Published Friday, Feb. 22 2013, 10:34 AM EST

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/bernard-valcourt-appointed-aboriginal-affairs-minister/article8964311/

Last updated Friday, Feb. 22 2013, 12:52 PM EST

A New Brunswick MP who was a cabinet minister under former prime minister Brian Mulroney will take over the difficult and demanding Aboriginal Affairs portfolio for the federal Conservatives.

Bernard Valcourt was sworn in as Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development at Rideau hall early Friday morning.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in a statement that Mr. Valcourt’s job will be to advance dialogue on Aboriginal issues and take achievable steps that will provide better education and economic outcomes for Aboriginal peoples across Canada.

Mr. Valcourt replaces John Duncan who resigned from cabinet earlier this month over an inappropriate letter he wrote to the Tax Court two years ago.

The change in ministers comes after several months of first nations unrest that been expressed in an ongoing series of protests that have been staged across Canada and around the world.

Mr. Harper sat down with a delegation from the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) in January in an effort to resolve some of the issues that prompted a prolonged hunger strike by Chief Theresa Spence of Attawapiskat. That hunger strike has now ended but anger on the part of first nations people, especially the youth, remains. It is targeted at several pieces of legislation they say will negatively affect them and their communities but was crafted without their consent.

But Mr. Valcourt used his first public statement issued in his new job to praise his government’s actions on behalf of indigenous peoples.

“Our government has made significant progress in improving outcomes for Aboriginal peoples across Canada. We have built new schools, invested in clean drinking water systems, built thousands of new homes, increased funding for services for the most vulnerable members of First Nations communities, and invested in hundreds of projects to link Aboriginals with job training services,” he said in a statement. “Our Government remains committed to working with those Aboriginal leaders who want to work with the Government of Canada to create jobs and growth in their communities.”

Mr. Valcourt was first elected to the House of Commons in 1984 as a Progressive Conservative under Mr. Mulroney. He eventually became Minister of Consumer and Corporate Affairs but was involved motorcycle accident while driving drunk and lost both an eye and his cabinet seat. He was eventually brought back to the cabinet table as Minister of Fisheries and Oceans and then Minister of Employment and Immigration. He lost his seat when the Progressive Conservatives were all but wiped out in the election of 1993.

Mr. Valcourt then moved to provincial politics and became the leader for the Progressive Conservatives in New Brunswick.

He returned to Ottawa in 2011 as the MP for Madawaska-Restigouche and has been the Minister of State for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) and La Francophonie.

Gail Shea, the Minister of National Revenue, has now taken responsibility for ACOA and Steven Blaney, the Minister of Veterans Affairs, will assume responsibility for La Francophonie.