The national chief of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) has opened the organization’s annual meeting in Regina with an impassioned plea to end racism.
Perry Bellegarde says First Nations face alarming acts of hatred and violence and it must stop.
Bellegarde cited the hateful reaction to murder charges against a white Saskatchewan farmer in the Colton Boushie case.
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He also spoke of the counter protests to First Nations seeking the removal of a statue in Halifax of Edward Cornwallis, the city’s founder.
He says every child deserves to grow up in a society free of discrimination and First Nations need to work with other Canadians to solve these problems.
Fiscal Changes
First Nations leaders say they’ll be able to do more projects and build more homes because of changes that give them more control over financial resources.
The federal government says First Nations will now be able to carry funding from year-to-year, instead of having to return money if a project wasn’t completed within a fiscal year.
Assembly of First Nations Chief Perry Bellegarde says the problem was projects often didn’t get approved until late in a fiscal year.
Bellegarde says First Nations would then panic about spending the money properly or losing it and that meant projects wouldn’t get finished.
Indigenous and Northern Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett says Ottawa will also work with First Nations on a new approach to funding essential services, such as fire, emergency services and potable water.
The AFN says those services are underfunded and that causes critical problems in many communities.
The AFN is meeting in Regina through Thursday.