HAPPY VALLEY-GOOSE BAY, N.L. – The premier of Newfoundland and Labrador says Canada’s premiers support all 94 recommendations arising from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and will work to implement them in their own provinces.
Paul Davis spoke at a closing news conference after meeting with the leaders of national aboriginal organizations in Happy Valley-Goose Bay Wednesday.
Dawn Lavell Harvard, president of the Native Women’s Association of Canada, said progress was made despite what she called a lack of respect from the federal government.
Lavell Harvard said Ottawa should have been a participant, but thanked Manitoba for offering to host a second national round table on missing and murdered aboriginal women.
She also thanked Ontario for agreeing to hold a summit on aboriginal women’s issues.
Violence against indigenous women and girls is “a grave violation of human rights,” Lavell Harvard said, condemning the federal government for not attending Wednesday’s meeting.
“It is an insult to the memories of those women and girls that they’re not here,” Lavell Harvard said of the federal government’s absence.
She called it “a slap in the face.”
Assembly of First Nations National Chief Perry Bellegarde said he was satisfied that real commitments were made by the premiers, and that provinces are taking the Truth and Reconciliation Commission report seriously.
He said it’s all about closing the chasm between aboriginal and non-aboriginal people.
“That gap is not good for our people. It’s not good for the provinces, and it’s not good for the country. “
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