Justin Trudeau's promise to First Nations Peoples

Canada has failed aboriginal people and needs to have a discussion about racism, Trudeau said.

The federal government broke the trust and respectful partnership promised in the treaties, through residential schools, failing to react to the problem of missing and murdered women and failing to provide quality education for First Nations people, he said.

While the residential school apology was important, action didn’t follow and a lack of action on aboriginal issues hasn’t come with a political consequence so far, he said.

“We have a responsibility to make sure that First Nations education is funded, that a kid in a First Nations community has exactly the same level of funding as a kid in any other community in the country,” he said.

Support for mental health and addiction services in remote areas must equal the support available in urban areas, he said.

“There are a lot of structural problems that need to be addressed and a fundamental element of that is rebuilding the broken relationship.”

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The new Liberal government will invest in everything from housing to education to help Canada’s native people achieve a better life, according to Sophie Grégoire-Trudeau