Nations young people will be the leaders, entrepreneurs and employees of tomorrow. Now is the time to build a proper relationship that can provide a better future for everyone within Canada’s borders. When First Nations prosper, so do all Canadians.

Perry Bellegarde is national chief of the Assembly of First Nations.

Economic reconciliation: removing the chains that bind First Nations’ main streets As the fastest growing population in Canada, First Nations young people will be the leaders, entrepreneurs and employees of tomorrow. Now is the time to build a proper relationship that can provide a better future for everyone within Canada’s borders.

17

Policy Briefi ng Economic ReconciliationTHE HILL TIMES | MONDAY, JUNE 22, 2020

Perry Bellegarde

Opinion

at Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business

Tabatha Bull, President & CEOCanadian Council for Aboriginal Business

Patrick Watson, Director, Public PolicyCanadian Council for Aboriginal Business

Linking

CCAB_The Hill Times Ad_Magazine Half Page.r5.indd 1 2020-06-17 5:25 PM

MONTREAL—From an Indig-enous perspective, reconcili-

ation has long been dead in the water. It is diffi cult to develop a shared understanding of reconcil-iation when its very concept is de-fi ned, planned, and carried out by government authorities and other non-Indigenous stakeholders who are overwhelmed by the magni-tude of the task and the amount of resources needed to answer the Calls to Action of the Commission on Truth and Reconciliation.

They weave a narrative of benevolence towards Indigenous peoples that simultaneously wa-ters down Indigenous needs, con-cerns, and expectations to a more manageable level. Dashboards are created, deliverables are iden-tifi ed, quarterly progress reports are expected: reconciliation has become yet another corporate exercise where non-Indigenous stakeholders pat themselves on the back when they achieve goals they have set for themselves, leav-ing Indigenous people to wonder, who exactly is benefi tting from all of this?

Indigenous peoples are con-sulted at great expense to the Canadian taxpayer but are not often invited to the planning table as equal participants in strategic planning. We are often tokenized, asked to speak on behalf of all

Indigenous peoples and expected to be experts on all Indigenous matters. We are asked to facilitate access to our communities so that outsiders can profi t from their business ventures or research. We are asked to drum up participants on demand for events that we had no part in planning. We are asked to help presidents, CEOs and ministers pronounce words in languages we don’t speak so that they can appear culturally sensi-tive in their speeches. With more than 50 Indigenous languages in Canada, surely we can’t be expected to know them all.

To speak the truth, Indigenous peoples are tired of being asked to provide the ingredients only to be denied access to the kitchen. We want to be moved out of ad-visory roles and into strong deci-sion and policy-making roles.

It should come as no surprise then that Indigenous peoples view the current reconciliation model as a deeply fl awed con-struct that perpetuates a power imbalance where Canadian authorities and business lead-ers continue to make decisions that directly impact our spiritual, mental, physical, and emotional well-being. The colonial lega-cies that still endure in Canadian institutions inform the manner in which they continue to engage

with us. These legacies need to be acknowledged and decolo-nized before we come to a shared understanding of reconciliation, especially with the current focus on the abusive treatment of Black and Indigenous peoples by police forces and the justice system, arising from the horrifi c death of George Floyd.

Economic reconciliation starts with equal opportunity and equal access to all the same basic ser-vices that most Canadians take for granted. Food security as well as access to clean water, adequate housing, and health services are all major concerns, especially in the North.

Equal access to a quality education is perhaps the most im-portant component of economic reconciliation. Indigenous educa-tion has been chronically under-funded for decades, resulting in situations that most Canadian parents would fi nd unaccept-able for their children in 2020: a sub-par education that does not adequately prepare students for a post-secondary education; a high turnover rate in teaching personnel in Indigenous schools; inadequate school infrastructure; an education system and curricu-lum that fails to teach the true co-lonial history of this country and fails to take into account Indig-

enous values and ethics; children sent hundreds of kilometers away to complete their high school education; and racist assumptions on the future prospects of Indig-enous students.

Post-secondary institutions are often left holding the bag when it comes to ensuring that Indigenous students have every possible chance at success. Many have moved forward with stra-tegic plans outlining steps to de-colonize their institutions. These plans set out actions to improve the experience of Indigenous students and help them achieve their highest academic potential. However, the momentum risks be-ing lost through the lack of funds and resources needed to imple-ment the many actions required to fi nally ensure that Indigenous people can undertake post-sec-ondary studies in culturally-safe and respectful environments.

If Canada is truly serious about economic reconciliation, there needs to be a substantial investment in Indigenous educa-tion. It is time to sit down togeth-er at the kitchen table and start discussing how to move forward.

Manon Tremblay is senior director of Indigenous Direc-tions at Concordia University in Montreal.

The Hill Times

Economic reconciliation starts with equitable access to education for Indigenous peoples If Canada is truly serious about economic reconciliation, there needs to be a substantial investment in Indigenous education. It is time to sit down together at the kitchen table and start discussing how to move forward.

Manon Tremblay

Opinion

18


Equal access to a quality education is perhaps the most important component to economic reconciliation. Indigenous education has been chronically underfunded for decades, writes Manon Tremblay. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

The complexity of these times has come to head in a glorious chaotic unfolding.

What is glaring at this country is an eco-nomic response of unprecedented extent. While the immediate economic response to date has been characterized by high expen-ditures in financial support across various sectors and industries, the cost side of the equation in the long-term economic re-sponse must be characterized by investment and new measures of economic design.

The Indigenomics Institute is leading the narrative that a $100-billion Indigenous economy is achievable and possible now but requires constructive generative eco-nomic design and focus. Early COVID-19 response messaging from Indigenous peoples across the country have resounded a clear message—‘Once we have come out of the immediate health crisis, we are ready to do business, we are significant contributors within Canada’s GDP.’ A Canada that embraces the future of work for Indigenous peoples must be inclusive and built on solutions for today driven by recognition of the growing and collective Indigenous economic strength.

The Indigenomics Institute defines eco-nomic reconciliation as the space between the lived realities of Indigenous peoples, the need to build understanding of the importance of the Indigenous economic relationship, and the requirement for pro-gressive actions for economic inclusion.

ISG Manitoba Senator Murray Sinclair eloquently centred our collective leader-ship and response to the Truth and Rec-onciliation Calls to Action when he said, “We have described for you a mountain. We have shown you the path to the top. We call upon you to do the climbing.” It has been five years since the release of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Ac-tion which must form a collective pathway forward. Economic reconciliation today must shape the lived reality of Indigenous peoples which means moving beyond a short sighted focus of the Indigenous socio-economic gap.

There is a consistent thematic storyline emerging about the ‘new normal’ which is weighted heavily in the historic design and experience of economy itself. Canada is

buzzing with talk about this new normal and we can no longer pretend it is econom-ics as usual. The world has most definitely shifted. The Indigenous economy post COVID-19 pandemic response will require a significant re-think.

Canada is facing a potential $260-bil-lion deficit. It’s time to get ready. Is Canada ready for a $100-billion Indigenous economy? There has been a strong histori-cal and current bias in seeing Indigenous peoples solely on the cost side of the equa-tion of this country. The new normal in the economic response is to see Indigenous

nations as generative constructive and col-laborative economies.

While Indigenous people are just under five per cent of the population, with signifi-cant focus and design, Indigenous peoples can also generate close to five per cent of the national annual GDP which would be close to $100-billion.

The Indigenomics Institute is leading a generative discussion on Indigenous economic design. Canada needs to move beyond the social-economic gap.

It is time to measure what matters—In-digenous economic strength and impact, while connecting Indigenous economic success to well-being and the reduction of dependency.

What lies beyond the socio economic gap? The questions we should be asking as we collectively embark on a new normal are ‘How can Indigenous entrepreneurs be engaged within regional procurement?’ or ‘How can procurement processes be more inclusive of Indigenous entrepreneurs?’ or ‘What does the capitalization of the Indig-enous economy look like?’ or ‘How can we shift from program funding to the develop-

ment of economic tools that support the structure and design of the Indigenous economy?’

The evolution of the Indigenous economy cannot exist solely in government programs; it requires actual structure, tools and capitalization to perform at a correlat-ed rate based on population. It is time for modern Indigenous economic design. It is time to see Indigenous nations as generat-ing economies.

Economic reconciliation must occur in the fiscal equation of this country. It must disrupt the long held beliefs of Indig-enous expenditures only grounded in cost. Indigenous economies are creating impact in spite of the Indian Act and in spite of the under-capitalization of the Indigenous economy.

It’s time to get over the socio-economic gap and start designing Indigenous economic outcomes, contribution and strength. Let’s have the courage to do this together. Who wants to play Indigenomics?

Carol Anne Hilton is the CEO and founder of the Indigenomics Institute.

The Hill Times

Indigenomics: what lies beyond the socio-economic gap? The Indigenomics Institute is leading the narrative that a $100-billion Indigenous economy is achievable and possible now but requires constructive generative economic design and focus.

Carol Anne Hilton

Opinion

The COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately threatens those with diabetes and immunocompromising conditions, highlighting the vital need for large-scale

action for transformative change. The federal govern-ment has shown incredible leadership and cross-party collaboration to put the needs of Canadians first and prioritize public health in the wake of crisis. We applaud federal, provincial and municipal governments for coming together quickly and effectively to manage the COVID-19 pandemic. Appreciating the ongoing attention and resources coronavirus disease management requires, we hope COVID-19 public health best practices can also be applied to the ongoing diabetes crisis threatening Indigenous communities across Canada.

