Part 2 - the Higgs government going into the New Year

Continuing from Part one of my thoughts on Premier Higgs and his government heading into the New Year. Here, I look at a challenge he seems to have already dropped the ball on, the relationship between his government and our First Nations.  

The Premier’s refusal to call a public inquiry into the issue of systemic racism within the police services in New Brunswick on the heels of two separate shootings of indigenous people by police, despite it being a specific request of indigenous chiefs and despite the Premier promising a better relationships with First Nations is a disappointment. It sure doesn’t look like a move aimed at strengthening the relationship when he dismissed Jake Stewart as the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs, given Stewart seemed to be building a solid relationship with the various chiefs. What it looks more like is retaliation for Stewart coming out in favour of an inquiry. Higgs replacing him, with a new minister for whom First Nations is only one of several portfolios, sends the signal he’s not really serious about addressing inequality.  But hopefully he’ll prove me wrong on this too.

Having said this, and giving the Premier the benefit of the doubt, he does make a valid point that there have been a lot of such inquiries and a lot of recommendations yet to be acted upon, and if he wanted to do nothing, calling an inquiry and having it spend two years discussing issues would be a way to do it. So instead, he says he is asking the aboriginal community to give him a chance and watch him act on the priorities they had earlier identified.  

OK, but as a single citizen of New Brunswick, and a white one at that, I can only speak for myself, but I think it is more than just the First Nations folks who want an inquiry. While our issues concerning racism by police may pale by comparison to what we have seen elsewhere, particularly in the U.S. but also in Canada in cities like Thunder Bay, I see value in taking a deep dive into what we have here.     

Rodney Levi and Chantel Moore, both fatally shot by police in separate incidents in New Brunswick earlier this year. Photo Credit: CTV Atlantic

At the very least, let’s have a transparent and thorough investigation into the circumstances around the deaths of Chantel Moore and Rodney Levi, at the hands of police in northern New Brunswick earlier this year. There are valid issues around the investigations by the Quebec-based Bureau des enquetes independantes, or BEI as they are known. For one thing, its reports aren’t made public, and for another, their track record. The BEI has investigated 167 incidents where a civilian was killed or seriously injured by the police. Of the 117 of these cases that have been concluded, none resulted in charges against any officers, not even once. Those may be the right conclusions in each case, but it will strike many as an incredible coincidence, and understandably so. It brings to mind a maxim that has stood the test of time in legal circles since it was first uttered in the 1920’s “Justice must not only be done, but must also be seen to be done”. It may be premature to employ that here, as these cases aren’t yet closed. The reports from the Quebec unit, reports that we aren’t allowed to see, have been forwarded to the Office of Public Prosecutions.  

Chief Ross Perley of the Neqotkuk First Nation and other First Nations Chiefs. All have called for an inquiry into seismic racism in New Brunswick. Photo Credit CTV Atlantic

We don’t know when decisions on whether there will be charges laid will be made. And it would not be the responsible thing for me or anybody else to speculate on it. But the sad thing is that if the decisions are not to lay charges, it doesn’t matter how proper those decisions are, in the void of transparency into the investigations, those findings will simply be dismissed as par for the course, that the fix was in from the get-go. That serves nobody well, not the police, not the aboriginal community, and especially not the interests of building a better relationship.  

However it comes down, the government will still have the issue of its relationship with First Nations to deal with. Justice is only part of it. Emerging as a more equal participant in a prosperous and growing economy is just as important a focus. The Premier promises he wants to get there. And he’s got a committee that he says will show the way.  

That committee though has gotten off to a rocky start with First Nations leaders saying the committee is good but an inquiry is still needed. And then to see Arlene Dunn, the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs, be the very government minister to move an amendment to legislation that gutted it by removing the provision of an inquiry was, as the chiefs put it, “a slap in the face”. It was a bizarre thing to have, of all people, the Minister who is supposed to be on the side of the First Nations to be the one to move the motion. Where a terrible and unfortunate signal this sent to the aboriginal community.  

Aborignal Affairs Minister Arlene Dunn. Photo Credit: Global News

The response from the chiefs, to call for her resignation was what would be expected, but also unfortunate. I don’t know much about Arlene Dunn. I don’t know whether she particularly cares about First Nations issues or was just doing Higgs bidding where Jake Stewart wouldn’t, or whether she really believes her boss’s position that First Nations interests will be best served by implementing changes recommended from previous inquiries rather than agreeing with the First Nations chiefs request for an inquiry.  

Whatever it is, by their actions Higgs and Dunn have given themselves a much harder row to hoe, as now they are no longer starting from a position of perceived good faith, but rather from a position of having to show they are serious while their actions to date suggest otherwise.  

There is much that can be done to serve more equality for First Nations. The bar isn’t that high as previous governments have mainly faltered. But Higgs has promised he is different. We’ll see. 

2021 promises to be a year of great challenges but also one of great promise. Improving our relationship with First Nations is one that can work for all of us.  

So Happy New Year. Here’s to a prosperous and fulfilling year for all.

Thanks for reading. Please share.   

Cover photo credit: Sunset over the Saint John River in Fredericton, Larry Dickinson, mynewbrunswick.ca