One way to make a problem go away -- at least temporarily -- is to ignore it.  It's also the way to make problems grow over time.

For most governments, ignoring problems away isn't easy.  It requires a thick skin in the face of criticism, a disengaged electorate, a compliant media, and a lack of immediate consequences.  Sadly, those four conditions exist in Canada.

In Stephen Harper's Canada, the art of wilful ignorance has reached new heights, muzzling independent voices where they can, while attacking those who dare challenge the PMO’s control.  But to dumb down the dialogue and maintain policy based solely on populist ideology, you have to go after the information sources.

Warnings have come from business and Indigenous leaders, from ordinary citizens and official institutions, from across the country and the political spectrum.  Canada is at a turning point in its relationship with Indigenous peoples. 

While the Harper government remains stubbornly in denial of Indigenous rights, committed to provoking confrontation and unable or unwilling to change, industry is becoming increasingly nervous about the threat that situation presents to natural resource development in Canada.  

Despite its flaws, Robin Sears' recent article in Policy magazine, "The AFN and the PM: Retiring the Missionaries," provides keen insight into several aspects of the relationship between the Harper government, the federal bureaucracy, and the Assembly of First Nations.

As fascinating for what it gets wrong as what it gets right, those interested in Indigenous policy benefit from Mr. Sears' astute observations on several points, but are misled by the unstated and mistaken assumption underlying his argument.

 At the outset, he rightly notes that the ongoing failure of Canada’s Indigenous policy is the result of the continuing pursuit of a doomed approach. 

It hurts people to think so -- and I truly regret if it hurts anyone for me to say so here -- but the Prime Minister’s apology for residential schools was, at best, insincere. That is the kindest word I can find.

More likely he was lying. Or, he didn’t understand the words he wrote. Or, worse yet, he meant them in a very specific way. But certainly, he was insincere.

Following is the text of a speech I delivered to Carleton University's Institute of Political Economy on April 11, 2013.

My sincere thanks to Elder Skanks for his wise words of welcome. 

Thank you to Teresa Healy and the Institute of Political Economy for the invitation to be here, and to all of you for coming.

And my thanks to the Algonquin people for allowing us to meet here on their unceded territory.

I was asked if I could speak about solidarity between labour and Indigenous peoples.

Some of you may find this a more political and less academic speech than you are normally accustomed to hearing at a university, but solidarity is fundamentally a political act.

You have to wonder if Stephen Harper isn’t actively trying to provoke serious conflict with First Nations.

There has been over 4 months of ongoing protest, hunger strikes, long distance marches by Indigenous youth, heated negotiations with First Nation leadership, vociferous opposition party criticism in Parliament, and widespread calls for action from non-Indigenous people across Canada. 

During that time, his personally chosen First Nation representative in the Senate was suspended from his position and charged with a criminal offence, his Minister for Aboriginal Affairs had to resign in disgrace, the replacement Minister has stumbled out of the blocks, and there has been no progress on any of the issues behind it all.

The Government of Canada is trumpeting $626 million in new investment for Indigenous peoples in yesterday's budget.  Let's just say that's a slight exaggeration.

Here's a closer look at the four "investment" areas.

“Supporting First Nations fishing enterprises”

Surprisingly, the largest single-year investment in the 2013 budget for a program aimed at Indigenous people at $33 million.  Like much of what was “announced” yesterday however, it is an extension of an existing program, not new investment. 

Question: "What do you know about First Nations?"

Answer: "I'm married to one."

Much to my chagrin and amusement, this was part of a real conversation today.

I'm guessing the woman who answered the question isn't really married to an entire First Nation.  She likely meant that she is married to a person of First Nation identity or ancestry, or even a citizen of a First Nation. 

People aren't always as careful with language as they should be.

Working in defence of Indigenous rights, I have heard the rebuttal far too often that Indigenous people "fail to take personal responsibility" for their circumstances.

I might have let this slide, preferring not to kick a person when they’re down, but calls for sympathy for John Duncan beg retort.

It strains credibility that Duncan resigned as Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development because he wrote an inappropriate letter to a judge.  Several Conservative Ministers have been caught inappropriately using their Cabinet title in correspondence to officials, were even found to have broken rules by the Ethics Commissioner, but none have had to resign. 

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There is a rather odd struggle going on around the future of the Idle No More (INM). It is mostly about who gets to define the movement.

The usual suspects in certain national media, the twitterverse and blogosphere have been saying since early December that INM will go away. They were unable to ignore it for about six weeks, so they attacked it. But now, we are to be assured once again of its imminent demise.