Diabetes is a chronic disease that impacts all Canadians, but its physical, emotional and spiritual toll on Indigenous communities is devastating. Lasting solutions to diabetes are multifaceted, reflecting the nature of its causes. The effectiveness of diabetes prevention and management inter-ventions within Indigenous communities have had limited success due to focusing primarily on obesity and lifestyle changes as underlying causes, coupled with insufficient and insecure funding and resources. Permanently reducing the burden of type 2 diabetes (T2D) in Indigenous commu-nities requires uprooting the structures that accelerate its onset using a community-developed, culturally sound, and trauma-informed approach. Indigenous communities, federal and provincial governments, an Indigenous financial intermediary, medical experts, and advocacy bodies are now partners in a project to address these issues.

A 20-year-old Indigenous person has an 80% risk of developing diabetes in Canada

The national prevalence of diabetes in Canada is 7.3%. Diabetes rates among Indigenous individuals are estimated to be almost five times higher at 34.8%. Indig-enous peoples are among the highest-risk populations for diabetes-related complications, including heart attack, stroke, amputation and blindness. Research shows the life-time risk of diabetes at 20 years of age is 75.6% among Indigenous men and 87.3% among Indigenous women, resulting in an increased spending on healthcare.

Raven Indigenous Capital Partners is an Indigenous social finance intermediary, founded as a solution to the challenges faced by Indigenous communities, organizations, and entrepreneurs. Our namesake, the Raven, is central to rebirth and transformation in In-digenous cultures. We endeavour to use the element of transformation in our work, creating an equitable and prosperous future for Indigenous peoples in Canada, which includes addressing the social determinants of health. We use existing structures - impact investing, strategic partnerships like our collaboration with the Lawson Foundation, and strong relationships in the Indigenous community - to breathe life into a re-emerg-ing Indigenous economy.

The Indigenous Solutions Lab on Diabetes ReductionDiabetes prevention and management in Indigenous communities are not just about diet and exercise; they require a hard look at the social determinants of health that contribute to diabetes. The Indigenous Solutions Lab on Diabetes Reduction is a process whereby stakeholders co-design a social finance instrument that funds the implementation of diabetes reduction interventions. The entire process and its outputs are designed to transform funding relationships and build “sticky” solutions to seemingly intractable problems. The Lab re-centers communities and their needs, empowering them to address complex problems using social finance. Our goal is to co-create a model that can be replicated in Indigenous communities across Turtle Island. Without community-driven innovation, transformative change will remain elusive and the T2D epidemic will continue its exponential growth in Indigenous communities.

Viable Indigenous Diabetes Solution that Supports TRC PrioritiesThe health insecurity caused by diabetes undermines the resilience of Indigenous communities to face

additional health, economic, and social challenges. Policymakers and public health planners need viable - community-developed – options to immediately prevent growing diabetes disease complications in Indigenous communities.

Raven has developed community-centred tools and a sustainable financing model in partnership with the Lawson Foundation and Indigenous Services Canada’s First Nations and Inuit Health Branch to effectively support Indigenous diabetes needs, addressing Call to Action 19 of the Truth and Reconciliation Commis-sion (TRC). With additional partners and additional resources, we can affect real community change now and support a government and Canadian priority. Visit RavenCapitalPartners.ca/Social-Finance to learn more.

This space was provided by Novo Nordisk Canada Inc. with content developed by Raven Indigenous Capital Partners and the Lawson Foundation.

Diabetes in Indigenous Communitiesa transformative, community-driven solution in response to

the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Recommendations

Dr. Brandy Wicklow, Pediatric Endocrinologist, Clinical Investigator at the Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba and both Raven and Lawson Foundation researcher

“As a pediatric endocrinologist and clinical researcher, I have witnessed generational impact of type 2 diabetes within Indigenous families and communities causing a significant barrier to health, happiness and healing. Indigenous leadership and direction are required to make substantial gains in the fight against type 2 diabetes in Indigenous communities. The Raven Indigenous Capital Part-ners Diabetes Solutions Lab and research grants from the Lawson Foundation are examples of substantial and sustainable improvements that can be made in partnership with Indigenous communi-ties to support children’s health.”

By Jeffrey Cyr, Managing Partner, Raven Indigenous Capital Partners and Marcel Lauzière, President and CEO, Lawson Foundation

19

Policy Briefing Economic ReconciliationTHE HILL TIMES | MONDAY, JUNE 22, 2020

LUTSEL K’E, N.W.T.—Across Canada, people have done

their part to reduce the threat of COVID-19 over the past few

months. They have stayed home, observed social distances and supported medical workers. In Indigenous communities, many families have gone out on the land to further shield one another from illness.

This shared approach to re-ducing the spread of coronavirus has saved lives. Now it will take a similar joint effort to rebuild the economy and restore people’s livelihoods in the coming months. We will get through this crisis together, and our recovery must refl ect the reality that we are linked—even as we stand six feet apart or live thousands of miles away from one another.

Helping communities and industries rebuild after the devas-tating shock of the pandemic will require unprecedented commit-ment. Already the government has provided vital supports to in-dividuals, communities, and busi-nesses. Enhanced investments in smaller, northern communities will also deliver far-reaching ben-efi ts across the country.

One of the most effective ways to generate both immediate local impact and broad transformation is to invest in Indigenous stewardship.

Indigenous-led conservation is proven to generate good-paying jobs, spur major purchases from suppliers and provide certainty for industry. At the same time, it is helping Canada meet commitments to conserve nature, address climate change and advance reconciliation.

Investing in Indigenous stewardship will deliver local and national benefi ts, now and into the future.

Here’s what that looks like on the ground. Indigenous guardians are trained experts who manage lands across the North. They test water quality, restore caribou and salmon, and monitor development projects. Many guardians also co-manage Indigenous protected and conserved areas—places that sustain healthy landscapes and clean waters for all people.

East of Yellowknife, for instance, the Łutsël K’e Dene First Nation guardians manage wetlands full of migratory birds, and are responding to climate change. The program em-ploys 10 people in the summer and four in the winter—a big impact in a community of 300. Those salaries sustain families, reduce public as-sistance costs and circulate money through personal purchases.

The guardians’ program also makes big investments. Łutsël K’e Dene First Nation signed an agreement in 2019 with Parks Canada and the Government of the Northwest Territories to protect 26,376 square kilometres known as the Thaidene Nëné Indigenous Protected Area. Łutsël K’e’s leadership in this effort gained global recognition this month when it received the United Nations Development Pro-gram’s Equator Prize as an ex-ample to be replicated the world over—marking the fi rst time the prize was awarded in Canada.

Guardians will co-manage these lands, and this winter alone, Łutsël K’e spent $500,000 in boats, snowmobiles and other gear for their work. The vehicles—which will be used to monitor climate impacts, maintain biodiversity and support the return of tour-ism—were bought in Yellowknife and will receive ongoing servicing from local businesses. We expect to make additional purchases next year as well.

Replicating this model will unleash similar economic activity across the country. Right now, there are about 60 Indigenous

guardians programs in Canada. Yet many operate without predict-able funding. Federal investment, particularly in the context of In-digenous protected and conserved areas, will enable guardians programs to expand and achieve longevity. It will create local investments now and conserve lands for years to come.

This approach has already proven successful. Australia has committed almost $1.5-billion to Indigenous conservation. Re-search shows every $1 invested in combined Indigenous protected area and the Australian equiva-lent of guardians can generate up to $3 in social, economic and cultural benefi ts.

We can deliver the same ben-efi ts here in Canada by making Indigenous-led conservation a key part of the country’s econom-ic recovery plan.

Elders teach us that if we take care of the land, the land will take care of us—all of us. That’s why strong, Indigenous commu-nities will bolster nearby towns and cities across the North and sustain the clean air and water and plentiful plants and animals all Canadians depend on.

Steven Nitah is lead ne-gotiator for Łutsël K’e Dene First Nation who served on the Indigenous Circle of Experts for Canada’s conservation goals and is a senior leader of the Indig-enous Leadership Initiative.

The Hill Times

NANAIMO-LADYSMITH, B.C.—Canada was built

on the doctrine of terra nullius,

the fallacy that when European settlers came to this land, it was empty and waiting to be “discov-ered.” From the outset European colonialism has excluded Indig-enous people from decisions that affect their territory, their way of life, and their well-being.

Since colonization, First Na-tions and Inuit territories have been systematically stripped of their natural wealth without consultation or a fair share of the economic benefi ts for Indigenous people. Wild animals have been hunted, some to near extinction. Fish have been over-harvested. Forests have been clear cut. Min-erals mined, oil and gas drilled for and refi ned. Land developed for farming and housing. Pollut-ing industries such as pulp mills, refi neries and smelters were situated near the reserves. First Nations communities and their traditional territories have always been sacrifi ce zones.

Indigenous people have not been guaranteed access to hunt-ing, fi shing, plant and material gathering for their sustenance since colonization. In my riding of Nanaimo-Ladysmith, B.C., First Nations have spent decades struggling with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans just to harvest seafood off the shores of their territory. Pollution, over-

fi shing and environmental deg-radation have depleted once rich supplies of aquaculture.

Economic reconciliation can only begin when these colonial practices and processes are com-pletely dismantled and discon-tinued. It means that economic development cannot happen with-out the free, prior, and informed consent and participation of the Indigenous people whose tra-ditional territory that economic development will impact. A fi rst step towards economic reconcili-ation with the Indigenous peoples of these lands must be the full implementation of the UN Decla-ration of the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP).

