Current Problems: Government Commitments to Truth and Reconciliation
Exploring Stakeholder: "Government of Québec"
Updates on this page: 45
September 30, 2024
Over 30 years of Indigenous resistance with Mohawk land defender Ellen Gabriel
‘Colonial-rooted poverty will not be solved by more colonial solutions’ Ellen Gabriel speaks during a march on National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Montreal, Saturday, September 30, 2023. Graham Hughes / The Canadian Press The Narwhal: Thirty-four years ago, Katsi’tsakwas Ellen Gabriel was thrust into the spotlight when she was chosen as the spokesperson for...
September 27, 2024
Reconciliation will take substance, not symbolism: Senator Francis
NationTalk: When so little has changed in the lives of Indigenous peoples, it is hard to believe that Canada is truly on a path to reconciliation. The legacy of colonialism is not something we can leave behind, but an ongoing reality. It is alive in the structural and systemic inequalities that continue to oppress communities....
September 26, 2024
Hydro-Québec Bills: A Declaration by the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador
Nationtalk: WENDAKE, QC – In response to recent reports and various comments made regarding unpaid electricity bills by certain First Nations people, the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador (AFNQL) issues this official statement: As we prepare to commemorate the sad anniversary of the tragic death of our Atikamekw sister Joyce Echaquan, and just a few...
September 24, 2024
Unpaid hydro bills: Quebec says Indigenous protest ‘not a good solution’
Quebec’s minister responsible for relations with First Nations and Inuit says northern communities can’t opt out of paying their electricity bills. Toronto Star: Quebec’s minister responsible for relations with First Nations and Inuit says northern communities can’t opt out of paying their electricity bills. Ian Lafrenière was reacting to a Radio-Canada report that found that...
August 1, 2024
Court rejects Ottawa’s attempt to quash lawsuit challenging Governor General’s appointment
French-language advocacy groups argue appointment of Mary Simon violated the Charter of Rights CBC Indigenous: The Quebec Superior Court has ruled that a lawsuit seeking to overturn Governor General Mary Simon’s appointment can move forward and be heard on its merits. Justice Marie-Hélène Dubé dismissed an application by the attorney general of Canada to have...
July 15, 2024
National Indigenous leaders to meet premiers amid deteriorating relationship
Focus of meeting is health care, but Indigenous leaders plan to raise issue of respect CBC News: Indigenous leaders will attend a meeting with Canada’s premiers on Monday, with health care on the agenda — but also a deteriorating relationship. This is the first time Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami president Natan Obed will meet provincial and territorial...
May 8, 2024
Musée national de l’histoire du Québec – The First Nations cannot be erased from Quebec’s history
NationTalk: WENDAKE, QC – The Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador (AFNQL) wants to remind the Quebec government that Quebec’s history began long before the arrival of Europeans on the territory. The AFNQL is therefore reacting to the remarks made by Prime Minister Legault on April 25th, when he announced the creation of the Musée national...
April 19, 2024
UN puts spotlight on attacks against Indigenous land defenders, journalists
Indigenous peoples around the world are harassed and killed at alarming rates. Will the world act? Tear gas is deployed by police during a Maasai rights demonstration outside the Tanzanian High Commission in Nairobi in 2022. Ben Curtis / AP Photo APTN News: When around 70,000 Indigenous Maasai were expelled from their lands in northern Tanzania in 2022,...
March 11, 2024
Painful discrimination still confronts too many Indigenous people: Ken Coates for Inside Policy
Canada has a long way to go before Indigenous peoples can be assured of fairness before the law or consistent acceptance in Canadian society. March 11, 2024 in Ken Coates, Inside Policy, Columns, Latest News, Indigenous Affairs Program, Social issues NationTalk: McDonald-Laurier Institute: Inside Policy – Most Canadians believe that life is getting better for Indigenous peoples in the country and...
March 9, 2024
Brian Mulroney’s complicated relationship with Indigenous peoples in Canada
From laying the foundations of Nunavut to the Oka crisis, the former PM’s legacy was one of contradictions CBC News: The late Brian Mulroney’s legacy with Indigenous peoples in Canada is marked by its contradictions — failures remembered for their good intentions, successes accompanied by catastrophic disappointments. The former prime minister is praised by some Indigenous leaders for creating a...
February 15, 2024
What does the duty to consult First Nations, Inuit and Métis mean?
