AFN unveils election priorities
OTTAWA • Four years after the Liberals made reconciliation with Indigenous peoples a central pillar of their election campaign, Assembly of First Nations National Chief Perry Bellegarde says First Nations remain optimistic about their new relationship with the federal government.
Bellegarde, who unveiled the AFN’s 2019 election priorities in Ottawa on Monday, said the Liberals have given First Nations “unprecedented” access since the 2015 election. “Before, how many times did the prime minister ever come to an AFN chiefs’ assembly? A sitting prime minister. The answer is never,” he told reporters. “This prime minister has come three times.”
Still, Bellegarde refused to endorse any party on Monday, saying he has a good relationship with all the leaders and will work with whichever party forms the next government.
In a 16-page document titled “Honouring Promises,” the AFN has detailed its priorities over the next four years, with an emphasis on environmental concerns. The document calls for First Nations to be “full partners in the implementation of Canada’s climate plan.”
It also calls on the government to support First Nations-led environmental reviews of resource projects and impact assessment regimes. Bellegarde said all parties should agree on any proposed resource development project before it begins. “That’s called being good neighbours,” he said. “Upholding that standard would prevent the conflicts and court cases we’re seeing today.”
His comments come in the wake of a Federal Court of Appeal decision last week that will allow an appeal of the federal government’s consultation with Indigenous communities on the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. The appeal is part of an ongoing bid by some First Nations to prevent the project from moving forward, as they say the consultation was inadequate.
The AFN is also demanding that the next government introduce a bill that would implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Canada. A private member’s bill to that effect tabled by NDP MP Romeo Saganash nearly passed, but died in the Senate after Conservative senators used procedural tactics to delay it. The document further calls on the next government to implement the calls for justice of the national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women. The AFN is also asking for sweeping changes to the criminal justice system to end the overrepresentation of Indigenous people behind bars.