Harper and native leaders gather for historic summit
Posted Jan 24, 2012 8:11 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The Harper government is sitting down with about 400 native leaders for the Crown-First Nations gathering starting Tuesday.
It’s the first summit of its kind in six years and the governor-general, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and a third of his cabinet will all be in attendance.
No one is expecting a concrete plan of action, but it’s believed the meeting will help reset the damaged relationship between the government and First Nations.
Chief Charles Weaselhead with the Blood Tribe said it’s the first piece of a long puzzle.
“In the long term, this is not going to happen overnight, we need to continue to work and dialogue with the prime minister,” he said.
Housing, education and expanding the economic abilities of reserves will be some of the other big topics, but Greg Rickford, parliamentary secretary of aboriginal affairs, believes it will take a long time to fix these problems.
“This sets the table for a conversation, if you will, that can continue on and be productive and affective and deliver real results,” he said.
Harper is only going to be there for half the day, but to make up for it he held a private meeting Monday night with dozens of native leaders.
