Latest news with #AssemblyOfFirstNations
National Post
a day ago
- Business
- National Post
Justice minister apologizes for comments that 'potentially eroded' trust with Indigenous peoples
OTTAWA — Justice Minister Sean Fraser apologized Wednesday for recent comments about the federal government's duty to consult First Nations regarding developing projects on their territories, saying his words 'potentially eroded a very precarious trust.' Article content The issue has emerged in light of Prime Minister Mark Carney's plan to introduce legislation that would fast-track approvals for major energy and infrastructure projects by cutting the timeline to two years, down from five. Article content Article content Article content The Assembly of First Nations, a national advocacy organization representing more than 600 First Nations across the country, has expressed concerns that, from what they have seen of the forthcoming bill, it 'suggests a serious threat' to First Nations treaty rights. Article content Article content In a recent letter to Carney, National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak cited the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which outlines the principle of obtaining 'free, prior, and informed consent' regarding laws and decisions that affect Indigenous peoples. Article content When asked about that principle on Tuesday, Fraser outlined his interpretation of it, telling reporters that it demands 'a very deep level of engagement and understanding of the rights that may be impacted.' Article content However, he said, 'it stops short of a complete veto' when it comes to government decisions Article content On Wednesday, Fraser apologized for those comments, saying it gave some the impression of the government wanting to 'work unilaterally, not in partnership,' with Indigenous people. Article content Article content 'Despite innocent intentions, I think my comments actually caused hurt and potentially eroded a very precarious trust that has been built up over many years to respect the rights of Indigenous people in this country,' he said on his way into the Liberal caucus meeting. Article content The minister said that after he made those remarks he received a call from the national chief, 'expressing her frustration.' Article content Fraser said he apologized to Woodhouse Nepinak and committed to do so publicly. Article content 'This is completely on my own initiative,' Fraser told reporters. Article content 'I've not been asked to do this by anyone. (Woodhouse Nepinak) said that she would appreciate if I would offer some clarity. But this is not coming from anyone within government. This is something I feel compelled to do.' Article content National Post Article content staylor@ Article content Article content Article content
National Post
2 days ago
- Business
- National Post
Tasha Kheiriddin: Indigenous leaders put Carney's dreams on notice
Will Prime Minister Mark Carney's national infrastructure dreams be kiboshed by Canada's First Nations? That's the question hanging over Ottawa this week — and if Carney's not careful, the answer could well be yes. Article content At Monday's First Ministers' meeting in Saskatoon, the PM rolled out his big plan: slash approval times for 'national interest' infrastructure projects from five to two years. He got buy-in from the premiers, hoping to stimulate growth, counter U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs, and pull Canada together as one economy. Despite a shortage of specifics, there finally appears to be a willingness to get things done and reconcile the interests of East and West. Quebec Premier François Legault said he's open to a pipeline, Ontario Premier Doug Ford was positively giddy about energy corridors, and even Alberta's Danielle Smith was cautiously optimistic. Article content Indigenous leaders, however, are not impressed. National Chief Cindy Woodhouse of the Assembly of First Nations warned that the plan risks trampling Indigenous rights and took umbrage at being given seven days to review draft proposals. Regional Chief Scott McLeod of the Anishinabek Nation went further, suggesting that Canada could see a new indigenous protest movement along the lines of Idle No More. That movement arose in 2012 in response to Bill C-45, legislation advanced by then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper that sought to streamline the project approvals process, and spawned protests and rail travel disruptions across the country. Article content Article content Now, Carney could face the same opposition, made worse by the actions of his own party and other progressive politicians over the past ten years. Their version of reconciliation did little to advance Indigenous people economically, but much to reinforce the idea that non-Indigenous people are guests in their own country. Article content Article content From the denigration of Canadian historical figures like John A. Macdonald, Henry Dundas and Egerton Ryerson, to the performative and divisive repetition of land acknowledgements, to the spreading of falsehoods about the existence of mass graves at residential schools, Canada was depicted as the country that could do no right by its First Nations. Little wonder, then, that many Indigenous people don't see themselves as part of Canada and have little interest in pulling together for the 'national interest.' Article content Article content There is no question that a succession of Canadian governments implemented policies that damaged generations of First Nations people, including the Indian Act, the residential school system, the pass system, and the potlatch ban. But guilt will not help fix current problems facing First Nations. Nor will opposition to development. It will actually hurt, by weakening Canada economically and reducing its capacity to fund real change in indigenous communities, such as ending all boil water advisories and building adequate housing and schools.
