 who my parents are, who my grandparents are, because in our way, that information is important. And it's also important for you to know that I know exactly who I am. And I welcome you to the territory of the Hulmukh people, Hulmukh-Stulmukh people, Slewatoch, Musqueam, and Squamish nations, thanking all of you for joining us today. We'd like to say good morning and welcome to the 7th BC Cabinet and First Nations gathering. Isn't that amazing? Give yourselves a round of applause. And as I said, I'm Leah George Wilson, Sitia Amar Sialia from Slewatoch, and I'll be your emcee for the next two days. It's so good to be here in person, to see all of you today. It's been a couple of years of all of this virtual kind of meeting, so it's wonderful for us to be in person and fabulous for all of you to be meeting with all of the different ministers that you'll be meeting with. We'd like to give greetings to our distinguished and honored guests. To be here with all of you, as I said, is just so amazing. I'd like to acknowledge the many elders, First Nations leaders, chiefs, and council members that are with us today. And of course, we have the new Premier David Ebe, his cabinet, and the NDP caucus. Premier Ebe, for many of us, this is the first time for us to be speaking with you in your new role as Premier. And I'm sure I can speak for all of us in attendance that we all look forward to the discussions in the next couple of days. Like in years past, since 2018, we have again opened the gathering to youth delegates. Can I get some hands for the youth delegates that are here? Yes, their tenacity for our communities helps us to remember how our work, your work, benefits our communities and in the future so our children can be proud of this work. I'd like to also acknowledge the delegates that are joining us virtually on the feed loop platform. So give a wave to the ones who are joining us virtually. And of course, wonderful to see all of you who are here in person today. We also have a number of dignitaries joining us. If you want to give a wave, when I say your name, MLA's Adam Olson. Adam Olson, I'd switch all. Sonia, first and now from the Green Caucus, both are with us. And Michael Lee from the BC Liberal Caucus. We also have officials from Justice Canada and Crown, Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada are here as well. Thirty organizations have joined us as exhibitors who you can visit in Ballroom A just through this opening during this conference. This gathering, as you may recall, is a partnership between the First Nations Leadership Council and the province of British Columbia. I'd like to take a moment to acknowledge the executives of the First Nations Leadership Council now. If you wouldn't mind standing, I would appreciate that. The First Nations Summit Executive, Sheryl Kazimir, Tanaha First Nation. Robert Phillips, Northern Chukwutmik to Kaumuk, Shushwap, Canem Lake First Nation. Hugh Breaker, Sishat First Nation. From the BC Assembly of First Nations, we have Regional Chief Terry Teji, Takla First Nation. From the Union of BC Indian Chiefs Executive, Grand Chief Stuart Phillip, Penticton Indian Band. Chief Don Tom, Sartlet First Nation. And Cookby Judy Wilson, Nesconlet Indian Band. And also I'd like to recognize the co-chairs for the First Nations Summit. Excuse me, Ray Harris and, well, and me, Leah, we co-chair of the First Nations Summit. I don't want to recognize me so much as I want to recognize our friend, Ray, who was with us today. And especially we'd like to acknowledge all of the staff from the First Nations Leadership Council and the Ministry of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation. All who have worked so hard to organize this huge event and are working behind the scenes today and tomorrow, ensuring that things go smoothly. Also shout out to PACE Group, who are the behind the scenes people. Let's give all of these people a round of applause. This year's event is the biggest we've ever had. There are more than 800 face-to-face meetings scheduled to take place over the next two days. I heard one First Nation group say they had 14 or 15 meetings in these next two days. I think that is so amazing and I hope that you all have good meetings. Delegates have made the journey here from 200 communities and organizations. During the next two days, First Nations and provincial leaders will meet face-to-face and in groups to discuss issues that are critical to all First Nations people and to our communities, Indigenous rights, governance, self-determination and reconciliation. These are four really broad topics and I know we could easily fill up two days with just one of those topics. Yet we will be touching on all of them because they are all important to all of us collectively in this room. We have a lot to get through and I'd like to invite our... Nope, I'm not going to invite them just yet. I am going to welcome Councillor Charlene Alec Tealtonot. It's a little bit off. To come and join us and open our gathering in a good way with a welcome to the territory and a prayer. Good morning everyone. On behalf of our Chief at Slowatooth, Chief Jen Thomas, she sends her regrets. But on behalf of as well as Slowatooth, Chief and Council, and I'd like to say our elders and our youth because we always reach back and pull the wisdom of our ancestors and our elders and make decisions for our youth and future generations as well as on behalf of Musqueam and Squamish. I come to you with good feelings in my heart to have the space for all you, whether you're inherent or elected leaders, to