The Road to Reconciliation

Are We There Yet?

Yogi Berra observed, “If you don’t know where you’re going, you will end up somewhere else”.

This may be where we are on the road to Reconciliation; no agreed destination, no milestones along the route to gauge progress, a journey of indefinite duration. The uncertainty is frustrating and risks exhausting tolerance for a worthy cause.

Canada’s population is approximately 40 million; Indigenous represent 1.8 million, roughly 5%. In the three decades 1961 to 1991, the percentage population growth for Indigenous averaged 49% versus 15% for the general population. This extraordinary relative growth was partially the product of a restoration of pride in Indigenous ancestry encouraged by an abundance of government funding, possibly inflated by opportunistic pretenders who didn’t qualify… Buffy Saint Marie, Vianne Timmons and Elen Turpel Lafond to name three.

According to the Fraser Institute, the annual federal budget for Indigenous spending was $25 Billion in 2021-22 and will rise to about $35.5 billion in 2026-27, 7.7% of the total budget.

Other expenditures in the last number of years includes.

·??????? Child Welfare Settlement $40 billion

·??????? Residential Schools payments $6 billion.

·??????? Non-Insured Health benefits specific to Indigenous, $1.5 billion (in 2020-21)

·??????? Sixties Scoop payments for “cultural loss” $750 million

·??????? Indian register $407 million per year.

·??????? Class action suits related to Indian Day Schools, Indian hospitals and boil water advisories; Metis land claims; income tax exemptions, GST and provincial sales tax exemptions…amounts unknown.

There is also the matter of “soft” support for Indigenous issues. For example, 94% of Canadian Universities offer financial aid specifically earmarked for Indigenous students and 90% are targeting an increase in Indigenous representation among faculty and staff. Equity, Diversity and Inclusion policies in Canadian businesses result in preferences for Indigenous applicants.

The latest addition to the list of Reconciliation initiatives is the creation of a federal Indigenous loan guarantee program. This plan would provide Indigenous purchasers with loan guarantees to purchase an interest in government or privately owned infrastructure. The provinces are expected to establish their own programs. Alberta already has the Alberta Indigenous Opportunities Corporation. It has provided $250 million to Athabasca Indigenous Investments, comprised of 23 Indigenous groups, to facilitate the purchase of a 11.6% interest in 7 Enbridge pipelines as well as $40 million to the Astisiy Partnership for its participation in the Northern Courier Pipeline.

Numerous additional infrastructure opportunities await, the largest being the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion (TMX), a project ironically bloated to a total cost of $31 billion partly because of disruption and re-routing demands from the Indigenous community.?

The full particulars of the loan program are still being developed but the central element is the provision of government guarantees for loans to successful applicants. This would permit proponents to borrow at the lowest available rates and use this “equity” to recruit additional investment. There is no requirement for applicants to put any of their own capital at risk. Thus, critically important assets now owned by all Canadians will be sold on very favorable terms, but only to Indigenous applicants, using funds provided by all Canadians.

It isn’t clear why First nations are unable to fund these projects, at least in part, using their own capital. A recent newspaper article claims 37,000 Indigenous-owned business with a $48.9 billion contribution to the Canadian economy. Unfortunately, the financial condition of First Nations is largely unknown, even to band members, since the Liberals removed the Stephen Harper era financial accountability requirements.

Ensuring First Nations have a vested interest in the country’s development is a good thing; it delivers wealth to those who helped create it and puts the focus on construction rather than obstruction, quelling opposition from a constituency enjoying oversized attention from government and media.

The problem is “Reconciliation” is undefined. Since no one knows what it means, it’s impossible to determine when it’s fulfilled. Canada is confronting a bill of unknown magnitude, comprised of an unknown number of components to be settled over an unknown period of time. This may serve the interest of First Nations and the battalion of lawyers, accountants and advisors encouraging endless petitions, but it does a great injustice to the rest of the country in both ethical and financial terms. The nation is unable to remove the stain of vicarious guilt and perpetual compensation restricts financial capacity for other critical projects.

This ridiculous situation is unprecedented in real life and finds only a literary comparable. Franz Kafka’s 1915 short story Before the Law tells of a traveler who comes upon an open gate attended by a formidable guard. The traveler’s request to gain entry is denied. He is told he can look through the gate but cannot pass through without permission. The traveler waits for years, often asking questions of the guard but the questions go unanswered…but for one. Why, asks the traveler, over all the years I have been here, has no one else tried to gain entry. The guard replies, because this gate is only for you. ?And, asks the traveler, what of all my property I have given you to gain entry. Ah says the gatekeeper. I only accepted the offerings as a courtesy, so you didn’t think you neglected anything.

Kafkaesque indeed.