Social Policy in Ontario

How to ensure Truth and Reconciliation Commission report changes the country

Posted on June 3, 2015 in Equality Policy Context

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TheStar.com – Opinion/Commentary – If we want the report to change the country, we ought to focus on one or two concrete solutions to narrowly defined problems.
Jun 02 2015.   By: Christopher Alcantara, Politics

According to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, Canadians have long engaged in a process of “cultural genocide” towards Aboriginal Peoples in this country. Residential schools, for instance, were one of the primary ways that the federal government carried out this genocide and so if we want to repair our relationship with Aboriginal Peoples, then we need to acknowledge this dark fact about our country’s history.

The commission’s report, however, was not all doom and gloom. It also provided a list of 94 recommendations for how Canada might reconcile with its Indigenous peoples. Some of these recommendations include a new Royal Proclamation on reconciliation, annual government progress reports on reconciliation activities, a national inquiry on missing and murdered Aboriginal women, and a massive effort at re-educating Canadians about the history of residential schools, among other things.

Many observers have lauded this report as a potential turning point in Canada’s history. Not only does the report shed light on a crucial yet poorly understood part of our heritage, it also provides a road map for building a better relationship with Aboriginal Peoples.

But will this report have any real impact on Canadian public policy?  Probably not.

If history is any indication, this report, much like the work of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples and the Prime Minister’s residential school apology, will barely dent the Canadian political machine or alter the way it relates to Aboriginal communities and governments.

Instead, the best we can probably hope for is if teachers, musicians, writers, filmmakers, and researchers actively and willingly incorporate the commission’s work into their activities. In this way, supporters can slowly influence Canadian government policy-makers, the general public and the youth from the ground up.

Is there a way, however, to ensure that the commission’s findings have a more immediate impact?  Research on Canadian public policy suggests there is.  If there is one science-like law in the study of politics, it is that institutions and public policies are highly resistant and slow to change.

Change does occur, but usually only when three things converge.

First, policies change when a policy problem is framed narrowly and in conjunction with a “focusing event” that brings attention to an issue. Examples of focusing events include the release of a new and groundbreaking study, a large-scale disaster, or evidence of a major public policy failure.

Second, policy change occurs when a narrowly framed policy problem can be attached to a concrete policy solution.

Finally, the policy problem and solution must be framed in a way that is consistent with broad and long-term trends in political and public opinion about the issue.

In the case of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Aboriginal and sympathetic Canadians will have to work hard at laying the groundwork for Aboriginal policy reform. And they will have to find a narrow policy problem and solution that capture the main thrust of the commission’s findings.

One possibility, for instance, might be to use the commission’s report to focus narrowly on the serious problem of missing and murdered Aboriginal women and to link it to a concrete policy solution such as a national inquiry or a new set of social, economic and legal programs designed to empower and protect Aboriginal women specifically. Certainly there have been a number of high-profile cases recently and a supportive shift in national mood and so the conditions are ripe for this type of policy change.

Right now, however, the commission’s report contains a laundry list of problems and solutions and history teaches us that these types of reports are almost always ignored. Instead, successful attempts at policy change usually require a more focused approach.

Some people will be disappointed with these observations and will instead demand that Canada implement all 94 recommendations.

This would be a foolhardy strategy. The commission’s report will only have an immediate impact if supporters can frame its findings in a way that is consistent with the factors that generate policy change in Canada.

Christopher Alcantara is associate professor of political science at Wilfrid Laurier University. His latest book, Negotiating the Deal: Comprehensive Land Claims Agreements in Canada, recently won the 2014 Pierre Savard Award for the best book on a topic related to Canada.

< http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2015/06/02/how-to-ensure-truth-and-reconciliation-commission-report-changes-the-country.html >

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