(Toronto, ON, November 20, 2019) – Earlier today, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau named his cabinet for the House of Commons for the upcoming session of the 43rd Canadian Parliament. The Ontario Regional Chief offered the following statement upon the announcement of the cabinet.

“On behalf of the Chiefs of Ontario, I’d like to welcome and offer my congratulations to new Minister Marc Miller of Indigenous Services Canada and returning Minister Carolyn Bennett, of Crown and Indigenous Relations on their recent appointments. I look forward to renewing our relationship with Minister Bennett, and establishing a new, collaborative and positive working relationship with Minister Miller and getting to work immediately on addressing our priorities and outstanding issues.

We have much to do, and to be clear, as I have stated before, we call upon this government, again, to work in full partnership with the Chiefs in Ontario on addressing First Nations socio-economic priorities as outlined in the document, Towards a New Relationship.

I also welcome and look to continue the collaborative and respectful relationships with Ministers returning to their portfolios, such as Minister Lametti  and Minister Monsef  and with those in new portfolios, Minister O’Regan, Minister Hajdu and Minister McKenna.

Let’s start this new chapter and renewed relationship off right, with First Nations at the decision-making table, where we can take the lead in creating and implementing ‘community-centred approaches’ to address our priorities.

I look forward to working with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the new cabinet. We will reach out immediately to those in their new portfolios to create new relationships and build on positive relations already established with the federal government.

We very much hope that with today’s shuffle, the federal government and its new cabinet members are responsive and attentive to Ontario First Nations’ issues and will move forward collaboratively.”

Ontario Regional Chief RoseAnne Archibald

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The Chiefs of Ontario is a political forum and a secretariat for collective decision-making, action, and advocacy for the 133 First Nation communities located within the boundaries of the province of Ontario, Canada. Follow Chiefs of Ontario on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter @ChiefsOfOntario.

Chiefs of Ontario – Media Contact:
Genna Benson
Communications Officer
Telephone: 416-523-4020
Email: Genna.Benson@coo.org