Indigenous minister resigns cabinet post after Pallister’s colonist praise 'Completely impossible' for MLA Eileen Clarke to be government's liaison with Indigenous people in wake of premier's comments: senior Tory source By: Dan Lett Posted: 10:01 AM CDT Wednesday, Jul. 14, 2021 Last Modified: 7:32 PM CDT Wednesday, Jul. 14, 2021 Updates

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In a rare act of dissent, MLA Eileen Clarke has resigned as Manitoba’s Indigenous and northern affairs minister to protest Premier Brian Pallister’s recent comments praising colonial settlers.

Government sources said Clarke surprised the premier and his senior staff with her decision last Friday. The sources said she is expected to remain as MLA for Agassiz for the time being, and has not made a decision on running in the next election.

Clarke has not said much publicly about her decision to leave cabinet. The Canadian Press reported that she would not discuss her decision Wednesday out of respect for the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, which is in the process of electing a new grand chief.

At a Wednesday afternoon news conference on the easing of pandemic restrictions, Pallister had nothing but praise for Clarke, but refused to disclose any reasons she may have given him for leaving cabinet. He repeatedly refused to apologize for his comments last week.

“I have nothing but respect and admiration for Eileen Clarke,” the premier said.

Following the news conference, Pallister’s office confirmed there would be a cabinet shuffle Thursday to fill the vacancy left by Clarke.

Clarke’s relative silence on her resignation did not stop others — including members of her own party and Indigenous leaders — from expressing their support for her and disappointment over her decision.

David Chartrand, president of the Manitoba Metis Federation, said he maintained a close working relationship with Clarke even though he and Pallister sparred bitterly over Métis land entitlements and other compensation agreements.

Chartrand said in private conversation, Clarke was brutally honest about how frustrated she was serving as the chief liaison with Indigenous people within a government that is largely perceived as anti-Indigenous.

“I applaud her for what she’s doing,” he told the Free Press. “She was clearly frustrated. She told me, I don’t know how many times, ‘David, be patient. (Pallister) will be gone soon and things will change for the better.’ But she also told me she didn’t know how much longer she could put up with the premier.”

Chartrand said he thought so highly of Clarke, he invited her to address the MMF Assembly in 2019 even as he fought openly with Pallister.

“Eileen Clarke is in no way the bad guy in this story,” he said. “She has taken a lot of bullets for this premier. In resigning, she is showing true leadership.”

Although it is unclear whether Clarke will ever speak openly about her reasons for leaving, multiple senior sources in government and in the Tory party said she made it abundantly clear to the premier that his recent statements made her job as the government’s chief liaison with Indigenous people “completely impossible.”

“What was she supposed to do after the premier said those things?” said one senior Tory source. “I mean, her job was always difficult but after that, how was she supposed to talk to Indigenous people when you’ve got a premier that is trying to rewrite history?”

Last week, in response to protests at the legislature that damaged statues of Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria, Pallister defended European settlers as people who came to Canada to build a new life, with no deliberate attempt to destroy the lives of Indigenous peoples.

“The people who came here, to this country before it was a country, and since, didn’t come here to destroy anything — they came here to build,” the premier said at a news conference.

The remarks were unanimously denounced by Indigenous leaders, allies and historians as a gross manipulation of history and an insult to residential school survivors and their families. The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs described Pallister’s comments as “the worst kind of racist dog-whistling imaginable.”

Clarke’s departure stands as an unprecedented act of dissent in the ranks of the Pallister government.

For the most part, the premier has ruled over cabinet and caucus with a proverbial iron fist that has suppressed even the slightest hint of dissent. This united front has remained intact even as the premier brought controversy and dishonour to his government with controversial actions and statements that have significantly undermined both his personal popularity and that of his party.

“What was she supposed to do after the premier said those things? I mean, her job was always difficult but after that, how was she supposed to talk to Indigenous people when you’ve got a premier that is trying to rewrite history?” – Senior Tory source

The Progressive Conservative party — both elected and non-elected members — are waiting patiently for Pallister to confirm a timetable for his own retirement; he has strongly hinted he will not run in the next election but he has been maddeningly coy about exactly when he will step aside.

That ambiguity has weighed heavily on all the MLAs in the Tory caucus, particularly since support for Pallister and his government has plummeted in recent months thanks to his ruthless fiscal austerity and a profoundly botched pandemic response that triggered some of the worst COVID-19 outbreaks on the continent.

Not surprisingly, the most recent Free Press-Probe Research poll showed a precipitous drop in support for Pallister and his party. If those numbers were to hold until the next election, it would open the door to a NDP majority government.

Although there is no indication yet that a flood of MLAs or ministers have been encouraged to publicly express their dissent, there have beensome obvious shows of sympathy for Clarke that would have been unthinkable only a few weeks ago.

Tory MLA Shannon Martin (McPhillips) tweeted out support for Clarke that strongly suggested he thought Pallister left her with no other decision but to step down.

“Nothing but respect for my friend & colleague @Min_E_Clarke,” Martin wrote Wednesday morning. “She has been a tireless advocate for reconciliation & her efforts were noticed & appreciated by First Nations. Shitty that it’s come to this, but her decision is understandable.”

“Nothing but respect for my friend & colleague @Min_E_Clarke… She has been a tireless advocate for reconciliation & her efforts were noticed & appreciated by First Nations. Shitty that it’s come to this, but her decision is understandable.” – Tory MLA Shannon Martin tweet

Martin was joined by former Pallister senior political staffers Phil Houde and Chisholm Pothier, who both similarly celebrated Clarke’s work as a cabinet minister. Those sentiments were echoed by David Asper, a powerful party supporter who noted in a tweet that Clarke’s actions showed “clarity and courage.”

First elected to the legislative assembly in 2016 and re-elected in 2019, she has held the post as Indigenous and northern affairs minister since the Tories were returned to power.

However, despite being relatively new to provincial politics, Clarke brought with her a wealth of experience at the municipal level of government.

Recruited personally by Pallister to join his team for the 2016 election, Clarke served as mayor of Gladstone for eight years and sat on the executive of the Association of Manitoba Municipalities.

Although she has kept a relatively low profile in cabinet, Clarke is widely respected by her colleagues for her work as a steady and competent minister who worked hard to build relationships with Indigenous leaders and organizations, a job made increasingly difficult by Pallister’s frequent and controversial outbursts.

Last week’s incident was hardly the first time that he has been criticized for racist or inappropriate comments about Indigenous people.

In the early days of the national vaccine campaign, he took flak for suggesting that the federal government was putting non-Indigenous Manitobans at risk by prioritizing vaccine shipments for Indigenous citizens. It was a comment that many critics believed would cause deep and emotional rifts between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in the province.

One year ago, Pallister became embroiled in controversy when it was reported he was among a handful of premiers who rejected the use of the term “systemic racism” in a joint statement by first ministers denouncing discrimination in all forms.

— with files from Dylan Robertson

dan.lett@freepress.mb.ca