Snider Lecture: Frank Iacobucci on improving relations between Aboriginal, Canadian governments

Canada's historical interactions with Aboriginal Peoples has largely been dark and dysfunctional, but going forward, it’s possible, and necessary to build a more fair and harmonious relationship.

That was the urgent message Frank Iacobucci delivered at the University of Toronto Mississauga for the 2016 Snider Lecture on Tuesday, Sept. 27,2016. Held at the Kaneff Centre, the free community event featured a frank talk by the former Supreme Court of Canada judge and former U of T administrator and professor about the systemic racism indigenous people have endured under the discriminatory practices of Canadian governments and Christian churches, and how this has contributed to their current socioeconomic disadvantages. He also shared his vision for shaping a new relationship between Canadian and Aboriginal governments that involves respect for different cultural values.

Iacobucci was the federal government’s representative in the negotiations that led to the 2005 Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement. The $2.5 billion settlement acknowledged the approximately 86,000 native Canadians who had been removed from their families as children and placed in Canadian residential schools during the 1900s. He also served as an independent reviewer for the Ontario government on the issue of underrepresentation of First Nations people on juries. Currently, Iacobucci represents the provincial government in its negotiations with the chiefs of the Matawa Tribal Council on resource developments in the Ring of Fire, a mineral-rich region located northeast of Thunder Bay.

“In over 55 years in the law, I have never encountered issues more complex than those relating to Aboriginal Peoples. It involves a confluence of history, anthropology, sociology, economics, politics, political science and, of course, the law,” Iacobucci says.

Iacobucci began his talk by discussing the various land treaties First Nations people signed with British and Canadian governments starting in the 18th century, which led to them losing their ancestral land and their status as a sovereign nation. He also covered the intergenerational trauma resulting from indigenous peoples being forced to attend residential schools designed to “knock the Indianness out of them” and assimilate them into society. He described how this legacy of racial discrimination and human rights abuse against Aboriginal people has had lasting effects that today, contribute to their relatively low quality of life marked by substandard housing, poor education attainment rates, high unemployment, even inadequate water sanitation.

However, Iacobucci is encouraged by the fact all provincial governments in Canada now have ministries for Aboriginal affairs, and that Canada has enshrined provisions for indigenous people in its constitution. For this progress to continue, he said, Canadians must educate themselves more about the history and culture of indigenous people. As well, he said, the relationship between Canadian and Aboriginal governments must evolve into a true partnership based on mutual trust and respect, and involving meaningful participation on both sides.

“It’s about working together, not in a courtroom fighting each other, but across the table…on the challenges and issues facing indigenous communities,” Iacobucci said.

The Snider lecture included a traditional indigenous welcome by Cat Criger, UTM’s Aboriginal Elder in Residence, and was followed by a reception with hors d’oeuvres inspired by the culinary traditions of the Anishnaabe peoples, such as bison chipotle sausage, wild rice casserole and iced sweet grass tea.