Coast Salish Territory/Vancouver – The First Nations Leadership Council, consisting of the executives of the BC Assembly of First Nations, the First Nations Summit and the Union of BC Indian Chiefs, welcomes today’s statements from Premier Gordon Campbell and the joint statement by other provincial and territorial leaders in advance of tomorrow’s National Day of Action.
The Premiers and Territorial leaders messages of support for the need to work on and resolve the issues facing First Nations people, such as poverty, the need to close socio and economic gaps and the need for the implementation of our Aboriginal Title and Rights, is clearly a reflection that these are critically important national and provincial policy issues that must be addressed.
The fair, equitable and just resolution of land, resources and territorial issues faced by our people are an important priority for us to resolve with the federal and provincial governments. Canada especially, must work together, with First Nations, to reverse its current unilateral and arbitrary method of establishing and implementing government policies that directly impact on our people. There will be no fair and just resolution to our issues unless we work together.