FSIN denies responsibility for leaked video of its meeting with Trudeau
SASKATOON The Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations is denying responsibility for the leak of a video in which Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appears to express frustration about “time management” during a meeting with chiefs in Saskatoon last week.
The three-minute-and-38-second video, entitled “PMJT berates FSIN Chiefs,” surfaced online on Sunday, four days after the prime minister had an 8 a.m. meeting with the federation ahead of his planned address to the Liberal Party of Canada caucus.
In the clip, Trudeau appears to suggest that the first portion of the meeting went longer than expected, leaving little time to hear the concerns of other people present, one of whom says he drove four hours for the opportunity to address the prime minister.
“The original plan was eight people around the table or so, representing all the different regions, bringing forward concerns … and the first section took 45 minutes, and every single person spoke around the table,” Trudeau is heard saying in the video.
“That’s not fair. That’s not fair. That’s not the way … I’m really, really upset with this. It wasn’t for me to interrupt previous speakers, but (FSIN Chief ) Bobby (Cameron), there shouldn’t have been every single person speaking for eight minutes.
“That is not the spirit of reconciliation, of the nation-to-nation relationship we’re supposed to have,” Trudeau added, noting that his “absolute time cap” was 9:05 a.m. Around 9:45 a.m. on Wednesday he addressed the party’s caucus meeting.
“Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get through all the issues that were put forward, but we look forward to subsequent meetings with First Nations Leaders in Saskatchewan and Canada where these concerns can be discussed,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement.
A government official familiar with the meeting said the overall tone of the meeting is not reflected in the leaked clip, and noted more people than expected showed up, apparently expecting an opportunity to address Trudeau.
Speaking during a Maclean’s Magazine live broadcast Monday night, Trudeau told host Paul Wells that he expected eight regional representatives but “50 to 60” people showed up for the meeting, and the first session with roughly 20 went longer than the allotted 20 minutes.
That, Trudeau said, was “really frustrating to me because I wanted them to have an opportunity to express themselves, but because of decisions made earlier around management of the meeting there wasn’t an opportunity to demonstrate the kind of genuine interaction, genuine respectful nation-to-nation relationship that matters so much to me.”
In a news release issued Monday, the FSIN said the clip was “not posted by the executive or FSIN staff.” It remains unclear who shot the video and posted it online, or why. An FSIN spokeswoman declined to provide the Saskatoon Starphoenix with a meeting attendance list.
The Starphoenix requested an interview with FSIN Chief Bobby Cameron, and federation spokeswoman Larissa Burnouf said Monday in an email that he would get to all media requests received Monday morning.
However, Cameron could not be reached by press time.
In a prepared statement, Cameron said he was grateful for the opportunity and noted the session with Trudeau was productive for those First Nations that had an opportunity to speak. However, he added, “the frustration in the video is real.”
“Ultimately, this was a timemanagement issue that caused some chiefs to not have time to speak,” the statement added.
Cameron has announced plans to stand for re-election as chief of the federation late next month.
“We have since had communication with the PMO and in the future, the time will be set aside for those First Nations who didn’t receive the opportunity. The social media clip did not capture the entirety of the meeting and could be construed negatively. That is unfortunate,” the statement read.
Toward the end of the video, Trudeau suggested going around the table so everyone present could speak, but suggested no one take longer than about 30 seconds, so he could hear all of their concerns. The clip does not make clear who else was in the room.
“The time was mismanaged around here,” Trudeau said.
After the video surfaced online, some criticized Trudeau.
Russ Diabo, a policy analyst who recently ran for national chief of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN), tweeted that it showed “Trudeau’s arrogance and petulance towards First Nation chiefs.”
But national Chief Perry Bellegarde said he watched the video and was not “overly concerned” about Trudeau’s tone.
“I’ve chaired meetings where you have chiefs and it is difficult to turn a chief off when they ’re on a roll because they don’t always have access to a leader like the prime minister of Canada,” Bellegarde said.
“To me, it was just an example of frustration because any time you have a meeting with the prime minister, there’s got to be a very structured agenda,” added the AFN chief, who is from Saskatchewan.
In the statement, the PMO noted funding announcements made in Saskatoon last week but acknowledged that, “We know there is still more work to do to chart a path forward that advances reconciliation and builds a stronger future for Indigenous Peoples in Saskatchewan.”