Bernard Valcourt's local First Nations connection belies his national image
Federal aboriginal affairs minister is vying for re-election in the northwestern Madawaska-Restigouche riding
As minister of aboriginal affairs and northern development, the veteran Conservative politician has been the face of Ottawa's approach to aboriginal issues.
He took over the department in the midst of the wave of Idle No More protests. He was on the job when a sweeping education plan negotiated with First Nations fell apart.
There is politics at all levels: community, provincial, federal and it's no different within the First Nations.
- Bernard Valcourt, Conservative candidate
And in June, he was the focus of an indelible image: while others around him leapt to their feet to applaud a call for a national inquiry into murdered and missing aboriginal women, Valcourt stayed in his seat.
But in Valcourt's own backyard, where he is running again as the Conservative candidate in Madawaska-Restigouche in the Oct. 19 election, a different picture emerges — one that highlights the minister's own philosophy.
"I hear, of course, what the advocacy groups, the representative organizations, are saying and doing, but when you go meet the chiefs and councils on the ground, you hear a completely different story," Valcourt told CBC News.
"Some play political games, but most, the vast, vast majority, of the chiefs and councils that I've met with, we've made progress."
Conservative Bernard Valcourt is running for re-election in the
northwestern riding of Madawaska-Restigouche. (Jacques Poitras/CBC)
As minister for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency until early 2013, and then as minister of aboriginal affairs, Valcourt has gone to bat for the Grey Rock Power Centre, a major retail and service development perched on a hill overlooking Edmundston.
The site, on the Trans-Canada Highway, includes a gas station, convenience store, Tim Horton's, and casino. A local car dealership is moving there and a new strip mall has just signed its first tenant.
In 2012, Valcourt secured $3.5 million from ACOA for road and sewer work, and more recently got another $1 million from his current department to help build the strip mall.
"He was quite helpful in pushing for the community to receive this economic development fund," says Chief Patricia Bernard.
Joanna Bernard is the former chief and now chief executive officer
of the Madawaska Maliseet Economic Development Corp. (Jacques
Poitras/CBC)
"It's put us in a position where we can do quite a bit of other things and subsidize other programs that are underfunded through the federal government," she says.
Joanna Bernard says the leases at the site now provide the band more revenue that what it gets from Ottawa.
That's just one example of Valcourt helping the band.
He also supported it becoming the first in Canada to opt into new legislation governing First Nations elections, helping it meet a tight deadline. The band held its election Aug. 27.
The biggest change under the new rules is that the chief and council will now serve four-year terms, instead of a two-year mandate, under the Indian Act.
Chief Bernard says that's vital to the band government's goal to attract investment.
"What businesspeople tend to look for is the stability of the government. We can also do long-term planning and that's something that's important for any economic development," she says.
A reputation for delivering
Valcourt first started working with the band when he was a federal Progressive Conservative MP from 1984 to 1993. He was defeated that year and made a comeback in 2011.
He has a reputation as a politician who delivers for his riding, and that extends to the First Nation.
"It means that when they have specific challenges that confront them, they have a member of Parliament who can work with them to address those," he says.
He also points out that the chief and council have met the deadlines of the Harper government's First Nations Financial Transparency Act, which requires them to disclose their salaries and other spending information.
While some chiefs have criticized the law, Valcourt says it gives band members "the same degree of transparency and openness that all other governments [provide] in the country" and warns them that a Liberal or NDP government would undo that.
Even so, Patricia Bernard says she was sympathetic when Valcourt was criticized for remaining in his seat when everyone around him applauded the call for an inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women.
"It would have been nice if he could have, but I understand that he couldn't. If his boss says, 'Don't.' You don't, you know?"
Valcourt himself is unapologetic.
"I say what I mean, and I mean what I say, and I do what I say I'm going to do," he says, pointing out the government had already rejected calls for an inquiry before that moment in June.
There have been plenty of studies, so a new inquiry would cost tens of millions of dollars "to tell us what we already know," he says.
