Ghislain Picard says Indigenous people are 'fed up with consultations,' want reforms now

Given the enduring shadow of the pandemic and the context of mass movements protesting racism and discrimination, the celebration of this year's National Indigenous Peoples Day felt different, Ghislain Picard, the Quebec and Labrador regional chief for the Assembly of First Nations, said Sunday.

June 21 was always "a day to celebrate ourselves as a nation, our cultures, identities, whatever makes us different," he said in an interview.

But the coronavirus — which forced many events marking the occasion on Sunday to online platforms — and the wave of protests that took hold after George Floyd was killed at the hands of police in Minneapolis, Minn., has made this a time to look for connections, Picard said.

"It drives us to make a call to society as a whole," he said. "We really want to find a common ground for a positive dialogue.

"June 21 is side by side with June 24, Saint-Jean Baptiste. The linkage has to be made between that holiday for Quebec and this newest holiday for Indigenous peoples."

At this point, Picard says he has low expectations that positive change will come from the government. He pointed to Premier François Legault's continued reluctance to acknowledge systemic racism in the province, but also to decades of commissions and reports, federal and provincial, that he says have led nowhere.

"What has happened since then?" he said of inquiries that began in the 1960s. "We would have to agree, not much. We still have the highest number of inmates in Canadian prisons.

"To me, there's definitely something wrong with the justice system. It has failed our peoples."

Picard said Indigenous communities are "fed up with consultations and they want action now." He argued that some solutions already exist, found as recommendations within the reports that have been generated over the years.

"The blueprint is there. Why not take that, address some key priorities, and move on?"

Further consultations, like the "action group" Legault announced to look at issues of racism, speak only to the perennial "political discomfort when it comes to Indigenous issues," he said.

Last week, the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador said rather than holding another consultation, Legault should "quickly propose to First Nations the concrete measures he intends to take in response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) and the Viens
Commission."

Those commissions all produced final reports that were released in the last five years.

Indigenous communities are strong and vocal, Picard said. They took drastic measures in the face of the pandemic, and he is proud of the results.

"Our communities and nations and our leadership at the local level, even the front line workers have done a tremendous job with limited means," he said.

Those same people want change, Picard said, and they expect their leaders to maintain the current momentum.

"I don't think this issue is going to die down," he said. "People are hurting and they want to see changes. That's the pressure that is put on myself and chiefs in the communities."