Indigenous leaders say Quebec’s new premier not attending the First Nations-First Ministers’ Meeting in Ottawa on Monday speaks volumes.
Paul St-Pierre Plamondon skipped the meeting, citing a tight schedule but also explaining he wants to prioritize a different approach with Indigenous People.
“People ask me would you have liked that to have Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon at the table? Of course I would have liked to,” said Francis Verreault-Paul, the Chief of the Assembly of First Nations of Quebec and Labrador (AFNQL).
“I know what are the objectives of the Parti Québécois in the near future, to become a sovereign country. But till then, I mean they have to govern and they have to govern with the federal government in terms of the… especially for First Nations.”
Na’kuset, the executive director of the Native Women’s Shelter of Montreal, said St-Pierre Plamondon sent a clear message.
“Already when he gets an invitation to meet with chiefs around Canada, not really his priority,” Na’kuset said.
St-Pierre Plamondon later agreed to meet with representatives of the AFNQL on Wednesday. Chief Verreault-Paul says languages, cultures and their lands will be important issues to address in the meeting with the new Quebec premier.
“We want to protect and revitalize our languages and culture,” he said. “On the other hand, talking about identity, identity for us it’s about our lands. How are we going to manage our own lands? Are we going to be part of that? And that remains one of the biggest questions that we have to address with the new government and hopefully we’ll find some solution.”
Na’kuset suggests that issues impacting urban Indigenous peoples living in Montreal also need to be addressed with St-Pierre Plamondon.
“Because we are over-represented and we are the highest population on the streets, I think that we should be having a conversation with them as well or at least the AFN should be bringing up these talking points when they speak to the new premier,” she said.
In a response on social media, Quebec’s minister responsible for relations with First Nations and Inuit said that the Quebec premier’s absence from Monday’s meeting in Ottawa was deliberate in order to have a direct meeting with Indigenous nations, nation to nation, within Quebec.
“I think that when he has a meeting with the AFN that they’ll be asking some tough questions that he will need to respond to,” Na’kuset said. “And I think that’s a good thing. But I think that there’s an overall large concern about what his agenda is for Quebec and how that’s going to be a ripple effect for Indigenous people.”
At the summit with Indigenous leaders on Monday – the one the Quebec premier did not attend – the possibility of reforming or abolishing the Indian Act was also discussed.
“Doesn’t mean that if we do abolish the Indian Act that we’re going to get on the other end with nothing,” said Chief Verreault-Paul. “Obviously, our role as leadership is to make sure that if we do abolish the Indian Act, what’s going to be, what will be replaced by that Act? So I think that’s the question.”
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