 Thank you very much. I want to thank Councillor Wendy Grant John and the elders who opened our ceremony and our session for the next two days here on the unceded territory of the Musqueam, Squamish and Slava Tooth First Nations. It's a pleasure for me to be here on a stage with Grand Chief Ed John, Grand Chief Stuart Phillip as well as Chief Maureen Chapman as we begin the fourth annual Leaders' Gathering here in Vancouver. It's great to be in a room filled with youth, filled with MLAs of all political parties, filled with leaders who are coming together to make progress for their communities and for our province. The greetings that I bring from my area of Wanda Fuca, Lankford Wanda Fuca, Malahat Wanda Fuca, it's had many names as an electoral district, but to me it's the traditional territory of the South, Pachidat and Beecher Bay First Nations and I want to pay tribute to Chief Gordon Planis from SOUC, Chief Jeff Jones from Pachidat and Chief Russ Chips from Beecher Bay for inspiring me as a new MLA many, many years ago to have a better understanding of the challenges that the nations in my community face and the opportunity that gave me as I traveled across British Columbia to communities represented and traditional to all of the people in this room whether it be on the North Coast in the peace country in the interior or all across the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island it's been inspiring to be able to go back home and to talk to Gordy and Russ and Jeff and others within the communities that have been in my area for over a thousand years to talk about the challenges of modernity the challenges of working together with multiple levels of what was previously called the crown and I think in my conversations leading up to this this gathering with Grand Chief Stuart Phillip with Grand Chief Ed John and with Chief Maureen Chapman what we've been hearing is a sense of optimism that there will be more than hollow words coming out of our two days and I am very much committed and our government is very much committed to ensuring that we are not starting anew we're building on the work that has come before us I think most importantly I think back to just a few moments ago when Wendy said that we are going to be working together not just with the people in this room but the ancestors of the people in this room building on the relationships that have been established over time and building stronger relationships as we go forward I want to also acknowledge the impacts of the fires that have greeted my governments in our first six or seven weeks it has been by any measure the worst fire season in BC's history and I had the opportunity to visit the Ashcroft First Nation just a week and a half ago and tour the territory and see the the devastation a dozen homes gone out of only 32 on the reserve that's a profound impact and we need to not just acknowledge what has happened but we need as a government and as a as a people working together we need to be there in the fall we need to be there in the spring and we need to be there next summer as citizens at communities indigenous people rebuild and prepare for the years ahead the challenges of climate change the challenges that we all face together using traditional understandings of how the land has managed changes is critically important and I acknowledge Chief Judy Wilson who today reminded us all just before we started outside that if we are not as a government says a federal government is a provincial government are not going to listen and learn from the experiences of First Nations their understanding of the land we're going to fail again next season or the season after that so a reminder that working together will give us a better outcome time after time after time I wanted to say at the outset that it's important that over the next two days we recognize and acknowledge that this is about accountability for your new government and it's also about an understanding of how we can work together I want to say that at the outset when we formed a government's working with the Green Party caucus it was a big challenge to come up with a way that we could all work together and I'm very pleased that many of the BC Liberal MLA's have accepted the invitation to come and join us today and the Green Party caucus is here as well I think it's important that as we start this new beginning in a new reconciliation and relationship building with the province of British Columbia and indigenous peoples that we do this together this is not a party issue it's not a partisan issue it's in the interests of indigenous people it's in the interests of the province that we work together on a genuine understanding of reconciliation and respect and that is why in my letters to my ministers when we started this government I included at the top of every letter to every minister that we need as a government to embrace and implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People we needed to ensure that we were meeting all of the calls to action within the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and we needed to respect Silcotein and other decisions that have come from our courts that recognize without any question the existence of rights and title for indigenous people in British Columbia and it's not just those lofty documents that we need to focus on we also need to focus on building relationships and trust and I am committed to doing that with you in this room and outside of this room in the life of the government that is to come we have an agreement with the Green Party to have stable government for all British Columbians and I believe it is a unique opportunity to work with a new federal government that is also committed to true reconciliation and a true understanding of the importance of embracing the UN Declaration to have the Justice Minister here last night at our opening reception it's inspiring to me to think of a British Columbian a First Nations woman to hold the position of Justice Minister I believe it should be inspiring to all of us and there's a great burden on her shoulders but if we stand with her we can achieve great things I want to acknowledge also that our legislature has changed not just in the configuration of the government but who is sitting in those seats in Victoria I want to acknowledge first and foremost my friend and minister of advanced education Melanie Mark the first First Nations woman to hold the cabinet position in British Columbia I want to acknowledge Chief Ellis Ross from the Heisland