Assembly of First Nations Special Chiefs Assembly "Our Language, Our Land, Our Future"

By Entewatatha:wi

The Mohawk Council of Akwesasne and the Entewatathá:wi staff travelled to the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) Special Chiefs Assembly in Ottawa on December 5th and 6th, 2017. The Assembly provides many First Nations Leaders to come to an accord on contentious issues and common interests that affect First Nations across Canada. There were many highlights such as speeches, seeing so many First Nations people from other communities across Canada and listening to discussions, issues and concerns that affect all First Nations communities in Canada. The topics that were discussed were the implementing of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP), fiscal relations, health and wellness, governance, environment, climate change, security for indigenous women and girls, education and many more.

The speakers that highlighted the Assembly were National Chief Perry Bellegarde; the Honorable Carolyn Bennett, Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs; the Honorable Jody Wilson-Raybould, Minister of Justice; and the Honorable Jane Philpott, Minister of Indigenous Services. Each speaker had very important messages for all Indigenous people and Parliament of Canada, but the one message that resonated with each speaker was "We need to work in partnership." The highlights of their speeches include:

• National Chief Perry Bellegarde's commitments toward making a better life for our people. That we must work together to give our people hope. One of his many commitments is implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP) which recognizes our political, social and cultural rights. Implementing the UNDRIP will be a huge step toward the right direction and will give First Nations people recognition that is well over due towards self-determination and our inherent right to self-govern.

• Minister Carolyn Bennett reiterated that the Canadian Government should fully implement the UNDRIP and that Canada has denied recognition of our inherent and Treaty rights and knows this must end. The Canadian Government is committed to working in partnership with Indigenous people. There is a lot of work to do and the work can only be done in full partnership with all Indigenous people.

• Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould addressed the significant steps with the Canadian Government to move forward a new Crown-Indigenous relationship and to turn the page of a colonial past. There will be concrete action from the Canadian Government on implementing a partnership on a rights based approach to reconciliation and we must self-determine to rebuild. She expressed the approach can only be done based on the 10 principles Canada released in the summer of 2017. She addressed the importance of Bill C-262, which is a proposed Act to ensure that the laws of Canada are in harmony with the UNDRIP, and this Bill cannot be led by the Canadian Government but by the First Nations. The Minister also stated that the Indian Act cannot survive the implementation of the UNDRIP; it is the antithesis of self-determination. So we need to move beyond it.

• Minister Jane Philpott's new role is to work in partnership to establish better services in health, education, child-welfare, housing and infrastructure. The goal for the new department of Indigenous Services is to work in partnership, for Indigenous people to have control and to deliver their services so there is no need for a Federal Government Department. Minister Philpott discussed three themes:

a) Challenges-Child and Family Services, this is a humanitarian crisis and needs to be fixed;

b) Opportunities-New Fiscal Relationship, closing the socio-economic gap; and

c) Partnerships-Education transformation is what is needed to address language and culture education, land base training programs and more.

There are many areas the AFN are working on and engaging Canada. At the Assembly there were Dialogue and Strategy sessions for attendees to gather in smaller forums and listen on certain tables that are currently underway. At these smaller sessions, there was an opportunity to ask questions and receive updates on areas of interest. We are able to relate this back to our work being done in Akwesasne, i.e. update on Education, UNDRIP, Law and Policy Review, and Jordan's Principle.

Attending the AFN Special Chiefs Assembly was memorable and a huge learning experience for all of us. Throughout the AFN Assembly the one message that resonated was to work together in partnership and to improve the lives of Indigenous people. There is a lot of work to do in regards to building a new relationship between Indigenous people and the Crown but recognizing, admitting and taking responsibility of a dark history with colonial policies and legislation, especially with the infamous Indian Act, is a good first step towards building this new relationship. There are many essential components we have to work through but making commitments and standing by them is the only way this new relationship will work and most importantly, Indigenous people need to be involved in designing, drafting, amending and the decision making when it comes to Laws and Policies.