The Toronto Star reports, “Prime Minister Stephen Harper and First Nations leaders will hold a high-level summit in the coming months to address disturbing issues like the ones plaguing a northern Ontario native community. The formal announcement of the summit is expected this week after Harper meets Shawn Atleo, National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations. …This week’s meeting between Harper and Atleo — likely on Thursday — is expected to formally set in motion a broader summit to discuss issues facing Canada’s aboriginal community, such as education, economic development and poverty.”
“Liberal MP Marc Garneau suggested many of those problems would have been solved if the Conservatives had kept in place the Kelowna Accord, the 2005 agreement negotiated by former prime minister Paul Martin in concert with premiers and native leaders. That deal proposed solutions to issues such as clean water, sewage, housing, education and economic opportunities but was scrapped by the Conservatives soon after they took power in 2006.”