Nation who is representing the BC Liberal Party and the constituency of Skeena and I also want to acknowledge Adam Olson who is a representative of the Green Party also a First Nations member and my dear friend Carol James who identifies herself as just my dear friend but we all know her to be not only a woman of great character but someone who has been working with First Nations for as long as she can remember and and to have this knowledge this understanding within our legislature I believe gives us a real step forward as we work together liberals greens new democrats to ensure that we have genuine reconciliation not just hollow words that's my commitment to you today as we start this gathering and I want you to hold me accountable I know Judy I can't see you but I know you're going to I know Grand Chief Stewart Phillip is going to as is Maureen as is Ed and that is also the responsibility of every one of the delegates here the youth delegates particularly we are working together to make sure that your life as indigenous peoples is better than that of your parents and your grandparents and those that came before you I believe passionately that if we hang together and hold fast to the values that represent that are all represented in this room whether they be from the north coast or the interior or Vancouver Island whether you're indigenous or non-indigenous we all want the best for our families and our communities working together we will get those outcomes I'm committed to that and I know you are as well I want to also touch upon some of the challenges we'll face with respect to treaty discussions many nations represented in this room have spent a quarter of a century at tables with the federal and provincial governments working on in good faith to ensure that they have better outcomes in their communities and that's going to be a challenge as we all work together to reinvigorate the mandates of the two representatives of the crown as well as ensuring that those nations at those tables get the respect they deserve and need based on changes in where we are when they started those those negotiations back in the early 1990s the silk routine decision in my opinion makes it absolutely crystal clear to all British Columbians and all Canadians that we are starting from a foundation of rights and title existing so the notion of extinguishment is extremely difficult to manage at a negotiating table as you can all well well understand that's a challenge for us but not an insurmountable one I believe we need to build on the progress and success of many nations over the past 25 years and ensure that we take the information we have now at our disposal the unequivocal understanding of rights and title and we weave that into the discussions that have been taking place at tables around this province so that we can all benefit from these new understandings we have a path to walk down as my friend Melanie says we're all paddling together I don't know how we get a paddle on the path but somehow we managed to mix our metaphors because the symbols are pretty straightforward standing together working together new democrat government green caucus liberal caucus indigenous peoples from around this great province we are the most blessed people on the planet and if we work together imagine what we can do just imagine what the next four years will be I am so inspired by the opportunity to stand before you and say let's make progress let's not dwell on the past let's be shaped by our past and have a better future for our kids and our grandkids thank you so much for coming for these two days I look forward to the meetings we will have I look forward to the success we will have and I look forward to four years of success thank you very much thank you very much Mr. Premier our next speaker is a hereditary chief of the Slots in nation located in northern british Columbia his experience his skill his knowledge in indigenous issues locally regionally nationally internationally is well known I would just know it as a part of his biography that he's a member of that small but growing group of indigenous peoples who have held government cabinet positions having served in as a minister of children and family development in the previous NDP government please help me welcome Grand Chief Ed John on behalf of the First Nations Summit I wanted to begin by acknowledging and thanking the Musqueam and Sayward Tooth and the Squamish Nation peoples on whose ancestral lands we are gathered it's a beautiful morning to to to have this gathering and to acknowledge that they are the ancestral owners of this territory I want to acknowledge our dear elder from Sayward Tooth for the prayer this morning to warm our hearts to remind us that there are peoples in other parts of the world who are experiencing serious challenges from mother nature and we pray for our relatives in the carabine many of whom that we've gotten to know over the many years at the international level whose homes are being devastated and whose lives are being changed by what is happening outside this morning I was with the Premier and our First Nations representatives and Minister of Fraser out in the front to talk to the media about this gathering it was an expression of optimism on my part and as I looked to the east I saw the sun and it was red and I thought about our relatives and friends to other parts of this province who have experienced huge impact from the wildfires our peoples in our communities and the non-aboriginal peoples as well who have been dislocated from their communities think that what we have in front of us is this dramatic period of change arising from what's happening in the atmosphere climate change I just wanted to to say those few remarks at the outset I would like to acknowledge the elders who are here and certainly the youth open in the door for them to be involved in these discussions to listen to learn to contribute as young leaders as well to the Premier and to your your cabinet members and your your officials thank you for helping organize and host this meeting last year you're speaking about the recognition of the declaration and shell cotton and aboriginal rights last year I remember my friend Richard five sitting at a table by himself over here the Attorney General who was who didn't really think much of the declaration but I'm hoping that I have 400 booklets of the UN declaration the rights of indigenous peoples I'd like to give him one too I'm not I'm not criticizing I'm just you know like the province has been