Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre will underscore the importance of economic reconciliation and recognize that the historic relationship between First Nations and the federal government has been destructive when he addresses chiefs gathered in Montreal on Thursday for a general assembly.
Mr. Poilievre’s address is a marked departure from the approach of then-prime minister Stephen Harper who never delivered a speech to chiefs at Assembly of First Nations meetings.
The speech on Thursday will be Mr. Poilievre’s first in-person address to the AFN since he became leader. In 2022, he delivered a video address. In it, he said he feels a sense of optimism about the ability to work together on issues, including on clean drinking water and housing. He also spoke about chiefs having the freedom to exercise rights that are affirmed in treaties and in the Constitution.
AFN National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak, who was elected to her role in December, 2023, has said that under her leadership, she will not accept videos from politicians who wish to make remarks. She invited Mr. Poilievre and other politicians to speak at this week’s assembly.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh will also make a speech on Thursday. On Wednesday, Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Gary Anandasangaree spoke to leaders. Justice Minister Arif Virani and Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc also made remarks this week.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been at the NATO summit in Washington this week. In the past, he has addressed chiefs gathered for AFN meetings.
It remains to be seen how First Nations leaders in the room for Mr. Poilievre’s speech will react to his attendance. Many First Nations leaders were highly critical of the approach by Mr. Harper, including his resistance to call a national inquiry to examine the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.
A draft copy of Mr. Poilievre’s speech was provided to The Globe and Mail by a Conservative source. The Globe is not identifying the source because the individual is not authorized to speak publicly about internal matters.
According to his draft remarks, Mr. Poilievre will discuss how for decades, the residential school system removed children from their families, amounting to a “monstrous abuse of excessive government power” that cut children off from cultures, languages and traditions.
“In many cases, students were neglected and abused,” his notes state. “Tragically, too many young children never made it home. Those were terrible crimes by a big imposing government against each victim and against your communities.”
According to his speaking notes, Mr. Poilievre will point to the 2008 apology delivered by Mr. Harper on residential schools and call it a “step toward healing and making amends.”
Mr. Poilievre had to deliver an apology of his own in the House of Commons shortly after Mr. Harper’s when he told an Ottawa radio station he wasn’t sure Canada was “getting value for all of this money” being spent on compensation for residential school survivors.
In 2023, Mr. Poilievre also received criticism, including from Liberal cabinet ministers, for delivering remarks to the Winnipeg-based Frontier Centre for Public Policy that in 2018 ran radio ads with claims about debunking myths about residential schools. When he was asked about that appearance in an interview with City News, Mr. Poilievre said he speaks to hundreds of groups every year and he does not agree with everything these groups stand for.
In his address to the AFN assembly on Thursday, Mr. Poilievre is also expected to tell First Nations leaders he has “made no secret” about his desire to see more growth and development in Canada.
“If reconciliation means anything, it means saying ‘yes’ to the economic opportunities that First Nations are asking for,” the draft speech said. “When your future is at stake, your right to say ‘yes’ is as important as your right to say ‘no.’”
Mr. Poilievre will also point to his support for a First Nations proposal called the First Nations Resource Charge, designed to allow communities to take greater control over resource revenues.
Earlier this year, Mr. Poilievre announced his support for it, saying it would result in simplified negotiations between resources companies and First Nations while respecting treaty and constitutional rights, including the duty to consult. The plan was developed by the First Nations Tax Commission.
Mr. Poilievre will also reference a court battle launched by First Nations in Ontario, which are seeking a judicial review of Ottawa’s carbon-pricing regime.
“I support the judicial review launched by the Chiefs of Ontario to remove the burden of the federal carbon tax from First Nations,” Mr. Poilievre’s draft speech states. “When I’m Prime Minister, you will be able to drop the lawsuit and save some money on lawyers because when I say I am going to axe the tax, I mean it.”
At Ms. Woodhouse Nepinak’s first press conference after becoming national chief, she was asked whether she supported the step taken by the Ontario chiefs and she responded “absolutely.”