And why some advocates say Canada needs to move from consultation to consent CBC Indigenous: You’ve probably heard the phrase duty to consult, or failure to consult, when it comes to governments and their relationships with First Nations, Inuit and Métis. But what does it actually mean? Stemming from three Supreme Court of Canada decisions in 2004...
January 1, 2024
Consulting Indigenous communities on critical minerals is key to net zero ambitions
PUBLISHED DECEMBER 31, 2023 UPDATED JANUARY 1, 2024 The Globe and Mail: Two years ago, First Nations leaders made clear what Canada must take to heart if it wants to be a global player in critical minerals and the energy transition: The only road to net zero runs through Indigenous lands. That is, any efforts to develop...
October 31, 2023
Quebec electoral commission passes on giving Nunavik its own federal riding
Electoral reform report cites low population as reason. APTN News: Another federal electoral riding redistribution has come and gone – without a riding for Indigenous communities in northern Quebec. “People talking about reconciliation, this is part of reconciliation, wanting a representative from the region instead of having someone that’s south of us that doesn’t know my realities,” said Pita...
October 12, 2023
A need for action on reconciliation
NationTalk: Winnipeg Free Press – Each year, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation prompts us to take stock of the progress we are making, as a country, on the journey towards reconciliation. Often this progress — or the lack of it — is measured by counting how many of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s...
October 5, 2023
Province failing its Indigenous population, report says
Only a fraction of Viens Commission recommendations in place: ombudsman Toronto Star: The Quebec government has failed to implement most of the recommendations in a landmark report that found Indigenous people suffered systemic discrimination when accessing public services, the province’s ombudsman said Wednesday. Quebec has fully implemented just 11 of the 142 recommendations made in...
August 9, 2023
Quebec Superior Court can hear case calling on removal of Gov. Gen. due to lack of French
A judge rejected Ottawa’s arguments that such a case must be heard in federal court CBC News: Quebec Superior Court has the jurisdiction to hear a case calling on Gov. Gen. Mary Simon to be removed from her post because she cannot speak French, according to a Quebec Superior Court judge. The Attorney General of...
July 6, 2023
National Inuit leader skipping premiers’ meeting over matter of respect
Natan Obed says relationship with premiers still a ‘long ways away’ from one needed for true reconciliation CBC News: The leader of the national organization representing Inuit turned down an invitation to meet with Canada’s premiers next week over the inclusion of non-rights-holding Indigenous groups. Natan Obed, president of the Inuit Tapirit Kanatami (ITK), told...
May 29, 2023
Open Letter from Quebec Native Women’s President
NationTalk: Last December, on behalf of the First Nations women and girls across Quebec that Quebec Native Women (QNW) represents, I spoke at the National Assembly, when a petition was tabled with 4,000 signatures calling on François Legault’s government to recognize the existence of systemic racism and discrimination in Quebec and to adopt Joyce’s Principle....
May 23, 2023
Joint Declaration by the Val-d’Or Native Friendship Centre and its Allies – Reaction to the Unacceptable and Disgraceful comments made by MNA Pierre Dufour
NationTalk: VAL-D’OR, QC – The homelessness situation in Val-d’Or, with its complexity and Indigenous particularity, combined with the feeling of insecurity expressed by the citizens of the downtown area, made the municipality fall back into a tense social climate that polarizes and rekindled divisions within the population. It is clear that healing and reconciliation, since the...
May 22, 2023
After ‘disgraceful’ remarks, First Nations leaders call on Quebec MNA to resign
NationTalk: The Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador (AFNQL) is calling on a Quebec politician to step down after his “contemptuous and disgraceful” remarks during a city council meeting. The demand comes after Coalition Avenir Québec MNA Pierre Dufour, who represents the Abitibi-Est riding, spoke when the issue of homelessness came up during city council last week in Val-d’Or,...
May 2, 2023
Work of the monitoring committee of the Special Commission on the Rights of the Child and Youth Protection: The AFNQL and FNQLHSSC are satisfied
NationTalk: Wendake — Two years ago, the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador (AFNQL) and the First Nations of Quebec and Labrador Health and Social Services Commission (FNQLHSSC) reacted favourably to the long-awaited report from the monitoring committee of the Special Commission on the Rights of the Child and Youth Protection (CSDEPJ). Today, it is in the...
