Latest news with #CindyWoodhouse
National Post
08-06-2025
- Politics
- National Post
Chris Selley: Earth to Liberals — First Nations are not an anti-development monolith
Sean Fraser — the federal Liberals' supposed master communicator who did a bad job as immigration minister, and then a bad job as housing minister, and then said he wasn't running again to spend time with his family, and then opportunistically changed his mind and was rewarded with the justice and attorney general portfolio — laid his first dog's egg of the Mark Carney era this week. Article content Article content Fraser said Indigenous groups don't have a 'complete veto' over natural-resource projects or any other government decisions — but that wasn't the turd in question, because it was absolutely true. Article content Article content The turd came later, apparently after getting his ears boxed by Assembly of First Nations National Chief Cindy Woodhouse: Fraser disavowed his entirely truthful statement. Article content 'I think even accepting the premise of the question that was put to me (about a 'veto') really made people feel like there may be an attempt by the government to work unilaterally, not in partnership (with First Nations),' Fraser told reporters in a public apology. '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. Article content Coming up on 500 years since Jacques Cartier first set foot here and named it Canada, and 150-plus years after the Crown concluded the first treaties with First Nations, and with President Donald Trump suddenly bringing our crippling dependence on the United States into very sharp focus, if we can't even speak the plain truth to each other in plain language, we might be in even bigger trouble than we realized. Article content Article content But I think we can speak the plain truth to each other in plain language, so long as we rightly marginalize fringe and unreasonable voices. While apologizing for speaking the truth, Fraser also accurately pointed to 'a frankly dangerous trope that paints a false picture of Indigenous peoples as being anti-development.' Article content Article content Media mostly portrayed the Ktunaxa Nation case, which wound up at the Supreme Court in 2017, as a matter of Indigenous people opposing the proposed Jumbo ski resort in eastern British Columbia on religious grounds: They felt the development would chase a spirit bear from their traditional lands. Receiving much less attention was the fact that the equally interested local Shuswap Nation supported the project, believing their concerns had been properly addressed and being eager to reap the financial benefits.
CTV News
07-06-2025
- Politics
- CTV News
AFN to hold emergency meeting on major projects bill
Watch National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak on the upcoming emergency meeting to discuss Bill C-5.
CTV News
06-06-2025
- Politics
- CTV News
AFN to hold emergency meeting with chiefs on major projects bill
NDP MPP Sol Mamakwa, left, talks with AFN National Chief Cindy Woodhouse during a demonstration opposing Bill 5 outside the Ontario Legislature at Queen's Park in Toronto on Monday, June 2, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston OTTAWA — The Assembly of First Nations will hold an emergency meeting to discuss the implications of proposed federal legislation that would speed up approvals for major projects. National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak says she met yesterday with Prime Minister Mark Carney about the bill his government plans to table today, adding that she remains 'deeply concerned' about the potential impact on consultations with First Nations. The meeting with Carney followed a series of comments by federal ministers about the legislation and Ottawa's duty to consult with Indigenous Peoples that Woodhouse Nepinak called 'disheartening.' Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Rebecca Alty told The Canadian Press that filling the First Nations infrastructure gap would not qualify as 'nation-building' under the legislation, while Justice Minister Sean Fraser said First Nations don't get a 'veto' over infrastructure projects. Former national chief Phil Fontaine called for the emergency meeting on Monday, saying Canada's governments are trampling on the rights of Indigenous Peoples. The Assembly of First Nations will also hold a meeting with its executive committee to discuss strategy and the potential legal implications of the legislation ahead of its annual general assembly in July. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 6, 2025. Alessia Passafiume, The Canadian Press
National Post
03-06-2025
- 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
02-06-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Hundreds of First Nations members protest Ontario mining bill at Queen's Park
Controversy continues to grow over the Ford government's Bill 5 as opposition leaders and First Nations groups raise their concerns. Siobhan Morris reports. TORONTO — Ontario Premier Doug Ford's government is pushing through a controversial mining bill despite the protests of several hundred First Nations members who came from the far north to the front lawn of Queen's Park on Monday. 'Kill Bill 5, kill Bill 5,' the crowd chanted. The province moved to shut down debate on a mining law known as Bill 5 that would give the government power to suspend provincial and municipal laws for chosen projects in areas deemed to have economic importance – and remove some endangered species protections. The proposed legislation has sparked an angry backlash from First Nations who say the bill tramples their rights and ignores their concerns. They've asked the province to scrap the bill and to draft legislation alongside First Nations as partners. 