A northern Chief is taking issue with comments made by a Prince Albert City Councilor when trying to address crime in the city.
Councilor Blake Edwards suggested that it is not okay for surrounding communities to ban their members, only to see them in Prince Albert conducting the same behavior.
“It’s not okay for communities to ban their own residents and allow that resident to come here to Prince Albert to reap the same havoc they were doing in that community without helping,” Edwards said during a council meeting March 28. “Many families are dropping their own family members off in our city and saying, ‘here you go, Prince Albert, you deal with our problem.’ well, what solution is that?”
Montreal Lake Cree Nation Chief Joyce Naytowhow-McLeod countered in an open letter stating Edwards comments were stereotyping First Nations People and is thinly-veiled racism.
Naytowhow-McLeod said Edwards was simplifying a complex issue and that First Nations are aware of challenges faced by its citizens in urban settings.
During Edwards’ address to council he spoke of the need to gather First Nations Chiefs, the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations, local provincial politicians and the federal government to help find solutions to Prince Albert’s crime.
Naytowhow-McLeod echoed the same sentiments asking for the City to meet with the First Nation in a non-judgmental way.
(Screenshot of Coun. Blake Edwards)