The provision of broadband-enabled public services by First Nation organizations is restricted by complex jurisdictional and administrative frameworks. Ongoing challenges include conflicting responsibilities and mandates among government agencies and First Nations organizations. As discussed in past units, tensions between private and public sector service delivery models also shape these developments. Finally, funding for First Nations broadband initiatives can be short-term and uncertain, which makes it difficult for service providers to plan and deliver services.
At the same time, First Nation organizations are working with government agencies to establish mutually beneficial partnerships. For example, health services in many First Nations are funded by Health Canada’s First Nations and Inuit Health Branch (FNIHB), now simply Indigenous Health under the 2019 founded Indigenous Services Canada (ISC). Under Health care services for First Nations and Inuit > Indigenous health management and initiatives, we find a description of the eHealth initiative, which includes the eHealth toolbox, the first component of which is connectivity.
Progress toward Indigenous self-determination in delivery of services
According to Carolyn Bennett, former Minister of the 2017 created Department of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs, Canada is
“tearing down the outdated and paternalistic structure of old designed to enforce the Indian Act and replacing it with new departments that are distinctions-based and rooted in the recognition of rights, respect, cooperation and partnership.”
A Government of Canada news release from December 2017 titled Government of Canada moving forward with departmental changes needed to renew the relationship with Indigenous peoples describes how the Department of Northern and Indian Affairs will be dissolved and replaced by the Department of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs and the Department of Indigenous Services. The measure of success will be seen by how “appropriate programs and services are increasingly delivered, not by the Government of Canada but instead by Indigenous peoples as they move to self-government”
Health
Indigenous Services Canada: Departmental Plan 2019-20 (PDF)
The current plan builds on the Health Infostructure Strategic Action Plan of 2012 by continuing to transfer responsibility for health services-related connectivity planning, sustainability, and upgrades to First Nation governments. The language of the current plan takes into account the historical changes that have occurred in Canada since 2012, making reference to UNDRIP, the Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), released in 2015 and recognizing an inherent Indigenous right to self-determination.
For example: “These services are designed and delivered by Indigenous people for Indigenous people”. It goes on to state that as the department transforms it expects that “self-determined services will increase as more Indigenous communities assume control or authority for service design and delivery or as they exercise their inherent right to jurisdiction [Emphasis added]”
A primary goal of the planning is that “Indigenous people control the design, delivery and management of services” thus reaffirming “the Indigenous right to self-determination which is aligned with the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action.”
An example of ISC initiatives is an increased investment in Remote presence technologies that provide communities with “access to a broader range of health professionals, and providing community healthcare professionals with access to specialists and other health resources located off-site”.
Education
In the area of education, funding for First Nations schools is also a federal responsibility, now under ISC, Education. This is due to the fiduciary relationships established through treaty and Aboriginal rights. As a result, First Nation governments work closely with federal agencies in shaping educational services. Historically, this process has involved several government agencies. For example, while the Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada (AANDC), since replaced by ISC and Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada, was responsible for funding ‘brick and mortar’ schools, Industry Canada funded connectivity through First Nations SchoolNet. But in 2006, responsibility for this file shifted from Industry Canada to AANDC, and FNS became part of New Paths for Education.
Several First Nation organizations expressed their concerns about the transition of education services from Industry Canada to AANDC, in particular the impacts it may hold for the program’s administrative and funding sustainability.
A timeline notes education milestones in the Government of Canada relationship with Indigenous people. In 2019 the government introduced New policy and funding approach for First Nations kindergarten to grade 12 education, which details a plan to “better meet the needs of First Nations students on reserve and improve outcomes” (2019).
In other words, there has been an acceleration in concrete actions to support Indigenous self-determination and efforts aimed at reconciliation between the settler nation of Canada and First Nations since the TRC reports detailing the systemic trauma of Colonialism, particularly the Residential School system was released.
Criticism
These efforts have been criticized for not being substantial enough and how meaningfully the lessons of the TRC will be implemented remains to be seen. Jewell and Mosby note barriers to “meaningful progress”, in their 2019 article Calls to Action Accountability: A Status Update on Reconciliation, published by the Yellowhead Institute.
In this CBC article Sen. Murray Sinclair, chair of the TRC and his fellow commissioners criticize the federal government for moving too slowly.