Appendix
Report to the Ministry of Justice and Attorney General
Public Inquiry under the Fatality Inquiries Act
Whereas a Public Inquiry was held at the Provincial Court in the Town of Cochrane on the 26th of February, 1999 (and by adjournment on the 11th of June 1999) before the Honourable John Reilly, a Provincial Court Judge.
A jury was not summoned and an inquiry was held into the death of Sherman Laron Labelle, age 17, of the Stoney Indian reserve, Morley, Alberta, and the following findings were made:
Circumstances under which death occurred
[1] Sherman Labelle hanged himself on the Stoney Reserve at Morley on May 21, 1998.
[2] To examine the circumstances of his death I find that I must look at his personal circumstances, his community circumstances and the circumstances of Aboriginal people of Canada generally.
[3] It is only by looking at his death from these three levels that meaningful recommendations for the prevention of similar deaths can be made.
Personal circumstances
[4] Sherman was 17 years old. He was born on the Stoney Indian Reserve at Morley, Alberta. His mother died on May 21, 1994. He became a ward of the Director of Child Welfare shortly before his mother’s death as a result of her inability to care for him. He had 16 different placements in four years. He had been in treatment programs at Morley and at the Selkirk Healing Centre in Manitoba, but he was said to be resistant to treatment. He had difficulty at school, and because of poor attendance homeschooling had been arranged for him.
[5] On May 17, 1997, he is alleged to have assaulted a man and left him permanently crippled as a result of a blow to the head. Sherman was to go to trial on June 10, 1998, on charges of aggravated assault and it was said that he always experienced anxiety when he had to go to court.
[6] On the night he hanged himself he was drunk. His blood alcohol level was 220 mg in 100 ml of blood.
[7] On that night he hugged his uncle Conal Labelle, told him that he loved him, and then he went outside, stood on a pail, tied his belt around his neck and around the branch of a tree, kicked the pail out from underneath himself, and hanged by his neck until he was dead.
Community circumstances
[8] Sherman Labelle’s suicide is only one of a disproportionate number of suicides in his community, and therefore one must look at the circumstances of the community to see his death in perspective.
[9] The Stoney Indian Reserve at Morley is a community of about 3,000 people. It is divided into three bands: the Wesley, the Chiniki and the Bearspaw. Each band has its own chief and four councillors; one of the Wesley councillors represents a small reserve of about 200 at Big Horn, and one of the Bearspaw councillors represents another small reserve of about 350 at Eden Valley.
[10] A Stoney Tribal Council member in her seventh term testified that she had kept a diary from 1990 to 1998 which showed 120 drug- and alcohol-related deaths, 48 by suicide. In a community of 3,000, 48 deaths in eight years is two per thousand, which is 10 times the national average of 20 per 100,000.
[11] Sherman was said to be resistant to treatment, but the same witness who said this agreed that the mental health and alcohol treatment programs were two of the weakest on the reserve, and she said it was a community problem requiring community solutions.
[12] A Stoney child care worker who dealt with Sherman said his file was disorganized and did not show respect for Sherman. She said he didn’t like “white” people telling him about healing, that he needed support he did not get, that when he was in the Selkirk Treatment Centre in Manitoba he went AWOL and he called her, that he was really lonely. She said that in the five years she was with Stoney Child Services she did not get training she asked for, and she felt that proper training was not as available to Stoney child care workers as it is to others in the province. She also said she was among five workers that were let go due to chief and council.
[13] Sherman was in need of appropriate care, but another witness testified that the Stoney Adolescent Treatment Ranch, a facility for the treatment of teenage alcoholism at Morley, was closed two years ago because of allegations of sexual abuse by staff. They were trying to reopen it again but will lose their funding if this is not done by October 1, 1999.
[14] Sherman was said to be having difficulties in school, and because of absenteeism, homeschooling had been arranged for him. This led me to ask for further information about the school.