"So when Justice [Murray] Sinclair recommended — because the crowd, you know, wants this — a national inquiry, I was not going to stand up and applaud a recommendation for something we had already said we will not do.
"And I just stood my ground, as a responsible, honest politician should do, and as a responsible minister of cabinet."
'A friend, but …'
Valcourt's NDP opponent in Madawaska-Restigouche acknowledges the minister himself is well-regarded in the constituency, including with members of the Madawaska First Nation.
NDP candidate Rosaire L'Italien points to the Madawaska First
Nation land on the riding map in his campaign headquarters. (Jacques
Poitras/CBC)
"A lot of them say Bernard is a friend, but a lot of them don't agree with the politics of his government, the Harper government," he says.
Valcourt also makes a distinction between national and local — but from a different perspective.
"There is politics at all levels: community, provincial, federal and it's no different within the First Nations," he says.
"But what I have learned and experienced [as minister] is you can work well and accomplish a lot with these individual First Nations."
The philosophy is typical of the Harper government: bypass official gatekeepers — so-called "special interest" groups such as national native groups — to deal more directly with Canadians.
Harper himself sounded a similar note in an interview with CBC's The House last week.
The Conservative leader said he wasn't sure if the Assembly of First Nations wanted to work with him to revive his aboriginal education plan, but "there are many communities and groups of communities in this country who want to move forward with that reform."
It's not unlike how the Conservatives sometimes use social media to bypass traditional news organizations, or have opted against funding daycare programs in favour of sending money directly to parents.
While national aborigional organizations and activists may protest loudly, Valcourt says, "at the local level [chiefs and councils] are really preoccupied with the challenges their members are facing, and we have good working relationships. … Progress is being made."
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Some traditional lands to return to Wolastoqey Nation, agreement signed
AV Group signs memorandum of understanding despite being named in land title claim by Wolastoqey chiefs
A New Brunswick forestry company is agreeing to transfer a parcel of land to Wolastoqey communities in the province and allow their members input into their forest management practices.
The agreement is part of a memorandum of understanding signed between the Wolastoqey Nation in New Brunswick and AV Nackawic, one of the province's largest forestry companies with operations in Nackawic and Atholville.
The Wolastoqey Nation in New Brunswick represents the Matawaskiye (Madawaska), Wotstak (Woodstock), Neqotkuk (Tobique), Bilijk (Kingsclear), Sitansisk (St. Mary's) and Welamuktok (Oromocto) First Nations, located along the Wolastoq River, also known as the St. John River.
The agreement was announced at a news conference in Fredericton Tuesday, with Sitansisk First Nation Chief Allan Polchies describing it as the first of its kind between the six nations and a large industry player.
The
Wolastoqey Nation in New Brunswick and AV Group announced their
memorandum of understanding during a news conference in Fredericton
Tuesday. (Jon Collicott/CBC)
"It is a clear signal that what we're asking of companies, of Crown corporations and the provincial government is not unreasonable, but in fact, precisely the right way to proceed into the future," Polchies said.
In 2020 the Wolastoqey Nation filed a land title claim for more than five million hectares the chiefs identify as Wolastoqey traditional lands, equating to about half of New Brunswick.
In 2021, they amended the claim to specifically name AV Group and some of the province's other large forestry companies, including J.D. Irving Ltd. and its subsidiaries, Twin Rivers Paper, Acadian Timber and H.J. Crabbe and Sons, as well as N.B. Power.
The claim has led to comments by Premier Blaine Higgs that it could lead to Indigenous people winning control of 60 per cent of the province's land, including homes and businesses. Those comments prompted backlash, with accusations that he stoked fear among the public and spread misinformation.
Largely symbolic, says chief
Matawaskiye First Nation Chief Patricia Bernard said the memorandum of understanding with AV Group doesn't change the company's status as a respondent in the title claim.
She said the claim is still in the discovery stage and while the Wolastoqey Nation is open to negotiations, there's no sign of reaching a settlement with any of the respondents.
The
AV Group's mill in Nackawic is one of two in New Brunswick that process
the wood harvested on land the company owns and on Crown land it
leases. The company said discussions about the agreement began about two
years ago.
