Ending poverty needs government response

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 25/08/2016 (2793 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said earlier this week, “Our government will not rest until we make life better for indigenous people right across the country.”

But when northern Manitoba, home to the majority of this province’s aboriginal population, suffers a triple economic whammy that will put about 500 people out of work, there’s silence from the Trudeau entourage.

Let’s face it: making the economy work in the North will go a long way to improving lives and reducing poverty for indigenous people. But it won’t happen unless government actively plays a role, going beyond empty rhetoric.

In July, Denver-owned Omnitrax announced it was shutting down the grain terminal at the Port of Churchill and cutting traffic to the north via the Hudson Bay rail line to just once a week. That laid off around 100 workers, but also had ramifications for the price of consumer goods brought up by rail. Of course, many First Nations people call Churchill home.

Then this week, Tolko Industries Ltd., the largest employer in The Pas, announced it, too, was closing. The town is also where the operational headquarters of the Hudson Bay Railway operate. Members of Opaskwayak Cree Nation, located nearby, rely on the mill for jobs — and they’re not low-wage positions either. They include truck drivers, electricians and heavy equipment operators.

Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak Grand Chief Sheila North Wilson said the loss of these jobs will be a blow to the economy.

Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister has said his government is working on a mid- to long-term plan to help the economies of the North but has ruled out bailouts for Tolko and Omintrax. But what about the short term? Mr. Pallister admits his plan, which is still being refined, won’t help the “short-term feelings of people who have lost their jobs.”

The problem is, Tolko has been struggling for some time. Omnitrax has been struggling for some time. Neither of these situations happened overnight, in the short term, yet both levels of government appear to be walking away from it when people are losing their jobs, after failing to step in with a plan before the doors got shut.

Ms. North Wilson has asked for a meeting with the premier and the minister of sustainable development to find a made-in-Manitoba buyout of the operations and determine how indigenous people in the region can secure the timber volumes in Tolko’s forest licence area. Meanwhile, the proposed buy of Omnitrax by a consortium of northern First Nations seems to be on hold, with no discussion about potentially revising the idea.

Here’s where the rubber hits the road. Either make ending poverty for aboriginal people a priority by actively working on the economy with government help or quit the hand-wringing and the photo ops when poverty creates a crisis. You can’t have it both ways.