[15] A chief who serves on the education committee talked about how the school should have an environment of learning and should involve the parents, but he admitted that the facilities at the Morley school are limited and that he sends all three of his children to off-reserve schools.
[16] The present, newly appointed, superintendent of schools for the Stoney Nation said he was excited about the prospects for the future of the school. He spoke of reopening industrial arts, home ec and music, and he said the computer situation was in a desperate state. He said these programs were discontinued three years ago because of funding cutbacks, but he indicated there were many more people on the payroll than necessary. He also said that the last graduates from the Morley school were 10 to 12 years ago.
[17] Former members of the Nakoda Education Management Team (NEMT) testified that there had been a successful education program from 1992 to 1996 which had in fact produced two graduates in 1993/94, six in 1994/95, and seven in 1995/96. I believe that the testimony of the current superintendent may have been inaccurate because of selective information given to him by the current administration
[18] Witnesses spoke of the other successes the NEMT had in leadership and life skills programs, and a former principal of the high school at Morley said she believed Sherman Labelle would still be alive if he had been able to take the leadership program that had been created by NEMT.
[19] NEMT and its programs were summarily abolished after the election of December 1996. The reason given by the new tribal council was a lack of funding. The former director of adult and post-secondary education said she believed this explanation was a lie, that the funding was obtained through INAC (Indian and Northern Affairs Canada), HRDC (Human Resources Development Canada) and WOP (Work Opportunities Program), and that the new council simply refused to sign the applications. She suggested, and this was supported by other witnesses, that the real reason the programs were discontinued was to prevent the advancement of Stoney people so that they can be controlled by those in power.
[20] A member of the tribal council spoke of a proposed business development plan that was opposed by ”one-man” (a chief) because he did not want to allow the opportunities for employment that it would create. He testified at length as to the repression of Stoney people as a form of control, and said that tribal income is spent on social services, instead of economic development, as part of a deliberate policy of keeping people dependent so they can be controlled. He volunteered his theory that control leads to the depression that leads to suicide.
[21] In June 1997 I made an order directing the chief Crown prosecutor to cause an investigation into social conditions, political corruption and financial mismanagement, because in my view I required this information to consider the circumstances of an Aboriginal offender in order to apply the new sentencing provisions of the Criminal Code, and in particular section 718.2(e)
[22] At that time, I was just concerned about the money that was unavailable for badly needed programs such as alcohol treatment and anger management. I now believe that the situation is far worse than I suspected. I now believe that not only do vested interests divert money that should be going to help the poor members of this reserve, but I also believe that they deliberately sabotage education, health and welfare programs and economic development in order to keep the people uneducated, unwell and unemployed so that they can be dominated and controlled.
[23] I find that the community circumstances that must be considered as part of the circumstances of Sherman Labelle’s death include the following:
1. A lack of adequate treatment programs for mental health and alcohol problems that may have helped him with his difficulties in these areas.
2. A lack of trauma counselling that might have helped him deal with the loss of his mother when he was 14 years old.
3. A school where jobs were given to family members of those in power regardless of qualifications, and teachers and administrators were fired for political reasons, leaving chaos for the students.
4. The conduct of a tribal government that appeared to be deliberately sabotaging education, health and welfare, and economic development in order to keep the people uneducated, unwell and unemployed so that they could be dominated and controlled.
Circumstances of Canadian Aboriginal people
[24] In Choosing Life: Special Report on Suicide among Aboriginal People, the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples says:
… the rate of suicide among Aboriginal people in Canada for all age groups is 2 to 3 times higher than the rate among non-Aboriginal people. It is 5 to 6 times higher among Aboriginal youth then among their average non-Aboriginal peers.… (p. 1)
[25] Olive Dickason, in her book Canada’s First Nations, says the suicide rate among Natives is six times that of the nation as a whole, and she makes the bold statement that “for individuals under 25 it is the highest in the world.” (p. 411)
[26] In Choosing Life the Royal Commission says at page 2:
After extensive consultation and study, the commissioners have concluded that high rates of suicide and self injury among Aboriginal people are the result of a complex mix of social, cultural, economic and psychological dislocations that flow from the past into the present. The root causes of these dislocations lie in the history of colonial relations between Aboriginal peoples and the authorities and settlers that went on to establish ‘Canada’ and in the distortion of Aboriginal lives that resulted from that history.