in in dark places to for too far too long I went to acknowledge Andrew Weaver and the Green Party members Adam Olson and Susan Sonia Ferns Fernsteno this agreement that you have with them this supply agreement where both parties have committed to ensuring that this issue of indigenous peoples is one that's so fundamental to all of us that this declaration forms a very fundamental part of the relationship and the emerging relationship and that's what I talked about the optimism out there but we need to see translated into action on the ground so that we are able to make serious gains in the social economic side of of our peoples in our communities the day-to-day issues that our peoples have to face housing education water you name it these are the ongoing issues the challenges that our community members face with opioids drugs that that are many of which is rooted the intergenerational trauma or directly as a result of the Indian residential schools that all of us in our communities experience in this province the the book that I was talking about the declaration has three documents one of which is the 10 principles of reconciliation that the TRC the truth in reconciliation commission brought forward the other document there are the 94 calls to action that are so important to the discussion this has generated an incredible dialogue in this country unprecedented unprecedented in this country's history and we have to be thankful to the commissioners for having generated that dialogue and we need to continue on that path because there will be dark clouds out there those ivory towers over here with the big champions of industry have been have always been fearful that any recognition of our rights would be the demise of their their profits and that should never be the case they can have their profits but we need to have our profits as well we need to benefit from our lands our territories and resources like anyone else and this is what will take us out of this place the social economic issues that the provinces and the federal government can deal with by programs and services but what will truly take us out is our ability to rely on the resources that we have and to be able to generate revenues from that from that foundation whether it's a single tree with stumpage or whether it's a salmon in the rivers or other resources in this province we have a right to make decision about what is in our territories every single tree is to be cut we have to have a say in that and we have to benefit from the revenues that are generated from that in the delgumu case the supreme court of canada have said very clearly that aboriginal title exists in this province that it's a legal interest in land a legal interest in land and that we have the right to make decisions about that legal interest and importantly it has an inescapable economic component which means we can raise revenues not just revenue sharing we should be able to raise revenues including revenue sharing so the declaration and the law in this country provides an important framework political will i said the dark clouds have always been there and we need to be mindful and we need to continue to educate and talk to the public to the industry to the municipal leaders to the labor leaders i want to thank bc business council and the bc federation of labor for their their the hosting of the reception last night these are important building blocks that we have been working for so long we have to take this opportunity that's in front of us i want to conclude by one i talked about the red sun this morning in 2012 december 21st i was in guatemala i was invited i was a chairman of the chairperson of the un permanent forum on indigenous issues it's an international body of experts 16 experts who advise the un united nations on indigenous issues globally i was invited by the mayan leaders to come to their territories to witness the end of the 13th back toon or the the end of the 12th back toon 5125 year calendar cycle and they were called savages so as i left to go down there i saw in the media and the us and canada oh my god the world's going to come to an end on december 21st and so my message out there was you know i'm going to go down there i'm going to make sure that the world is saved and make sure that when they come back you you recognize this effort and put a statue or two up somewhere never happened but the world didn't end so here's here's what what the priests the the mayan spiritual leaders said this is the end of 12th back toon the 500 5125 years and we gathered through the night and in the morning we waited for for the the baby son the new new son to come up that day to mark the beginning of the 13th back toon but it was cloudy and so as i stood there the ambassador from mexico was standing next to me and he had his iphone out and said ed says look at this and as i looked at it i saw all of the planets and the sun were lined up like this how did the mayan people know that there were astronomers their mathematicians they had figured it out 12 60 000 years ago that they knew this the beginning and so what they said the spiritual leaders said this next 5125 years will be marked by the feminine energy one that comes from our women and so i want to conclude by saying that the important role that our mothers our grandmothers our wives our sisters our daughters play in our lives each and every day and to remember and to acknowledge that we're in this new era of feminine energy into our leaders from the our communities who are with the women leaders and counselors and chiefs want to acknowledge your your tremendous contributions that you make each and every day so with that thank you very much thank you very much grand chief our next speaker is also a hereditary chief of her nation having been handed that responsibility in 1999 and since the 90s she has been working with her council in her own home community of scabalook first nation so please help me welcome the acting regional chief for the bcaf and marine Chapman good morning good morning see if you're awake thank you thank you very much and before i i begin i'd like to acknowledge the muskream squamish and slewa tooth on whose traditional territory we're meeting and acknowledge him as the past present and future caretakers of this land i'd also like to acknowledge elder deanna george thank you so much for your beautiful words always touches the heart and starts our day in a good way and thank you wendy sorry i walked in a couple minutes late um for your comments but thank you so much