WINNIPEG – A news conference about a law that requires First Nations to publish audited financial statements and the salaries of chiefs degenerated into a screaming match.
As federal Aboriginal Affairs Minister Bernard Valcourt and others tried to speak in Winnipeg on Wednesday they were interrupted by protesters who oppose the new federal legislation.
The protesters yelled and banged on drums to drown out Valcourt and a woman from the Peguis First Nation who supports the law.
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Pam Palmater of the Idle No More movement says she opposes the law because the financial information is already transparent.
Valcourt and others then left the news conference and went into a guarded room.
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He later came out and said the First Nations Financial Transparency Act will empower aboriginal people.
“What you witnessed here today was one protester shut up an aboriginal woman, a First Nation lady, who was trying to speak her mind, as we all have a right to as Canadians. If that’s what the movement’s about, shutting down people, their own people, I’m sorry for that,” Valcourt said.
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