Aboriginal Affairs Minister Bernard Valcourt moved aggressively to undermine the Confederacy of Nations Thursday, labeling the chiefs behind the organization as rogues who are “threatening” national security.
A group of First Nation chiefs plan to revive a dormant oversight body within the Assembly of First Nations to turn the organization against the Harper government’s First Nation education bill.
A senior British Columbia chief says the deputy minister of Aboriginal Affairs made a “snide remark” about the lack of Idle No More protests during a recent meeting in Ottawa of a committee created during a controversial meeting between Prime Minister Stephen Harper and First Nation chiefs last Jan. 11.
Several top federal officials are planning to meet with senior First Nations leaders in British Columbia later this month in an attempt to break an impasse over planned major pipeline projects facing resistance from Indigenous communities in the province, according to a letter obtained by APTN National News.
If Prime Minister Stephen Harper meets a delegation of First Nations chiefs in Ottawa Friday, he could face demands to scrap the Indian Act and to repeal his government’s omnibus budget bills, which have already passed into law.
