Premiers’ Embrace of Aboriginal Issues Has Been a Long Time Coming – Huffington Post

July 20, 2015

The recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission were on the agenda of Canada’s premiers, meeting at Happy Valley-Goose Bay earlier this week. The Premiers did more than discuss the wide-ranging recommendations. They took the unusual step of endorsing the lengthy list, with Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Paul Davis saying, “We will together, jointly, make this happen.” It was a remarkable commitment, all the more so given the troubled history for provincial leaders on this file.

Longtime followers of these issues will remember the first ministers’ conferences from the 1980s. Provincial premiers (territorial leaders were initially not included unless the meeting was dealing with territorial items) resisted First Nations and Inuit efforts to expand Aboriginal rights, and clearly saw themselves as separate from the federal government’s agenda in this emerging and contentious field.

Read More: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/ken-coates/premiers-aboriginal-issues_b_7819274.html