Sept 28, 2007
Kingston Whig Standard
Green party candidate Bridget Doherty was the decisive favourite at an Aboriginal affairs debate last night that often strayed off topic from native issues to the broader issues of the campaign.
Doherty received several loud ovations from the small and mostly Aboriginal audience gathered at a lecture hall at Queen's University for the debate for plain language statements such as: "We need more Aboriginal teachers" and "We need more Aboriginals on the elected school boards."
Doherty was applauded for pledging to increase the $2.58-million budget for funding the eight Aboriginal post-secondary institutions in the province. She singled out the First Nations' Technical Institute on the Tyendinaga Mohawk Reserve as being in particular need.
"If all children are equal, why do these schools get less money?" Doherty asked.
But perhaps the loudest ovation she received was after she took the stage and responded to answers given by the other candidates on an Aboriginal housing question that digressed to health care.
"I'm pretty annoyed, and you probably are, too, that your questions aren't being answered," she said.
During that series of questions, one man in attendance interrupted the candidates and said, "Are we talking about housing or health care?"
Early on, the candidates fell into a familiar pattern of partisan and political attacks, dodging the questions posed by moderator and Queen's politics professor Elizabeth Goodyear-Grant to take shots at their opponents.
Goodyear-Grant and some in the crowd admonished the candidates for not answering the questions.
The debate eventually took on a decidedly less partisan tone, different from the debates of earlier this week, as the evening wore on. At the behest of the assembled crowd, candidates ditched their party lines in favour of more candid exchanges with the Aboriginals in the audience. The theme seemed to be one of ignorance.
"My contact with the Aboriginal community has been limited," Liberal candidate John Gerretsen admitted to the audience. "And I have not been actively sought out by the community either."
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Gerretsen later scored some points with a statement embracing the holistic philosophy on issues related to the land and environment. "It's probably a lot healthier than the Caucasian attitude towards it," Gerretsen said to cheers.
Progressive Conservative candidate Dr. John Rapin confessed multiple times throughout the evening that he had little knowledge of Aboriginal communities and their issues.
"I am here to learn from you," he said. Later, he said, "We do owe a primary obligation to the Aboriginals. They were here first and they were displaced and they've seen a gradual loss of influence in society."
At one point, the candidates were asked categorically if they would ever break rank with their parties on Aboriginal rights issues. All four agreed they would.
"If it came down to a human rights issue and something happened where it came down to that and the party line, the answer is easy," said New Democrat candidate Rick Downes. "I would go with human rights every time."
"The concept of party discipline is not all that helpful," Rapin added.
Candidates Chris Beneteau (Family Coalition Party) and Mark Fournier (Freedom Party) did not attend.