VANCOUVER — The leader of the Assembly of First Nations says the minority government elected Monday presents an opportunity to keep moving the needle on issues affecting Indigenous Peoples in Canada. National Chief Perry Bellegarde said the Liberals accomplished more for Indigenous rights than any other government in its first term but an enormous socio-economic gap remains between First Nations and non-Indigenous Canadians. “There’s opportunity to maintain momentum and keep pushing and opening up doors.”As the leader of a minority government, Justin Trudeau will have to strike deals with political rivals to pass legislation. The fact that the Liberal and NDP platforms overlapped in many of their pledges to Indigenous Peoples bodes well for seeing those issues addressed, Bellegarde said. Others were less optimistic that the Liberals would make significant progress without a push from the NDP, based on Trudeau’s first term in office.

Source: National Post October 23, 2019 07:52 UTC