British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell is calling on Ottawa to extend the same acknowledgment of Quebeckers as a nation within Canada to the country's aboriginal peoples, opening another front in the fractious debate.
In an article he wrote that was released to some media organizations, Mr. Campbell praised Prime Minister Stephen Harper for moving to recognize the uniqueness of Quebeckers within Canada. But he said there is a "third solitude" out there that now needs to be given the same honour.
"Indeed, I would urge the Prime Minister to work with aboriginal leaders to develop a similar motion that offers a positive affirmation of Canada's three founding nations -- French, English and aboriginal alike," he wrote, under the heading Setting A More United Canada in Motion.
Mr. Campbell, who in recent years has championed a new government-to-government relationship with first nations in B.C., said he could understand why aboriginal people might feel "confusion, frustration and disappointment," at not being included in the Quebec motion.
That omission should be put right by Parliament, he said.
"Canada's first nations, Métis and Inuit people should not be further marginalized by dint of this effort to unite Canada, which leaves them noticeably out of the picture," Mr. Campbell said.
"It is high time we formally acknowledged Canada's 'third solitude' -- the aboriginal peoples of Canada. We should do that formally, proudly and emphatically in a similar resolution that embraces our heritage as a nation of many nations."
Phil Fontaine, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, yesterday expressed his support for Mr. Campbell's comments. He said the recognition of aboriginal people as a nation is a necessary "symbolic" move, just as it is for Quebeckers.
"We occupy a special place in Canada," Mr. Fontaine said from Vancouver. "So it would do a disservice to the country if we were to ignore, as this motion has done, the important historical fact of the first nations in Canada.
"We are not of a lesser status [than]the Québécois or . . . any people in this country," he said, adding that the current motion should be amended, or a separate motion drafted to recognize aboriginal people.
Mr. Campbell has emerged on the national stage as a major proponent of a better working relationship with first nations. In B.C., his government has recognized the right of aboriginal societies to self-governance, while at the same time seeing them as intrinsic components of the province. The Premier was also a driving force and key champion of the Kelowna accord between Ottawa and aboriginal groups aimed at improving housing and health services. The $5-billion plan -- negotiated with Paul Martin's government in 2005 -- was killed by the Conservatives in May.
Mr. Campbell sees a parallel with Mr. Harper's motion, which would recognize that the "Québécois form a nation within a united Canada," without conferring on the province any additional civic or legal authority.
"In short, this motion is about the Québécois as a people and a culture, not about recognizing the province of Quebec as a 'nation,' " Mr. Campbell said. "Mr. Harper has also stressed that his motion does not have any legal or constitutional significance. With that assurance, I have no difficulty supporting it."
Mr. Campbell said Canadians shouldn't get "bogged down in an unproductive semantic debate" but rather should strive to find a new definition of what the country should be in the 21st century.
"The Prime Minister's attempt to negate the separatists' raison d'être with a positive statement to Quebec's francophone people is not perfect. But it has set in motion a national debate that should lead us all to openly embrace our French, English, aboriginal and multicultural heritage with new resolve and understanding," he said.
Mr. Fontaine said that he was pleased to see Quebeckers recognized as a nation, but that the motion brought up old concerns.
"We've never opposed -- even in Meech Lake -- Quebec as a distinct society. What we opposed then, is the suggestion that we could be dealt with later," he said. "We don't want the same thing to happen here -- that we are seen as an afterthought. It's not a helpful approach to nation building," he said.
Grand Chief Doug Kelly of the Sto:lo Tribal Council said native leaders across Canada were left wondering last week why Quebec was so special, when first nations weren't.
"When I saw that motion I thought, what about us? I'm sure the 200 chiefs in B.C. all felt the same way."
He said first nations already see themselves as "nations within a nation," but getting official recognition of that, in a statement by the federal government, would have huge symbolic value.
He said recognizing multiple nations within Canada will not shatter the country into Balkanized states.
"We come from different places, we have a different history . . . but having differences doesn't make us weaker as a nation. Internal conflict is what will make us weaker. If we focus on what we have in common, we will be a much stronger and a much healthier nation," he said.
With a report from Hayley Mick
Mark Hume