We have also concluded that suicide is one of a group of symptoms, ranging from truancy and lawbreaking to alcohol and drug abuse and family violence, that are in large part interchangeable as expressions of the burden of loss, grief and anger experienced by Aboriginal people in Canadian society.
[27] As Sherman Labelle’s death is part of a Canada-wide problem, I find it appropriate to consider the history of this problem and the present-day effects of that history.
[28] The stated policy of the Canadian government, from before Confederation until the abandonment of the Liberal White Paper in 1969, was to assimilate the Aboriginal people. This meant absorbing them into the general population so completely it would be like they had never existed as a people.
… The first prime minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, soon informed Parliament that it would be Canada’s goal “to do away with the tribal system and assimilate the Indian people in all respects with the inhabitants of the Dominion.” (RCAP Report, vol. 1, p. 165)
[29] There are those who will say that this is history and the non-Aboriginal Canadians of today should not be responsible for the wrongs of our ancestors. To these people I say that we are still enjoying what our ancestors took from these people, and we should take responsibility for what they did to these people. We are responsible for what they suffer today if we continue to do nothing about it.
[30] The policy method was to make life as an Indian so miserable that Indians would not want to be Indians.
[31] The policy tools were treaties, Indian Act control, Indian reserves, Indian agents and residential schools.
[32] The policy theory was that Indians would want to leave their old ways and embrace the superior white culture. It was an expression of what by today’s standards would be regarded as the worst of bigoted white racism.
[33] While the policy has been officially abandoned, I believe that the processes it set in motion are still working towards the destruction of Indian peoples as people.
[34] The process involved assuming complete control over the lives of Indians through the provisions of the Indian Act and the totalitarian authority of Indian agents; confining them on reserves until they were sufficiently ‘civilized’ and educated to join mainstream society; taking children from their families and placing them in residential schools which were designed to ‘take the Indian out of the Indian child’ and transform them into white Christians.
[35] While the policy was unsuccessful, the injury that was done to these people in terms of social, psychological and economic privation remains with them today.
[36] Indians were promised when the treaties were signed that their way of life would be preserved and they would be able to pursue their traditional ways. Treaty 7 was signed with the Stoney, the tribes of the Blackfoot Confederacy and the Tsuu T’ina in 1877. At that time the Indians were stronger than the few whites who were on the prairies. The railway came to Alberta in 1885, soon white settlement meant that the whites outnumbered the Indians and then they began the process of taking away their freedom and their way of life. In 1885 the spiritual practice called the Sundance was declared criminal, and a pass system was instituted whereby Indians could not leave reserves without a pass from the Indian agent. Parents who did not allow their children to be taken to the residential schools could be charged criminally.
Reserves
[37] Reserves were intended as holding places where Indians would stay until they were sufficiently educated and Christianized to join ‘white’ society. I believe that what the white people did not understand is the Aboriginal concept of community. Where the white people emphasize individuality and ‘making it on your own’, the Aboriginal emphasis is on ‘relationship’. The Indian people did not want to leave their communities and embrace white society, so many have been left on reserves which are just holding places, where they have no purpose or future.
Indian agents and Indian chiefs
[38] Indian agents were used to control the reserve Indians. This colonial practice would involve obtaining the co-operation of one or two families to help control the rest. The co-operation of these families would be obtained by favouring them with extra rations and privileges. The Indian agent had virtually absolute power. He determined who received rations and who did not. A person could not run for chief without his consent. He determined who could leave the reserve and who could not. He had the authority of a judge, so he could charge, hold a trial and punish. No complaints could be taken to Indian Affairs except through the Indian agent, so there was no recourse if he was unfair. During the Second World War, the wives of Canadian soldiers received a spousal benefit. In the case of Aboriginal soldiers, the spousal benefit was paid to the Indian agent; some of them used it for the benefit of the spouse, and some of them did not. In the latter case there was no remedy.