come and speak for your people. And may this space be a place where our ancestors can come and be with you to use your voice for the much needed help that our Khomluch people need back at home, whether it be housing, education, elf, or to lift the standards of our people. It's all invested in your voice. And I just raise my hands to each and every one of you that are here to do so. Thank you for all the ministers for being here and taking the time to hear our leaders. I'm going to share a song. Oh, hello. I'd say I'm just encouraging you all to have a great few days as you gather here today and just congratulate you all for pulling out those conference wardrobe after a few years of not being together. Hi, Chika. Hi, Chika Siam. Sam Toloch. Charlene Alec from the Slaveton Nation for that lovely song. And welcome to the territory. I'd like to invite to the stage the following for their opening remarks. Grand Chiefs, Stuart Phillip from the Union of BC Indian Chiefs, Cheryl Casimir, First Nations Summit, Regional Chief, Terri Tiji, and Mr. Premier, David E.B., which please make your way up to the stage. Please note your name cards are. I should let you know while everyone's getting settled is that we are live streaming these opening remarks on the BC government Facebook account. Don't you just love Facebook? And it will be available afterward for those of you that want to watch it again when you get home. Also noting that all of you look great in your official duty clothing that still fits after two years. Our first opening speaker is Grand Chiefs, Stuart Phillip Osseuth of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs. He is a member of the Penticton Indian Band and has been President of the UBCIC for eight terms. He has a long history advocating for the title and rights of Indigenous peoples for all of us, not just his community for all of us and all of our organizations supporting communities in need. Please welcome Grand Chiefs, Stuart Phillip. Why? Why? Peace not seal. Esquise Osseuth. Simply good day, my dear friends and relatives. My traditional name is Osseuth. And I, it really lifts my spirits to see all of you sitting here together in this room. In every sense of the word, representing the future of our province in terms of true, genuine reconciliation. For those of you that know me, I've always said that reconciliation is not for wimps. And I also say something else. I say BC rocks. Osseuth. I am so proud to be from British Columbia. I am so grateful that I can raise my family in a progressive region of this country such as British Columbia. British Columbia historically has always led this country in terms of progressive political, economic and social issues. And we continue to do that. I am, I am so grateful that this is our seventh session. And I think we've moved beyond the italk. I think we've moved beyond the flirting. And I think now is the time with the foundation and platform of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act to do some serious work. The heavy lifting is already done. The act has been passed unanimously by both sides of the house. I was there on that historic day. And when the vote was called, I was literally holding my breath. I was praying that it would be unanimous and not split along partisan lines. And it was unanimous. And that was such an unbelievable day. A special moment in the history of the province of British Columbia. I want to express my sincere gratitude to the legions of civil servants, public servants, our technicians, our legal advisors, and all of the scores of people that have been hard at work on dealing with a lot of these issues, such as alignment of laws to be consistent with the principles in the intent of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. I've always believed a rising tide carries all boats. And that is what I see as the future of British Columbia. I want to acknowledge former Premier Horgan. He played a major role in bringing us to where we are here today. I'm absolutely thrilled that Premier Eby is now our provincial leader. I've had the privilege and the honor of knowing David for well over 20 years. I've worked with him. I've traveled all over the province with him. And I know he's a good person. And along with the government of British Columbia and the UBCM, for example, and we all pull ourselves together and think about the well-being of our children and grandchildren, work through the difficult issues that have been mentioned. For example, the devastation of the climate crisis where people lost their homes, their businesses, their lands, that we can put our hearts and minds together in a good way and make a better place for our grandchildren. That's essentially what our job is. And I'm so proud to be in the midst of all of you. Many, many of you, I know, I know there's hope for reconciliation because my wife and I had lunch with Michael Lee at the white spot in Pinticton, and he paid for it. Why? Nim Lim. Our next speaker is Cheryl Kazimer, Aksmaknik Pizak Pashki of the First Nations Summit. Cheryl is a citizen of the Tanahan Nation and is from the community of Aqam, which is located near Cranbrook in the southeastern corner of B.C. She's in her fourth term on the First Nations Summit political executive. She has worked throughout her life to address fundamental title and rights issues and has advocated for First Nations issues and inclusiveness of perspectives at all levels. Please welcome Cheryl Kazimer. Thank you, Madam Chair. Good morning, everyone. It's a little bit daunting sitting up here or standing up