Economic reconciliation also means addressing the treatment of other marginalized groups in our society. Canada has a long history of systemic racism and exploitation, including slav-ery, head taxes, offi cial acts of exclusion, internment, and the confi scation of personal property and businesses. New immigrants, communities of colour and low-wage workers face discrimination and exploitation. Women are still waiting for pay equity and equal representation in the corridors and boardrooms of power.

The COVID-19 pandemic laid bare the economic inequalities

in this country. This crisis was not experienced equally across society. The wealthy can afford to socially isolate and live comfort-ably. They are having a far differ-ent experience than those living on low or fi xed incomes. From the limited demographic information that has been released we know that other than seniors living in long term care facilities, those who are most affected by the pan-demic are marginalized people, living in crowded conditions, who must rely on public transit to get to their minimum wage jobs that have been deemed essential services. Economic reconciliation means recognizing these workers and the essential work they do, paying people a living wage, and ensuring they have safe, healthy and dignifi ed work conditions.

Wealth disparity in Canada continues to grow with the ultra wealthy billionaire class owning and controlling far more than they will ever need, while the majority of Canadians are $200 away from not being able to pay their basic bills. Economic reconciliation means levelling the playing fi eld.

Last week marked the fi rst an-niversary of the fi nal report from the Missing and Murdered Indig-enous Women and Girls Inquiry. One of the top recommendations from that report is to establish a

guaranteed annual livable income for all Canadians, that takes into account “diverse needs, realities and geographic locations.” Such a program could be a cornerstone of economic reconciliation.

A Guaranteed Liveable Income would replace our costly patch-work of federal and provincial assistance programs, and establish an income fl oor under which no Canadian could fall. A GLI pay-ment is taxed back incrementally as workers earn more. It’s a fair system that alleviates poverty. A GLI would make it affordable for someone to go back to school. A GLI would support a caregiver tak-ing care of young children, some-one with a disability or an elder. By making the benefi t universal, the shame and stigma associated with receiving income assistance, which is disproportionately directed at marginalized people, is eliminated.

Authentic economic recon-ciliation with Indigenous people, people of colour, women and other groups who have been marginalized by our current economic system may be a chal-lenging prospect, but it is the only direction worth taking.

Green Party MP Paul Manly, who represents Nanaimo-Lady-smith, B.C., is the Green Party’s critic for international trade.

The Hill Times

Investing in Indigenous conservation to create a more resilient economy

Economic reconciliation can only begin when colonial practices are completely dismantled

We can deliver the same benefi ts here in Canada by making Indigenous-led conservation a key part of the country’s economic recovery plan.

It means that economic development cannot happen without the free, prior, and informed consent and participation of the Indigenous people whose traditional territory that economic development will impact.

Steven Nitah

Opinion

Green Party MP Paul Manly

Opinion

20


What to say about two dif-ferent concepts that keep

coming up separately? As all of us ponder how to think about health and personal fi nances, we can and must also shift to the way our economic conditions and reconciliation are connected. And, by gum, we need to be honest and also realize that ‘economic’ is unfortunately also linked to race and racism in this country.

First, let’s check our under-standings of defi nitions. Econom-ics is not just about the GDP or our bank accounts. It’s about how items, immediate situations, and long-term trends are valued. The value will shift on how secure, attainable or memorable those things are considered. A credit score can be impactful, but so can a forest to an old member of a community. A car can defi ne us, but so can whether a language is passed down from generation to generation. When we are accurate about the places where we attain a benefi t, discussing economic conditions broadens.

In that broadening, then, we can also notice how individuals, groups, and governments have decided to protect what is theirs. Whether a fi nancial goal, a type of authority, or just the ability to state ‘What I say, goes.’ It is in ad-

mitting this quality of people and institutions where we can really see how offi cial and unspoken decisions to use race as a weapon have happened. The Indian Act was an overt announcement. The rejecting of a rental applica-tion could be silently enforced. Whatever the example any of us can recall of when assumptions of race were impactful on an action by someone in power, we can yet again see racism in our history. That racism has inspired and then reinforced economic disparities for non-whites in this country, and Indigenous peoples have felt its wrath in daily and in incred-ibly signifi cant ways.

To make reconciliation have any teeth, then, we have to be honest about the places where economic disparities have and continue to occur. For centuries, due to the im-position of religions, the impact of diseases, the threats of starvation, and the criminalizing of culture, Indigenous peoples have not been able to enter the early stages of circles with knowledge, incen-tives, and support. Being absent from those circles, like any family contacts or generational benefi ts, follow Indigenous descendants to today. When an Indigenous person

is arrested, do we think the same assumptions about her are imag-ined by those who witness it? She is condemned by race, and she will be harmed in more ways than the details sheet at a police station.

So when you start having conversations about economics and reconciliation, don’t think it’s just about making employment circles’ cultural makeup statisti-cally similar to population percent-ages. Don’t think it’s about being kind on June 21 to someone you think is of Indigenous heritage. It’s about realizing that when you can contribute to a pension, when you go on a weekend getaway, when you purchase Secret Path, true rec-onciliation would be to simultane-ously impact Indigenous lives in a form valued to Indigenous peoples. Because reconciliation isn’t up to Indigenous folks. It is up to those reconciling the reality that their place in Canada has become what it is by the intentional and invisible acts of squashing Indigenous peo-ples’ own economic abilities. In the concept of truth and reconciliation, improving economic disparities means fi rst and foremost spend-ing more time on the truth of how frequently non-Indigenous peoples sail past Indigenous individuals.

We should want more equally spread economic stability. It is that stability, rather than a higher income alone, that helps all of us plan for the future, be mentally strong, and contrib-ute to any circle we belong to. Indigenous peoples’ instability, purposely constructed by non-Indigenous forces, is what non-Indigenous parties must work on if they truly want to be seen as democratic, economically driven, or just plain kind. Until the rest of Canada realizes that instabil-ity, whether monetary or cultural, is so experienced by intensely Indigenous individuals, families and governments, reconcilia-tion will continue to be the pipe dream it has appeared to be over the past decade. Be honest about where your economic relations truly are, and then become closer to inventing better personal, political, and national efforts that can improve Indigenous-non-Indigenous relations.

Signa Daum Shanks is a michif from Saskatchewan. She is an as-sociate professor and director of Indigenous outreach at Osgoode Hall Law School where she spe-cializes in law and economics.

The Hill Times

Reconciliation isn’t up to Indigenous folks

Signa Daum Shanks

Opinion

21


It is up to those reconciling the reality that their place in Canada has become what it is by the intentional and invisible acts of squashing Indigenous peoples’ own economic abilities.

Red Sky Performance dancers, pictured Sept. 30, 2019, honouring the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation ceremony at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Que. Until the rest of Canada realizes that instability, whether monetary or cultural, is so incredibly experienced by Indigenous individuals, families and governments, reconciliation will continue to be the pipe dream it has appeared to be over the past decade, writes Signa Daum Shanks. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

In a world shaken by the pandemic crisis and social inequality, many voices are now

calling for measures to build a more inclusive society and economy. In Canada’s North, Inuit have been developing their own vision of inclusive growth, one where they share the same quality of life as all Canadians. Inclusive growth is more than jobs and GDP. It is about dignity and quality of life through self-deter-mination and sustainable livelihoods.

Stark inequalities persist across Inuit Nunangat, the Inuit homeland that spans the Inuvialuit region (in the Northwest Ter-ritories), Nunavut, Nunavik (in Northern Quebec), and Nunatsiavut (in Labrador). Lower Inuit participation in the wage econ-omy only partially explains these inequali-ties. After taxes, the median Inuit worker takes home only $39,317, while the median non-Inuit worker takes home $80,815. This is in large part because of the overrepre-sentation of Inuit in low paying jobs.

Education gaps partially explain the gaps in income. High school and post-secondary graduation rates of Inuit have improved over the last 20 years. But progress on education is still not keeping pace with the non-Indigenous popula-tion. And education is only one factor in inclusive growth for Inuit. Factors such as health and well-being, social inclusion, and cultural integrity also contribute to higher employment rates for Inuit. It is these mea-sures that largely make up the Inuit vision of inclusive growth.

The Inuit vision of inclusive growth looks beyond employment in the wage economy. In the traditional Inuit economy sustainable livelihoods are also important. For Inuit, a livelihood is more than what you get paid to do. Participation in the traditional economy through harvesting and handicraft activities remains strong. And it is strongest in Inuit Nunangat,

where 84 per cent of Inuit participated in some form of traditional activities in 2017. The traditional economy creates economic, social, and cultural value. It also continues to evolve as a source of local innovation and inspiration. For example, the Qikiqtani Inuit Association (QIA) in Nunavut speaks of a new economy for Inuit. A conservation economy that builds on traditional eco-nomic activities to create livelihoods and wealth from local natural resources while strengthening cultural and social capital.

The conservation economy is explored in Conference Board research on inclusive growth in Inuit Nunangat. The initial focus is on Nunavut’s evolving fisheries sector. Inuit aspirations for the industry point to its potential for creating local wealth and livelihoods, as well as broader social impacts such as food security and cultural renewal. This is an exciting Inuit vision of what an inclusive economy could be.

Twenty years ago, Nunavut’s limited offshore quotas were harvested by southern vessels employing a handful of Inuit. Today, four Inuit companies own and operate multi-ple vessels, controlling 52 per cent of quotas in adjacent waters. They employ hundreds of Inuit annually. In 2019, their efforts in this emerging sector contributed an estimated $112-million to Nunavut’s economy. And we have only begun to understand the cultural and social capital created by the industry.

