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Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew says he told Prime Minister Mark Carney that Canada should abolish the Indian Act during a historic meeting with premiers and First Nations leaders.
Speaking with reporters during a midday break in the meeting Monday, Kinew held up his First Nations status card, which he said identifies him as an “Indian, within the meaning of the Indian Act.”
“It’s time to abolish the Indian Act,” Kinew said. “It’s long overdue that we have a relationship with Indigenous Peoples in Canada that reflects who we are as Canadians today.”
Carney and most of the premiers sat down with chiefs from the Assembly of First Nations in Ottawa for a discussion. Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak, the assembly’s national chief, said the meeting is intended to help build prosperity for coming generations.
Monday’s closed-door meeting is the first such gathering since the Kelowna Accord talks of 2005, which brought premiers and then-prime minister Paul Martin together with Indigenous leaders to discuss ways to close the socioeconomic gaps in Indigenous communities.
The Kelowna agreement was not implemented after the Conservative government under former prime minister Stephen Harper took office only a few months later.
Holding up his Indian status card, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew says it’s time to abolish the Indian Act. Kinew said on Monday that his colleagues at a meeting between First Nations leaders and first ministers gave the idea an ‘open-minded reception.’
This meeting comes as Carney’s government works to speed up major project approvals and development — efforts some First Nations chiefs say threaten their rights.
Jeronimo Kataquapit, who was protesting the major projects push outside the meeting venue in Ottawa, chided the federal government and the Assembly of First Nations over the lack of youth representation at the meeting.
“These major projects cannot move forward without our free, prior and informed consent, and it’s the youth that stand to be the most impacted by the decisions made today by all leadership, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous alike,” Kataquapit said from the sidewalk in front of the Diefenbaker Building.
Protester Katisha Paul, an advocate for youth and women, questioned the Assembly of First Nations’ mandate to negotiate on First Nations’ behalf.
“I’m not in that room today, but I can imagine and speculate that the voices of our ancestors are not being heard. They’re not being voiced, and they’re not being amplified because many of those elected band council chiefs have lost their ways,” Paul said.
Tensions between Ottawa and First Nations spiked soon after Carney was elected in 2025, when his government passed legislation to create a new office tasked with streamlining major project developments and approving projects within one year.
First Nations leaders warned the compressed timelines would interfere with their rights and lead to court challenges. Provincial governments have enacted similar legislation.
But tensions are boiling over for a number of other reasons as well, including the lands claim process in British Columbia, the newly announced Pacific Link pipeline project in Alberta and development of the mineral-rich Ring of Fire in Ontario. In many cases, it’s youth who are pushing back on First Nations leaders, the premiers and the prime minister.
Carney said Monday it’s “sobering” to consider that this is the first meeting to bring together federal, provincial and First Nations leaders in two decades.
“Our task is twofold. First is to work together to create opportunities for all our peoples, while building a country that is stronger, more sovereign and more independent,” he said.
“And secondly, our task is to live our values fully of a fair and inclusive Canada.”
While some First Nations are opposed to Carney’s development agenda and those of the provinces, others are open to the idea of increasing economic activity in their territories.
Nisga’a Nation President Eva Clayton told reporters ahead of the meeting she supports Carney’s plans and that she and other modern treaty holders are at the meeting to support Canada.