She said the new agreement with the AV Group is largely "symbolic" and serves as an acknowledgement that First Nations deserve to have a say in how their traditional lands are developed.
"I think this is a great day and is a great opportunity for this particular company to initiate this memorandum of understanding, because it actually sets the stage for other companies to do the same," Bernard said.
Bernard said the Wolastoqey Nation in New Brunswick is not in discussions with other companies for a similar agreement.
She said the specific parcel of land to be transferred to the Wolastoqey Nation is yet to be determined.
Not about settling claim, says AV Group
Mike Legere, director of government relations with AV Group, said the memorandum wasn't signed with the intention of reaching a settlement in the title claim, but rather about improving engagement with the Wolastoqey nations.
Asked whether he thinks it could help result in a settlement, Legere said it "opens up options."
"Any time you build a relationship and that relationship improves, it opens conversations. Again, it's not the intent ... but obviously if the relationship improves, it opens up options."
Mike
Legere, director of government relations with AV Group, says the move
isn't about settling the title claim in which it's been named. (Jon Collicott/CBC)
Conway Elkins, director of woodlands and fibre sourcing for AV Group, said discussions about the agreement began about two years ago.
He said they were prompted in part by customers challenging the company to become more aware of how their practices impact Indigenous communities and to explore ways to build trust with them.
He said the memorandum of understanding will result in AV Group engaging with the Wolastoqey Nation on its long- and short-term forest management plans, and incorporating their knowledge into the company's operations.
"We will explore economic opportunities as it relates to forest management," Elkins said. "We will work to truly define co-management and what co-decision making means."
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Ex-MP Bernard Valcourt pleads not guilty to obstructing, resisting police
Former federal minister’s trial will be handled by out-of-province judge and prosecutor
One of northwest New Brunswick's best-known politicians has pleaded not guilty to charges of obstructing and resisting police.
Bernard Valcourt, a former MP who was a cabinet minister in the governments of prime ministers Brian Mulroney, Kim Campbell and Stephen Harper, did not appear in court Tuesday to enter the plea himself.
Instead lawyer Shawn Beaulieu entered the pleas.
It's not clear from the charges what exactly Valcourt is accused of doing.
According to information filed in court, Valcourt violated Section 129 of the Criminal Code on Oct. 4, 2022, when he "voluntarily obstructed" two Edmundston city police officers and "resisted" them as they were trying to do their work.
The Crown is seeking a summary conviction that would carry no jail time.
Provincial court judge Sebastien Michaud scheduled a two-day trial for Sept. 13-14 in Edmundston but said he will not hear the case himself.
In a sign of Valcourt's high profile in the area, both the trial judge and the Crown prosecutor will be from outside the province.
A prosecutor from Quebec, Liliane Laforest, appeared for the Crown on Tuesday.
Michaud said the court was opting for an out-of-province judge to avoid any perception of a conflict.
Controversial comments
Valcourt had two stints as a federal MP, first from 1984 to 1993 as the MP for Madawaska-Victoria and then from 2011 to 2015 as MP for Madawaska-Restigouche.
Between those two periods, he was leader of the New Brunswick Progressive Conservative party, leading the party to defeat in the 1995 provincial election.
He was a senior minister in the Mulroney, Campbell and Harper governments. He resigned from the Mulroney cabinet in 1989 after pleading guilty following a drunk-driving accident but was reappointed in 1990.
His personal popularity in the region was always high, with a walking bridge over the Madawaska River named in his honour.
But in 2021 some local residents launched a petition to remove his name from the bridge after he accused media organizations of using a local doctor to feed a "campaign of terrorizing the public" about COVID-19.
In a Facebook post, he called the doctor's comments about conditions at the Edmundston Regional Hospital "the most irresponsible and gratuitous statement I've heard during the campaign of terror being fed by governments."
Valcourt deleted his social media accounts in response after the backlash to his comments.
"Society has reached the point where you don't have the right to say what you think," he told CBC News at the time.
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