Nunavut’s unique fishery has evolved over the last 20 years. Federal and territo-rial governments along with Inuit orga-nizations, Nunavut’s Inuit-owned fishing companies, and the Nunavut Fisheries and Marine Training Consortium (NFMTC) have all played important roles as partners. NFMTCs has had a central role in advanc-ing the Inuit vision of inclusive growth. This includes local training opportunities tailored to community values and indus-try needs. Yet this vision continues to be a work in progress, and there is more for all partners to strive for. Inuit employment in the industry has increased over the last 20 years, but only 40 per cent of crew are Inuit, and Inuit are overrepresented in en-try level and lower paying positions.

The challenge of inclusive economies is to ensure that economic growth serves big-ger purposes—purposes such as develop-ing sustainable livelihoods, respecting and preserving culture, and improving socio-economic equality. What we will learn over the coming years through exciting new initiatives across Inuit Nunangat should be of interest to everyone.

Oana Spinu is a senior research associ-ate and Adam Fiser is associate director at the Conference Board of Canada.

The Hill Times

It is about dignity and quality of life through self-determination and sustainable livelihoods.

22

Economic Reconciliation Policy BriefingMONDAY, JUNE 22, 2020 | THE HILL TIMES

An Airbus A380 in Iqaluit, Nunavut. The challenge of inclusive economies is to ensure that economic growth serves bigger purposes—purposes such as developing sustainable livelihoods, respecting and preserving culture, and improving socio-economic equality. Photograph courtesy of Commons Wikipedia

Oana Spinu & Adam Fiser

Opinion

Inclusive growth is more than jobs and GDP

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CESO gratefully acknowledges financial support from Indigenous Services Canada. .

OTTAWA—A little over 25 years ago, I co-authored a

background study for the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. The subject of the study was social assistance or as it is popularly known, welfare. What few people know is that First Nations were not eligible for welfare until after a 1964 deci-sion of the federal Treasury Board decided the issue. Before that time, there was a ration system

through which a limited list of food supplies (and clothing) was given to people living on reserve and in need. The impact of the Treasury Board decision was that people living on reserve would be eligible for welfare but accord-ing to the conditions prevailing in each province. There would be no national program with rules and regulations tailored to the needs of the people living on reserve. But people living on reserve would be eligible for cash payments.

Our report contained two basic recommendations. Indi-vidual First Nations or groupings should have the opportunity to devise their own rules and regula-tions free of the requirements of provincial programs. They would have to be transparent in writ-ing an administrative manual to which they could be held account-able. With community consent First Nations communities should

be able to turn welfare into a fund for economic development which could be used to employ commu-nity members working to improve living conditions. The federal gov-ernment would provide additional funds to support the purchase of supplies and equipment if the community made the decision.

Using data prepared by what was then called the Department of Indian Affairs, we found that welfare dependency on reserve was likely as much as 40-45 per cent or about 10 times what it was nationally.

Two important demographic changes have taken place since the 1990s. The First Nations popu-lation has grown, and a much higher percentage is now living off reserve. Of the 744,855 First Nations people with registered or treaty Indian status in 2016, 44.2 per cent, or approximately 329,226 people, lived on reserve.

A 2016 audit of the on-reserve income assistance program found that the “income assistance dependency rate is approximately 34 per cent compared to the ap-proximately fi ve per cent for the rest of the Canadian population.” Data in the report is from 2013-14 and covers approximately 540 First Nations. A more recent audit in 2018 suggests that the on-reserve dependency rate has dropped to about 30 per cent, still

much higher than the rate for non-First Nations.

Unfortunately, the report also states that the drop may, in part, be due to simply reducing the numbers of people on welfare. What this data is telling us is that about one-third of all people living on reserve are still likely living in very poor conditions.

A 2019 study by Park using data from the 2012 Aboriginal Peoples Survey also found that the percentage of largely income assistance dependent First Na-tions people living off reserve with registered or treaty status was lower but still 17.5 per cent and non status First Nations were at 11.1 per cent.

Economic reconciliation starts with settling the remaining land claims. It also has to mean assisting First Nations to improve their condi-tions of life which are, for many, far below those of the rest of Canadian society. Access to education, hous-ing, employment, food, water, elec-tricity, heating, transportation, and communications remains restricted for many of the people living on reserves in Canada.

Here is what the 2018 audit report said about welfare on reserve: “Income assistance de-pendency is widely described by stakeholders as harmful to indi-vidual and community well-being. … Income assistance dependency

leaves them feeling stigmatized. This stigma has been linked to lower self-esteem, leading to negative changes in behaviour. Although income assistance pro-vides some support to help with basic needs, it provides minimal support for clients to transition off of income assistance.”

A core recommendation of the audit report is that Indigenous Services Canada engage with First Nations in the development of a new social assistance program and that this program reassess the ties to provincial programs. The federal government has accepted the recommendations. But for rec-onciliation to succeed, it is time for First Nations to have the chance to create their own social sup-port and economic development programs free of federal govern-ment controls and the limits of provincial programs. This is also what it means for white society to begin loosening the legal ties that have bound First Nations up to the present.

Allan Moscovitch is a professor emeritus at Carleton University in Ottawa. Professor Moscovitch helped found the Canadian Review of Social Policy and Studies in Political Economy. He co-authored the chapter of welfare in the fi nal report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples.

The Hill Times

23


Social assistance as economic reconciliationFor reconciliation to succeed, it is time for First Nations to have the chance to create their own social support and economic development programs free of federal government controls and the limits of provincial programs.

Allan Moscovitch

Opinion

Protesters, pictured on Parliament Hill Jan. 8, 2018, expressing solidarity with Wet’suwet’en anti-pipeline camps in British Columbia. White society must begin loosening the legal ties that have bound First Nations up to the present, writes Allan Moscovitch. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

24

The death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police offi cers has

sparked outrage across Canada, with nu-merous demonstrations, rallies, and vigils highlighting the realities of anti-Black racism and associated police violence in this country.

These realities are in no way new. Systemic anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism long predates Canadian Confedera-tion and has been a stark and disgrace-ful part of this country’s history for the past 153 years. The latest cross-country demonstrations do not refl ect a tangential concern that what happens in the United States, happens in Canada too. Rather it is a fundamental concern that this happens in Canada, has been happening for far too long, and it must end, full stop.

Amnesty International is joining activists and leaders in Black communi-

ties across Canada in urging the federal government to advance transformative change addressing anti-Black racism in Canada, including but not limited to the systemic anti-Black racism in policing and justice systems. A failure by the federal government, and governments at all levels in the country, to respond with concrete and meaningful action to address this grave and longstanding human rights crisis would be tantamount to complacency.

Canadians have heard many expres-sions of dismay, regret, and even outrage from politicians and police offi cials in recent days. Many leaders have taken a knee during protests or as part of moments of silence extending to eight minutes and 46 seconds, refl ective of the length of time it took police to kill George Floyd. It is not always clear what motivates these public displays by leaders. There was consider-able media coverage when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took a knee during the protest in Ottawa on June 5. However, with images of his brownface and blackface photos still fresh for Canadians, these gestures risk appearing to be empty when not accompanied by announcements of concrete change that will truly begin to tackle anti-Black racism in the country.

Yet many political and policing leaders in the country continue to deny that systemic racism is a reality and a serious human rights crisis in Canada. There were particularly troubling indications of this from RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki and Deputy Commissioner Curtis Zablocki, the RCMP’s commanding offi cer for Alberta. They both subsequently backtracked and acknowledged systemic racism within the RCMP, but only af-ter considerable political and public pressure.

The list of public fi gures insisting there is no systemic racism in Canada grows daily. The shameful reality though is that there is already ample evidence that anti-Black racism and systemic racism exist in Canada, and countless indications of the immediate steps that can and must be taken to address it.

These come from United Nations reviews by such bodies as the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent and the Committee on the Elimi-nation of Racial Discrimination. In fact, the list of recommendations from the UN

and comprehensive reports by independent bodies and experts in Canada is disgrace-fully long, including the Ontario Human Rights Commission, the Nova Scotia Hu-man Rights Commission, the Independent Review of Street Checks by Ontario Court of Appeal Justice Michael Tulloch, and an independent report commissioned by the City of Montreal Police Service.

The list is disgraceful not only because of its length but because of the consistent failure to move forward in implementing the impor-tant recommendations that have been put in front of governments and police agencies in Canada. That is what must change, and the change must start now. Amnesty Internation-al has urged the federal government to move immediately on these three fronts:

First, immediately take steps to fulfi ll the 2019 election promise to strengthen Build-ing a Foundation for Change: Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy 2019-2022, including doubling the funding to support the strategy. Bardish Chagger, the minister of diversity and inclusion and youth, has been mandated to “develop policies that tackle systemic discrimination and unconscious bias in our country, including anti-Black racism; expand and advance Canada’s anti-racism strategy and ensure community-based projects are prioritized and meet the goals and outcomes of the strategy; and to establish an Anti-Rac-ism Secretariat.” These tangible and crucially important steps have not advanced.

Second, it is time for an ambitious initiative to absolutely ban all practices of carding, street checks and racial profi ling carried out by police forces in Canada. In its recent review of Canada, the UN Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent has explicitly urged that “the practice of carding, or street checks, and all other forms of racial profi ling be discontinued and that the practice of racial profi ling be investigated and the perpetra-tors sanctioned.” It is a practice that fosters, encourages and enables racism. It vio-lates Canada’s international human rights obligation to actively prohibit and prevent discrimination. It must end.

