Kelly McParland: AFN gets more of the usual Ottawa treatment from Trudeau, Mulcair – National Post
July 10, 2015
Thomas Mulcair and Justin Trudeau went to the annual gathering of the Assembly of First Nations in Montreal this week determined to make a good impression. They did so in the usual way: by pledging to correct the many wrongs that have afflicted relations between Canada and aboriginals, denouncing the government-of-the-day as unfeeling and arrogant, and pledging a new dawn should either of their parties emerge victorious in October’s election.
No doubt their performance went over well. But other than a bit of short-term good feeling, neither did much to further the ambitions or well-being of natives in any practical way. If anything, by aping the usual approach to Canada’s First Nations – raising expectations by making lofty pledges with little content – they indicated that, if anything, Liberal and NDP governments would be much like those that went before.
