Federal leaders are failing First Nations in B.C. by declining invitation to AGM, regional chief says

Indigenous leaders from over 200 B.C. First Nations are gatheringthis week to discuss issues critical to their communities and they're upset that not one federal leader campaigning to be prime minister of a country that says it's committed to reconciliation will be joining them.

The British ColumbiaAssembly of First Nations(BCAFN) annual general meeting began Tuesday and runs until Thursday online. Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole and NDPLeader Jagmeet Singh were all invited to deliver a short video message during the event but declined, according to a statement from the BCAFN.

Regional Chief Terry Teegeesays while all three leaders have been actively campaigning in B.C. Trudeau was in Metro Vancouver on Monday, O'Toole is in the provinceTuesday, and Singh's riding is in Burnaby refusing the assembly's invitationputs their commitment to true and lasting reconciliation in question.

"They have all paid a great deal of lip service to Indigenous issues, but areunwilling to actually appear before the leadership of First Nations in B.C. If they can't spend 10minutesaddressing these issues during the election, what kind of attention will they pay to reconciliation oncethey are elected?" said Teegee in a statement.

Speaking Tuesday morning on CBC's The Early Edition, Teegeesaid each federal leader was a "maybe" up until just before the AGM began and then they were "a flat out no" without any real explanation why.

This, said the chief, stands in the way of conversations between federal and First Nations leaders about serious issues B.C. Indigenous people are contending with, including missing and murdered Indigenous women, traumatic residential school findings, an opioid crisis, homelessnessand devastating wildfire seasons.

WATCH | Federal leaders speak about boil-water advisories inFirst Nations communities:

Singh, Trudeau, O'Toole on boil-water advisories

3 years ago

Duration 1:51

During the official French-language leaders' debate, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and Conservative Party Leader Erin O'Toole said promises from Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau to deliver clean drinking water to some Indigenous communities were broken. Trudeau said the work will be completed to eliminate boil-water advisories.

Teegee said meeting delegates would have liked to hear how the three parties plan to make concrete changes in terms of their relationships with Indigenous people, including when and how they plan to implement all 94 recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).

He also noted that in 2015, the Liberal government said "the most important relationship was with Indigenous Peoples" but ongoing water issues in First Nations communities and a lack of timeline on the TRCrecommendations indicate otherwise.

"We are not a priority anymore," said Teegee.

The BCAFN saysall leaders were given plenty of notice and flexibility in scheduling to make it easy for them to address delegates. A number of Indigenous candidates who are running in thefederal election will be speaking to the group.

Click the links to read theLiberal, Conservative and NDP federal election promises regarding reconciliation and Indigenous Peoples.