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The old saying, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me,” would apply except that it’s been dozens of instances now and, by itself, shame isn’t enough.  Perhaps The Who’s “Won’t get fooled again” would be better.

Yesterday, many of the people in my community of friends, colleagues and allies were excited by some news. On the first day of the Council of the Federation meeting in Niagara-on-the-Lake, the Premiers formally supported calls on the federal government to launch an inquiry into the more than 600 missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada.

Today, the federal government rejected calls for an inquiry. Again.

This does not come as a surprise to me. I was part of the AFN delegation to the Council of the Federation meeting in 2008 where we convinced the Premiers to issue a similar call for fair funding of First Nations education. Like that happened.

I would much rather have been wrong in my low expectations. But after seven years of predicting the worse from the Harper government when it comes to Indigenous issues — and being proved right every time — a person accepts the evidence.

The Premiers have no influence on the Harper government. Data and logic have no influence. None of the organizations, alliances, movements, parties, or pundits who have suggested or will suggest a different agenda has any influence.

If an idea comes from the community and has general support, the Harper government will reject it. If an idea comes from the Flanagan fringe and can only divide the community, the Harper government will support that and ram it down the throats of Indigenous people with time allocation, committee obstruction and the support of their typists in the media.  Watch the coming private property “rights” debate.

Here is the simple reality. The Government of Canada, as led by Stephen Harper, does not want to help Indigenous people in this country. It wants to help Exxon.

In my first piece for rabble, twenty-four blogs ago, I wrote:

“To put it bluntly, Indigenous death and despair serve the government’s purpose. Like exterminating the buffalo helped starve First Nations onto reserves, through underfunding and interference with local governance, the current government is starving people off reserves. The consequent destruction of Indigenous communities will make it easier for the government’s friends in the oil, gas and mining industries to go about their business unhindered.”

Among others, Andrew Coyne slagged me for that. I guess because he is such an expert on these issues, there was no argument offered for why I was wrong. Like Conservative ideology, it must be self-evident.  However, I haven’t heard him comment on Canada’s deliberate deprivation of nutrition from Indigenous children for experimental purposes. He must be busy.

In response to the revelation that Canada had used Indigenous kids as lab rats, there are Honour the Apology rallies taking place today in various places across the country.

Here’s a prediction: they won’t honour the apology. It was insincere.

Unless and until the Harper government is replaced by one willing to act as a reasonable partner rather than an abusive parent — to uphold the honour of the Crown for the first time in our history — then things won’t change.

Some Indigenous activists will say that it doesn’t matter who’s in charge on the federal side, that all “white” governments will forever be the same. Aside from being obviously racist, that view flies in the face of how all “male” governments eventually changed on gender rights, how “hetero” governments caved on same-sex marriage, and a long history of progressive change when the right people were faced with the right pressure at the right time.

The task for Indigenous people and allies is to get involved, get to know the platforms of the parties, get to know the personalities of the people moving those issues, actually organize to get out the vote in favour of whomever will change things for the better in 2015. Because real change, progressive, substantive, transformative change won’t happen before then. It just won’t.

And don’t get fooled again.