Indigenous leaders from across the country are in Gatineau, Quebec for the Assembly of First Nations semi-annual Chief-Con.
For two days, Chiefs, councilors, Elders and other delegates gather to to hash out strategies on everything from federal legislation to the latest in beaded bolo ties, at what political observers call one of the hottest events of the year.
“For Chiefs, this is like Coachella and Cannes all rolled into one — and then beaded,” said Ron Pelly, spokesperson for the AFN.
“Everyone who is anyone wants to be seen here.”
Indeed, the air was charged in the large ballroom at the Casino Lac-Leamy where meetings are being held.
During a speech by Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett on Tuesday morning, Chiefs were warned against crowd-surfing — a matter not helped by Bennett riling up the crowd.
“Who wants a new relationship with the Crown,” she shouted. “Let me hear ya say Aho!”
That new relationship has been promised by the federal Liberal government to come in the form of a legal framework before the next election. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is set to speak on Wednesday morning and will lay out how he intends to bend time and space to make sure that new relationship is in place before 2019.
