Indigenous chiefs weary of federal foot-dragging

GATINEAU, QUE. — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reaffirmed his commitment to enhanced, robust Indigenous rights Wednesday as he pleaded for more patience from senior Aboriginal leaders — but his rhetoric rang hollow to a number of chiefs still staunchly opposed to the Kinder Morgan pipeline.

Trudeau kicked off Day 2 of the Assembly of First Nations annual meeting with a speech aimed at easing some of Indigenous community’s growing frustration with his Liberal government, a sentiment that was clear from the question-and-answer session that followed the meeting.

Rushing headlong to action for action’s sake is not the answer, Trudeau said when he was pressed to commit to taking tangible, measurable steps toward meeting his promises to First Peoples in Canada.

“I get the underlying impatience about these issues and I agree with you on the impatience,” he said.

“We are all impatient to move forward in concrete, tangible, real ways that turn the page decisively and comprehensively on the broken relationships of the past, of the empty promises of the past, on the failed policies of the past.”

Indeed, no other group of people in Canada is as entitled to be cynical about government promises, the prime minister acknowledged.

But the Liberals have embarked on a monumental effort to repair the relationship and build a true nation-to-nation process, which isn’t going to happen overnight.

“We can do this quickly, or we can do this right — and I know that those two are mutually exclusive.”

For two days, the frustration has been palpable at the ongoing meetings i.

Many chiefs and elders expressed concerns about how changes to a number of laws making their way through Parliament will impact Indigenous people and their communities — and whether their concerns are being fully heard by Ottawa.

Also front at centre during the meetings has been the government’s rights recognition and implementation framework; some chiefs say First Nations should be working on the affirmation rather than mere recognition of rights they say are already enshrined in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Trudeau repeated his commitment to a framework that would ensure the recognition of rights as the basis for all relations between Indigenous peoples and the federal government.