AMC Responds to Federal Summit on Bill C-5: “We Are Not Stakeholders, We Are Sovereign Nations”
July 17, 2025
Treaty One Territory, Manitoba
AMC Communications
Unceded Algonquin Territory, Ottawa, ON – Following a high-level summit with Prime Minister Mark Carney regarding the controversial Bill C-5, the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs (AMC) is calling for a fundamental shift in the relationship between Canada and First Nations.
The summit, hosted at the Canadian Museum of History, was attended by leaders from across the country, including many leaders from the Manitoba region: Grand Chief Kyra Wilson (AMC), Grand Chief Garrison Settee (MKO), Regional Chief Willie Moore (AFN), and over 40 other First Nations Chiefs and Proxies.
“We are not here to be managed, referenced, or consulted as a formality. We are sovereign Nations whose laws and governance predate Confederation,” said AMC Grand Chief Kyra Wilson. “Today was not consultation. It was political dialogue. And it’s only the beginning.”
Bill C-5, which aims to accelerate infrastructure and megaproject approvals, has raised serious concerns among First Nations who were excluded from its design. Despite claims of First Nations inclusion, leaders say the legislation fails to uphold the principle of free, prior, and informed consent.
“If Canadian sovereignty is threatened by global trade pressures, First Nations must be at the table from the beginning, not after deals are struck and policies are passed,” said Chief Angela Levasseur of Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation. “Our absence from these decisions is not an oversight. It’s systemic.”
Grand Chief Wilson emphasized that reconciliation cannot be meaningful without respecting Treaties and inherent rights: “Our people have lived with the costs of colonial policies for generations,” she said. “We are not asking for a seat at someone else’s table – we are asserting our place as co-founders of this country. Co-decision-makers. Treaty partners.”
A key demand was the full repeal of the 1930 Natural Resources Transfer Act (NRTA), which AMC says continues to deprive First Nations of jurisdiction over their own lands and resources.
“Bill C-5 cannot be a tool to fast-track development while we’re still shut out of the wealth stolen from our territories,” said Chief Derek Nepinak of Minegoziibe Anishinaabe. “We are reclaiming what was always ours, not just revenue, but recognition.”
“Economic reconciliation begins with redistribution, not rhetoric,” added Chief Gordon BlueSky, Brokenhead Ojibway Nation. “Canada must move beyond symbolic gestures and begin respecting First Nations laws, trade routes, and economies that have existed for millennia.”
Grand Chief Wilson called for regional Treaty engagement on First Nations’ own lands: “We invite the Prime Minister to come to our territories, where our Treaties live – not just in paper, but in ceremony, memory, and law. It is time for Canada to stop legislating over us and start walking with us.”
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For more information, please contact:
Communications Team
Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs
Email: media@manitobachiefs.com
About The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs:
The AMC was formed in 1988 by the Chiefs in Manitoba to advocate on issues that commonly affect First Nations in Manitoba. AMC is an authorized representative of all 63 First Nations in Manitoba with a total of more than 172,000 First Nations citizens in the province, accounting for approximately 12 percent of the provincial population. AMC represents a diversity of Anishinaabe, Nehetho / Ininew, Anisininew, Denesuline, and Dakota Oyate peoples.