(Quebec) The Legault government must abandon the tabling of its bills on Indigenous languages and on cultural security – two CAQ commitments –, claims the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador (AFNQL). For Chief Ghislain Picard, Quebec does not have to legislate on the jurisdictions of First Nations.
It is a new showdown that is emerging between the First Nations and the Legault government. AFNQL Chief Ghislain Picard is asking Premier François Legault to back down on his electoral commitment to introduce “Bill 101” aimed at protecting Indigenous languages. He also enjoins him to abandon his bill on cultural security, which must be tabled within a few weeks.
“Your government does not have the jurisdiction to legislate on subjects that belong only to the First Nations, including their languages and other cultural specificities,” wrote Chief Ghislain Picard in a letter addressed to Mr. Legault on March 8. In the letter seen by The PressGhislain Picard maintains that the government’s intention to adopt laws applying to First Nations is “unacceptable”.
The Quebec government cannot impose its laws on the First Nations, which do not fall under its authority, explained Mr. Picard in an interview. “Basically, what we say is: who is primarily responsible for developing [des lois pour sa population] ? Quebec [le fait] and we enjoy the same capacity. It is to respect this capacity, which the government contradicts, ”he said.
“It’s special,” reacted the Minister responsible for First Nations and Inuit Relations, Ian Lafrenière. “That’s not what I’m told on the ground, but I hear it,” added the minister in an interview.
The positions of the AFNQL, which is made up of the chiefs of 43 Aboriginal communities, “consensus,” assured Mr. Picard.
Ian Lafrenière is about to table his bill which aims to enshrine the principle of cultural safety in the Health and Social Services Act. This is a commitment made in the wake of the death of Joyce Echaquan, in September 2020, as well as a recommendation from the Viens commission.
This is also a request from the First Nations. The AFNQL had also strongly denounced the retreat of the Legault government, which had renounced to proceed in the last mandate. What Chief Picard proposes in his letter is that Quebec instead introduce cultural security into the law “in accordance with the real needs of First Nations through genuine consultation”.
“We want to give ourselves obligations as a government. As I said to someone recently: ‘My fellow MPs and ministers are not lining up in front of my office to put pressure on me to make these bills, we are doing it for the First Nations'”, said retorted Mr. Lafrenière. He affirms that his government, “for the moment, is staying the course” on its two commitments.
Call to recognize systemic racism
According to the AFNQL, Quebec cannot introduce a bill on cultural safety with the support of the First Nations if it does not recognize the existence of systemic racism and discrimination in the health establishments of the Quebec network.
Ghislain Picard was also in the National Assembly on Thursday while Quebec Native Women (FAQ) tabled a petition of 4,000 signatures asking the Legault government to recognize the existence of systemic racism and to adopt Joyce’s principle.
PHOTO KAROLINE BOUCHER, THE CANADIAN PRESS
In the center, Marjolaine Étienne, president of Quebec Native Women and Sipi Flamand, chief of Manawan, on her left.
“If the government does not recognize systemic racism, then it wants to make a bill on cultural security, it’s like putting a bandage on a problem,” argued Thursday the leader of Manawan, Sipi Flamand.
[Le gouvernement] does not respond to the major fundamental issues in the aboriginal communities, also in the relations that exist with the aboriginal communities.
Sipi Flamand, Chief of Manawan
Earlier Thursday, Minister Lafrenière had already closed the door at QNW’s request. Despite repeated calls, the Legault government refuses to recognize the existence of systemic racism in Quebec. “To say that it does nothing, what we do, if we do not recognize systemic racism, I hear, but I do not adhere to that”, repeated the minister in an interview.
No Indigenous Languages Act
The AFNQL had warned the Premier on August 16 that it was “formally contesting [ses] Legislative Intentions” on Indigenous languages. A few weeks later, in the middle of the election campaign, François Legault promised a bill to protect them “in the same way that French is protected with Bill 101”.
Ian Lafrenière affirms “not having the pretension to protect [les langues] in their place” and rather wishes to give them the “tools” to do so and “to give themselves obligations as a government”.
This bill is due in the fall of 2023. As in the case of the one for cultural security, Minister Ian Lafrenière ensures that consultations with the main groups are held upstream.
The First Nations had asked to be exempted from “Bill 96” on the protection of French, which they had been refused. Mr. Picard had been chilled after his passage in parliamentary committee on Bill 96 and that of the reform of youth protection last year, deploring that the First Nations lend themselves to the exercise of government without their recommendations are adopted.