AMC GRAND CHIEF ARLEN DUMAS RESPONDS TO MINISTER OF CROWN-INDIGENOUS RELATIONS & MINISTER OF INDIGENOUS SERVICES MANDATE LETTERS
December 17, 2019
Treaty One Territory, Manitoba
AMC Communications
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 16, 2019
Treaty One Territory, Manitoba – Following the release of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s mandate letters issued on December 13, 2019, regarding the Federal government’s priorities affecting First Nations citizens, Grand Chief Arlen Dumas stated that he “remains confident that the Assembly is ideally positioned to work collaboratively with the Federal government on First Nations issues.”
In response to the Prime Minister’s statement that, “There remains no more important relationship to me and to Canada than the one with Indigenous Peoples” and the commitment to ensure all mandated objectives are “dealt with in a timely and responsible manner,” Grand Chief Dumas affirmed that he holds, “an appreciation that infrastructure takes time.” Yet, he emphasized that, “at the minimum, we want our First Nations families, children, and Elders to have their basic human rights respected rather than pushed aside. Our people need to be prioritized and action needs to be expedited.”