By Sumayya
OTTAWA — First Nations leaders are meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney and the country’s premiers in Ottawa today for a ceremony before a historic meeting on Monday.
Monday’s meeting will be the first gathering of this kind since the Kelowna Accord talks of 2005. Those past talks brought premiers and then-prime minister Paul Martin together with Indigenous leaders to talk about ways to close the social and economic gaps in their communities.
First Nations will be represented in the private, closed-door meeting on Monday mostly by regional chiefs from the Assembly of First Nations.
The Privy Council Office has not shared which premiers will attend the meeting. However, Quebec Premier Paul St-Pierre Plamondon and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith have both said they will be missing (absent).
The ceremonies will be held in Ottawa with knowledge keepers, elders, First Nations leaders, and community members.
National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak says it is important to start the meeting with a ceremony to make sure all participants are entering with the correct frame of mind, rooted in First Nations spirituality.