April 25, 2023
The Naskapi Development Corporation asks the Quebec government to set up a negotiation table
NationTalk: QUEBEC – The Naskapi Development Corporation (NDC) is calling for the establishment of a negotiating table to obtain equitable and recurrent funding that meets the needs of the entire Naskapi Nation. The funding currently provided to the NDC is insufficient and hinders Naskapi development projects. Following a meeting with the Minister responsible for Relations...
April 11, 2023
Western premiers blast Lametti for suggesting Ottawa might ‘look at’ provinces’ power over natural resources
Lametti told an AFN meeting he would examine calls to rescind Natural Resources Transfer Act CBC News: Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and three western premiers are calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to disassociate his government from comments made by his justice minister — who promised last week to “look at” a decades-old law that...
March 16, 2023
Petition Presented to The National Assembly: The Quebec Government Invited to Recognize the Existence of Systemic Racism and Discrimination in Quebec
NationTalk: KAHNAWAKE, QC – Quebec Native Women (QNW) today tabled a petition in the Blue Room of the Quebec National Assembly calling on Premier Legault’s government to recognize systemic racism and discrimination in Quebec and to adopt Joyce’s Principle. The petition, submitted by Québec solidaire member and co-spokesperson Manon Massé, calls on the Quebec government,...
January 27, 2023
SCO Urges Prime Minister to Include First Nations Leaders in Health Meeting
NationTalk: ANISHINAABE AND DAKOTA TERRITORY, MB — Today, the Southern Chiefs’ Organization (SCO) is calling on Prime Minister Trudeau and the Government of Canada to ensure that First Nations leaders are included in health discussions on February 7, 2023. “Health care systems are in crisis. They are not meeting the needs of First Nations people, and...
December 15, 2022
At this rate, Canada won’t meet Truth and Reconciliation calls until 2065, report suggests
Seven years after the TRC released its final report, Canada has much work to do, Yellowhead Institute says. The Toronto Star: Canada has completed only 13 of 94 calls to action outlined by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, seven years after its final report, a new update shows. “Survivors (of residential schools) are ageing, and many...
December 5, 2022
Systemic racism and discrimination: A clear message sent to the government of Quebec
NationTalk: Kahnawake – Quebec Native Women (QNW) held a large gathering this afternoon near the Quebec National Assembly to send a clear message to the government of Prime Minister François Legault: systemic racism and discrimination against Indigenous Peoples, particularly Indigenous women, exists in Quebec, and it is time for the government to recognize this and...
August 12, 2022
Health and social services system, housing, education and other basic services in crisis in Nunavik
The Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse (CDPDJ) is following with great concern the situation in Nunavik, which far from being new seems to have reached a critical point. While announcing the release, next fall, of its assessment of the commitments made by the various actors following its numerous...
June 30, 2022
Cree Nation Government expresses its disappointment in Quebec’s lack of meaningful collaboration regarding the moose population situation in Zone 17
Nemaska, Eeyou Istchee (June 30, 2022) – The Cree Nation Government wishes to provide the following statement in response to the situation of the decline in moose population in Zone 17 and the discussions on the potential allocation of a portion of the Cree harvest of moose to Jamesian resident of the territory. The Cree...
June 9, 2022
The CAQ’s record with Indigenous peoples is historically disappointing
The Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador: Wendake, QC – As the parliamentary session in Quebec City comes to an end, the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador (AFNQL) is drawing up a less than rosy assessment of the Legault government’s mandate in terms of its relations with First Nations. From its recent adoption of Bill 96...
April 1, 2022
Government of Québec reneges on Indigenous commitments
CISION: Assembly of First Nations of Québec and Labrador refusal to include the notion of cultural safety in its Health and Social Services Act refusal to establish a new Protector of Indigenous students position refusal to establish an Assistant Commissioner and team to address issue impacting Indigenous children Le Devoir recently published an article announcing...
November 21, 2021
25th Anniversay of the RCAP Final Report
Prime Minister’s Office – “25th anniversary of the final report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples”. The five-volume landmark document outlined 440 recommendations on Indigenous governance, nation rebuilding, lands and resources, treaties, economic development, and social policy, and called for the renewal of the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples and all orders of...
October 26, 2021
Revisions to Ethics and Religious Culture course
The Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador – The Legault government is revising the Ethics and Religious Culture course, offered to secondary school students in the province, with the objective of giving its content a more “Quebec citizenship” focus. The project is part of the new nationalist ideology championed by Premier François Legault. The Premier’s initiative...
