(Montreal) First Nations leaders have heard enough promises and “effective reconciliation,” Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said Thursday, adding that they deserve a partnership based on honest conversations.
It was Poilievre’s first address to the Assembly of First Nations, an organization representing more than 600 First Nations that had a strained relationship with the Conservatives when former prime minister Stephen Harper was in power.
In 2018, former Conservative leader Andrew Scheer was booed at an AFN meeting because he was unable to explain how his policies differed from Mr. Harper’s.
AFN National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak said she wants to turn the page on that legacy, and Poilievre thanked her for inviting him to speak at the assembly’s annual general meeting, which is taking place this week in Montreal.
Since becoming leader in September 2022, Poilievre has only sent pre-recorded remarks at AFN events.
Economic prosperity
On Thursday, some chiefs appeared to appreciate some of the Conservative leader’s remarks, applauding generously during a speech highlighting his commitment to advancing economic reconciliation with First Nations and creating jobs, including through resource development.
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, THE PRESS
“If reconciliation means anything, it means saying yes to the economic opportunities that First Nations are demanding,” Poilievre said in his speech, where he also touted his support for section 35 of the Constitution which recognizes Indigenous rights, including the right to consultation.
“I believe these rights require our government to consult with the people who want the projects to happen, as well as those who do not want them to happen,” he said.
And instead of companies relying on temporary foreign workers to fill jobs, that work should be given to young indigenous people, Poilievre suggested, drawing applause.
He also said he doesn’t believe in “cancelling or denying history,” but rather that more stories of First Nations leaders and heroes should be taught alongside those of Europeans.
It was a nod to disagreements the Conservatives have had over decisions to remove statues or rename buildings and roads that honour Canadians with ties to Canada’s unflattering residential school legacy.
Mr. Poilievre ended his speech by acknowledging that the relationship will not be easy.
“We will not always agree and you have heard enough promises and enough performative reconciliation,” he said.
“What we need are honest, direct conversations and a partnership based on a nation-to-nation relationship and mutual respect. I come here to offer that respect in all humility.”
The spectre of the Harper government
During a question and answer period that followed, Mr. Poilievre was confronted about his priorities on Indigenous issues and the actions of the Harper government.
Judy Wilson, a delegate at the rally who represented a chief, asked that the remaining handful of veterans and representatives from the assembly’s LGBTQ+ council, who stood silently with their backs turned to Poilievre as he spoke, be recognized and considered.
She then reminded Mr. Poilievre that he had not mentioned the issue of murdered and missing indigenous women or the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and Inherent Rights during his speech.
The Harper government refused to launch a national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, but Prime Minister Justin Trudeau did, coming to power in 2015 on a promise to build better relationships with Indigenous peoples.
“You also failed to recognize the survivors of residential schools,” Mr.me Wilson to Mr. Poilievre.
“If you’re working to become the next prime minister of Canada, that tells me you have a lot of education to do in these areas.”
In his speech, Poilievre said it was the former Conservative government that issued a historic apology on behalf of Canada in 2008 for forcing thousands of First Nations, Métis and Inuit children to attend government-funded faith-based schools. He also referred to the suffering inflicted on children in residential schools as a crime that resulted from a “monstrous abuse of excessive government power.”
He did not mention the personal apology he was due to make.
Hours before Harper apologized for residential schools, Poilievre said on a radio station that he questioned the value of compensating residential school survivors instead of promoting the values of “hard work and independence.” He apologized in the House of Commons the next day.
After Poilievre’s speech, Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Gary Anandasangaree posted a one-minute video on social media that included Poilievre’s 2008 apology and said the Conservative leader had shown his true colors.
Ontario Conservative MPP Jamie Schmale, who is the party’s critic for Indigenous Affairs, reiterated that the Conservatives are committed to working to “overcome current challenges and address the injustices of the past,” including murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls.
He accused the Liberals of wanting to distract attention from their own record.
Social issues
Addressing the leaders, Mr. Poilievre said the Conservatives will work to address historical discrimination in the child welfare system and resolve “other outstanding issues,” which Mr.me Wilson and child protection advocate Mary Teegee raised during the question and answer period.
In a subsequent interview, Mr.me Teegee said she felt Poilievre’s responses to social issues were incomplete.
“We endured the Harper government,” lamented Mr.me Teegee. It was awful. […] We never received an increase in funding.”
For his part, Mr. Poilievre said: “We believe that economic reconciliation is part of social progress.”
Singh fires arrows at Poilievre and Trudeau
After his own speech at the event, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh suggested that Poilievre should not be believed when it comes to his promises to First Nations.
“He never mentioned the real painful issues of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls…truth and reconciliation.”
The NDP leader also criticized Justin Trudeau’s government for not having kept several promises to the First Nations.
“He promised to implement the 94 calls to action. He has only implemented 13 of them to date and not a single one in the last year,” he lamented. “He promised to invest in shelters for Indigenous women and girls who are victims of violence, he has not built a single shelter.”