Too often the excuse provided with respect to advancing police reforms of any nature in Canada is that it is complicated because of competing jurisdictions. That may indeed pose a challenge, but it in no way

justifi es inaction. The federal government can begin by expressly prohibiting carding, street checks and racial profi ling by policing and law enforcement agencies under federal jurisdiction, including the RCMP and the Canada Border Services Agency. Going fur-ther, the federal government can play a lead role in working with other governments in the country to develop national standards to be applied with respect to law enforcement agencies across Canada.

Notably, Public Safety Minister Bill Blair must demonstrate genuine personal com-mitment to these particular reforms, as he carries a legacy of anti-Black racism. During his tenure as Chief of Police for the City of Toronto, he continued the practice of carding, contrary to Toronto Police Services Board re-forms. This understandably makes it diffi cult for many Canadians to have trust and confi -dence that he will champion policies that will demonstrably tackle anti-Black racism.

Third, much more is of course required. This is not a time for tweaks and a piecemeal reform process, it is time for fundamental change. Such change includes wholesale transformation of policing in the country to address the systemic anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism that has long been at its core. Calls for that type of reform have gath-ered considerable attention and momentum in recent weeks, in both the United States and Canada, and include proposals to refrain from additional funding for law enforcement, signifi cantly reduce spending on policing, curtail the militarization of policing, ban the use of facial recognition technology by police for mass surveillance, overhaul police oversight, and acknowledge the intersection-ality that exists in policing Black women and Black trans individuals.

All of this requires broad and time-bound consultations about community-led proposals that reimagine and propose new, transformative approaches to upholding public safety and setting and apportioning police budgets in ways that end racism and uphold human rights. Now is the time to advance this agenda of change.

Alex Neve is secretary general of Amnesty International Canada’s English branch and France-Isabelle Langlois is directrice générale of Amnistie internatio-nale Canada francophone.

The Hill Times

Addressing anti-Black racism in Canada requires concrete action, not empty gestures All of this requires broad and time-bound consultations about community-led proposals that reimagine and propose new, transformative approaches to upholding public safety and setting and apportioning police budgets in ways that end racism and uphold human rights. Now is the time to advance this agenda of change.

Opinion


356 Preston St. • 613-749-7490lafavoritapreston.com

Order a Romantic Italian Dinner

Alex Neve & France-Isabelle Langlois

Opinion

Thousands of anti-Black racism and anti-racism protesters demonstrated on Parliament Hill on June 5, 2020. Too often the excuse provided with respect to advancing police reforms of any nature in Canada is that it is complicated because of competing jurisdictions. The federal government can begin by expressly prohibiting carding, street checks and racial profi ling by policing and law enforcement agencies under federal jurisdiction, including the RCMP and the Canada Border Services Agency, write Alex Neve and France-Isabelle Langlois. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

25

Unit at the City of Toronto. “The re-sources we’ve been able to fi nd to support vulnerable people, artists, families … it’s a question of will.”

The Parliamentary Black Cau-cus released a package of propos-als on June 16 aimed at disman-tling structural racism in various facets of life, including in the pub-lic sector, criminal justice system, and arts and culture, which have long been advocated for by many in the Black community. The document was initially signed by more than 50 “allies.” The list has since grown to more than 190 Parliamentarians, as the cross-party caucus, which includes Senators and MPs, expanded its outreach. Among the signato-ries were 26 cabinet ministers, including Justice Minister David Lametti (LaSalle-Émard-Verdun, Que.), whose portfolio intersects with many of the proposals.

Independent Senator Mo-bina Jaffer (British Columbia), a member of the caucus, echoed Mr. Morgan’s sentiment. Sen. Jaffer brushed aside concerns by some who would argue funding needs to be appropriated by Parliament to bring many of these priorities to fruition. “It’s the issue of prior-ity; it’s how they decide to spend those funds,”she said.

“I’ve always found that the money is there; the excuse used is there’s never enough money. But for me, it’s an issue of priority.”

She added, “there are two pandemics at the moment—one is COVID, and one is racism, and they’re just as insidious.”

With Parliament mostly re-cessed until the fall, Sen. Jaffer noted there are some reforms that don’t need to be pursued through acts of Parliament, such as setting policies to increase representa-tion in the civil service.

Liberal MP Adam Vaughan (Spadina-Fort York, Ont.), in an interview, deferred to the cabinet ministers responsible for enacting the proposals when asked how quickly they could be adopted. But did say that between now and

when the next budget is released, the feds can “look at the regula-tory, legislative, and the fi nancial implications” and “the tools we have to realize that.”

Mr. Vaughan said the “blend” of mechanics needed to make such reforms a reality “will require some quick thinking, but it’s not hard to fi gure that out and see where we can help support the transition locally, provincially, and federally.”

The document was developed partly in response to the outpour-ing of anger and frustration on the streets in response to the death of George Floyd, a Black man, in Minneapolis, who died at the hands of police. His death was captured on video by a witness and has sparked a reckoning with how insidious racism can be that’s touched nearly every industry.

The Conservatives and Bloc Québécois were originally not asked to sign their names to the statement over their inability at the time to affi rm that systemic racism remains an issue, accord-ing to Liberal MP Greg Fergus (Hull-Aylmer, Que.), chair of the Black caucus. Both party leaders have since acknowledged system-ic racism exists. Mr. Fergus said anyone who can stand behind 90 per cent of the proposals outlined is welcome to sign—a prerequi-site that applies to all signatories.

Independent Senator Rose-mary Moodie (Ontario), however, said she reached out to Conserva-tive Senators for support, but none signed on because they wanted more time to review the statement. “They didn’t feel they had enough time to adequately analyze the document,” she said. “They hesi-tated to do an immediate sign-on, and have not completely stepped away from signing on.”

In a press availability on Thursday, Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet (Beloeil-Chambly, Que.)—whose party is in the middle of a dust-up with the NDP over the issue of rac-ism—said he believes systemic racism means racism “exists residually” in “some institutions.” He added that doesn’t mean that every individual who makes up those institutions is racist. NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh (Burnaby South, B.C.) accused Bloc MP Alain Therrien (La Prairie, Que.) of being racist on June 17 in the House of Commons for refusing to support a motion that rec-ognized systemic racism in the RCMP and called for a review of its budget and tactics. Mr. Singh refused to apologize, saying Mr. Therrien’s opposition was dismis-sive, but expressed an openness on Thursday to speaking with him privately, according to CTV.

Mr. Morgan said he thinks the dispute “distracts from the focus

on the issue” at hand. He said it was an issue of political games-manship on the part of the Bloc.

“The focus should be on better-ing the lives of Black Quebecers, and this focus on what Jagmeet Singh did is a cop-out,” he said. “The real focus should be on hav-ing a record of concrete policies that support Black Quebecers, even if it’s in a sovereign Quebec.”

NDP MP Matthew Green (Hamilton Centre, Ont.), who helped develop the document, said it was frustrating that the Bloc had obstructed “real mea-sures” that would have addressed some of the concerns being raised in the protests in refusing to sup-port the motion.

“We have an opportunity to sub-stantively move on police reforms in the face … of traumatic police violence,” he said. “This is not the fi rst time the Bloc has taken steps against anti-racism measures.” Mr. Green referred to a motion he put forward earlier this year that dealt with hate crimes, which the Con-servatives had supported.

Mr. Green said he supported the decision not to ask the Conserva-tives or the Bloc to support the statement. “They have never shown any interest in the Black Parlia-mentary Caucus, nor have they shown any interest in the issues facing Black Canadians,” he said. “What I think is most telling is they haven’t come out after the fact.”

A request for comment from the Bloc was not returned by deadline. Asked if the party would be signing on, Denise Siele, spokesperson for Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer (Regina-Qu’Appelle, Sask.) referred The Hill Times to an earlier statement issued, in which his offi ce said the Liberals were “playing disgusting partisan games with a serious issue that causes real hardship to too many Canadians every day.”

‘Silence would be much more alarming’

Mr. Morgan said the Black caucus’ statement presents all par-ties an opportunity to develop their own commitments to demonstrate they’re attuned to the issues that preoccupy the Black community, noting that, in the case of Quebec, which sees itself as a distinct nation, it may make more sense to have proposals exclusive to that experi-ence.

“They should be considering letting Canadians know what their position is with respect to Black Lives Matter,” he said. “It’s a funda-mental, basic thing. I think silence would be much more alarming than anything in this moment.”

Velma Morgan, chair of Opera-tion Black Vote, a multi-partisan organization that seeks to increase representation of Black Canadians

across governments and the civil service, said the onus is on Con-servatives and the Bloc to sign the document if they are supportive.

Ms. Morgan said the document encapsulates many of the issues raised during “several round-tables” her organization has held with “different ministers.” For ex-ample, the statement calls on the government to ensure Black Ca-nadians are represented at senior levels of the public service and that there’s “effective anti-bias training and evaluation programs” in this sector.

“We need to have voices, more cabinet ministers, more senior-level staffers, deputy ministers, judges, because those are where the deci-sions are made,” said Ms. Morgan.

While his record on address-ing racial inequities has received mixed reviews, many have pointed to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s (Papineau, Que.) willingness to acknowledge the existence of systemic racism as a critical step, even when it put him at odds with RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki. Like a number of politicians, including, at one point, now-Gov-ernment House Leader Pablo Ro-driguez (Honoré-Mercier, Que.), the commissioner struggled to accept that systemic racism is pervasive in Canada. And like Mr. Rodri-guez, the commissioner, has since retreated from those remarks.

