The Assembly of First Nations (AFN) has given Ottawa an F for its response to a series of key recommendations coming out of a royal commission on aboriginals 10 years ago.

The organization released a report card Tuesday on the response and action from the federal government on the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, a 4,000-page report released in 1996 after five years of work.

RCAP contained 440 recommendations, including a call for the creation of what would essentially be a third order of government: an aboriginal parliament; an independent tribunal to decide on land claims and more money to be spent to improve housing, health, education and employment.

But out of 66 recommendations the AFN graded in terms of federal government response, Ottawa received 37 Fs. It also received 11 Ds and two D minuses. It scored only one A (establishing a National Aboriginal Day) and one B+ (creating an Aboriginal Sports Council).

The report card said despite the commission, First Nations communities continue to face ongoing poverty and an increasing gap in living conditions with other Canadians.

It said there has been no sustained investment in meeting their basic needs.  

Under the subhead "Canada's Failure to Act," the report card listed a series of recommended projects that have not been implemented, including:

  • A national framework to guide treaty discussions.
  • An Aboriginal Nations Recognition and Governance Act that would recognize aboriginal governments as one of three orders of governance in Canada.
  • An independent administrative tribunal of land and treaties.
  • Long-term economic development agreements.
  • A network of healing centres.

The federal response to RCAP has been "limited in scope to a narrow range of recommendations," the report card said.

Because of government inaction, the report card estimated there has been a shortfall of nearly $8 billion in funding to communities since 1997.

"We've been quite disappointed," Assembly of First Nations Chief Phil Fontaine told CBC News. "We thought the royal commission report had some very achievable recommendations."