PRIME MINISTER VOWS LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR INDIGENOUS CANADIANS
Feb 14, 2018
By Bob Komsic
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In a speech short on specifics, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told the Commons the government plans to overhaul the way Ottawa relates to Indigenous Peoples in Canada.
He vows the Liberals will come up with a new legislative framework to pave the way towards stronger rights for First Nations, Inuit and Metis and greater control over their destiny.
Trudeau says the framework will be developed in partnership with Indigenous Peoples, after consultations led by Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett and Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould, and unveiled later this year.
The prime minister says the Liberals intend to implement it in time for the election in October 2019.
(Justin Tang/Canadian Press)
Wilson-Raybould, a former Assembly of First Nations regional chief, called Trudeau’s announcement ”absolutely historic.”