The head of Canada’s largest First Nations organization says Canada is a turning point and if First Nations people are not part of the new economy the entire country will suffer.
Chief Shawn Atleo is in Ottawa this week to meet with officials from the Harper government and push the First Nations agenda.
He says resource revenue on reserve land is a treaty right and that right must be honoured.
He also says it is time for all Canadians to work together to build a better country.
“We have walked seperate paths for far too long. Even by standing by and not being aware of these challenges of the Indian Act, its legacy, of the residential schools, has helped to further contribute to external attempts to divide and conquer.”
Canada’s First Nations community is the fastest growing sector of the Canadian population.