Ottawa organizing big day for aborginals next week

IQALUIT – Ottawa officials are organizing a special day of ceremonies and festivities next week to mark the announcement of the federal government’s response to the report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples.

A DIAND official said this week that ­ barring last-minute schedule changes ­ Indian Affairs Minister Jane Stewart will make the announcement at around 12:00 noon, Jan. 7, in the reading room of the House of Commons centre block building in Ottawa.

The heads of Canada’s four national aboriginal organizations ­ the Assembly of First Nations, the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada, the Metis National Council and the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples ­ will attend the event, along with all of the RCAP’s former commissioners.

Chaired by Rene Dussault, a Quebec court judge, and George Erasmus, a former AFN grand chief, the commission released its 3,500 page report in November 1996.

The mammoth document took six years and $58 million to finish.

Stewart is neverthless expected to make a statement that “will address the entire RCAP report,” the DIAND official said.

Stories leaked to the Globe and Mail and Southam newspapers in mid-December speculate that Stewart will announce a new aboriginal fund, part of which will be used for healing centres to treat survivors of abuse in federally-sponsored residential schools.

The healing centre money is expected to range between $100-$200 million, and will likely be managed by an aboriginal board.

Ottawa consulted with AFN officials about the fund earlier this year, but there’s little sign that federal officials talked to anyone from Canada’s other three aboriginal organizations.

There’s still no official word on how much of that fund will available to Inuit.

Stewart is also expected to make a “statement of reconciliation” with aboriginal people.