… Under the terms of the Gradual Enfranchisement Act of 1869, traditional Indian governments were replaced by elected chiefs and councillors, and virtually all decisions required the approval of a federally appointed Indian agent and/or the minister responsible for Indian affairs.… (vol. 2, p. 760)
[39] I believe that this extremely autocratic and unfair system of government was the role model for future elected chiefs. When the use of Indian agents was discontinued in the 1960s, the families that had been used to control the others were more powerful because of the favoured position they had enjoyed under the Indian agents. Those who got their clan leader elected chief were able to continue the same colonial method of governance that they had learned from the Indian agent style of governance.
[40] Witnesses at this inquiry spoke of the powerlessness of the people. One said that they have power on one day, election day, and then it is gone for another two years. They spoke of the damage done by ‘phoney tribal custom’. This, they explained, was the concept of Indian chiefs, which are not apart of their tradition at all.
[41] This was discussed in the report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal People:
Many First Nations interveners spoke of how the Indian Act system of government had eroded traditional systems of accountability, fostered divisions within their communities, and encouraged what amounted to popularity contests. The first past the post system, whereby the greatest number of votes elected a candidate, was seen as a specially problematic. It permitted large families to gain control of the council and shut other families out of the decision-making process. (vol. 2, p. 128)
[42] The effect this has had on their health was also discussed:
…Commissioners have concluded that the lack of economic and political control that Aboriginal people continue to endure, both individually and collectively, contributes significantly to their ill health. (vol. 3, p. 199)
Residential schools
[43] Although the residential schools were mostly phased out during the 1960s, the horror of them for the Indian people and their continuing effects cannot be overstated. The RCAP Report describes many problems: cruelty, lack of proper nutrition and health care, and poor education.
The removal of children from their homes and the denial of their identity through attacks on their language and spiritual beliefs were cruel. But these practices were compounded by the too frequent lack of basic care – the failure to provide adequate food, clothing, medical services and a healthful environment, and the failure to ensure that the children were safe from teachers and staff who abused them physically, sexually, and emotionally. In educational terms too, the schools – day and residential – failed dramatically, with participation rates and grade achievement levels lagging far behind those for non-Aboriginal students. (vol. 1, p. 172)
… Children were frequently beaten severely with whips, rods and fists, chained and shackled, bound hand and foot and locked in closets, basements and bathrooms, and had their heads shaved or hair closely cropped. (vol. 1, p. 352)
… Badly built, poorly maintained and overcrowded, the schools’ deplorable conditions were a dreadful weight that pressed down on the thousands of children who attended them. For many of those children it proved to be a mortal weight. (vol. 1, p. 340)
… no less an authority than Scott [Duncan C. Scott, Department of Indian Affairs, 1879–1932] asserted that, system-wide, “fifty per cent of the children who passed through these schools did not live to benefit from the education which they received therein.” (vol. 1, p. 331)
… The system had failed to keep pace with advances in the general field of education, and because the schools were often in isolated locations and generally offered low salaries, the system had been unable to attract qualified staff. … as late as 1950, “over 40 per cent of the teaching staff had no professional training. Indeed some had not even graduated from high school.”… (vol. 1, p. 319–320)
Although the department admitted in the 1970s that the curriculum had not been geared to the children’s “sociological needs,” it did little to rectify that situation.… (vol. 1, p. 320)
[44] The lingering effect of these schools is the family dysfunction that comes from generations of Indian children being brought up in them and therefore not having the experience of being raised by their own parents, and thus not learning the parenting skills they needed to raise their own children.
Indian and Northern Affairs Canada
[45] Prior to my study of the Indian question it was my naive view that the purpose of the Department of Indian Affairs was to support and help the Indian people. I am now inclined to believe that the opposite is the case.
