On losing battles

Based on a lack of any glaring gaffes and a recent land claims proposal, Jim Prentice has been widely portrayed as one of the more competent Con cabinet members. But the Globe and Mail reports that Prentice isn't showing much more reasonable management than most of his fellow Cons, as his department is insisting on appealing a losing case in court in order to put off paying additional benefits:

Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice said his government will likely appeal a major court ruling that would expand the number of aboriginals qualifying for services by hundreds of thousands.

In a statement released by his office yesterday, the minister said he would need a ruling from a higher court than the B.C. Supreme Court, which released the judgment last week...

he B.C. Supreme Court decision could transform the way Ottawa deals with aboriginals. It struck down part of a 1985 change to the Indian Act called C-31 on the grounds that it discriminates against natives who trace their roots through their female forebears. The court also raised concern about what is known as the "second-generation cutoff" in which many grandchildren of people who were status Indians in 1985 are now being denied status due to marriages with non-natives.

For the most part, Ottawa has limited its legal obligation to "status Indians," a term it created that currently applies to about 700,000 people. That leaves out hundreds of thousands of Canadians with aboriginal heritage.

Indian Affairs documents obtained by NDP MP Jean Crowder show the department was bracing for "disruption" and rising costs after an expected defeat.

Hopefully the push by Crowder and others will force Prentice to backtrack. But both First Nations in particular and voters in general have every reason to question the competence of a government which thinks it's a good use of resources to pour money into an "expected defeat" to avoid meeting the rights of Canadians.