Spence calls for cancellation of First Nations meeting over GG's absence

Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence is calling on the Assembly of First Nations to cancel Friday’s summit with the federal government unless the governor general agrees to attend, CTV News has learned.

Spence says she will not participate in the upcoming First Nations meeting with Prime Minister Stephen Harper after learning that Governor General David Johnston will not attend the meeting. But she went a step further Wednesday, asking that the AFN outright cancel the meeting due to the vice-regal’s absence.

Spence has become the de facto face of the growing aboriginal rights’ protests – collectively known as Idle No More -- taking place across the country after launching a liquids-only diet nearly a month ago. Spence’s campaign was an effort to secure a face-to-face meeting with both Prime Minister Harper and Johnston, and she earlier said she would continue the hunger strike until the meeting takes place.

 Harper announced last week that he would meet with First Nations leaders on Jan. 11 as part of a working meeting co-ordinated by the AFN. However, a spokesperson for the Governor General said Tuesday Johnston wouldn’t attend the meeting, calling into question Spence’s attendance.

“We have sent a letter to Buckingham Palace and requesting that Queen Elizabeth II send forth her representative which is the Governor General of Canada,” said Spence in a statement released Wednesday. “I will not be attending Friday’s meeting with the Prime Minister, as the Governor General’s attendance is integral when discussing inherent and treaty rights,” she said.

It is not clear if Spence will continue her hunger strike, even if the meeting goes ahead as planned Friday.

Spence has kept a low-profile this week after a critical federal audit of finances of her northern Ontario reserve was released Monday. The independent audit – ordered last year by the federal government -- highlighted a lack of documentation for tens of millions of dollars in spending.

“Theresa Spence is really not in the strong position she was in last week, or even earlier this week, before that audit was released,” CTV’s Mercedes Stephenson told CTV News Channel on Wednesday. “It seems that everything has collapsed in from there.”

After the audit was released, a number of journalists were turned away from Spence’s camp on Victoria Island on the Ottawa River.

Spence's spokespeople said the release of the Attawapiskat audit was an attempt to distract the public from the bigger issues at hand.

First Nations leaders are expected to discuss the federal government’s omnibus budget bill and its effect on treaty rights during Friday’s meeting.

Assembly of First Nations National Chief Shawn Atleo is holding a news conference Thursday where he is expected to outline what he hopes to see accomplished at Friday’s highly-publicized meeting.

The press conference was originally planned for Wednesday, but was later postponed.

Meanwhile, a newly-released Angus Reid public opinion poll shows the majority of Canadians don’t believe the upcoming meeting will be successful in improving the relationship between the country’s First Nations peoples and the federal government.

The poll, released Wednesday, showed that 55 per cent of more than 1,000 respondents say the meeting will be ineffective, while 43 per cent found that the relationship between the federal government and Aboriginal Peoples has worsened since 2006.

Original Article
Source: ctvnews.ca
Author: CTVNews.ca Staff