NAN Statement from First Nations’ Summit

Nishnawbe Aski Nation – Special to The Bulletin

July 17, 2025 -  GATINEAU, QC: Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler has issued the following statement rejecting the Building Canada Act following today’s national meeting with First Nation leaders and Prime Minister Mark Carney:
“The process behind the Building Canada Act has been deeply flawed from the beginning, with First Nations leaders repeatedly left out of key decisions being made about our land. I am glad that the Government of Canada has acknowledged that the First Nations’ Summit today was not consultation, but framed it as being the beginning of a conversation. This conversation should have started long ago, and long before this legislation was passed. As Chief Archie Wabasse from Wunnumin Lake said today: true consultation cannot happen after the bulldozer already started.
“While listening to the Prime Minister and Ministers speaking about how they are willing to partner and invest in projects in the national interest, it was clear that they do not understand that we are entitled to full participation and to share equally in the benefits of any projects on our territories. It was clear that they are not acknowledging the chronic, long-term underfunding of core community infrastructure, even though the Treaties guaranteed that our lands would be protected, our communities would be healthy, and that they would prosper.
“Across NAN territory there are communities with no clean drinking water, no safe and suitable housing, inadequate education centres, inadequate emergency services, but this government wants to talk to us about investing in projects to advance the national interest by taking even more from our lands. These and other conversations about nation building never include the basic necessities and well-being of our communities.
“I want to trust this government, but I have been given little reason to. The rushed process behind Bill C-5 does not give me hope for a better path forward, or that they will implement all of the promises they made today. I appreciate the discussions today, but we need a better path forward based on true recognition of our rights to control and protect our territories, a full understanding of each Nation’s priorities and interests for projects in our territories and communities, and honourable actions, not words. Until I see action and real commitment to securing our free, prior, and informed consent about the use of our territories, I will not accept this legislation.
“First Nations rights are not ‘red tape.’ We are rights holders to sacred Treaties made with the Crown, and we have always upheld them honourably. We expect the Crown to do the same. The Crown needs to respect our inherent and constitutionally-protected rights, and our Treaty relationship. Anything less is not consultation, it is imposition, and it cannot be justified.”