First Nations and Métis people already feel they have been clobbered by the political and judicial tool Eyre is now swinging.
If you are a provincial government convinced that your biggest problem is federal government overreach, it stands to reason you’d want the best political and legal tool to stop it.
Who can blame them? We all have in some corner of our garage or cupboards that bright and shiny device we bought because we thought at the time it would be a cool thing to have.
The shiny new tool is now theirs. It slices. It dices — even through the thickest of federal infringement.
Yet even before Premier Scott Moe and Justice Minister Bronwyn Eyre could unwrap it from its package, they discovered it might be dangerously sharp.
Métis and First Nations leaders had come from all corners of the province to have their say on Bill 88. They didn’t get much of a say while the bill was being developed, and they weren’t allowed to speak to it on the floor of the legislature.
After its passage, they had plenty to say.
“I heard Minister Eyre say (Wednesday): ‘Well, if makes them feel comfortable’ (there could be more consultation),” said Michelle LeClair, vice-president of the Métis Nation of Saskatchewan. “Using that term and being almost dismissive of our rights doesn’t make me comfortable.”
Now adding to that is the government’s decision during bill debate to dismiss an amendment from NDP justice critic Nicole Sarauer, calling for First Nations and Métis representation on the Saskatchewan First bill’s tribunal that will be struck to determine “economic harm” of federal policies.
And then there was the government’s own afterthought amendment to the bill, moved by Athabasca MLA Jim Lemairgre, to ensure treaty rights were at least recognized in this constitutional legislation.
“It will likely end up in the courts and we’ll see how constitutional it is,” a disgusted LeClair told reporters..
It’s no small irony that First Nations and Métis people feel they have been clobbered by that political and judicial tool Eyre is now swinging at the feds.
Remember: This legislation was supposed to be about bringing Saskatchewan people together at a time when they are under siege from the federal government.
This week it culminated in passage of the bill — a combination judicial/political tool that’s the first of its kind in the country.
Eyre — who spent much of five hours in legislature Wednesday waxing on about how the bill builds on the brilliance demonstrated by Peter Lougheed and Allan Blakeney to ensure exclusive jurisdiction over our natural resources — praised her uniquely innovative tool.
But besides already frustrating First Nations and Métis people, the act simply won’t work, the NDP argues.
But even as political tool, NDP leader Carla Beck questions its usefulness. She harkened to a comment she heard from a Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM) delegate who told her: “Sometimes governments forget where the line is between partisan politics and actual governing.”
The impact of this “political stunt” is that it has set back reconciliation and distracted the Sask. Party government from what it should be doing, Beck said.
It’s a tool, but the book is still out on whether it’s good for anything.
Mandryk is the political columnist for the Regina Leader-Post and the Saskatoon StarPhoenix.
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