The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Jonathon Naylor Editor Creighton MP Rob Clarke has the backing of the Harper government to repeal and replace a law that has governed Canada's First Nations for over 130 years. Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan announced last week that the Tories support, in principle, Clarke's private member's bill to supplant the Indian Act. 'Our government recognizes that the Indian Act is an impediment to the success of Canada's First Nations,' Duncan said in a statement. '(Clarke's bill) is consistent with our government's approach of taking concrete, but incremental, steps to create the conditions for healthier, more self-sufficient First Nation communities, and we look forward to studying the bill in committee, hearing from witnesses and, as always, exploring opportunities to improve it.' Clarke's bill would cancel or revise sections of the Act relative to band bylaws and education, and remove all references to the long-gone residential schools. It further mandates the federal aboriginal affairs minister to report annually on progress made in replacing the Act with new legislation. Clarke, a member of the Muskeg Lake First Nation, previously said his bill allows for 'a lengthy and collaborative consultation period with willing First Nations partners to find the best way to replace the Indian Act.'
