Assembly of First Nations National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak urges the Canadian government to prioritize key issues like the First Nations Clean Water Act and police reform when Parliament resumes.
Assembly of First Nations National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak says she expects to see support and collaboration from Ottawa to move forward on key issues when Parliament resumes sitting in January. 'The Parliament, regardless , needs to make sure that they're prioritizing things like Bill C-61 , working on fixing procurement, and ensuring that First Nations people are at the table.
Any smart government—incoming or outgoing—that works with First Nations people will get results,” she told The Hill Times in a year-end interview on Dec. 18. “ is just too important for them to let it wash away with whatever's going to happen next.” The First Nations Clean Water Act is currently stalled at third reading in the House due to an ongoing privilege debate that has gridlocked the Commons since late September. Introduced in late 2023, Bill C-61 recognizes the inherent rights of First Nations people to access clean water, as well as their jurisdiction to provide the necessary infrastructure and funding to support that access. The AFN national chief also identified policing as a key priority. “We have to focus on First Nations policing, continue to call for an inquiry into police brutality and the police killings of many First Nations people,” she said in the wide-ranging interview. In early December, First Nations leaders demanded a national inquiry into systemic racism in policing and urged the federal government to launch a national inquiry into police-related deaths. According to the AFN, 25 First Nations people died in interactions with police between 2017 and 2020. In September, MPs held an emergency debate to discuss the nine First Nations people who were killed by police in separate incidents within two weeks. Martha Martin, whose daughter Chantel Moore was killed by a New Brunswick police officer in 2020, speaks at the Assembly of First Nations Special Chiefs Assembly in Ottawa on Dec. 5, 202
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