i also want to sincerely acknowledge those who were and those who continue to be affected by the wildfire crisis in our province this summer we saw many of our brothers and sisters abruptly forced to evacuate their territories in a number of cases returning to find devastation and loss we saw many of our nations step up to welcome and care for evacuees and for that i'm so proud and encouraged as this speaks to our resilience and that we first nations people look out for our own our communities and our neighbors and as we move into the fall and winter seasons i want you to know that we as the bc assembly of first nations the first nations leadership council and all of our members here are here for you and will continue to assist and support you in any way possible elders youth chiefs leaders and provincial and federal ministers today we gather on coast Salish territory as many nations here with the new government led by premier john horgan i think it's fair to say that politically speaking this summer was one for the books i have congratulated premier horgan in previous meetings and i wish to do so today we walked out to the stage this morning and i said we're walking out as a team this is the small part of the team and i acknowledge also the cabinet and caucus as well as andrew weaver and his caucus for setting the stage to take significant strides on our journey together towards building a new relationship between the province and first nations one founded as you've heard earlier on respect and recognition of our inherent rights and title as the first peoples of this land i am pleased to see premier horgan has made a commitment to implement the united nations declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples and the calls to action of the truth and reconciliation commission the premier has also committed to breathing life into the historic chico teen decision through policy and legislation that acknowledges our title to our lands if we are to move forward with substantive reconciliation and a meaningful government to government relationship we're going to have to try new things to be creative and to quote grand chief steward philip to be bold change won't happen if we maintain the status quo now is the time for action in our caucus yesterday the chief's caucus we need to get to work and stop talking we've done the work and we need to move ahead with this historically regardless of which party formed government in bc we have been left out of decisions that directly impact our impact our communities and territories and ignored by this province and this country this isn't to say we've sat idly by to the contrary it's hard work and determination of our people that has gotten us to where we are today and while there is always room for improvement we're committed to building on our successes still though i believe the onus is on our people as has always been the case to continue to assert ourselves in ensuring the government lives up to their commitments made in good faith i have had the opportunity to review the premier's mandate letters to the cabinet and it is clear that bc's new government is committed to true lasting reconciliation and restoring trust whether it be through meaningful climate action addressing the poverty we have experienced for too long or through finally recognizing and supporting indigenous peoples to participate fully in the economy on that last point i must say i'm especially excited to get to work on negotiating for a fair share bc's gaming industry i raised my hands to those who for decades have worked so hard on this issue grand chief joe hall many of you know ken watts j johnson nolan charles to name a few that have not given up and continue to do the work in this field it's no secret that bc is the only province without some sort of gaming revenue sharing so i welcome this commitment as our nations require consistent predictable funding in order to support the social and economic nation building and rebuilding that is long overdue our families are the backbone of our communities and the health and wellness of our children and youth are vital to this process i have seen firsthand the struggles of so many of our communities and this has cemented my resolve and deepened my understanding of the need for first nations jurisdiction over issues relating to our children and families as our sister melanie mark said last week when we lift people up all our communities benefit if we are to lift our people up to strengthen community wellness and well-being we must start with our children that is why i am so delighted to know that premier horgan and minister conroy are committed to working with us to reform what is truly a broken system reconciliation is not simply an indigenous issue it is a pan-canadian issue that requires real and concrete actions the status quo must be rejected and i am confident we finally have the right partners in victoria to paddle with us as we embark on this journey together in closing we must continue to be guided by our ancestors and remember who we are and where we come from with the uses of our languages our teachings values and our distinct cultures we will emerge a stronger people with stronger communities and thriving nations thank you and i look forward to a very positive gathering and as i said this morning i hold my hands up to all of you that do this work and thank the creator for placing us where we need to be today all my relations thank you very much regional chief our next speaker has been an important part of our family and political life for over four decades he has served in a variety of positions for the pentagon indian band band administrator land management education economic development planning he served as an elected member of the council for over two decades and he's proud to be in his seventh consecutive term as the president of the union of bc indian chiefs please help me welcome grand chief steward phillip wei haska help peacenuck seal and chai has squeeze assiut i want to begin by acknowledging the salea with tooth the squamish and the musqueam and i would like to thank our elder for the opening prayer and i would like to thank wendy grant john for her opening remarks for her welcome and quite often i listen to wendy a little more closely than ed is we all know in this room this is the fourth time we've gathered like this uh this being somewhat different i congratulate and command premier horgan and his government for being inclusive to invite members of the uh the opposition and other