Indigenous-provincial relationship is a long road. Danielle Smith is making potholes

Apologies (and their evil twins, non-apologies) are so firmly etched into the political playbook that there's not only a rich treasury of journalism on their typologies, political scientists have also enriched many academic journals with studies and analyses.

The ideal apology is one that acknowledges the mistake, expresses remorse and makes amends.

There's not much love in the literature for the conditional "if" apology, the sort of one Premier Danielle Smith delivered a day after saying the provincial government gets "treated the exact same way from Ottawa" as First Nations do.

It doesn't tend to land well, after all, when non-Indigenous people compare their plight to those bearing the intergenerational trauma of land dispossession, subjugation, forced residential schooling, having to sue for rights and recognition, and much more.

"If my comments were misconstrued, I absolutely apologize for it," the premier told the legislature. And then she reiterated the comparison: "Because my intention was to demonstrate that we have a common problem with Ottawa. Ottawa, I think, unfortunately, treats First Nations with disrespect and they also treat provinces with disrespect."

A sorry state

The premier's team and others will disagree about whether her words were "misconstrued" or construed in absolutely the spirit in which they were meant. But yes, First Nations leaders appeared to seek some contrition from the premier who brandished the Sovereignty Act they protest as a parallel with their fight against federal paternalism. 

"We know that's not true. I want Premier Smith to focus on our sovereignty bill concerns rather than trying to use our people in their fight against Ottawa," Chief Tony Alexis of the Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation said in a statement.

The bewildering words coming from Smith's mouth during Question Period have perhaps done less to fray provincial relations with Alberta First Nations than the text of her landmark bill, the Sovereignty Act.

Chiefs of Treaty 6, Treaty 7 and Treaty 8 (the agreements that span nearly all Alberta) have condemned the act for its its potential to trample on Indigenous rights and interfere in nations' relationship with the Crown — and the complete lack of consultation the United Conservatives did before tabling a bill that attempts to greatly alter Alberta's dealings with Ottawa. 

Smith has tried to inoculate her bill from any such problems with a legislative clause that states "Nothing in this act is to be construed (there's that word again) as … abrogating or derogating from any existing aboriginal and treaty rights of the aboriginal peoples of Canada that are recognized and affirmed by Section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982."

It's no immunity clause, declaring that one law doesn't intend to contradict or detract from another law or legal document.

And the Treaty 6 Chiefs took pains to state that a meeting this week with Smith did not "in any way or any sense" constitute proper consultation. "The premier will not dictate how we will be consulted," they stated.

While Smith and her UCP caucus agreed to amend her bill to rein in its powers and application, they declined to make any changes that would address Alberta First Nations concerns. It's now a national concern with the Assembly of First Nations demanding its withdrawal.

Indigenous relations require sensitive, respectful and patient effort, as any federal, provincial or municipal leader will testify — as will resource companies that have bid to develop on or near Indigenous territory.

If one tries to rush things, or make broad and sweeping comments that stumble over or ignore context, you risk crashing around like the Kool-Aid Man, breaking through walls and hoping the ceiling holds up.

She needed only to consult her key cabinet official on this file, Indigenous Relations Minister Rick Wilson, who held the role throughout Jason Kenney's premiership. He understands the long path he's had to walk to earn trust.

"We've cultivated these really great relationships and it's taken a few years to get to the point where we can sit down and have these great discussions," Wilson told Windspeaker.com, an Alberta Indigenous news outlet.

He's been less dismissive than colleagues have sounded on chiefs' misgivings about the Sovereignty Act. "I've been on the phone, of course, with First Nations leaders across the province and a lot of the concerns are around just calling it the Sovereignty Act. Like, what does that mean?" he told reporters before the bill's passage.

"In fairness, there's not a lot of clarification around what that means. Should we have done more consultation? Absolutely."

"Having to bail out the government"

An unnamed senior aide in Alberta Indigenous relations told the Edmonton Journal about the lasting impact this will have. "It has me so frustrated and Minister (Wilson) so upset that we're the ones that are having to bail out the government on this," the staffer said. "We're seeing all our relations we built just sort of go up in smoke, which is unfortunate."

Keep in mind, too, that Smith's remarks comparing struggles over the Indian Act to Alberta's federal grievances were not the only case this year of the premier getting into trouble for overstating allyship with First Nations.

Dani Paradis, a journalist with APTN News, looked seriously into the passing claims Smith has made of being "someone with Indigenous ancestry." Smith had claimed an ancestor from the Cherokee Nation in the United States — and Paradis used genealogical records to put that in stark doubt.

When a room full of Alberta chiefs held a news conference last month about the threats of Alberta's Sovereignty Act, a reporter asked about these questionable Cherokee claims. Laughter rippled through the room.

"I think they should go to the pink palace here, the [Edmonton's Canada Place] office, they're the ones that have that category of which bloodline you are and maybe she can find herself there," said Treaty 8 Grand Chief Arthur Noskey. "Maybe that, we'll believe."

Chief Alexis spoke more broadly of settlers who falsely claim Indigenous roots. "What we learn is that anybody wants to be a part of the Indigenous community if there's a benefit … there's always something behind it."

They laughed then. Treaty 6 chiefs were not laughing after this week's meeting.

"It was clear from our discussions that Premier Smith does not understand treaty or our inherent rights, nor does she respect them," the chiefs' said in a written statement.

Smith wants to be taken seriously on this file. She has mighty ambitions with First Nations, including working to develop pipeline and utility corridors through Alberta, Saskatchewan and to tidewater in Churchill, Man.

If the path to solid partnership with First Nations is long, slow and fraught, she might have just added more miles to her own road.