“For me, the most important thing is to name it. But the next step is to act on it. He’s given out the challenge to the RCMP commissioner; he’s given out the challenge to the federal public service. For me, now, he has to get his ministers to act on it, to evalu-ate it,” said Sen. Jaffer. “You’re not going to eradicate it just by nam-ing it. I’m proud to be Canadian when the prime minister has the courage to name it, to say, ‘Yes, there is systemic racism.’”

Ms. Morgan agreed. “The fact that he acknowledges there’s systemic racism across the board, after the RCMP commissioner said there isn’t—admitting that something exists is the fi rst step to making change,” she said.

She gave some credit to the prime minister for earmarking some funding in the past two bud-gets specifi cally for the Black com-munity. In 2018, the feds committed $19-million in support of mental health programs for the community.

The prime minister thanked the caucus for its work and com-mitted to act soon, but did not wholly endorse the proposals.

Sen. Moodie said she is hope-ful the government will respond, but so far Mr. Trudeau hasn’t demonstrated he’s serious about acting. “The prime minister has yet to show if he is truly serious. I hope he is,” she said in an email statement.

In an interview on June 18, Sen. Moodie said there are areas the government can act “immedi-ately” on, including mandating the broad collection of disaggregated race-based data to help inform policy. She pointed to the role Statistics Canada can play as a repository of this data.

“The government has the op-portunity to act immediately to lead and oversee the collection of this data,” she said. “[StatsCan] already carries this legal mandate,” she said.

And within the political party apparatus, she said, each party could make an effort to hire, recruit, and retain more individu-als from racialized backgrounds. Sen. Moodie said that can take the form of engaging youth at the college or university level, recruit-ing paid interns to work in jobs that pay a living wage.

“There’s an opportunity to ensure there’s diversity within the ranks of the political parties, because, eventually, when they come to form government, they’re thinking about diversity in all the forms of leadership,” she said.

Mr. Fergus said the “suite” of measures proposed should be taken as a whole, noting that, combined, they cut across many facets, though not exhaustively, of the experiences of Black Cana-dians. “Not one thing is going to solve it,” he said.

“I think the public sentiment wants us to lead,” he added. “They saw what the alternative is like, and they don’t like it. They’re not buying it.”

Mr. Green said many of the “comprehensive” reforms are not new ideas, such as the re-evalu-ation of “the presence of police units in public schools, colleges, and universities.”

“Looking at all the social sciences that already exist, it’s clear we do not need to have a commission or have some kind of a new report or study, that there are very clear things within this document that will provide more restorative justice in Canada, as it relates to Black and Indigenous populations,” Mr. Green said.

Commissions on civil unrest and racism are being cast in a dif-ferent light amid the demonstra-tions as a means of evading follow through on substantial reforms.

Mr. Morgan said he remains “cautiously optimistic” about the impact the statement will have federally, noting that, while cabinet ministers have affi xed their names to it, it doesn’t carry legal weight.

“It’s positive to see this as a ges-ture, but I’m willing to venture that Black communities across the coun-try would have preferred not having the statement if it meant they saw decisions being made, resources be-ing devoted, because that’s the real statement,” he said. “This document has no legal force or effect. They can literally write the opposite tomorrow, and there would be no implications for them, [other than politically].”

He added he’s somewhat wary of the effect such statements may have on the Black community. “The urgency with which they want to see change, it increases every single year,” Mr. Morgan said. “And these statements only serve to placate or distract from the real change Black communi-ties are entitled to.” —With fi les from Palak Mangat


If feds can marshal massive, rapid response to pandemic, they ‘can fi nd a way’ to stop systemic racism, say top experts and some Parliamentarians While his record on addressing racial inequities has received mixed reviews, many have pointed to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s willingness to acknowledge systemic racism exists as a critical step.

News


Continued from page 1

Infrastructure and Communities Minister Catherine McKenna has a new digital

communications adviser in her offi ce, with Murielle Pierre offi cially taking on the job as of June 22.

Ms. Pierre arrives straight from Ms. McKenna’s constituency offi ce as the Liberal MP for Ottawa-Centre, Ont., where, until this week, she’d been working as a communications offi cer for almost the last two years, having started in August 2018.

Before then, Ms. Pierre spent the sum-mer as a digital communications intern for Health Canada. She’s also previously spent a few months as an external consultant for Export Development Canada, amongst other past experience indicated on her LinkedIn profi le.

Ms. Pierre has diplomas in tourism and travel and public relations from Algonquin College in Ottawa.

Now in Ms. McKenna’s ministerial offi ce, Ms. Pierre will be working closely with press secretary Chantalle Aubertin and director of communications David Taylor.

Adam Carroll is in charge of the in-frastructure minister’s offi ce as chief of staff. To refresh any waning memories, the rest of the team currently includes: Bruce Cheadle, director of issues management; Lindsay Hunter, director of operations and parliamentary affairs; Claire Seaborn, director of policy and legal affairs; Edward Rawlinson, senior adviser; Kate Proctor, senior policy adviser; Paul Hershaw, senior adviser for Ontario; Nathan Bessner, policy and parliamentary affairs adviser; Made-leine Gomery, parliamentary relations and operations assistant; and Louise Imbeault, executive assistant and scheduler.

Meanwhile, a new communications assistant, Catherine Robitaille, recently joined Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s offi ce. She marked her fi rst day on the job on June 8.

Before joining the PMO, Ms. Robitaille spent two years working for Quebec’s dep-uty minister of health and social services, Yvan Gendron.

Cameron Ahmad is director of commu-nications and oversees an 18-member team, supported by deputy directors of communi-cations Chantal Gagnon and Jordan Deagle.

The team currently includes: Johanna Robinson, senior manager of digital and creative communications; press secretaries Alex Wellstead and Ann-Clara Vaillan-court; communications planners Andrew MacKendrick and Emily Trogen; Riley Lange, co-ordinator for digital and creative content; Gabrielle Cesvet, senior speech-writer; speechwriters Dexter Nyuurnibeand Astrid Krizus; writers Valérie Glazer and Parker Lund; photographers Adam Scotti and Alex Tétreault; Mathieu Sly, videographer; and executive assistant She-hzad Sewani.

Katie Telford is chief of staff to Mr. Trudeau.

Seniors Minister Schulte adds regional adviser

Seniors Minister Deb Schulte recently welcomed Leena Walia to her ministerial team to serve as a special assistant for West and North regional affairs.

Ms. Walia started on the job earlier this month. She previously spent a little more than a year in then-border security and organized crime reduction minister Bill Blair’s offi ce as a policy and Western regional affairs adviser.

Before then, Ms. Walia was in charge of Liberal MP Randeep Sarai’s constituency offi ce in Surrey Centre, B.C., doing that job for a year and a half in all, starting in May 2017. She has a bachelor’s degree from McGill University, where she majored in political science and minored in economics and international development.

Shiraz M. Keushgerian is Ms. Schulte’s Quebec regional affairs adviser, as well as serving as assistant to the minister’s par-liamentary secretary, Liberal MP Stéphane Lauzon; and Pierce Collier is an Atlantic regional affairs adviser and issues man-ager to the seniors minister.

Anne Dawson is chief of staff to Ms. Schulte, whose offi ce also currently includes: Stephanie Muccilli, director of policy; Shane MacKenzie, director of parlia-mentary affairs; Melissa Rumble, director of operations; Scott Bardsley, director of communications; Daniel Pollak, press secre-tary; Michael MacKinnon, digital and social media lead; Chika Agbasi, policy adviser; and Ophelia John, executive assistant.


Meanwhile, Seniors Minister Deb Schulte has a new special assistant for West and North regional aff airs.

by Laura Ryckewaert

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New comms aides join McKenna’s team, Prime Minister’s Offi ce

26 MONDAY, JUNE 22, 2020 | THE HILL TIMES

Murielle Pierre has joined Catherine McKenna’s ministerial offi ce. Photograph courtesy of LinkedIn

Leena Walia is now working for the seniors minister. Photograph courtesy of LinkedIn

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27

“It says something that it has to take these drastic events for [the media] to come to some sort of realization.”

When it comes to the Parlia-mentary Press Gallery, in particu-lar, Mr. Thurton said in the weeks and months moving forward, he would like to see individual news-rooms conduct a kind of census of their members.

“Sometimes it takes hard num-bers and cold numbers to see the extent of the problem, to under-stand the extent of the problem,” said Mr. Thurton. “I would like to see newsrooms take stock and say, ‘In 2020, this is how many journalists we have, this is how many of colour we have, this is how many Indigenous journalists we have, these are their positions that they have, these ones are full time, are temporary, that have un-certain precarious circumstances.”

“I would like to see all the newsrooms commit to continue to gather that data throughout the next couple of years,” said Mr. Thurton.

‘I was pretty much always … the only Black person in the room’

Charelle Evelyn, managing editor of The Hill Times, has worked as a journalist both on and off the Hill, and now works as one of only a handful of Black newspaper editors in the country.

“Obviously, there’s an issue with representation and diversity in journalism as a whole, and on the Hill in particular,” said Ms. Evelyn. “When I was going out and reporting on a regular basis, I was pretty much always, with the exception of maybe a staffer or two, the only Black person in the room.”

“There may have been other people of other races on occa-sion, but it’s mostly a very white

space—you go to the National Press Theatre and you’re the only Black face in the seats looking at the stage, so I think that’s an issue,” said Ms. Evelyn.

