Indigenous leaders say Legault's resignation an opportunity for long-awaited changes

When premiere François Legault stood up in the subject gathering for his initiatory language in 2018, he began by addressing Indigenous communities in the province. 

“First Nations and Inuit were the first to discover and occupy this land,” Legault said at the time. “We must never forget that.”

It was a period of time Ghislain Picard, former chief of the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador, looks back on as a “honeymoon” with the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ), the party Legault founded.

He recalls how Legault took the time to meet with Indigenous leaders in the first month of his mandate, promising at the time to adopt the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). 

“But everything sort of fell by the wayside quickly after, and that is very sad,” Picard says. 

With the CAQ now in the market for a new leader following Legault's resignation earlier this month and a provincial election on the horizon, Picard and other Indigenous leaders are hoping the premier’s successor will move to repair the frayed relationship with their communities.

Just two days after the release of the Viens commission report in 2019, which looked into the mistreatment of Indigenous people in the province, the premier offered an official apology to First Nations and Inuit communities at the National Assembly for the discrimination they faced, with chiefs and elders looking on. 

But it wasn’t long after that apology that the province made the controversial decision to challenge Canada’s Indigenous child welfare law, known as Bill C-92, because the CAQ felt it threatened provincial jurisdiction . 

“[They were] essentially saying we are not governments," Picard said.

The promise to adopt UNDRIP also never came to fruition, further souring the relationship with Indigenous communities.

“It feels like there are a lot of decisions that are made to undermine us,” Na'kuset, executive director of the Native Women's Shelter of Montreal and co-founder of Resilience Montreal, says of Legault's mandate.

Everything from the premier's decision not to designate the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation as a provincial statutory holiday, to his consistent refusal to recognize systemic racism and the language laws his government put in place have harmed Indigenous people in the province and eroded trust, she says.

“There’s something wrong with their messaging. I think it’s been so harmful to any person of colour. It’s been so harmful," Na'kuset said.

While there are exceptions in place for Indigenous communities in the province's language law, known as Bill 96, Na'kuset says those exceptions are rarely applied on the ground, when she sees women at the shelter seeking help from police or the health-care system.

A recent report published by Quebec’s ombudsman  pointed to similar issues in the way the language law is applied, and also found the cultural sensitivity training that is supposed to be put in place in the health-care system is underfunded and not fully deployed.

“Very few hospitals are doing it and there’s no support from the Legault government to implement,” Na'kuset said. “We still are being discriminated against.”

One of the primary examples of the CAQ government's unwillingness to recognize systemic racism was in the aftermath of Joyce Echaquan's death. The Atikamekw mother died in a Joliette hospital moments after staff were filmed hurling racist insults at her.

A coroner’s report into her 2020 death found systemic racism was a contributing factor, but years later, the CAQ government continues to deny its existence in the province.

The province also refused to adopt Joyce’s Principle, a document that aims to recognize the right of Indigenous people to equitable and safe health care, due to its mention of systemic racism. 

Constant Awashish, grand chief of the Atikamekw Nation, says the province has put in place some changes following Echaquan's death, but Legault's refusal to acknowledge systemic racism has slowed some of that progress.

"It was kind of saddening for First Nations leaders to hear that and I feel we lost a lot of momentum, we lost a lot of our time," he said. "It tainted the relationship a bit. There was a breach of trust."

But the leaders have hope the priorities that took a backseat over the last seven years could be revived once a new leader comes into play.

Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador Chief Francis Verreault-Paul says adopting UNDRIP should be the next leader's top priority. 

“This will just help overall in our relationship moving forward instead of almost systematically going in front of the courts to defend our rights against Quebec,” he said.

Verreault-Paul says Legault's legacy when it comes to Indigenous rights wasn't always so strained, pointing to a bill that allowed for the release of information regarding Indigenous children who had gone missing in the health system as well as the signing of multiple deals in the energy sector with Indigenous communities.

But other priorities appear to have stagnated, he said, including the province's commitment to signing the Petapan Treaty, which it had promised to sign by March 2023, and which would exempt the communities of Essipit, Pekuakamiulnuatsh and Nutashkuan from the federal Indian Act  and recognize their right to self-determination.

Quebec Indigenous Affairs Minister Ian Lafrenière says both of those priorities are still being worked on.

"We’ve never been closer to a treaty than now, so I’m still putting in a lot of effort and believe me, I want that to be signed before the end of the mandate," he said in an interview.

As for UNDRIP, Lafrenière plans on enshrining it in the Petapan Treaty.

He also defended Legault's track record in Indigenous relations, but admitted the government has made some mistakes along the way.

"It’s a learning experience …. Sometimes people are a bit scared to do something with First Nations because they don’t want to do something inappropriate, because of a lack of knowledge," he said.

Referring to his government's stance on systemic racism, Lafrenière didn't fully close the door on that dialogue.

"I'm not saying it's impossible. I'm saying that now, at this moment, are all Quebecers ready for this? We don't believe so," he said.

In the meantime, Verreault-Paul hopes to see the next government change its process for adopting bills, giving First Nations a say in the legislation before it's tabled.

The province's tabling of a Quebec constitution, as well as a bill to accelerate infrastructure projects in the province, remain major concerns for him. 

“We’re always put in a situation where as First Nations, we’re always asked to react," Verreault-Paul said. “Those bills have real impacts on our rights, on our territories.” 

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