By Karen Cay

Outreach and Engagement Session on Urban Aboriginal Governance

Nov 19, 2019 | 10:24 AM

John Hanikenne, President of the Coalition of Aboriginal Peoples of Saskatchewan Launches Outreach and Engagement Sessions on Urban Aboriginal Governance

The Coalition of Aboriginal Peoples of Saskatchewan (CAPS) has received funding from the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples to launch a series of engagement and outreach sessions focused on governance and membership.

The ultimate goal of our work is to achieve representative, responsible and effective urban Aboriginal governance throughout Saskatchewan.

This is a welcome initiative since the field of governance and policy in regard to Aboriginal self-government is limited, complex and demanding.

“Aboriginal people are developing innovative models of urban governance and there are many new and evolving structural and governance arrangements. We want to learn more about these self-government arrangements, as well as the successful approaches that can be used to structure urban Aboriginal governments in Saskatchewan. With the majority of the Aboriginal population in Saskatchewan now living off reserve and primarily in urban centres, it’s urgent to get on with this work,” said President Hanikenne.

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Establishing self-government arrangements will not be an easy task; however, a new generation of Aboriginal people are ready to work in a collaborative way to produce innovations to address the demographic reality.

One thing is certain – the Daniels case has clearly answered the longstanding question of whether or not Métis and non-status Indians are a federal responsibility under s. 91(24) of the Constitution Act, 1867. The Supreme Court of Canada answered “yes” to the question and if the federal government fails to extend its programs and services to non-status Indians and Métis, it may well be in violation of s.15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which requires that all individuals be treated equally under the law.

When various models of urban Aboriginal self-government are being considered, the underlying need is flexibility.

For example, a federal House of Commons Committee studying the subject reviewed three different approaches:

1) nation specific models involving Aboriginal people with a common heritage who would maintain directly or indirectly connection with a land based government;

2) urban Aboriginal residents, regardless of status, treaty, nationality or other criteria, could form a governing body over certain institutions or jurisdictions;

3) reserves could be established in an urban setting and they could exercise self-governing powers either as nation-specific or on a pan-Aboriginal basis.

The Coalition of Aboriginal Peoples of Saskatchewan (CAPS) is a political advocacy organization representing the rights and interests of status and non-status Indians living off-reserve and Métis. Founded in 2006, CAPS is an affiliate member of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples one of the five national representative Aboriginal organizations in Canada.