October 24, 2021
Montreal Canadiens Land Acknowlegement
Toronto Star – The Montreal Canadians Land Acknowledgement preceding a hockey game “that’s launched hysterical editorials, hours of inane talk radio chatter and the interference of Quebec’s populist right wing government. What’s so offensive? That the Canadiens are insinuating Tiohtià:ke (Montreal) is unceded Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) territory.” According to the nationalist school of Quebec history, when...
September 14, 2021
Native Women’s Association of Canada Political Party Report Card
NDP Liberal Green Conservative Bloc Québecois A B B D D Rights of Indigenous Women & MMIWG2S 4 5 5 2 1 Self Determination & Decision-Making 5 5 5 4 5 Reconciliation & residential Schools 5 3 4 3 3 Environment & Climate Change 5 4 4 1 1 Clean Drinking Water & Public Services...
September 14, 2021
Native Women’s Association of Canada Political Party Report Card
Native Women’s Association of Canada – NWAC commissioned Nanos Research to compare the parties’ platforms with the 11 policy issues NWAC determined to be of primary importance. Those policy issues include: human rights self-determination reconciliation environment clean water housing child welfare justice and policing employment and economic development, and health care. The result is a...
June 15, 2021
AFN/Canada Race Race Relations Foundation poll
Assembly of First Nations – Thirteen years after the Government of Canada offered a formal apology to the survivors of the residential school system and families, 68 percent of Canadians polled still say they were either unaware of the severity of abuses at residential schools or completely shocked by it. A poll conducted by the...
December 15, 2020
TRC Commissioners comments about pace of Reconciliation
APTN – The three commissioners of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Senator Murray Sinclair, Chief Wilton Littlechild, and Dr. Marie Wilson, are issuing a public statement expressing their concern about the slow and uneven pace of implementation of the Calls to Action released by the TRC five years ago today… While they acknowledge important and...
January 7, 2020
8 Ways to champion Human Rights
Toronto Star – Toronto Star identified eight ways that Canada can champion human rights in the 2020s, including the following: First step is to adopt overdue legislation making the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Canada’s framework for rights and reconciliation. And to show we truly mean it: address mercury poisoning at...
July 11, 2019
The Council of The Federation, bi-annual meetings of the Federal, Provincial and Territory Premiers
Refusal to allow leaders of the Assembly of First Nations, the Métis National Council, the Inuit Tapariit Kanatami and the Native Woman’s Association of Canada to participate in the main body of meetings with a primary focus on climate change within each jurisdiction. As has been noted by numerous media, Indigenous peoples are on the...
July 9, 2019
Towards Justice: Tackling Indigenous Child Poverty in Canada
Upstream – Failure to reduce the level of poverty among Indigenous children. Tracking Indigenous child poverty and non-Indigenous child poverty trends between Census 2006 and Census 2016, it’s clear that these differences have not markedly changed over that 10-year period. “Towards Justice: Tackling Indigenous Child Poverty in Canada” co-authored by the Assembly of First Nations...
April 20, 2018
AFN-QL Opposition to Bill 99
Assembly of First Nations Québec-Labrador – In response to the decision of the Quebec Superior Court to uphold the Act respecting the exercise of the fundamental rights and prerogatives of the Québec people and the Québec State (Bill 99), the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador (AFNQL) totally rejects the very foundations of the Quebec provincial...
February 16, 2018
Native Women’s Association of Canada
Collectively, NWAC represents a multitude of Nations of Indigenous women who are First Nations, Métis, Inuit. These women represent non-status women and girls and rights holders with Treaty rights, inherent rights, Métis rights, human rights and gender-based rights. As a representative of Indigenous women, NWAC will provide the required gender-based perspective. In order to achieve...
July 20, 2017
NWAC excluded from Council of the Federation discussions
Native Woman’s Association of Canada requested the Council of Federation to include NWAC in all Nation-to-Nation discussions, the work of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (National Inquiry) in the scope of improving the socio-economic status of Indigenous women, and the need for a community-based prevention model to drive the...
July 17, 2017
Indigenous leaders boycott Council of Federation meetings
National Chief Perry Bellegarde, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK) President Natan Obed and President Clément Chartier of the Métis Nation of Canada (MNC) held a press conference today in a show of unity over their concerns regarding the full and effective participation of Indigenous peoples in intergovernmental forums, including the Council of the Federation meeting taking...
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