[46] There is no question that the department, in its various forms since Confederation, was created to implement Indian policy, and Indian policy was to contain the Indians until they were assimilated into the general population and no longer existed as distinct peoples. While the policy the department was implementing has officially changed, I believe the processes of paternalism, fostering dependency and discouraging development on reserves so that the people will move off of them are still at work.
… the Indian Act was intended to hasten the assimilation, civilization and eventual annihilation of Indian nations as distinct political, social and economic entities. It was not intended as a mechanism for embracing the Indian nations as partners in Confederation or for fulfilling the responsibilities of the treaty relationship. Rather, it focused on containment and disempowerment – not by accident or by ignorance, but as a matter of conscious and explicit policy. The breaking up of Aboriginal and treaty nations into smaller and smaller units was a deliberate step toward assimilation of Aboriginal individuals into the larger society. (RCAP Report, vol. 2, p. 84)
… The policy of assimilation had its roots in the nineteenth century, when governments in Canada and the United States – motivated by both philanthropic ideals and notions of European cultural and racial superiority – tried, through civilization and enfranchisement legislation, to eliminate distinct Indian status and to blend Indian lands into the general system. Thus, imprinted on the corporate memory of the Indian Affairs department well into this century was the attitude that Indian people required protection because they were inferior – although with proper education and religious instruction, they could be turned into productive members of society.
Such views became deeply rooted in Canadian society as a whole. As the Penner committee on Indian self-government observed in its 1983 report to Parliament, it is only since the mid-1970s that public perceptions have started to shift. Even today many Canadians subscribe to the goals elaborated by Walter Harris; they do not understand why one sector of Canadian society should have treaties with another. They continue to believe that the solution to land claims and other issues lies in Aboriginal peoples’ integration and assimilation into mainstream society. Such views are being rejected explicitly, however, in emerging international legal principles, and assimilation policies have been criticized by major religious institutions. (vol. 2, p. 532)
[47] The Royal Commission, in volume 2 of its report, Restructuring the Relationship, confirms that the whole relationship between the federal government and the Aboriginal peoples of Canada needs to be changed.
The commission recommends that:
2.3.45
The government of Canada present legislation to abolish the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and to replace it by two new departments: a Department of Aboriginal Relations and a Department of Indian and Inuit Services. (p. 354)
[48] I find the circumstances of Canadian Aboriginal people generally that should be considered in relation to this death to be as follows:
Recommendations to prevent similar deaths
[49] To prevent young Aboriginal people from taking their own lives there must be a commitment to end the tyranny that dominates and destroys their lives.
1. Prosecute crimes against Aboriginal people.
[50] I recommend that the Provincial Department of Justice establish a Special Prosecutions Branch for the Prosecution of Crimes against Aboriginal People.
[51] This branch should employ investigators from each of the Aboriginal language groups in Alberta so that investigations can be done in the language spoken by victims and accused persons.
[52] It should be given a mandate to prosecute all matters from domestic assaults to racketeering, and that mandate should specifically include investigating and prosecuting any allegations of criminal activity within Indian and Northern Affairs Canada and tribal governments.
[53] It should be given unrestricted authority to decide what cases will be dealt with by way of alternative measures and restorative justice procedures and which will be prosecuted pursuant to the Criminal Code.
[54] The evidence at this inquiry indicated a lack of programs, or weak programs, in mental health and alcohol counselling, no trauma counselling, a lack of facilities at the school, and even that the school gymnasium had been condemned for lack of maintenance. All these problems relate to funding.
[55] When I ordered an investigation in June 1997, one of my concerns was information that $50-million worth of timber had been taken off the reserve in 1995, and yet none of that money was paid to the tribal government and none was available for badly needed programs.