Ms. Evelyn pointed to a Janu-ary 2018 press conference called by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (Papineau, Que.) to announce that the government would offi -cially recognize the International Decade for People of African Descent.

“He made the announce-ment, he opened the fl oor to ques-tions, and there was not a single question asked about the announce-ment that he had made,” said. Ms. Eve-lyn. “I’m not in any way going to suggest that when you have the prime min-ister in front of you, you should only be focused on his agenda—that’s not remotely what I’m say-ing, and I would never expect that to happen, especially given the circumstances at that time.”

“There was a lot going on, I think it might have been his fi rst media availability of the year, but [not] a single question had been asked about the fact that the prime minister was saying ‘anti-Black racism is a problem here in Canada, and we’re going to move forward and do something about it,’ and nobody had anything to say about that in terms of ques-tions,” said Ms. Evelyn.

“A lot of the questions that you are hearing being asked nowa-days, right now, are questions that would have been relevant back at the beginning of 2018,” said Ms.

Evelyn. “But nobody thought to ask them, because nobody cared, because [he] was talking about Black people.”

“Probably, if not everybody, [then] the majority of the report-ers in that scrum would have been white, and nobody bothered to ask a single question about that—yes, I think there is a prob-lem with a lack of diversity in the press gallery,” Ms. Evelyn said.

‘Too soon to tell’ if moment will lead to change

David McKie, an award-winning, Ottawa-based journalist who spent 26 years with CBC News and is now a contributing managing editor with the Na-tional Observer, told The Hill Times that he believes it’s “too soon to tell” whether the events of the last three weeks represent a signifi cantly different moment of reckoning than similar moments in history.

“On the face of it, you would think that when you read media reports about these being the most signifi cant civil rights dem-onstrations since the civil rights

moment in the 1960s, one would be tempted to hope this will lead to change, but I’m not sure,” said Mr. McKie. “We’ve had incidents like this before going all the way back to Rodney King, and if you ask any observers or experts … if things have changed markedly, they probably would say no.”

“I’m not doubting the sincer-ity of employers, like my former employer, that talk about wanting to do more to foster more diver-

sity,” said Mr. McKie, refer-ring to the CBC, which he left earlier this year be-fore joining the National Observer. “We’ll have to see—I hope so.”

Mr. McKie, who also teaches journalism at Carleton Univer-sity and the University of King’s Col-lege, said he believes both media outlets and journal-

ism schools need to go back to “square one” and look at how they recruit candidates.

“Certainly, in the examples that I’ve seen, there have been concerted efforts to hire from di-verse communities, for example, when it comes to universities,” said Mr. McKie. “They have to do a better job of recruiting diverse students, so that means going into high schools.”

“What I’m describing is more of a holistic response—it’s not enough to express the desire to become more diverse, I want to see what your policies are, I want everything from hiring to commu-nity outreach to training within your organization to make sure

that the diverse staff members that you have, you are promoting from within.”

In a series of May 7 tweets, CBC Ottawa News news anchor Adrian Harewood wrote “main-stream media in Canada still has a systemic problem in its news-rooms & boardrooms—a lack of representation of #Indigenous & people of colour & lack of will by too many folks in positions of leadership to address it in a seri-ous & sustained way.”

“We need to always ask, ‘Who is not present at the table.’ Estab-lished journalists in mainstream newsrooms across Canada need to speak up & out about the lack of ethno-racial representation in their midst and use their personal power (agency) to infl uence & make change,” reads another of a long series of tweets on the issue from Mr. Harewood.

In a statement to The Hill Times last week, CBC’s Ottawa bureau chief Rob Russo said that CBC News is “on par with the industry across the country in its makeup of diverse and Indig-enous peoples”—but that “we must do better, particularly in the parliamentary bureau.”

One in fi ve people in their newsrooms across the country self-identifi es as being Black or a person of colour based on those who self-declare, according to Mr. Russo. “The numbers are higher if you do an actual count of our newsrooms. That number is lower in the parliamentary bureau, and it will come up.”

“There are objectives and poli-cies to ensure we close that gap,” said Mr. Russo.

‘Hopeful’ after seeing people are speaking out, says CAJ president

Karyn Pugliese, president of the Canadian Association of Journalists, was formerly the executive director of news and current affairs at the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network, and has also worked as a Parliament Hill reporter.

“It’s been years since I was a Hill reporter—the last job I had covering politics directly was probably about 2008, but I’d go to budget lock-ups, and I’d done it for a bunch of years, but I never really noticed it until another re-porter from APTN came with me,” said Ms. Pugliese in an interview with The Hill Times. “He looked around the room and [he asked], ‘are we literally the only ethnic people who cover the budget?’”

“There was a good sprinkling of women and men, but this is where the top reporters go, papers don’t just send anybody in to cover the budget, they usu-ally send somebody who’s been around for a while, who knows the beat, who knows the Hill and knows government policy,” said Ms. Pugliese. “Every major media outlet had people there, and liter-ally none of them were not white.”

Ms. Pugliese said she’s “very hopeful” with what she’s seen in people deciding they’re going to speak out.

“They’re not going to take it any more,” said Ms. Pugliese. “I was wondering when this point would fi nally come.”


‘Journalists of colour are tired of being polite’: Hill reporters, editors weigh in on lack of diversity in Canadian media ‘Obviously there’s an issue with representation and diversity in journalism as a whole, and on the Hill in particular,’ says The Hill Times managing editor Charelle Evelyn.

News



National Observer contributing managing editor David McKie, left, The Hill Times’ managing editor Charelle Evelyn, and CBC national politics reporter David Thurton. ‘If anything, I think this moment is one where a lot of journalists of colour are tired of being polite and being kind when it comes to the lack of diversity within Canadian media,’ said Mr. Thurton. Photograph courtesy of Twitter, The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade, photograph courtesy of Twitter

Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains speaks with Parliamentary Press Gallery reporters after the Liberal cabinet meeting in West Block in Ottawa on Jan. 28, 2020. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

MONDAY, JUNE 22 House Sitting—The House had its

fi nal meeting on June 18 of the Special COVID-19 Pandemic Committee, composed of all members of the House, but as per a government motion tabled May 25, the House will sit on July 8, July 22, Aug. 12, Aug. 26. The House is then scheduled to return in the fall on Monday, Sept. 21, for three straight weeks, as per the original House sitting calendar. It was scheduled to adjourn for one week and to sit again from Oct. 19 until Nov. 6. It was scheduled to break again for one week and to sit again from Nov. 16 to Dec. 11. And that would be it for 2020. We’ll update you once the House calendar has been confi rmed.

Senate Sitting—The Senate was scheduled to sit June 2-4; June 9-11; June 16-18; and June 22, 23, it was scheduled to break on June 24 for St. Jean Baptiste Day; and it was scheduled to sit June 25 and June 26. The Senate was scheduled to break from June 29 until Sept. 22. The Senate’s possible September sitting days are Sept. 21, 25, 28. It’s scheduled to sit Sept. 22-24 and Sept. 29-Oct. 1, with a possible sitting day on Friday, Oct. 2. The possible Senate sitting days are Oct. 5, 9, 19, 23, 26, and 30. It’s scheduled to sit Oct. 6-8; it takes a break from Oct. 12-16; it will sit Oct. 20-22; and Oct. 27-29. The November possible Senate days are: Nov. 2, 6, 16, 20, 23, 27, 30. It’s scheduled to sit Nov. 3-5; it will take a break from Nov. 9-13; it will sit Nov. 17-19; and Nov. 24-26. The possible December Senate sitting days are: Dec. 4, 7, and 11. The Senate is scheduled to sit Dec. 1-3; Dec. 8-10 and it will sit Dec. 14-18. We’ll also update you once the Senate calendar has been confi rmed.

TUESDAY, JUNE 23Getting to Net Zero—Independent Sena-

tor Mary Coyle will speak about “Getting to Net Zero,” discussing her recently launched Senate Inquiry into fi nding the right path-ways and actions for Canada and Canadians to meet our net-zero carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions targets, hosted by the Group of 78. This virtual discussion happens Tuesday, June 23, from 1-2 p.m. Register via Eventbrite.

Pearson Centre Webinar: COVID-19 on the World Stage—The COVID-19 pandemic has caused global repercussions and has tested governments in a way unseen in a genera-tion. As countries move into new stages of pandemic precaution, the Pearson Centre invites you to join its guests for an oppor-tunity to learn how COVID-19 has affected other countries. Guests include South African High Commissioner Sibongieseni Dlamini-Mntambo, Chinese Ambassador Cong Peiwu, and Mexican Ambassador Juan Jose Gómez Camacho on Tuesday, June 23 at 2 p.m.-3 p.m. Eventbrite.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24 The North American Arctic: Security Chal-

lenges and Opportunities—The Canadian In-ternational Council hosts a webinar on “The North American Arctic: Security Challenges and Opportunities.” Representing U.S. and Canadian perspectives, this debate will consider the role of the militaries, security agencies, international organizations, and local actors to protect and develop the North American Arctic. Speakers include Iris Ferguson, senior adviser on Arctic security and policy, United States Air Force; Lindsay L. Rodman, executive direc-tor of the Leadership Council for Women in National Security; and Andrea Charron Ph.D., director of the Centre for Defence and Security Studies and Associate Profes-sor, University of Manitoba. Wednesday, June 24, from 7-8:30 p.m. CDT. Register at thecic.org.

