November 9, 1999
(Executive Council)

The following statement calling for First Nations equivalency for the Labrador Innu was issued today by Premier Brian Tobin at a news conference held at Confederation Building:

I've called this press conference as the Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador to deal in a substantive way with an issue which has been raised by an advocacy group in London, England, and that concerns the plight and the circumstance of Innu people in Newfoundland and Labrador. Yesterday's report out of London, as I've already indicated in an interview yesterday, was, in my mind, inappropriate with regard to some of the conclusions it came to and some of the accusations it made. Specifically, accusations directed at the federal government suggesting that the Government of Canada was engaged in a deliberate policy of encouraging young Innu children to contemplate self-destruction or destructive behaviour. I found those conclusions to be, in the circumstances, almost exploitive in their tone.

That being said, I think we have to acknowledge as a community that what is happening in Innu communities cannot be ignored. There is a crisis, we have seen, in a small community. In a space of a few months, three suicides and other deaths have occurred and this is not acceptable. Governments and the community at large must, in my mind, respond in an appropriate way.

The purpose of my press conference today is to make public a call on the federal government to fulfill its full constitutional and fiduciary obligations to the Innu people of Labrador by giving them full First Nations status as defined by the Indian Act. I have made this call privately in written communications to the federal government at least three times since May and I have expressed the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador's support for the position of the Innu Nation for First Nations status. It needs to be said that the Innu of Labrador are virtually alone in Canada in not having accorded to them full First Nations status as defined by the Indian Act. This is an anomaly of Confederation which remains in place to this day.

It's clear that a crisis now exists in the Innu community. It is clear to me that the issues underlying this crisis can only be addressed ultimately by the Innu communities themselves. The Innu communities of Labrador need the tools that can only be made available to them if they have First Nations status. They have been seeking First Nations status for some years. This past summer the Innu communities made a formal request to the federal government for such status and this past summer the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador formally, for the first time, endorsed the acquisition of such status. Today I am repeating publicly the province's call for the federal government to move expeditiously in this matter.

The Province of Newfoundland and Labrador currently delivers more than $6 million annually in health, education, and social service programs to Innu communities. If First Nations status is given, in the ordinary course of events, the federal government would take up the full responsibility for those programs now being provided by the provincial government. In the ordinary course of events, those programs now provided by the province would no longer be provided as Ottawa would take up the responsibility, and of course the Newfoundland government would have a savings of about $6 million. I am announcing today that if Ottawa takes up its full responsibility and provides, as is being requested, First Nations status for the Innu of Labrador, the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador will continue to make available the full amount of the $6 million now in question as an additional measure of assistance, both in the area of social policy and in the area of economic development for the benefit of Innu communities in Labrador.

Another area which needs to be addressed properly is the whole question of policing, both the number and availability of RCMP, and the availability of native policing in Innu communities. This too is a request now before the national government. This is another area where we have supported the Innu request.

Today, the deputy minister of Aboriginal Affairs, Mike Samson, leaves for Ottawa. There he will meet with the deputy minister of Indian Affairs and will communicate the province's position on all of these matters. I will, today, deal directly with the Minister of Indian Affairs to repeat the province's position with respect to these matters.

The fact of the matter is that in this province we have been successful in advancing the land claims and self-government file. We have been successful in reaching a land claims and self-government agreement-in-principle with the Labrador Inuit Association. We have attempted to expedite negotiations on self-government and on land claims with the Innu Nation as well. Indeed we signed a fast track agreement several years ago with the Innu Nation. But we have to be honest and acknowledge that it is difficult, if not on some occasions impossible, for the leadership of the Innu Nation to undertake the difficult, complex, and vitally important question of land claims. These are questions which affect that community for all time. When land claims are settled, they're settled for all time. When self-government agreements are written, negotiated and settled, they're settled for all time. It is extremely difficult for that community to engage in those kind of discussions and negotiations as important as they are to the community, when they are required on a continuing basis to deal with crisis within the community. That's why it's important that the tools covered under First Nations equivalency, which can only be provided by the federal government, be made available now so that they can negotiate with all of the capacity and stability they need to do their job.