[56] My understanding is that the resources of this reserve are the common property of all the members of this community and yet $50-million worth of these resources were apparently removed with no accounting and no distribution to the general population, and none of it available for education, health and welfare or economic development. In my view this was a crime against the Stoney people, including Sherman Labelle, and nothing has been or is being done about it.
[57] I suggest a Special Prosecutions Branch could begin with this matter.
[58] In response to my order for an investigation, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General was reported to have said that the matter was not his jurisdiction, that it was the jurisdiction of Indian Affairs. If he said this, he was incorrect to the extent that criminal activity anywhere in the province is the jurisdiction of the provincial Minister of Justice.
[59] In his 1996 report the federal Auditor General said that there was $100-million unaccounted for in the Department of Indian Affairs. I believe that when large amounts of money are poorly accounted for, there is a very high risk of theft and fraud. If the Minister of Justice takes the position that it is not his responsibility, this will create a fertile field for corruption.
[60] Further to my order for an investigation, officials in the Department of Indian Affairs made public statements that this was not necessary because there were procedures in place that would show any problems. In August of 1997 the Stoney Reserve was placed on a remedial management plan, and on September 8, 1997, the regional office of INAC imposed third-party management on the reserve and commissioned a forensic audit on September 17, 1997.
[61] When the audit was complete Indian and Northern Affairs Canada issued edited copies to the Stoney people with a letter from the department which said:
Certain segments of the final forensic audit report have been omitted in your attached copy. These segments were removed at DIAND’s request in some cases to avoid interfering with any ongoing RCMP investigations and in other cases to ensure that the reputations of innocent persons were not inadvertently harmed.
[62] In my view if Indian Affairs has the power to select the portions of this report that are made available to the people affected by it, they also have the power to cover up any wrongdoing in their own department.
[63] I understand that this conflict and confusion in jurisdiction between the provincial and federal departments is a source of serious frustration to Aboriginal people who have grievances in relation to governance.
[64] This difficulty was dealt with in Justice on Trial: Report of the Task Force on the Criminal Justice System and its Impact on the Indian and Métis People of Alberta, otherwise known as the Cawsey Report. That report recommended the establishment of an Aboriginal Justice Commission which would have as part of its mandate:
… iii) To negotiate a framework agreement between the government of Canada, the government of Alberta, the Indians and the Métis which delineates the jurisdictional and financial responsibilities of the government of Canada and the government of Alberta toward Indians and Métis with respect to all components of the criminal justice system.
iv) the Aboriginal Justice Commission would employ an Aboriginal Advocate who would accept all complaints against any person or component of the criminal justice system, and who would ensure that all complaints are processed by existing complaint mechanisms in the criminal justice system.… (vol. 1, pt. 10.0, p. 10-4)
[65] In my study of the problems of Aboriginal peoples over the last few years, I am satisfied there is a lack of recourse for them for wrongs committed against them. A large part of this problem is the confusion in federal and provincial jurisdiction. The Aboriginal Justice Commission recommended by Justice Cawsey, which I understand was never implemented, would have gone a long way to alleviating the problem. In my view it is necessary to go further in order to give Aboriginal peoples the “equal protection of the law” to which they’re entitled by s. 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
2. Legislate honesty in the public sector.
[66] I recommend that the provincial government enact a statute that makes it an offence for any person who holds an elected position or who is employed in the public sector to make a false public statement.
[67] Such a statute should provide for penalties that include removal from office or employment, and fines in any amount deemed appropriate by a court, and that the court may direct payment of all or a portion of such fines to informants to bring the action.
[68] Further to my order for an investigation in 1997 there were many public statements made by politicians, officials of INAC and others denying that there was a problem, or indicating that if there was a problem on the Stoney Reserve, it was an exceptional case.
[69] I believe that some of these statements were false, and I believe a large part of the difficulties faced by Aboriginal people in their quest for justice is the false information about them and their problems.
3. Saturate Indian communities with wellness programs.
[70] I recommend that the provincial Department of Health and Welfare unilaterally provide health care workers to reserve communities, and that all non-Aboriginal workers be required to have an Aboriginal person in training for their position with a deadline for that Aboriginal position person to take over the position.
