Lubicon Lake Indian Nation
Little Buffalo Lake, AB
403-629-3945
FAX: 403-629-3939
Mailing address:
3536 - 106 Street
Edmonton, AB T6J 1A4
403-436-5652
FAX: 403-437-0719
April 4, 1991
Enclosed for your information are a couple of newspaper articles on
the preliminary report of a Commission created by Canadian Prime
Minister Brian Mulroney to try and deflect public attention away
from his back room efforts to contain the growing constitutional
crisis in Canada. As a slight-of-hand artist Mr. Mulroney has
clearly pocketed the pea once too often.
Not surprisingly the primary conclusion of the Commission is that
the biggest problem facing the country is Mr. Mulroney and the
government he heads. In fact Canadian political leaders in general
don't fare much better.
Also noteworthy is what Commission Chairman Keith Spicer describes
as the near unanimous view of Canadians that aboriginal people in
Canada have been unfairly treated, that the treatment of Canada's
aboriginal people has "besmirched" Canada's international human
rights reputation, that the treatment of Canada's aboriginal people
offends collective Canadian principles of "caring and fairness,"
and that the Canadian Federal Government must resolve questions of
aboriginal land rights, aboriginal self-government, etc.
Attachment #1: re-printed without permission from The Edmonton
Journal, Thursday, March 21, 1991
CANADA DISGUSTED -- SPICER
Forum faults leaders
Joan Bryden
Southam News
Ottawa
Canadians are disgusted with politicians, dislike official
bilingualism and are prepared to see Quebec separate rather than
give the province special status, the Spicer commission has found.
Those are some of the primary themes the commission has discovered
since it was created last November by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney
to find out what kind of country Canadians want.
The Citizens' Forum on Canada's Future, headed by Keith Spicer, is
still consulting with Canadians and will not report to Mulroney
until July 1.
But the commission released a preliminary report late Wednesday
analysing the main concerns expressed so far by more than 75,000
Canadians in discussion groups, written briefs and on the
commission's toll-free hotline.
The biggest issue so far has turned out to be politicians -- and
Mulroney himself.
"Overwhelmingly, participants have told us that they have lost
faith in the political system and its leadership," the report says.
"Anger, disillusion and a desire for fundamental change is very
often the first issue raised in discussion groups and usually
produces unanimous agreement."
Canadians are suggesting a variety of ways -- referenda, direct
election of the prime minister, impeachment or recall mechanisms --
to ensure that politicians reflect the wishes of the people.
The report says that Mulroney is frequently the target of
complaints. Nevertheless, it concludes that the prime minister's
position is a lightening rod for "many frustrations that have
little to do with the incumbent personally."
The report says the value most cherished by participants so far "is
the notion of individual equality, with no special treatment for
any group".
Indeed, the notion of equality is so strong that "the majority
accept Quebec's separation if the negotiations to retain it would
result in inequality among the provinces or preferential treatment
for Quebec or would unduly damage Canada's capacity to address
overarching national issues."
Canadians generally support the principle of bilingualism and
multi-culturalism but only as "worthy personal and individual
goals." They "almost uniformly" reject government imposed
bilingualism and federal funding for multicultural groups.
"A majority of participants lean either to delegating jurisdiction
over languages to the provinces or having French as the official
language in Quebec and English as the official language everywhere
else."
Other findings include:
**Canadians are deeply worried about the economy and look to the
federal government to resolve economic problems.
**Canadians almost unanimously feel aboriginal people have been
treated unfairly and the federal government must resolve land
claims, demands for self-government and other issues.
**Canadians are not overly knowledgeable about the division of
powers between Ottawa and the provinces. But they appear to favor
a relatively strong federal government with power over
international affairs, the economy and regional equalization and
with power to enforce national standards in health care and
education and to maintain national symbols and institutions.
The commission has so far received almost 65,000 phone calls, 3,000
letters and briefs, 5,000 individual reports and almost 1,500
reports from discussion groups.