One last comment today. This time last year, or approximately this time last year, I publicly made a call for a ban on alcohol and obviously other substance abuse to be put in place in Innu communities. That hasn't happened. I want to repeat again my call for such a ban on alcohol within these Innu communities and of course a ban on other substances which are being abused as well. The reality is this, such a ban cannot be imposed from Ottawa. Such a ban cannot be imposed from St. John's. It has to come from the leadership and from the community, the members of the community themselves. I know there have been those who have tried, with a great deal of courage and vision, to seek such a ban and to sustain such a ban. The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador today, and I on behalf of government, repeat a call for such a ban and pledge that if such a ban is put in place that government will do everything within its power, upon request by the Innu Nation, to assist the Innu Nation in enforcing that ban and also to assist in providing the programs necessary to help those who suffer addiction deal with that addiction.

We know that a federal government sponsored addiction centre is now under construction for the community of Sheshatshiu. We think that project has to be advanced quickly, it's certainly with the authority and jurisdiction of the provincial government. We publicly pledge today to do everything we're asked to do, within reason, by the Innu Nation to sustain a ban on alcohol and other substances which have led to so much of the abuse that we've seen.

Media contact: Heidi Bonnell, Office of the Premier, (709) 729-3564.

BACKGROUNDER
FIRST NATIONS EQUIVALENCY FOR THE INNU NATION

• The province has actively supported the Innu's request that the federal government assume full jurisdictional responsibility for the Innu and provide them with full First Nations equivalency.

• In August 1993, Dean Donald McRae, in his "Report on the Complaint of the Innu of Labrador to the Canadian Human Rights Commission", recommended the federal government formally acknowledge its constitutional responsibility to the Innu. On September 17, 1993, then Indian Affairs Minister Pauline Browes committed to undertake the registration of the Innu. Then Premier Clyde Wells wrote to the minister on October 12, 1993 expressing the province's support for Dean McRae's recommendations and expressing the province's willingness to enter into negotiations to facilitate the transfer of responsibility. The Innu at that time refused the federal government's offer.

• On March 22, 1999 the Innu Nation and bands wrote the premier and Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs (DIAND) demanding the federal government assume full jurisdictional responsibility for the Innu and to provide them full First Nations Equivalency. The Innu believe the federal government has an obligation to exercise its jurisdiction pursuant to an Order in Council, directing the federal minister to treat the Innu as First Nations, undertakings in the Sango Bay relocation agreement and federal jurisdiction for Indians under s. 91(24).

• The Innu have not requested registration nor the creation of reserves.

• On May 17, 1999 the premier wrote the Minister of DIAND supporting the Innu's request.

• On May 31, 1999 the premier wrote the minister reiterating his support for the Innu request:

"Confusion over jurisdiction, coupled with the federal government's unwillingness to exercise its full jurisdiction, is the source of many of the difficulties the Province, the Innu Nation and the Bands have had in discussions regarding the devolution of programs and services and self-government negotiations. The Province is limited in what it can do in devolution by laws of general application. The Province does not have the legislative competence to legislate specifically with respect to Aboriginal people. This is an exclusive federal responsibility under s. 91(24) of the Constitution Act, 1867. So many of the issues we have been discussing with the Innu concern jurisdiction for programs and services. These are issues that could be resolved to the satisfaction of the Innu if the federal government were to exercise fully its jurisdiction, as it does elsewhere in Canada.

The Province has indicated on a number of occasions that should the federal government choose to exercise its jurisdiction and register the Innu people, it will do what it can to facilitate the process. The Province is prepared also to facilitate any other means the federal government might choose to exercise its responsibility either under or outside the context of the Indian Act. Any arrangement will, of course, be without prejudice to the land claims and self-government negotiations."

• On July 8, 1999 the Innu Nation and Sheshatshiu and Davis Inlet Bands met in Ottawa with the assistant deputy minister and senior officials of DIAND, and with the deputy minister of Labrador and Aboriginal Affairs. When they received no satisfaction from the federal government, the Innu gave the federal government an ultimatum that unless the federal government entered into a direct relationship with the Innu, the Innu would request registration and the creation of reserves or make a court reference if the federal government refused to accede to their request. This demand was followed by a letter from the Innu Nation and bands to the federal minister and premier, July 9, 1999 (received July 22, 1999) that reiterated the ultimatum.

• The federal government had until August 19, 1999 to respond to the Innu's demand.

• Most recently, September 9, 1999 the premier wrote to the new Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs expressing his support for the Innu request.

• The province has indicated it is prepared to work creatively with the federal government and the Innu to give effect to a federal exercise of jurisdiction. There have been preliminary and exploratory discussions with Amherst respecting full federal payment for education in the communities, but no substantive discussions have been held.

1999 11 09                      3:15 p.m.