MARTEN FALLS – Prime Minister Mark Carney needs to work with First Nations rather than imposing laws on them, Chief Bruce Achneepineskum said Wednesday.
The chief of Marten Falls First Nation, a Treaty 9 nation in the Ring of Fire region, was speaking the day after participating in a rally against Bill C-5 in Ottawa.
Asked what he would say to Carney if they were in the same room, Achneepineskum said “I would tell him to try to build a relationship with First Nations and not impose your legislation on us.
“It’s about respecting our treaty rights, our Indigenous rights to the land,” he continued. “That's being ignored. And not only ignored, but put aside. And that doesn’t sit right with the First Nations.”
Bill C-5 received first reading in the House of Commons on June 6, and the government is pressing to get it passed before the house breaks for the summer on Friday.
The first part of the two-part bill is about removing barriers to interprovincial trade and labour mobility.
The second part aims to fast-track projects that are “in the interests of Canada’s economy, sovereignty and security, including its energy security.”
Chiefs of Ontario Regional Chief Abram Benedict has said First Nations “were not properly consulted before the bill was tabled” and have been excluded since then.
The Ontario chiefs organization held a rally against the bill Tuesday afternoon on Parliament Hill with the grand chiefs of Nishnawbe Aski Nation and Grand Council Treaty #3 among its speakers.
Achneepineskum said Wednesday the Carney government is foisting legislation affecting treaty rights on Indigenous Peoples, and “that’s not a way to go if you want to build a nation-to-nation relationship with First Nations.
“There's been enough of that already in the past, which has caused a lot of harm to our First Nations.”
He said First Nations want economic development and prosperity just like the rest of the country.
“I know Canada and Ontario want to build a prosperous future,” he said. “The First Nations also want to build a prosperous future for our young.
“That future can include development. That's not the issue.”
The issue, said Achneepineskum, “is imposed legislation.”