Lack of budget funds will fuel Aboriginal crisis: Green Party

OTTAWA – The federal budget ignores the crisis situation in Aboriginal communities, said the Green Party today.

“We have moved two years away from the $5-billion promised in the Kelowna Accord and the situation in many communities continues to deteriorate every single day,” said Aboriginal Affairs critic Lorraine Rekmans. “Kelowna was scrapped by the Harper government in 2006 at a time when First Nations were already reeling from housing and water crises.

“This government is investing in increased police forces rather than providing clean drinking water for Aboriginal people. Human security includes the right to clean drinking water and the Harper government should be prioritizing health and safety. Human life is at stake.”

Ms. Rekmans added that she was incredibly disappointed that the government has chosen not to make Aboriginal issues a priority.

“The government seems content to ignore that we have third-world conditions in many of our communities,” she said. “Should Aboriginal people be forced to apply for assistance from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)?”

Canada works with the international community through the Millennium Development Goals and has set concrete targets for poverty eradication in other countries. Targets for reducing poverty have been set out in the international development goals drawn from the United Nations conferences and summits held this decade.

The Millennium Development Goals include objectives to:

• eradicate extreme poverty and hunger;
• achieve universal primary education;
• promote gender equality and empower women;
• reduce child mortality;
• improve maternal health, combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases;
• ensure environmental sustainability;
• develop a global partnership for development—all by 2015.

“Canada needs to make these same commitments to work with the Aboriginal people towards the same goals and objectives,” she said.