CTV News
5 days ago
- General
- CTV News
‘Our people are tired': First Nations leaders call on province to ‘open up hotels' and suspend conferences to prioritize evacuees
A wildfire near Sherridon, Man. is seen on May 28, 2025. (Michelle Reimer) First Nations leaders in Manitoba gathered Saturday afternoon to call on the province to provide a directive to hotels prioritizing wildfire evacuees in Winnipeg hotels. Leadership from Assembly of First Nations (AFN), Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs (AMC), Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak (MKO) and some of the affected First Nations urged the premier to suspend conferences that are taking up space much needed for evacuees arriving to the city. 'It is really sad to see our children have to sleep on floors, waiting in hallways, waiting outside,' said AMC Grand Chief Kyra Wilson. 'We need to make sure we have space for our people.' MKO Grand Chief Garrison Settee said the reception of people into Winnipeg is 'not a good experience.' 'If you were to see what is happening you would be appalled as Manitobans.' he said, 'This is a matter of basic human dignity when our people arrive here they are not afforded that basic human dignity.' Kelly Linklater, a councillor with Mathias Columb First Nation said the nation is 'halfway' evacuated with community members being flown out all day and continuing over the next couple of days. 'It would be good to move quicker,' he said, 'There is anxiety because of the kids, the Elders, and of course, the pending changing of the wind.' Leaders spoke of how families are spread out across the province and even out of the province. Linklater said there is a possibility 800 of their members may be flown to Niagara Falls, ON. 'We need to come together and make space for our people.' said Grand Chief Wilson, 'Our people are tired. Our leadership is tired.' CTV News reached out to the provincial government for comment.
CTV News
6 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
Indigenous leaders again left out of first ministers meeting as tensions grow
Assembly of First Nations (AFN) National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak speaks during a new conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on May 28, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick OTTAWA — The national chief of the Assembly of First Nations is warning the provinces and Ottawa it 'may not end well' if they make decisions about major infrastructure projects at the upcoming first ministers meeting without First Nations involvement. First Nations leaders in Ontario, meanwhile, have a rally planned for Monday at Queen's Park to protest the provincial government's controversial Bill 5, legislation meant to speed up development. Assembly of First Nations National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak says the lack of First Nations representation at the first ministers' table is 'very disrespectful.' The Assembly of First Nations has long called for its inclusion at first ministers meetings but has only been able to secure secondary meetings with prime ministers ahead of the official meetings. Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations Vice Chief David Pratt says governments should 'smarten up' and warns that it's 'not good business to offend and disrespect us so that we have to blockade.' He says governments should view First Nations as 'equal partners around the table,' adding that if First Nations were in decision-making positions and proposed developments in their cities, 'MPs would be up in arms.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 30, 2025. Written by Alessia Passafiume, The Canadian Press
CNN
29-05-2025
- General
- CNN
The Vatican has held sacred belongings for a century. Now their Indigenous owners want them back
Inside Vatican City, the home of Pope Leo, lies a vast collection of Indigenous artifacts that some people say shouldn't be there. The collection includes thousands dozens of colonial-era objects, including a rare Inuvialuit sealskin kayak from the western Arctic, a pair of embroidered Cree leather gloves, a 200-year-old wampum belt, a baby belt from the Gwich'in people and a beluga tooth necklace. They are relics of a time of cultural destruction, critics say, taken by the Roman Catholic Church a century ago as trophies of missionaries in far-off lands. Pope Francis promised to return the artifacts to communities in Canada as part of what he called a 'penitential pilgrimage' for abuses against Indigenous people by the Church. But several years on, they remain in the Vatican's museums and storage vaults. Indigenous leaders are now urging Pope Leo to finish what Francis started and give the artifacts back. 'When things were taken that weren't somebody else's to take, it's time to return them,' said Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak, the National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations. Calls to repatriate the artifacts began gaining steam in 2022, when a group of First Nations, Inuit and Métis delegates visited Rome for long-awaited talks with Pope Francis about historical abuses at Canada's church-run residential schools. While there, the delegates were given a tour of some of the Vatican's collection and were astonished to see treasured relics stored thousands of miles away from the communities who once used them. 'It was quite an emotional experience to see all of these artifacts – whether they be Métis, First Nations of Inuit artifacts – so far away,' said Victoria Pruden, President of the Métis National Council, which represents the Métis Indigenous people of northwestern Canada. Following that visit – and Francis's subsequent trip to Canada, where he apologized for the Church's role in residential schools – the late pontiff pledged to return the relics. Leo, who held his inaugural mass on May 18, has not yet commented publicly on the issue. Vatican Museums did not respond to questions from CNN about whether it plans to repatriate the artifacts. How the artifacts came to be in the pope's possession requires a trip back to the era of Pope Pius XI, who led the Catholic Church from 1922. Pius was known for promoting the work of missionaries, and in 1923 sent a call out to orders worldwide to gather evidence of the church's vast reach. 