The Harper government's initiative to speed up Indian claims settlement is overdue, but represents but a small piece of a puzzle crying out for completion.
Canadians finally are acting as they should to bring due justice and economic redress to their aboriginal fellows. But the aboriginals themselves must do the rest, and a great deal remains to be achieved.
Only when such leaders as Phil Fontaine and Bill Wilson stand up and say as much will Canadians be able to look to a prospect of socioeconomic equality between Indians and non-Indians.
At present, Fontaine, chief of the Assembly of First Nations, and B.C. chief Wilson - defeated by Fontaine last July for the top aboriginal job - are trapped in a victim mindset.
The two men, both 60-somethings, are failing to provide the sort of leadership that says, "let's start addressing our own problems as regards to substance abuse, educational attainment and band governance that too often is tainted by corruption and favouritism."
They're pandering to the hotheads in their communities rather than speaking on behalf of innovation and the taking of personal responsibility. They're more preoccupied by objectives of aboriginal self-government and treaty rights than ensuring every Indian youngster gets educated to the max.
The latest national project of the native peoples is a June 29 day of protest, planned by aboriginal malcontents to remind the rest of us about the myriad injustices being heaped on their communities.
They have a case, and last week it was acknowledged by the federal government.
Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice announced legislation that will speed claims resolution by creating a new, more independent tribunal to deal with the disputes and adding $250 million a year over 10 years for compensation.
Government finally is moving on this front, just as it moved in April 2006 to provide a $1.9-billion program of redress for abuses that transpired in residential schools decades ago.
Under that deal, $10,000 is to be paid to each of the nearly 80,000 former residential school students, along with an additional $3,000 for each year spent in a residential school.
Addressing past and present wrongs is essential. But equally crucial is a recognition on the part of the aboriginal people themselves that they have a significant role to play in advancing their own welfare.
Ottawa now spends $9 billion annually on aboriginal people, who make up roughly three per cent of the country's population. Some live on hundreds of often-remote Indian reserves but far more - nearly 70 per cent - live off-reserve, in urban areas.
Incredibly, 12 per cent of band residents must boil their drinking water and six per cent of homes are without sewage services. These percentages raise questions about Indian leadership.
Last week, a Cree living on the Poundmaker Reserve in Saskatchewan, Floyd Favel, wrote an article in a Toronto-based newspaper calling for "a Buckskin Revolution."
"Within First Nations communities, we need a re-evaluation of where we are going as a people and how we can further contribute to this great country."
Favel laments the aboriginal leadership lives so indulgently, "driving their big trucks and collecting huge salaries." He complains of "unaccountable leadership that administers its people without any rules and leaves no avenues with which to protest unjust leadership."
In the past 13 years he cannot recall a single regular band meeting on his own reserve. "The reserve's only major businesses are those directly owned by the leadership. ... Jobs are largely disbursed by the leadership as favours, or withheld as punishment."
The key to the future for aboriginal people is the same as for their Canadian counterparts. Aboriginals need good governance and the best possible education for their youngsters.
Ottawa has gone a considerable way toward accepting its responsibilities to Indians. On June 29, young aboriginals should use their designated day of action to rise up and let their leaders know it's time for a revolution between the ears.