THURSDAY, JUNE 25Leadership and Representation—NDP

MP Matthew Green will take part in a we-binar on “Leadership and Representation: Connecting with Communities and Amplify-ing Voices,” hosted by Ryerson University. He will be joined by former Vancouver city

councillor Andrea Reimer to share insights and experience on how to bring diverse voices to the table, build coalitions, and advocate for local needs on a provincial, national, and international level. This ses-sion is moderated by Brittany Andrew-Amo-fah, senior policy and research analyst at the Broadbent Institute. Thursday, June 25, from 3:30-5 p.m. Register via Ryerson’s Faculty of Arts.

Digital Book Launch for Hidden Hand—Hidden Hand: Exposing How the Chi-nese Communist Party is Reshaping the World, featuring authors Clive Hamilton and Mareike Ohlberg, the authors will be discussing the Chinese Communist Party’s global program of subversion and the threat it poses to democracy, including Canada’s, with MLI senior fellow Charles Burton. Brian Lee Crowley, MLI’s managing director, and Dean Baxendale, president and pub-lisher of Optimum Publishing International, will make opening remarks and Charles Burton will moderate the panel discussion. This digital book launch will take place on June 25 at 4 p.m. (EDT) at YouTube.com/user/MLInstitute

SATURDAY, JUNE 27Virtual Camp Parliament for Girls—The

Girls in Politics Initiative hosts “Vir-tual Camp Parliament for Girls,” a live interactive class that introduces girls ages 11-16 to Canada’s parliamentary system of government. Students will learn about the structure of elections and the women that made history serving in government. Each student will stand for offi ce, create a campaign platform, vote in a virtual elec-tion, and form a government to pass a bill. Each student will serve as a MP. The class will be hosted on Zoom or WebEx and will run on Saturday, June 27, for 4.5 hours, including two 10-minute breaks. For ad-ditional information contact us at +1 (202) 660-1457, extension 1, via email at [email protected] or visit our website at www.girlsinpolitics.com.

Canada Summit for National Progress 2020— The Canada Summit for National Progress is a ground-breaking gathering of established leaders, emerging leaders,

dreamers and doers who are committed to building a strong Canada for future generations. If you are a business person, non-profi t organization leader, elected offi cial, community leader, community volunteer, student, senior or anyone with a heart for Canada and a desire to work for tangible change, then this event is for you. Presenters include Stockwell Day, former opposition leader; Niels Veldhuis, Fraser Institute president; Tony Clement, former federal health minister; and Joy Smith, former Conservative MP. Event participants will hear from prominent national voices on key issues and have the option of partici-pating in think tank sessions. The summit is a free, two-day event, taking place on Saturday, June 13 and Saturday, June 27. Register at canadasummit.ca.

TUESDAY, JULY 7Pearson Centre Webinar: The Canadian

Economy, Now & Post-COVID Featuring Jim Stanford—In conversation with Andrew Cardozo, president of the Pearson Centre, on Tuesday, July 27, 3 p.m.-3:45 p.m. Jim Stanford, economist and director of the Centre for Future Work, and Andrew Cardozo will consider the prospects of debt repayment, labour, and the role of govern-ment in the post-COVID world. They will also discuss how sectors can and cannot change and the roles of precarious, front-line, and remote work in this pandemic will change their roles in our economic future. Eventbrite.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 8Finance Minister to Deliver Fiscal

Update—Finance Minister Bill Morneau will deliver a fi scal “snapshot” on the Canadian economy on Wednesday, July 8, but has not announced a date yet for a fi scal update or a budget. The House is also scheduled to sit on July 8.

Canada’s Foremost Fintech Conference FFCON20—Featuring high-growth start-ups and leading industry experts across fi ntech sectors including digital banking, P2P fi nance, AI, capital markets, Wealthtech, payments, crypto, and blockchain. July 8-9. Speakers include: Robert Asselin,

senior director public policy, BlackBerry; Paul Schulte, founder and editor, Schulte Research; Craig Asano, founder and CEO, NCFA; George Bordianu, co-founder and CEO, Balance; Julien Brazeau, partner, Deloitte; Alixe Cormick, president, Venture Law Corporation; Nikola Danaylov, founder, keynote speaker, author futurist, Singularity Media; Pam Draper, president and CEO, Bitvo; Justin Hartzman, co-founder and CEO, CoinSmart; Peter-Paul Van Hoeken, founder & CEO, FrontFundr; Cynthia Huang, CEO and co-founder, Altcoin Fan-tasy; Austin Hubbel, CEO and co-founder, Consilium Crypto; Patrick Mandic, CEO, Mavennet; Mark Morissette, co-founder & CEO, Foxquilt; Cato Pastoll, co-founder & CEO, Lending Loop; Bernd Petak, invest-ment partner, Northmark Ventures; Ali Pourdad, Pourdad Capital Partners, Family Offi ce; Richard Prior, global head of policy and research, FDATA; Richard Remillard, president, Remillard Consulting Group; Jen-nifer Reynolds, president & CEO, Toronto Finance International; Jason Saltzman, partner, Gowling WLG Canada; James Wal-lace, co-chair and co-CEO, Exponential; Alan Wunsche, CEO & chief token offi cer, Tokenfunder; and Danish Yusuf, founder and CEO, Zensurance. For more informa-tion, please visit: https://fi ntechandfunding.com/.

FRIDAY, JULY 31-SATURDAY, AUG. 8#CanadaPerforms at RBC Bluesfest

Drive-In—The National Arts Centre and RBC Bluesfest are pleased to announce they are coming together to present #Can-adaPerforms at RBC Bluesfest Drive-In, a summer weekend series of live concerts at the Place des Festivals Zibi site, by the Kitchissippi River (Ottawa River). Concert-goers, as small pods or families, will be encouraged to drive to the site and watch live concerts from their individual dedi-cated space. In order to safely welcome back audiences to watch live concerts, the Drive-In series will offer a physical dis-tancing experience that respects reopening measures and protocols. Canadians will also be able to watch online the live-streamed concerts. Concerts will take

place on Friday, July 31, Saturday, Aug. 1, Friday, Aug. 7, and Saturday, Aug. 8. Tick-ets on sale now. For the details, including additional dates and performers, go to: canadaperforms.ottawabluesfest.ca/

FRIDAY, AUG. 21Conservative Party Leadership—The

federal Conservative Party’s Leadership Election Organizing Committee, also known as LEOC, announced on April 29 that Aug. 21 is the deadline for mail-in ballots, after the leadership was suspended on March 26 due to the global pandemic. The party says the winner will be announced once the ballots can be safely counted.

THURSDAY, OCT. 15PPF Testimonial Dinner and Awards—Join

us at the 33rd annual event to network and celebrate as the Public Policy Forum honours Canadians who have made their mark on policy and leadership. Anne McLellan and Senator Peter Harder will take their place among a cohort of other stellar Canadians who we’ve honoured over the last 33 years, people who have dedicated themselves to making Canada a better place through policy leadership and public service. The gala event will be held on Thursday, Oct. 15, at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, 255 Front St. W., Toronto.

SATURDAY, OCT. 24Parliamentary Press Gallery Dinner—The

Parliamentary Press Gallery Dinner happens on Saturday, Oct. 24, in the Sir John A. Macdonald Building on Wellington Street in Ottawa.

FRIDAY, OCT. 30CJF Awards Celebrating 30 Years of

Excellence in Journalism—The Canadian Journalism Foundation Awards will be held on Oct. 30, 2020, at the Ritz-Carlton, Toronto, hosted by Rick Mercer, former host of The Rick Mercer Report. The CBC’s Anna Maria Tremonti will be honoured. Tables are $7,500 and tickets are $750. For more information on tables and sponsorship opportunities, contact Josh Gurfi nkel at jgurfi [email protected] or 416-955-0394.

TUESDAY, NOV. 3 U.S. Presidential Election—The U.S.

presidential election is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020. U.S. President Donald Trump is the Republican candidate and former vice-president Joe Biden is the presumptive Democratic candidate. The winner is scheduled to be inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2021.

THURSDAY, NOV. 12Liberal Party National Convention—The

Liberal Party of Canada announced the 2020 Liberal National Convention will be hosted in Ottawa, from Nov. 12-15. For more information, please contact: [email protected], 613-627-2384.

FRIDAY, NOV. 13Bridging Divides in Wake of a Global

Pandemic—The University of Victoria (UVic) and the Senate of Canada are bringing together change-makers at the Victoria Forum to help generate solutions to some of the world’s most divisive problems. The two-day virtual forum will be held Nov. 13-14 to examine issues that fall under the theme of “Bridging divides in the wake of a global pandemic.” The forum will draw on emerging trends and lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic through biweekly webinars. For more information or to regis-ter, visit www.victoriaforum.ca.

The Parliamentary Calendar is a free events listing. Send in your political, cultural, diplomatic, or governmental event in a paragraph with all the relevant details under the subject line ‘Parliamentary Cal-endar’ to [email protected] by Wednes-day at noon before the Monday paper or by Friday at noon for the Wednesday paper. We can’t guarantee inclusion of every event, but we will definitely do our best. Events can be updated daily online, too.

The Hill Times

More at hilltimes.com/calendar

Parliamentary CalendarHouse will be back July 8,

July 22, Aug. 12, Aug. 26

Sweet ride: A cyclist, pictured in Ottawa on June 18, 2020, riding along the Rideau Canal's bike path and fl anked in the background by the Plaza Bridge, the Prime Minister's Offi ce, the War Memorial, and the Peace Tower off in the distance. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

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