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Strahl draws mixed reviews for time at Indian Affairs

Pemberton-area MP is new minister responsible for transportation and infrastructure
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Chuck Strahl is gathering mixed reviews for his time as Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs.

Strahl, the MP for Chilliwack-Fraser Canyon, which includes the Pemberton Valley and the region all the way up to Lillooet, was recently shuffled from his post as Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs to the Transport, Infrastructure and Communities portfolio.

He will now oversee matters relating to regulation and development of transportation across Canada, as well as management of the country's airports. Vancouver Island North MP John Duncan, who previously served as Strahl's parliamentary secretary, is the new Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs.

Appointed to the Indian and Northern Affairs post in August 2007, Strahl oversaw a busy time in the portfolio. He served as minister when Prime Minister Stephen Harper offered an apology for the legacy of residential schools from the floor of the House of Commons.

He has also overseen implementation of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, which among other things has overseen the Common Experience Payment to survivors of the residential school system. Payments are a kind of restitution to survivors. Amounts have varied based on survivors' experiences.

Strahl also served as minister through the start of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, meant as a forum for survivors of the system to tell their stories and have them recorded. The commission is expected to last five years and is currently traveling the country, listening to people's stories of their time in residential school.

Today, Strahl is getting mixed reviews in the Sea to Sky Corridor, a region that is home to two major First Nations and may soon be populated by another.

Leonard Andrew, Chief Councillor of the Mount Currie Band of the Lil'wat First Nation, said in an interview that he enjoyed having an "inside track" with Strahl because he doubled as Member of Parliament for the Lil'wat's traditional territory but he feels that some work is still to be done on flooding issues - something he hoped to bring up with Strahl before he was reappointed.

Mount Currie recently saw some flooding due to a logjam on the Birkenhead River and just last weekend faced the threat of floods due to a major landslide that temporarily dammed Meager Creek and partially blocked the Lillooet River.

"I've met with him a few times but never had the occasion to meet with him on the flood issue," Andrew said. "It has been our main concern and I think it's probably coming forward now.

"Of course it's going to cost a lot of dollars, so we forwarded that to our MP and at the time he was also the minister of Indian Affairs. I think we were planning to go to Ottawa to meet with him, but now that he's not minister, that changes the scope of our plans."

Though Strahl leaves his post with some unfinished business, Andrew nevertheless said he stood out from other ministers because of his focus on aboriginal rights and title - rights held as a result of longstanding use and occupancy of the land, according to the INAC website.

Aboriginal rights and title has been upheld in various cases such as the 1997 Supreme Court decision in Delgamuukw, as well as the Bernard and Marshall cases. The result of such decisions is that governments must consult with First Nations with regard to land use in their traditional territories.

Strahl, Andrew said, gave particular attention to this aspect of his portfolio.

"I think it sort of gave us a bit of an advantage versus back in the 1980s, which it wasn't evidence at the time because the laws weren't there," he said. "So right across Canada, he brought attention to First Nations that way."

Gerard Peters, chief negotiator for the In-SHUCK-ch Nation, which is pushing for a treaty that would establish them as a new aboriginal government in the corridor, was more blunt in his assessment. He said he was "disappointed" at the level of attention the In-SHUCK-ch communities received, despite being situated in Strahl's riding.

"I've had an ongoing issue with Canada about the need for my communities to get caught up to our neighbours in terms of their capital works," he said in an interview. "Their roads, their sewers, their community infrastructure, their housing, and frankly, Strahl never made it his business to pay a due regard to these matters that I felt they deserved."

Peters said he repeatedly tried to secure a face-to-face meeting with Strahl but had trouble making it happen.

He went on to say that back when Strahl was an opposition MP, he rallied hard as part of a caravan pushing for improvements to the In-SHUCK-ch Forest Service Road, an access road to First Nation communities that is subject to regular flooding. In government, Peters said, Strahl didn't give the road the same level of attention.

"I find that extremely disappointing," Peters said. "That said, I hope that he, once having removed the responsibilities that he carried as minister, I hope that he'll be able to pay more attention to the needs of constituents in his riding, namely ourselves, and given his familiarity with who we are and what our issues are, I hope that will bear us some positive results."

Last week the Assembly of First Nations, a group that lobbies nationally on behalf of Canada's First Nations, issued a statement praising Strahl's work in the portfolio. National Chief Shawn A-in-chut Atleo thanked him for his "hard work and dedication" as minister.