[71] the Royal Commission made this recommendation:
3.3.6
Federal, provincial and territorial governments collaborate with Aboriginal nations or communities, as appropriate, to
a) develop a system of healing centres to provide direct services, referral and access to specialist services;
b) develop a network of healing lodges to provide residential services oriented to family and community healing;
c) develop and operate healing centres and lodges under Aboriginal control;
d) mandate healing centres and lodges to provide integrated health and social services in culturally appropriate forms; and
e) make the service network available to First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities, in rural and urban settings, on an equitable basis. (RCAP Report, vol. 3, p. 633)
[72] The problems of physical and mental health in reserve communities are approaching what will be a national disaster. Whether this is the responsibility of the federal or provincial governments should not slow immediate steps to reverse the downward spiral that is occurring.
4. Support Aboriginal education systems.
[73] I recommend that the provincial government unilaterally provide teachers and support staff to reserve schools to ensure that the standards of education in those schools are equivalent to provincial standards.
[74] Witnesses testified to a number of students transferred from the reserve school to off-reserve schools who were found to be functioning much below the grade level they were said to be.
5. Put an end to the ignorance about Aboriginal people.
[75] I recommend that the Department of Learning create courses in Aboriginal studies that will honestly and accurately tell the story of the history of Aboriginal peoples, their contributions, their worldview, their cultures and the injustices they have suffered, and make these courses a mandatory part of the curriculum at all levels of grade school.
We emphasize the need to correct erroneous assumptions and to dispel stereotypes that still abound in the minds of many Canadians, distorting their relationships with Aboriginal people. Accurate information about the history and cultures of the Aboriginal peoples and nations, the role of treaties in the formation of Canada, and the distinctive contributions of Aboriginal people to contemporary Canada should form part of every Canadian student’s education. (vol. 3, pp. 463–464)
[76] My own experience in this regard is that I was a judge for almost 20 years and knew virtually nothing about these people although I exercised the power of a judge over them. When Cochrane became a part of the jurisdiction for which I am the resident judge I made a commitment to educate myself about the Stoney people in particular and Aboriginal justice issues in general. What I have learned has been a most troubling lesson, but I firmly believe that if it is not generally known, it will continue, and I do not believe that the people of Canada would allow the plight of the Aboriginal people to continue if only they knew more about it.
6. Support the creation of broad-based First Nation governments.
[77] I recommend that the provincial government provide funding for members of First Nations in Alberta to hold meetings for the purpose of uniting their local communities to form broad-based First Nations governments.
[78] I recommend that the provincial government consider creating electoral districts which would be comprised of groupings of Aboriginal communities so that there would be MLAs elected by an Aboriginal electorate.
[79] The Royal Commission dealt with the distinction between the terms ‘First Nation’ and ‘local community’:
First Nations hold differing views regarding the most appropriate level for governmental institutions. These differences are reflected in the varying ways in which the term First Nation is used. Sometimes it is used in a broad sense to indicate a body of Indian people whose members have a shared sense of national identity based on a common heritage, situation and outlook, including such elements as history, language, culture, spirituality, ancestry and homeland. Under this usage, a First Nation would often be composed of a number of local communities living on distinct territorial bases. However, in other instances the term First Nation is used in a narrow sense to identify a single local community of Indian people living on its own territorial base, often a reserve governed by the Indian Act. (vol. 2, p. 150)
The Commission considers the right of self-determination to be vested in Aboriginal nations rather than small local communities. By Aboriginal nation we mean a sizable body of Aboriginal people with a shared sense of national identity that constitutes the predominant population in a certain territory or group of territories. There are 60 to 80 historically based nations in Canada at present, comprising a thousand or so local Aboriginal communities. (vol. 2, p. 158)
The Commission recommends that
2.3.7
All governments in Canada recognize that the right of self-government is vested in Aboriginal nations rather than small local communities. (vol. 2, p. 224)
[80] I believe that the formation of First Nations governments in the larger sense described by the Royal Commission would make it more difficult to perpetrate the abuses of power that apparently occur in the small local communities, and the larger nations would have the capacity to create institutions which would be a recourse for members of the local communities.
