Hatred and violence must stop, chief says
Bellegarde cites examples of attacks on Indigenous people as he opens annual meeting
REGINA— The national chief of the Assembly of First Nations has opened the organization’s annual meeting with a plea to end racism.
Perry Bellegarde said First Nations face alarming acts of hatred and violence and it must stop.
“Every child has a right to a safe and healthy home and to grow up in a society where they are treated with dignity and respect and have the same opportunities as other children,” Bellegarde told the assembly in Regina Tuesday.
“The violence, the racism, the discrimination has to end.”
Federal Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould said she shares his concerns. She said one way to address racism is through education.
“We need to ensure that we do everything that we can to address those realities,” said Wilson-Raybould, who was at the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) meeting.
“We all need to understand the history and the realities of Indigenous peoples in this country.”
Bellegarde cited the hateful reaction to murder charges against a white Saskatchewan farmer in the death of an Indigenous man named Colton Boushie.
Boushie, 22, of the Red Pheasant First Nation, was shot and killed while riding in an SUV that went onto a farm last August.
Bellegarde spoke of the counter protests to First Nations seeking the removal of a statue in Halifax of Edward Cornwallis. On Canada Day, a group of off-duty Canadian military men disrupted a spiritual event at the statue marking the suffering of Indigenous peoples. The federal government announced that First Nations will now be able to carry funding from year-to-year, instead of having to return money if a project wasn’t completed within a fiscal year.
Bellegarde said the problem was that projects often didn’t get approved until late in a fiscal year.
“There used to always be the requirement, but you know the monies never got out fast enough and everybody would panic that you have resources that have to be expended by the end of March or you lose them or you have to send them back,” Bellegarde said.