Utoo Radio and Various News Sources - March 6 2024 - Brian Mulroney's record with Indigenous peoples in Canada is one of paradoxes, good intentions, and tragic failures.
Some Indigenous leaders applaud the former prime minister for establishing a Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, recognizing Métis people, and negotiating Nunavut.
Others argue that his government's 1980s constitutional negotiations failure to bring self-government and the 1990 Oka Crisis that tarnished Canada's international reputation are more significant.
"Don't underestimate how traumatic Oka was for Indigenous peoples," said former Liberal MP and University of Ottawa associate professor Robert Falcon Ouellette, from Saskatchewan's Red Pheasant Cree Nation.
"It ruined Indigenous relations. It revealed the military and state biases and discrimination that will be employed against Indigenous peoples."
After becoming Canada's 18th prime minister in September 1984, Mulroney began a multi-year campaign to address Indigenous self-government.
The 1982 Constitution Act, which repatriated the Constitution and created the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, mandated the prime minister and premiers to convene in Ottawa within a year to clarify Indigenous rights.
David Crombie, Mulroney's Indian Affairs and Northern Development minister from September 17, 1984 to June 29, 1986, told CBC News that he tried his best despite certain provinces rejecting his suggestions.
“He thought he was doing the right thing,” Crombie added. "He wanted to do the right thing but as anybody knows who deals in the field, it's a complex field and … it didn't didn't pass muster for some people."
After the 1987 meeting, Métis leader Jim Sinclair warned Mulroney and the premiers that it had failed and questioned whether the goodwill needed to reach a deal had been there.
"We have the right to self-government, to self-determination and land," stated. "This is just the beginning—not the end..." Prime minister and provincial premiers, relax. I may be gone, but my people return."
The following round of constitutional talks focused on Mulroney's Meech Lake Accord, which strengthened provincial powers and declared Quebec a unique society.
Indigenous leaders opposed the accord, which suggested constitutional reforms to preserve Quebec in Canada, saying it violated their rights.
Elijah Harper, Manitoba's only Indigenous MLA, withdrew his consent for the Meech Lake Accord in 1990, blocking a vote and resulting in its collapse.
Mary May Simon, Canada's first Indigenous Governor General, told CBC News Network's Power & Politics on Monday that "Meech Lake was a difficult time for Indigenous, or Aboriginal peoples as we were called then."
Limited time was allocated for Indigenous leaders to participate in Meech Lake. I think the Charlottetown Accord negotiations had a different mindset."
Mulroney's 1991 Charlottetown Accord declared Indigenous Canadians' "inherent right of self government."
Tony Belcourt, the first Native Council of Canada and MétisNation of Ontario president, participated in those sessions. He said Mulroney had "a soft spot for Indigenous peoples and native people in particular."
"In Charlottetown, the Métiswon big—and I mean big," Belcourt told CBC News.
In October 1992, Mulroney brought the Charlottetown Accord to a referendum. The 55-45% vote defeated it.
Despite the Charlottetown Accord's collapse, Mulroney's government's March 1992 motion in Parliament recognizing the Red River Métis and Louis Riel as Manitoba's founder helped him retain Métis support.
David Chartrand, president of the Manitoba Métis Federation and the National Government of the Red River Métis, praised Mulroney after his death.
"There can also be no doubt that Brian Mulroney was decades ahead of his time in pursuing reconciliation with Indigenous peoples," Chartrand said Wednesday.
Belcourt stated Métis hold Brian Mulroney in "highest regard."
"His legacy with us, as far as I'm concerned, I don't know how that's going to be topped in terms of prime ministers," remarked.
Perhaps ironically, Mulroney's greatest Indigenous policy achievement and greatest setback occurred at the same time.
Mulroney signed the Nunavut land claim agreement-in-principle in Igloolik in April 1990 following years of discussions. The new territory was created in 1999 after Parliament confirmed the final accord three years later in July 1993.
Paul Quassa, Nunavut's 2017–2018 premier and the Tungavik Federation of Nunavut's principal negotiator during the creation discussions, said CBC News that Mulroney's understanding of the "uniqueness of the Inuit."
"I believe for Inuit and for us he was one that was more flexible in what we were looking for through our land claims negotiations," Quassa said.
"Look where we are. One fifth of Canada is ours. We redesigned the map of Canada with a few Inuit under Mulroney."
Quassa said Inuit elders give "very important people." traditional names. Because of Mulroney's work for them and his noticeable chin, Quassa gave him the endearing Inuktitut name Talluq, meaning "the chin."
"He had that distinct smile and face and you could tell that chin … was there to hold on to that smile," said he.
In Oka Quebec, far south, things were different. Oka's town council approved a golf course expansion on Kanesatake Mohawk land, reigniting a 300-year-old land dispute.
Mohawks protesting the development blocked a road to the site and rejected police and judicial orders to open it.
Quebec Premier Robert Bourassa invoked the National Defence Act in August 1990 to replace provincial police in Oka with the Canadian troops. Mulroney dispatched Canadian troops.
The photos that aired worldwide brought Canada awful press, according to University of Manitoba assistant professor of Indigenous history Sean Carleton told CBC News.
"Canada was trying to present itself on the world stage as a peacekeeping nation, and yet it's deploying its army to essentially flex its military muscle domestically," Carleton.
"Many international observers were harsh. Canada seemed like a bully during the Oka crisis in September 1990."
In 1991, Mulroney created the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP) to explore Canada-Indigenous relations to improve Canada's international standing.
The 4,000-page commission report was released in 1996, three years after Mulroney left government. It demanded a thorough overhaul of Indigenous-Canadian ties.
Ouellette called the report "fantastic," adding that while no actions were taken and the commission was only launched because Mulroney needed a positive counterpoint to Oka, it addressed residential schools and led to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Belcourt told CBC News that while many were upset that none of the recommendations were initially implemented, the work is still relevant.
"The recommendations from RCAP were all very solid recommendations and any government could take those, and look at those recommendations and say, 'OK, let's implement them and we'd be a heck of a lot further off,'" said.
