Ron Irwin packs it in

TODD PHILLIPS

The man who held one of the toughest jobs in the country called it quits.

Ron Irwin, the minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, sent out a statement last week saying he won’t seek re-election as MP for Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.

“This is a personal choice I have made and I am looking forward to being able to enjoy more time with my family and friends,” Irwin said.

“It has been an honour for me to serve the government of Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and the residents of Sault Ste. Marie.”

Irwin was first elected to the House of Commons in 1980, was re-elected in 1993 and appointed to Chrétien’s first cabinet.

During that time, Irwin had to deal with the rising expectations of aboriginal Canadians, many of whom began to speak out more forcefully after the violent confrontations between aboriginal people and police in Oka, Quebec, in 1990.

Irwin was also running the department that was expected to do something concrete about the findings of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples.

That commission criss-crossed the country gathering extensive evidence of abuse, neglect and racism that many aboriginal Canadians have been subjected to at the hands of their governments and fellow Canadians.

During his reign, he also clashed with several native leaders, some of whom have gone so far as to call him a white supremacist.

Respected by Inuit

Northern Inuit leaders say they grew to respect the man who favoured allowing local people make decisions instead of forcing his will upon them.

“We will definitely miss him,” says NTI president Jose Kusugak.

Kusugak says Irwin allowed the people of Nunavut to decide for themselves where their capital should be located and whether to accept gender parity for Nunavut’s first legislature.

“It makes us accountable to our own decisions,” Kusugak said.

Irwin also “stuck his neck out” for the Inuit of Nunavut by pushing for the $150 million in federal money to build Nunavut’s infrastructure and for approving the deal that will see a consortium of Inuit birthright corporations build and own that infrastructure, Kusugak says.

Although he’d like to see the next government appoint an aboriginal person to head the Indian Affairs ministry, Kusugak says Inuit leaders will work with whoever takes over from Irwin.

“To the Elders, Chiefs, Aboriginal, Metis and Inuit peoples who have befriended me and taught me, meegwetch,” Irwin said in the statement announcing his plans to retire from politics.