Bearspaw chief said G7 was a step in the right direction after meeting with Mark Carney
This year's G7 summit did a better job of including First Nations representation than the last time Canada acted as host, one Indigenous leader said Tuesday, but there is still room for improvement.
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Chief Darcy Dixon of the Bearspaw First Nation was among the group of Treaty 7 chiefs who greeted world leaders as they arrived for the G7 Summit in Kananaskis, and also met with Prime Minister Mark Carney on Sunday.
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At the 2002 G8 summit also hosted in Kananaskis, Treaty 7 chiefs were invited to greet world leaders but were excluded from the meetings. Dixon said a step has been made in the right direction, but there's still progress to be made.
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'We need to be at the front, especially in our territory, our lands,' he said. 'Even having a few more minutes to meet with the prime minister and even with some of the world leaders — I'm sure they would like to meet with First Nations here.
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'I know everybody's busy, right? That's the thing. Everybody's schedule is so tight.'
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Dixon was also chief during the 2002 summit, and said he enjoyed the experience of greeting world leaders on both occasions.
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'It's always a privilege to greet different nations here in Canada, but more importantly, on our ancestral lands here in Canada,' he said.
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'They were asking questions and wanting to take pictures and, you know, where was I from?' he said. 'I tried to explain to them where the Nakoda nations, Bearspaw nations, were from.'
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Sunday's meeting with Carney was a little more than an hour long, Dixon said.
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'It doesn't give us much time to talk about some of the stronger issues,' he said. The meeting gave Treaty 7 chiefs an opportunity to get to know Carney and hear some of his ideas, which included making Canada 'an economic force,' Dixon said.
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