APTN National News
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is expected to meet with Indigenous leaders before the end of the year, according to the Prime Minister’s Office.
The meeting will be timed to coincide with the release of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s (TRC) final report, the PMO said.
This will be the first time the prime minister will meet at the same time with the leaders from all the major Indigenous organizations representing First Nation, Inuit, Metis and off-reserve Indigenous peoples since the days of the Liberal government of Paul Martin.
Trudeau has already promised to implement all the TRC’s 94 recommendations which were released along with its interim report earlier this year.
Leaders from the Assembly of First Nations, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, the Metis National Council, the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples and the Native Women’s Association of Canada are all expected to attend the meeting.
Trudeau has also been invited to speak on the first day of next month’s AFN special chiefs assembly which will be held at a Gatineau, Que., casino, according to a draft agenda obtained by APTN National News. Trudeau is penciled-in to speak on Dec. 8 after AFN National Chief Perry Bellegarde’s welcome speech. It remains unclear whether Trudeau has accepted the invitation.
Former prime minister Stephen Harper met with First Nation leaders twice during his nearly eight years in power, but little progress emerged from those encounters.
The Trudeau government is also working toward launching pre-consultation on the promised inquiry into murdered and missing Indigenous women.
Martin met with Indigenous leaders in the lead-up to the Kelowna Accord which died after his Liberal minority government fell in 2005.
@APTNNews
