The resignation of Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan is no "big loss,” says official Opposition Leader Liz Hanson.

"I was surprised, quite frankly, when Mr. Duncan was named to that portfolio,” she told the Star this morning.

Duncan, she noted, was a member of the former Reform Party, which was opposed to First Nations' self-government, including as it evolved in Yukon.

"I recall sitting in committee and hearing these folks, including him, being quite negative about the notion of aboriginal self-government,” she said.

"It's been no surprise to me that there's been significant resistance from this minister to the reality that there's a changed relationship.”

The 64-year-old Duncan resigned from his post Friday over a character reference letter he had written in 2011 to the federal Tax Court in support of a constituent.

"While the letter was written with honourable intentions, I realize that it was not appropriate for me, as a minister of the Crown, to write to the Tax Court,” Duncan said.

"I have therefore offered my resignation as minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development to the prime minister, which he has accepted,” Duncan said.

Asked if there was anyone within the Conservative Party Hanson would like to see named to the post, she said she couldn't think of anyone who had demonstrated a clear understanding of the issues.

From the federal party's first term, there's "been a rejection of anything progressive and positive with respect to the very changed relationship that both new treaties and the courts have said must be the way forward,” said Hanson.

She recalled the Conservatives' flat rejection of the Kelowna Accord, created by former prime minister Paul Martin's shortlived Liberal government, as a prime example.

"I'm hopeful that perhaps the prime minister, having had the opportunity to meet with the aboriginal leadership this winter, will have heard clearly from the national grand chief and from the regional chiefs that the status quo relationship cannot be maintained,” Hanson said.

"And he will find within his caucus somebody who's actually prepared to deal with the world as it is in 2013, as opposed to what it was in the Indian Act days of the 1960s,” Hanson said.

Duncan remains the member of Parliament for Vancouver Island North.

Heritage Minister James Moore will serve as the interim Aboriginal Affairs minister.

Hanson said today she would not be surprised if there was more behind the resignation than has been made public.

"Given all the other scandals that have plagued the federal Conservatives, my first reaction was, ‘Really – that's it? Surely there's more to it,'” she said.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty and two parliamentary secretaries were recently chastised by Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson for writing inappropriate letters to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission on behalf of constituents.

No disciplinary action was announced in that case.

"He's (Duncan) been around a long time; this is not a neophyte member of Parliament to know the rules, so you know, maybe there was more to it, and this was just the rationale that was most convenient and allowed him the out,” said Hanson.

Calls to Ruth Massie, the Council of Yukon First Nations' grand chief, were not returned before today's press deadline.

Neither Premier Darrell Pasloski nor Yukon MP Ryan Leef were available to comment on Duncan's resignation this morning.

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