Reconciliation will take ‘generations’ to fulfill: Crown Minister | Power Play with Mike Le Couteur

Minister Ananda sangui welcome back to Power Play thanks for make take taking the time with us great to be here on National indigenous people’s day Mike yeah and you are there in Nova Scotia where your government just announced $6 million per year for Education infrastructure to the mcmah kinam manoi uh plus $125 million for proposed settlement agreement how important are those steps to be taken today these are critical steps um you know all across count Canada we’ve been ensuring that first of all past harms are corrected um you know we cannot bring back the past but we can definitely do uh the right thing in terms of redressing it uh so the $125 million in terms of the settlement uh represents you know almost a 45 year uh battle uh by the community and Leadership that has uh been persistent in ensuring that their rights uh are are recognized by Canada and and today we were able to to sign that agreement um with the migma um broadly Noah Scotia the MK agreement education sectorial agreement is critical education is at the core of some of the challenges we have had with indigenous people especially with residential schools and so on um so this agreement uh confirms what we’ve been doing since uh the 1990s ensuring that there’s self-determination over education for the magma in Nova Scotia um just by way of uh reference over 90% % of kids who are in the school system uh who are migma within the schools um graduate it is higher than in fact the provincial averages um it is remarkable what happens when uh people have control over their lives and over their systems and this includes uh the Investments we’re making which which in fact totals 125 million over five years um and 160 million is the additional annual um amount that’s that’s going towards education uh essentially enables communities to invest in languages invest in infrastructure invest in their teachers you know we were here with the Prime Minister today and one of the teachers received the prime minister’s teaching award the first McMan teacher to receive that so we have uh we are making progress uh here and and I think this is a reaffirmation uh that we need to continuously invest uh in in education uh as well as in communities yeah we’ll talk a bit uh about that a little later on but there have been some reports that your government plans to publicly apologize for the Discrimination faced by First Nations children and their families because of the federal government’s child welfare policies can you confirm that that is going to happen look you know we we have to do some work around it we we definitely are committed to um the broader sense ensure that uh we take accountability uh for past actions where the federal government has failed in its duties um we have to um consult obviously with uh not just the Assembly of first Nations but others who are part of of the the broader um conversations around child welfare so we are looking forward to those engagements and discussions but in principle I think our government is very much focused on uh on acknowledging past harms and and ensuring that that we we apologize and we are sorry for uh what’s happened on on a range of issues and and we’ve already done that with residential schools for example so you saying that official apology will be happening and will it be happening in Parliament well I think the the nature and scope of it needs to be uh co-developed with indigenous people uh and and that’s the work that we still need to do before we finalize how um and and what venue and and and how the apology takes place okay on a day like today we like to reflect back on the progress that has been made but also what is to come and there is a sense from indigenous First Nations and mate groups that your government is making slower progress than at the start of the liberal mandate in 2015 how do you respond to to that criticism I think the uh the way I would respond is you know there’s two ways to to to look at this you know one is um from an investment perspective uh our investments in in indigenous communities have uh increased uh triple uh that of when we took office uh we have close to $160 billion in Investments over the last nine years just this year alone in budget 2024 we have Investments of of um 32 billion dollar that’s going towards indigenous communities um look the the pace of progress is frustrating and and I fully recognize that when we can you know look at uh specific issues where uh you know we may not have uh fully um um fulfilled all of the things that we need to do but when we need to do things not just for experiencing but also we need to do it right so I can give you an example um call to action um 43 and 44 is about the United Nations Declaration on the rights of indigenous people so that is part of uh the TRC calls to action one one of those 43 calls for us to adopt and implement the UN declaration we adopted in 2017 we brought into legislation in 2021 uh we brought the action plan in 2023 which essentially is a review of laws and our practices now we have uh delivered just day or two ago an annual report um on the action plan um and we’re continuously uh trying to reach those targets but these are going to take Generations um Mike this is not something that we can do overnight especially when we do it in the right way um with indigenous people as partners um and not as adversaries and and when we try to co-develop and work on these processes it it does take time uh but I am absolutely confident that we’re on the right track um since 2015 we we have changed the trajectory um in terms of closing the Gap um ensuring that there’s long-term um uh self-determination over many aspects of people’s lives including the water legislation that’s before the house right now including c92 which was passed and and reaffirmed uh as as something we could do by the Supreme Court um as well as implementation of arm DP so I am I’m very positive that we’re on the right direction but I also share the frustration of of of the um of the delays sometimes or or or the the speed at which uh this is moving forward yeah and I take your point that sometimes some of these changes will take Generations but do you think then that your government when coming in in 2015 set expectations way too high because there were certain deadlines like eliminating all uh water crisises on uh indigenous and First Nations territories you you know originally that deadline was for 2021 and and we know now that that didn’t happen so did your government promised too much too quickly and not properly temper expectations because right now you’re saying that some of these things are are going to take Generations well look we’re an ambitious government when it comes to reconciliation it is the number one issue for the Prime Minister this is the number one relationship for the Prime Minister and our government and it’s a whole of government approach so when we look at something like water clean water it’s a basic right um every um person should have a right to water um uh we have have lifted over 144 boiled water advisories in communities um that is uh there a remarkable number but we still have 30 more communities that are on boil water advisories and for each and every one of them we have a plan um one of the challenges with water over the years is that it was an Ottawa driven approach where Ottawa would you know order 10 systems and deliver it to 10 communities without the training the support or even the wishes of the community but now the way we’re doing it is a self-determined approach one where uh FR Nation communities actually um look at their design look look to look at the procurement and train um local members to be able to uh to sustain uh the systems that they’re putting in place um of course this is a source of frustration for us however I do believe that progress is being made and and we will ensure that clean water will be in every Community they make no mistake um see 61 is a piece of legislation that Minister haidu um introduced it’s now before the committee um it is is a critical piece of legislation that looks at water not just from the the communities that don’t have water but a longer term view of custodianship of water uh by indigenous people uh and and that’s I believe again a longer term piece that is embedded into the conversation about water Minister we’re running out of time but I wanted to ask you the Canadian Human Rights tribunal is getting ready to hear another non-comp L’s motion on Jordan’s principle because of serious ongoing harms advocacy groups are wondering if your government is really committed to reconciliation uh then why does Canada continue to discriminate against first nation’s children that is their words how do you respond to that criticism well let me be very clear um there is still work to do on a range of issues relating to uh child welfare for example but we are on the right track if you look at the decision um by by the government to um you know essentially invest over $40 billion dollar towards designing and developing new child welfare systems that is a significant amount of Investments and that is unpre precedented in Canadian history so we’re making um enormous efforts towards addressing uh past harms but not just addressing it but also to say the systems need to change and we are working towards establishing and developing new systems that are driven and controlled by uh indigenous people and that is something that we cannot go backwards on um look on on on any day there are a number of litigation that’s outstanding um you know with the government and and we’re working through um through them uh you know that’s one of the things that I do as as minister of crown indigenous relations Is to work through them and to ensure that that we have uh Fair settlements that are outside of the court system and we will continue to engage in a manner that is um trauma informed and that that doesn’t ret traumatize families and individuals and children uh who’ve gone through very difficult times

Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Gary Anandasangaree says reconciliation efforts are on the right path but will take ‘generations’ to fulfill.

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