OTTAWA — The Trudeau government is being pushed to invest $500 million over five years on a 1,600-member national “Guardians” team to patrol, and assert aboriginal sovereignty in, the vast traditional territory of Canada’s First Nations. The Guardians could operate as land managers, planners, community consultation officers, emergency response officers and even fisheries management officers, they said. But the hired stewards could also play a role in peacefully asserting sovereignty on traditional territories that are not yet part of settled land claims. The money would be used to hire roughly 1,600 people from around 200 aboriginal governments, representing roughly one-third of the 618 aboriginal governments across the country. The Guardians funding would ramp up from $26 million in Year 1 to $183 million by the fifth year.

Source: National Post October 04, 2016 03:22 UTC