'Our rights are not for sale,' said Assembly of First Nations National Chief Cindy Woodhouse at the rally. The government is speeding up the passage of a plethora of bills before the legislature rises later this week for a summer break. Bill 5, the Protect Ontario by Unleashing Our Economy Act, is designed to speed up the building of large projects, especially mines. The province will not kill the bill, said Indigenous Affairs Minister Greg Rickford. 'We're looking forward to passing the bill later this week and getting out and performing our duty to consult,' Rickford said. Ford, Rickford and Energy and Mines Minister Stephen Lecce are set to soon meet with the leadership council of the Chiefs of Ontario, and then the ministers plan to visit First Nations in northern Ontario throughout the summer as they try to sell them on the bill. The province intends to designate the Ring of Fire, a region replete with critical minerals, as a so-called 'special economic zone' where it can pick and choose which laws to lift. Last week, under pressure from First Nations, the province made several amendments to the bill in an effort to appease them. But First Nations said it was too little, too late. The province will hold off on designating the Ring of Fire the first such zone until it completes consultations with affected First Nations. First Nations have threatened to form blockades of roads, railways and mines should the bill become law. 'Certainly we don't condone confrontation and as I said I have spoken with a number of First Nations leaders from across the province who've expressed that today is a rally, a peaceful reminder that they want to try to understand how the designation of an economic zone would affect their treaty rights,' Rickford said. 'We've assured them that they will in no way affect their treaties rights and that, further, the duty to consult is explicit in the bill.' A legislative committee heard from First Nations leaders and environmental groups, as well as mining groups, over two days and as the committee was considering amendments last week the NDP and Liberals used procedural tools to grind the process to a halt, in protest. Government house leader Steve Clark has stepped in to limit further committee time and require the bill to go back to the house for third reading, with just one hour of debate, and a final vote that same day. While Bill 5 got two days of committee hearings, the six other pieces of legislation the government is speeding up have had no hearings, and will have as little as half an hour of third-reading debate, with just nine minutes each allotted to the two recognized opposition parties. New Democrat Sol Mamakwa, the legislature's lone First Nations member, said in question period that Ford was 'telling untruths' about his people's approval of the mining bill. Speaker Donna Skelly asked him to withdraw the comment, which Mamakwa refused to do, so she booted him from question period. Thirty minutes later, Skelly and Mamakwa set aside their differences to feed politicians a 'Taste of the North' lunch. Mamakwa had several family and community members help gather food from northwestern Ontario, fly it to Toronto and cook it at Queen's Park. The politicians ate moose, goose, lake trout, pickerel and beaver. Mamakwa has twice packed a frozen goose and brought it to Queen's Park, where he plucked and cooked it – once on the front lawn. 'The beaver was a last-minute addition,' Mamakwa said with a big smile on Monday. 'Food brings people together.' With a full belly, Mamakwa returned to his differences and set out for the protest. The opposition parties say pushing bills through without much public consultation or debate is undemocratic. The NDP's Opposition house leader, John Vanthof, spoke in a debate last week over the government limiting debate and bypassing committee for four bills – including the budget bill – in what's called a time allocation motion. 'What's happening now with the time allocation, specifically on four bills, is removing the right of the people to speak, and in many ways, the opposition to speak,' Vanthof said. 'You actually don't need a parliament. We're actually almost going back to where you have, like, a king. That's truly scary. I'm not opposed to the monarchy as a figurehead, but we came very far in our democracies to actually have parliaments. What the government is doing is basically making the premier the king.' Vanthof stressed the seriousness of the matter, though he had the opposition benches laughing while he was reading out quotes from government house leader Steve Clark, upset about time allocation motions when he was in opposition. 'My party loves to hear from people,' Clark said in the waning days of the former Liberal government. 'If this government doesn't want to listen to people, I'll give them a guarantee. I'll give them, actually, the people's guarantee, because we will listen to them, and we will ensure that those Ontarians are being listened to.' Clark, who during that 2017 debate called such motions 'anti-democratic,' said last week that the younger Steve Clark was 'maybe more brash and abrupt,' defending the current moves. 'The government has decided that these four bills are very important for us,' he said. 'There needs to be certainty from the government's government decides that they're going to prioritize certain things, the government is going to move forward with those legislations. That's my message.' However much the former Liberal government shut down debate, the Progressive Conservative government is a worse offender, Vanthof said. 'Two time allocation votes in a day was probably the previous record for the travesty to democracy, probably the previous record, and that was held by the Liberals,' he said. 'But this government is so efficient, including destroying the democratic process, that they put four bills, including a budget, in one time allocation motion.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 2, 2025. Allison Jones, The Canadian Press
