Trudeau, aboriginals hold ‘historic meeting’
OTTAWA — The day after wrapping up the historic Truth and Reconciliation Commission, First Nations leaders were talking about “reconcili-action” after meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Trudeau vowed to take some real, albeit, still-to-be-announced steps to improve the lives of indigenous Canadians.
“We didn’t want to have a meeting so we can set up more meetings so we can celebrate in a gathering the fact that we’ve had meetings and we’re going to have more meetings,” Trudeau said after what he called “a historic meeting” on Parliament Hill with leaders from five national aboriginal organizations. “We need to actually get to work on addressing concretely some of these very real challenges.”
Perry Bellegarde, the national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, said groups like his are ready to get to work.
“Reconcili- action is the new word,” Bellegarde said.
Just over a month into its tenure, the government has started the process that will lead to a national inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women and vowed to lift a funding cap on federal transfers to band councils.
But beyond that, there are no details about how the feds intend to reduce poverty and substance abuse among First Peoples by improving education and economic opportunities. It is a massive problem that, as Trudeau conceded, will likely not be fixed for generations.
And it will almost certainly cost the federal treasury billions of dollars.
Bellegarde said the government could get started right away on making sure the water is safe to drink in all aboriginal communities. There are more than 100 boilwater advisories on First Nations communities.
Bellegarde also wants an allweather road built to Shoal Lake First Nation, an eastern Manitoba band cut off a century ago during the construction of an aqueduct that brings fresh water to Winnipeg. Shoal Lake, ironically, cannot get its own fresh water without that road and has been under a boil-water advisory for 18 years.