The report notes that Quebecers don't appear to be interested in
the forum. Only 16 per cent of calls to the hotline are from
Quebec, only 11.5 per cent from francophones.
"The relative silence from Quebec is deafening," the report says.
Attachment #2: re-printed without permission from The Globe and
Mail, Thursday, March 21, 1991
CANADIANS DEMAND RADICAL CHANGE, SPICER FORUM SAYS
Participants have told us that they have lost faith in the
political system and leadership, interim report states
by Michael Valpy
The Globe and Mail
TORONTO
Canadians not only desire but demand radical political change as
the means of regaining faith in the legitimacy of their
governments, the Citizens' Forum on Canada's Future says in an
interim report made public last night.
"They're talking referenda, impeaching. There is almost an 18th-
century French flavour to it all," Keith Spicer, chairman of the
forum, said in an interview.
The report says: "Overwhelmingly, participants have told us that
they have lost faith in the political system and its leadership.
"Anger, disillusion and a desire for fundamental change is very
often the first issue raised in discussion groups, and usually
produces unanimous agreement.
"Canadians are telling us that their leaders must understand and
accept their vision of the country -- that their leaders must be
governed by the wishes of the people, and not the other way
around."
The report says this anger and disillusionment has "no apparent
regional variation."
However, Mr. Spicer said Quebec politicians are somewhat more
trusted by their electorate than is the case elsewhere in Canada.
The report appeared without warning on the eve of Mr. Spicer's
scheduled appearance before what is expected to be a hostile House
of Commons committee investigating the forum's administration and
spending. (Mr. Spicer had said earlier that he could not be
available to the committee when it wanted him.)
Asked last night if today's committee appearance and the release of
the report are connected, Mr. Spicer said: "We're not smart enough
to be sinister."
The forum was created by the federal government last year as a
vehicle for gathering the views of ordinary Canadians in the wake
of the failure to ratify the Meech Lake constitutional accord.
It has sought to harvest opinion by means of thousands of small
discussion groups across the country and the use of toll-free
telephone lines to its headquarters in Ottawa.
Given a huge mandate and a brief few months to do its work -- the
deadline for the final report is July 1 -- the forum has been
dogged from birth by controversy, conflict and cynicism.
Mr. Spicer said last night that about 145,000 Canadians have now
participated in the forum's work. He acknowledged that few of them
have been Quebeckers -- about 5,000 -- but he called it "promising"
and a "good start".
"We're going to be going in there," he said. "We're not boycotting
Quebec -- although the nationalist elite are attacking us." The
rumour is that Mr. Spicer will face a heavy attack from Bloc
Quebecois members of the parliamentary committee.
The forum's interim report said Canadians have made many specific
and concrete proposals on how the country should be run, including
holding referendums on constitutional change, reforming the Senate,
directly electing the prime minister and electing cabinet ministers
to specific portfolios, limiting the number of terms that elected
representatives can hold office and instituting such instruments as
recall and impeachment mechanisms.
"These recommendations are revolutionary in Canadian terms in their
desire to take control of the national agenda back into the hands
of the citizens," the report says.
Mr. Spicer added: "Citizenship has not been a word that Canadians
have been gargling with over the years."
He said he was surprised by the report's data on aboriginal issues.
The report says national consensus on aboriginal issues is
"astonishing, verging on unanimity."
"(Canadians) tell us that aboriginal peoples in Canada have been
unfairly treated, that this has besmirched our international
reputation and that it offends our collective principles of caring
and fairness.
"They are somewhat reluctant to engage in detailed discussion of
self-government and land claims, citing lack of understanding of
complex issues. They consider that the federal government, in
particular, must resolve these issues with the aboriginal
leadership."
Bilingualism -- along with multiculturalism -- are endorsed by a
majority as "worthy personal and individual goals."
--- FD 1.99c
* Origin: Lubicon News Station: Edmonton, Alberta Canada (89:682/32)
--
Terri Kelly - via IMEx node 89:681/1
Terri.Kelly@f32.n682.z89.onebdos.UUCP