Negotiations between the Regroupement Petapan, which brings together the three Innu nations of Essipit, Nutashkuan and Mashteuiatsh, Ottawa and Quebec have progressed so well that they suggest the very real possibility of signing a historic treaty.
When it comes to Indigenous people, François Legault has a hard time avoiding putting his foot in the dish. His latest blunder involving Carol Dubé, the husband of Joyce Echaquan, who died at the Joliette hospital in the unworthy circumstances that we know, demonstrates this eloquently. No, not everything is settled in the relationship that the health system maintains with Aboriginal people. His refusal to recognize the systemic nature of the racism suffered by members of the First Nations testifies to a stubbornness that would make people smile if it were not so embarrassing. The report of the Commission of Inquiry into Relations between Aboriginal Peoples and Certain Public Services in Quebec, chaired by Judge Jacques Viens, quotes ad nauseam examples of the systemic discrimination that plagues First Nations. The Legault government has undertaken to implement most of Justice Viens’ recommendations while pretending to ignore that, when it comes to Aboriginal people, systemic discrimination and systemic racism are two concepts that essentially mean the same thing.
However, it was under the Legault government that important negotiations took place which have a good chance of leading to a breakthrough expected for several decades. In 1975, with the assistance of Ottawa, it must be emphasized, since under the Indian Act the ultimate responsibility for the Aboriginal peoples rests with it, the Quebec government, forced by the prospect of the procedures that the Crees were multiplying before the courts , had been at the forefront with the conclusion of the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement, a vast agreement granting a form of autonomy to the Crees and the Inuit, royalties on hydroelectric development and a right of inspection on the exploitation of natural resources. Three years later, the Naskapis joined the convention. In 2002, the Landry government improved the treaty by signing the peace of the braves with the Cree nation. But the other First Nations, including the Innu, have not been able to benefit from such comprehensive agreements. The time has come to remedy the situation.
In 2004, the Charest government and the three Innu nations of the Regroupement Petapan, to which the Pessamit nation had joined, concluded a “general agreement in principle”, the fruit of several years of negotiations placed under the sign of what was called the Common Approach. Following Pessamit’s withdrawal, this agreement in principle lapsed and therefore did not lead to the signing of a treaty reconciling the rights of Aboriginal peoples with those of non-Aboriginal people.
Since then, the United Nations has adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which internationally confirms the right of Indigenous peoples to self-determination and self-government, the right to their lands, territories and their resources as well as compensation for the exploitation of these resources. It provides for the obligation for states to obtain the free and informed consent of indigenous nations for any project related to natural resources on their lands.
The Trudeau government passed legislation to incorporate the UN declaration into Canadian law. In Quebec, the National Assembly voted unanimously in favor of a motion asking the government to commit to negotiating the implementation of the Declaration on Quebec soil.
It must be remembered, as the Supreme Court has confirmed, that consultations with a view to obtaining the consent of the Aboriginal peoples do not give them a right of veto. After all, the territory of the North Shore, part of which is covered by the agreement negotiated with the Regroupement Petapan, is shared: Quebec nation and First Nations must find their account there. There is every reason to believe that the Innu engaged in these negotiations are perfectly aware of this, like the Cree nation, moreover.
Over the past two years, the government has already concluded several specific nation-to-nation agreements with Aboriginal people. If he is re-elected, François Legault will be able to go further by achieving a great coup. It is in a position to make history by signing a comprehensive treaty which, if it applies to only three nations, will serve as a framework leading to the signing of agreements with other Aboriginal nations in the spirit of the peace of the brave and the United Nations Declaration.
François Legault will thus be able to prove that beyond the words in which he gets involved, he is the prime minister of major and structuring actions aimed at the advancement of both First Nations and the Quebec nation.