Ontario Regional Chief disappointed at lack of First Nations vision in leaders' debate

Ontario Regional Chief Isadore Day is disappointed leaders of Canada’s federal parties failed to commit to fully involving First Nations in Canada’s energy and resource economies.

Day, in a release issued on Friday in reaction to Thursday’s federal leaders’ debate, said without the full engagement of Canada’s First Nations, the country’s economy will remain broken.

None of the leaders offered any vision or solutions, he went on to say.

“Instead of ripping and shipping our raw resources, why not acknowledge that First Nations can take charge of responsible development and value-added refining and manufacturing here in Canada? The fact remains that Canada has lost at least two decades of opportunity to fully involve First Nations in the economy. Canada's economy is broken and can only be fixed by fully engaging with First Nations in Canada,” Day said.

In 1996 the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples predicted First Nations could play a major role in Canada’s economy, but only in they received a significant land based that would allow them to generate their own economies.

Successive governments have failed on this front, Day said in the release.

“Imagine for a moment. If First Nations here in Ontario had complete control of our traditional lands, there is no doubt we would not be suffering abject poverty. We could be the proponents and partners in major energy and resource developments. We could ensure that these projects are as environmentally sustainable as possible, and monitored for healthy ecological co-existence,” he said.

“Instead, we have crumbling infrastructure in our communities and no significant energy and transportation infrastructure to make major resource projects viable.”

Day said the government shouldn’t have to boast about a $1.9-billion surplus achieve through cuts and layoffs.

“There could easily have been a $19-billion surplus achieved through the revenues generated by First Nation resource development companies.”