parties into the room and i think that it's a reflection on the commitments and the promises and what those represent that gave us this opportunity to to be here and once again to to have an opportunity to come together in the province of british columbia the government of british columbia um the economic forces um within british columbia and the indigenous peoples to once again reach a point in our history where reconciliation moves beyond being political rhetoric and becomes a way of life at every level in society in british columbia it's been a very very long tiring and frustrating journey and the last time that i had any sense of hope or optimism was under the um previous uh campbell government when there was an effort to put together recognition and reconciliation legislation which clearly moved beyond the rhetoric and was actually going to move us to a place that we've never been in the province of bc and sadly that self-destructed as a consequence of the archaic thinking in the province of british columbia the racist attitudes and the fear of the seismic shift that that legislation would have represented and we work so hard to to get the issue to the point that it was at that particular time and in my long years of involvement in the issues of our people i believe that that was one of the the most heartbreaking moments to know that we had come that close and we failed to to achieve what we set out to do and here we are again and i greatly appreciate the commitments and the promises and the goodwill on the part of the premier horgan and his government in regard to the un declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples the issue of pre-prior and informed consent the truth and reconciliation commissions 94 calls to action and of course implementing what the chocote decision represents vis-a-vis our unextinguished aboriginal title interests in the province of various columbia i would like to take a moment to acknowledge andrew weaver adam olson and saunia first to know of the bc green party for giving us this opportunity this wonderful opportunity to be in this room and to be in a position to breathe life into all of these issues i want to thank the bc green party for their vision i want to thank them for their vision for their integrity and for their courage to um no one understand that in british columbia we all recognize the need for change to take these issues to the next level the recent wildfire issue that has swept through all parts of the province of rich columbia should serve notice on all of us that our current inability to coordinate all orders of government including indigenous government into the responsibilities of properly caretaking the land are have failed us and that we need to get our act together i would suspect that everyone in this room knows and understands that although the fire season was described as the worst in the history of the province of various columbia i suspect next year will be worse and the following year will be even worse than that the trajectory of climate change is such that these are not one-off situations i also believe that um as many of you recall just before the fire season swept through the province we were dealing with flooding issues and that is going to be the future of our world and so there are very powerful and compelling reasons for all of us to come together for first nations to have the ability and the capacity and the resources to stand and defend our communities that we have all worked so hard to to bring them to the point that they are i have said on many many occasions aside from reconciliation is not for wimps i've also said that a rising tide carries all boats and when indigenous peoples do well everyone does well and vice versa so we have to rise above our fears and we have to rise above our attitudes and we have to walk forward into the future together for the sake of our children and our grandchildren and those generations unborn and i speak collectively of all of the people within the province of british columbia if we are going to succeed to confront the challenges that lie before us and it's a tremendous challenge to let go to let go of those those attitudes that we carry that permeate all levels of government along with grand chief ed john and regional chief marine i want to say very clearly that we support and we embrace the commitments of the bc green party and the bcn dp government as it relates to showing results with respect to the un declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples and the trc and chocotin but we know that there are hangovers within the bureaucracy of government that um you know um are unacceptable and if you want to be part of the movement towards reconciliation peace and prosperity and you harbor attitudes that reflect back on the backward thinking of previous regimes i suggest you find another another um career because there's no place for you there's no place for you in this vision we need people that are committed we cannot afford to squander this opportunity that lies before us and once again i am going to commit to support the promises and the commitments that were brought forward by the bc green party and the bc n dp i know that our leadership here in the province of british columbia knows and understands the crisis situation in first nations communities vis-a-vis fentanyl vis-a-vis u suicides massive unemployment and um you know terrible infrastructure issues needs to be addressed now and so a year from now i'm hoping that we gather together in a room like this and we reflect back on the previous 12 months of making real concrete progress on this journey that we're starting here today so i i urge all of the leaders in the room to make the most of their contact with the government officials in the next couple of days to be bold to be up front to to be in their face and to serve notice on government that we will accept nothing less than progress then follow through and success in regard to what we're setting out here to do i've always believed that whether it be personal business or political our success rises and falls on our ability to establish relationships and sustain those relationships jonah and i have been together for 40 years we've been married for 33 we have 15 grandchildren and everything that we do we do through the lens of what's in the best interest of our grandchildren and i suggest to you that that has to be a province that um totally provides uh leadership in terms of what reconciliation really is so i wish you well why lim lim