An area chief says he’s a little frustrated by the federal government’s response so far during an historic meeting between the Crown and First Nations leaders in Ottawa.
Fort William First Nation Chief Peter Collins is in Ottawa. He said the Prime Minister has been sticking to the racially-motivated Indian Act and refuses to abolish it.
“We heard that first hand in some of his statements here (Tuesday) morning,” Collins said during a phone interview from Ottawa.
The act, first passed in 1876, is the reason many First Nations communities in Canada are facing third-world conditions, Collins said. The federal government needs to recognize a true partnership between the Crown and First Nations.
“We agreed to share with Canada and the natural resources of this country. To date we haven’t benefited. None of our communities have benefited and that’s why we live in such impoverished conditions and third world conditions,” he said.
Collins said he’s hoping that the meeting will get the government to recognize treaties so that First Nations communities can share in the benefit of a strong economy through jobs, education and training.
First Nations people have not benefited from resource-based industries the way the rest of Canada has he said.
“They’ve taken all the benefits they’ve given us peanuts for the benefits that they share,” Collins said.
“Why don’t we get half of those resources that we agreed to in those treaties?”
Collins said both sides have a lot of work to do.
Follow Jamie Smith on Twitter: @jsmithreporting