[81] I believe that if groups of reserve communities were to make up a single electoral district, established political parties would become more active in political activities in those Aboriginal communities and it would both educate the people in relation to real democracy, and give them a voice in government.
7. Support the abolition of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada
[82] I recommend that the provincial government take a position with the federal government that it supports the abolition of INAC and the reallocation of funding that presently is disbursed by that department to change the power structure of Aboriginal people.
[83] I cannot believe that the abuses of power that have occurred in this tribal government have happened without the knowledge and even the complicity of the officials in the Department of Indian Affairs.
[84] Witnesses at this inquiry spoke of the department being unwilling or unable to help with the problems on the reserve.
[85] The problem of Indian policy was once described to me as a funnel – all the money and power comes through this funnel but most of the money gets stuck in the top of it and never gets to the people for whom it is intended.
[86] I suggest that the Aboriginal people of Canada would be much better off if the federal government abolished the department and all of its programs and paid the money out to Aboriginal families in an amount which, after tax, would give them a living wage. I say after tax because a portion of it should be taxed to First Nations governments so that they could provide services, but it should go to the people first and then from the people to the government so that it is clear that the people have the power.
8. Support economic development in Aboriginal communities.
[87] The Royal Commission says this about economic development:
Three problems need to be solved to create a safe environment for development. First, a way needs to be found to separate and limit powers. If power is concentrated in a few hands, and if there are few constraints on its exercise, there is a strong risk that those with power will use it in their own interests, possibly at the expense of others in the community. Second, there must be a means to settle disputes that is open and impartial and provides the assurance of the fair hearing, with judgment rendered by a body not controlled by government or any community faction. Third, a way needs to be found to guard against inappropriate political involvement in the day-to-day decisions of business ventures or economic development institutions. (vol. 2, p. 811)
[88] I believe reserve communities could be valuable economic units that could contribute to the economy of this province. Supporting economic development on reserves would also allow young people the ability to stay in their communities and be employed. There are serious problems that will have to be overcome to do this, but the alternative is the continuing despair of young Aboriginal people.
9. Demand accountability in Aboriginal matters
[89] I recommend that the provincial government demand that the federal government and INAC put strict guidelines on monies paid out, so that they in fact go to the people for whom they are intended.
Governments with the authority and responsibility to spend public funds for particular purposes should be held accountable for such expenditures, primarily by their citizens and also by other governments from which they receive fiscal transfers. In the context of Aboriginal governments, it is our view that this accountability rests with the Aboriginal nation rather than individual communities. Funding arrangements should reflect this basic objective, allowing for processes and systems of accountability that are both explicit and transparent. (vol. 2, p. 268)
[90] At present it is extremely difficult to prosecute fraudulent transactions in Aboriginal matters because there are insufficient controls and guidelines on how money is to be used. While there are not yet First Nations governments to demand this accountability from local communities, it is all the more necessary that the federal government provide guidelines and controls.
Summary
[91] Suicides amongst Aboriginal people are the result of the history of injustices they have suffered and continued to suffer. In order to prevent similar deaths, the injustices must be eliminated. I have herein set out the first steps that I believe should be taken in this regard.
[92] Finally, I acknowledge the federal government for establishing the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. The report of this commission is an exhaustive work on the history and condition of the Aboriginal people of Canada and has been of great assistance to me in my efforts to understand the Aboriginal people and Aboriginal justice issues. My only difficulty with the report is that the material becomes buried in its own length. I have herein extracted portions that I believe to be most relevant to the condition of Aboriginal people in relation to the death of Sherman Labelle.
Dated this 16th day of September 1999,
John Reilly P.C.J.