'He said: Send in everything related to Indigenous life. Send in sacred belongings. Send in language materials. Send in Indigenous people, if you can manage it,' said Gloria Bell, an assistant professor of art history at McGill University. 'There were thousands of belongings stolen from Indigenous communities to please the greed of Pope Pius XI,' said Bell, who documented the exhibition in her book 'Eternal Sovereigns: Indigenous Artists, Activists, and Travelers Reframing Rome.' The church's collection of Indigenous artifacts was compiled at a time when the cultural identity of Canada's Indigenous people was being erased. The Canadian government had made it compulsory for Indigenous children to attend residential schools – boarding schools largely run by the Catholic Church designed by law to 'kill the Indian in the child' and assimilate them into White Christian society. In these schools, Indigenous children were not allowed to speak their language or practice their culture and were harshly punished for doing so. Thousands of children died from abuse or neglect, with mass graves still being found decades after the last residential school closed in 1998. Even as this injustice unfolded, their cultural belongings and artifacts were being displayed in the 1925 Vatican Mission Exposition, a 13-month long exhibit promoting the Church's influence around the world, which drew millions of visitors. The Vatican has claimed the artifacts were gifts to the Pope. But Bell says that's a 'false narrative' which doesn't consider the context in which the objects were acquired. 'This acquisition period was a really assimilative period in Canadian colonial history,' Bell said. The artifacts were never returned. A century later, many of the cultural objects and artwork remain at the Vatican, either in storage or on display at the Vatican's Anima Mundi Ethnological Museum. While it's not known exactly how many Indigenous artifacts are in the Vatican's collection, the number is in 'the thousands,' Bell said. Indigenous leaders told CNN they don't have a full inventory of what sacred items are housed there. Laurie McDonald, an elder from Enoch Cree Nation who grew up on an Indigenous reserve in Maskêkosihk, Alberta in the 1950s and 1960s, knows what it's like to have your culture taken from you. 'We were forbidden as a nation to use our cultural regalia, our cultural tools, or our medicines, and if we were caught, we were reported to the Indian agent,' said McDonald, referring to the Canadian government official responsible for assimilation policy. McDonald was just 11 years old when he was forcibly taken from the home he shared with his grandmother and sent to Ermineskin Indian Residential School, one of Canada's largest residential schools. Two weeks in, he tried to escape, but became caught on a barbed wire fence and a staff member ripped him off, leaving scars. In 2022, McDonald returned to the site of his former school to witness Pope Francis's historic apology on behalf of the Catholic Church. 'I am deeply sorry,' Francis said, looking out over the land of four First Nations. 'I humbly beg forgiveness for the evil committed by so many Christians against the Indigenous Peoples.' Pope Francis's apology on behalf of the Catholic Church was deeply meaningful for many Indigenous peoples in Canada. But reconciliation is a long process, and Indigenous leaders say they hope Leo will continue what Francis started – first and foremost, by returning the artifacts. McDonald said the objects represent stories and legacies which should have been passed down generations. 'Those may have been simple stuff to you, but to us, they were very, very important,' he said. During his visit to Canada in 2022, Francis said local Catholic communities were committed to promoting Indigenous culture, customs, language and education processes 'in the spirit of' The United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, according to CBC. Article 12 of UNDRIP says Indigenous peoples have the right to use and control their ceremonial objects, and states shall endeavor to return them. Asked again in 2023 about repatriating the Indigenous artifacts, Francis told reporters aboard his plane, 'This is going on, with Canada, at least we were in agreement to do so.' He invoked the seventh commandment – 'thou shall not steal' – in expressing his support for restitution. In recent years, museums around the world have increasingly returned items in their collections that were stolen or potentially acquired unethically to their countries of origin. Last year, new regulations came into effect in the US requiring museums and federal agencies to consult or obtain informed consent from descendants, tribes or Native Hawaiian Organizations before displaying human remains or cultural items. In 2022, Pope Francis returned three fragments of the Parthenon sculptures to Greece in a move he described as a 'gesture of friendship,' according to the BBC. However, a 2024 investigation by Canadian newspaper the Globe and Mail found that the Vatican had not returned a single Indigenous-made item to Canada in recent years, except for a 200-year-old wampum belt which was loaned to a museum in Montreal for just 51 days in 2023. Pruden, of the Métis National Council, said Francis 'really moved things forward by embracing (UNDRIP).' She and other Indigenous leaders hope to soon see the artifacts returned. 'What a beautiful homecoming it would be to welcome these gifts that were made by our grandmothers and our grandfathers,' Pruden said, calling the objects 'very important historical pieces that have a story to tell.' Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney discussed the return of the artifacts in a meeting with Canadian Catholic Cardinals in Rome this month ahead of Leo's first mass, Jaime Battiste, a member of parliament who was also at the meeting, told the Canadian Press. Woodhouse Nepinak said it's 'an uncomfortable and tough issue, but it has to be done.' 'You want to right the wrongs of the past. That's what we want to do for our survivors, for their families, for the history of what happened here and to make sure that the story never dies out.'
