A new relationship with First Nations Campbell's plan was so sensitive that his last cabinet was frozen out
Les Leyne Special to Times Colonist June 17, 2005 http://www.canada.com/victoria/timescolonist/news/comment/story.html? id=58dcf9fe-7851-4c1e-a40f-d2d6e0c7154e Premier Gordon Campbell made a start Thursday at publicly unveiling the new relationship with First Nations that his office has been working quietly on for months. The document at the heart of initiative, discussed here last week, is a draft agreement between the province and the leaders of B.C. natives that holds out the prospect of a new government-to-government relationship, with "shared decision-making" on land and resource issues. Revenue and benefit-sharing are also included, based on recognizing aboriginal title "in its full form." There is also discussion of new institutions and structures to make the new relationship work at ground level. But there's an unsettling story making the rounds about how this deal is being handled that Campbell's fresh new cabinet might be interested in. The draft agreement has been mostly the work of Campbell and a few key people from the last cabinet, like Geoff Plant and Murray Coell. A lot of the work at the staff level was done by two deputy ministers: Lorne Brownsey, deputy for treaty negotiations; and Jessica McDonald, then deputy to the premier for strategic planning. When it came time to share the draft with the government overall, it was presented to a meeting of various other deputy ministers about one week before the May 17 election. After outlining the implications and ramifications of the proposed new relationship, of which there are many, McDonald instructed them not to share the document with their ministers. And those instructions, in turn, came directly from the premier. The election timing was a factor in that instruction. The government was obviously in a state of flux, and the ministers were suspended in that limbo between the start of the campaign and the return of the election writ. They still had the legal standing as ministers of the Crown, but were traditionally limited in exercising authority. There were also considerations about respecting process on the native side. The provincial government is anxious not to get in the way of any First Nations deliberations that would lead to ratification in some form. So Campbell froze his cabinet out. He might have had valid intentions, but deliberately keeping elected representatives out of the loop on a fundamental provincial course change is an odd way to run a government. They were lame-duck ministers by that point, close to their time-expired date. But the idea of one deputy telling other deputies not to tell their elected cabinet ministers what's going down has some people perturbed. Campbell moved capable Vernon lawyer Tom Christensen from the education portfolio to the new post of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation and stressed that his new job is one of the "core commitments" of his government. The "reconciliation" involves matching First Nations goals with the provincial government's goals, and also reconciling legal rights and obligations that have been established with the day-to-day operations of government, Campbell told reporters after his new cabinet was sworn in. Christensen has been told to lead a cross-government effort to advance the new relationship. Campbell said: "In every ministry and every sector we will foster new working partnerships with First Nations that will move us beyond the barriers of the past to new horizons of hope for every British Columbian." McDonald was subsequently promoted to be the premier's senior deputy minister and secretary to the cabinet, a promotion that emphasizes the priority of this new relationship push. The new ministers were briefed immediately on this big new push, but given how the earlier briefings were conducted, they should remember to stay in close touch with their deputies. Just So You Know: The premier is "focused like a laser" on achieving the five goals outlined in the election campaign. But I'm focused like ... well, like a keychain flashlight on what he's going to do about the referendum results. He said the 57-per-cent support for changing the voting system was a very big deal and he has to respect the result. But then he said he's not going to change the 60-per-cent minimum rule, so it's not going to pass. Then he said he's going to respond to the spirit of the Citizens' Assembly, but not going to duplicate its work. Then there's talk about new direct citizen involvement and "digital democracy" (not the kind you see on the campaign buses, where they raise their finger as you go by). Which doesn't shed much light on anything. Whatever he comes up with, NDP Leader Carole James is being invited to be a part of it: The two will sit down for a parley on that and other matters shortly. 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