Stresses ‘shovel ready’ Anishnaabek education, social service projects
THUNDER BAY—Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with several key members of the Anishinaabe leadership in the North in a one-and-a-half hour meeting in Thunder Bay last Friday, where the topics of discussion covered a wide range of the challenging issues facing Northern First Nation communities.
“I received an invitation on Wednesday to meet with the prime minister in Thunder Bay,” said Anishinabek Nation Grand Council Chief Patrick Madahbee. “Quite fortunately, I had intended to work out of my house on Friday when I got the invitation to go up.” Grand Chief Madahbee works in North Bay through the week, but makes his home on Manitoulin in Aundeck Omni Kaning.
Chief Madahbee noted that there was a small group of leaders who attended the meeting, including Alvin Fiddler, the grand chief of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation, Warren White, the grand chief of Treaty 3, Assembly of First Nations Regional (AFN) Chief Isadore Day and Grand Chief Madahbee. “I invited Peter Collins, the local chief of Fort William, to accompany me,” added Grand Chief Madahbee.
“It was a great opportunity to have an open and frank discussion with the prime minister,” he said. “(AFN Ontario Regional Chief) Isadore Day gave a global overview of the history of the treaty relationship and then each of the chiefs presented the key issues in their territories.”
For Treaty 3, that included their treaty and the relationship and development taking place in their area; and the Nishnawbe Aski Nation brought forward health issues and development of the Ring of Fire. “I spoke on how we were going to deliver Niigan Ga-Zhaamin, the Anishinabek Education System, our child welfare initiative and our citizenship initiative, as well as economic initiatives and resource sharing as part of the treaty relationship.”
Grand Chief Madahbee said that realizing the federal government was going to be inundated with requests, it was important that it be made clear that the Anishinabek Nation programs are “ready to go. In fact, the whole process is ready to go, we are having a vote on the education system this November and our child welfare will be in place by 2017,” he said. “We have been working on our economic blueprint for the last five, six years and our citizenship law is well along in development, but we are going to need some funding resources to put these in place.”
Grand Chief Madahbee pointed out that the Anishnabek Nation has “a pragmatic approach” and that their ongoing work on those issues have placed them “well ahead of anybody across the nation.”
Grand Chief Madahbee presented Prime Minister Justin Trudeau with copies of the Anishinabek Nation Treaty Kits, both English and French versions.
The kits have already been purchased by over 400 schools, noted the grand chief, and are formatted for Kindergarten to Grade 8. “We have a secondary school version that will soon be ready for rollout,” he said. “Kelly Crawford from M’Chigeeng has been at the forefront of development of the kits.”
Grand Chief Madahbee noted that the prime minister was “very personable” during the meeting, but that came as little surprise. “I have met Justin Trudeau on a number of occasions since he became a Member of Parliament,” he said. “I invited him to come up for a fundraiser for the N’Swakamok Native Friendship Centre in Sudbury (before he became the Liberal leader). What impressed me most of all was how he went around, stopped at every table in the hall and talked to every single person. I have never seen that before. Usually, politicians get in, get out and that’s that.”
As to the meeting with the prime minister, Grand Chief Madahbee said it was important to stress how far along the Anishinabek Nation programs are in development. “In anything to do with First Nations, cities or other groups, it comes down to a question of who has the most comprehensive proposals ready and a clear idea of what it is going to take to put them into action,” he said, noting that the Anishinabek Nation is ready to go.
Grand Chief Madahbee will be meeting with Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne in the coming weeks to discuss those issues that have a provincial component involved.