here and looking into this crowd. It's a huge crowd, but a very handsome, beautiful-looking crowd. And it's been a while since we've been able to come together in person and talk about these many important issues that lie in front of us. So I'm really looking forward to the outcome of the discussions. I want to start off by acknowledging that we are standing here on the unseen territories of the Squamish, Slay-Wa-Tooth and Musclean peoples. I also want to acknowledge Charlene Alec for the prayer and the beautiful song. That's one of my favorite songs. And so I just wanted to thank you for that. And I also want to say to Charlene that I actually support your comments about the fact that we've had to dust off our conference clothes and start to wear them again, I think, long gone are the days of being able to shut off your camera and sit there in your pajamas and do work. I'm going to miss those days. I also want to acknowledge the leadership here, First Nations leadership, who have taken the time out of your busy schedules to be with us today. And I know that you're here because this work is really important to you and to your communities, your children and your families. And I want to thank Premier Ebe and his cabinet and his leadership for meeting with us for the seventh time for the First Nations leadership gathering. We have a lot of work ahead of us. I think it was, well, I don't think, it was three years ago when I had the honor to stand on the floor of the legislature when Bill 41 was being introduced and that was a historic day and it's a day that I will never forget. It meant a lot to me because of the hard work that each and every one of us put into that piece of legislation. It was years of work. And I know that there was a bit of fear and trepidation in terms of the unknown and if there was going to be any backlash. And I'm speaking on behalf of the provincial governance part. I guess maybe us too. We weren't really sure what this was, what this really meant. And I think that's why I stood there and I said, but the sky didn't fall and it didn't. It hasn't. In fact, what I see is that the skies are starting to clear because we're having more of a stronger vision in terms of what it is that we want to see, how we want to breathe life into the United Nations Declaration Act and how we want to implement it within our respective communities. And in order to do that, we have to continue to do that in partnership between ourselves and with the provincial government. We have had to undertake a lot of transformative change, though, over this past few years. We're trying to change archaic and colonial institutions and structures that really never had the space for us indigenous peoples to be there as partners and decision makers sitting alongside them. We've also had to do a lot of this work through a global pandemic and through a series of consecutive climate crises. And I think that what we have learned from that, those crises, is that our land, Mother Earth, can no longer sustain an exploitive economy. We need to work on changing how we treat the land. If we want the land to be here for our future generations, the way that we've been operating and so-called managing the land isn't sustainable. And I know that climate crisis is a huge priority for First Nations. We talked about this in our caucus yesterday among a range of other priority issues. And Premier Eby and ministers, I'm sure that you're going to be hearing directly from the leadership here today through your 20-minute sessions about what those priorities are and how they impact us and what we need to see to change. I had a whole bunch of things that I was gonna say, but I think I've said enough. We have a long day ahead of us. And I just wanted to say that I want to wish each and every one of you success. I know 20 minutes is not a long time, but from what I've learned and from what I've seen, we organize ourselves properly, we strategize properly, and we can maximize that time effectively and we'll be able to go home hopefully with some strong plans in place to change the circumstances of our lives and our communities for our children and our families. So I wish you all a very good productive next two days. Thank you, Cheryl. I'd like to welcome to the podium, or if he's gonna stay there, our next speaker is Regional Chief Terry Teegee of the BC Assembly of First Nations. Terry is a member of the Tacla Lake First Nations. He is in his second term as Regional Chief for BC AFN. He has a deep understanding and involvement in natural resources development and policies, always says he's a recovering registered professional forester. He has worked to unify and support people working towards the recognition of our inherent rights and title. Please welcome Regional Chief Terry Teegee. Thank you, Leah. Denny's out, Tseku's out, Skye's out. First of all, I want to acknowledge the Muscovite School and we should save it to us and thank you for the opening, the song. Delegates, Chiefs, Regenerative Chiefs, Leadership, youth, elders, residential school survivors, intergenerational survivors. It's really a pleasure to come and meet after two years of living through the pandemic. Whoever thought we would have canceled meetings on March 11th and sent everybody home and our world changed. And what the pandemic did was really expose the shortcomings of our relationships, of government, of our healthcare system, the issues of not only the healthcare system but also what we were experiencing even before the pandemic, the opioid crisis and homelessness. Certainly many of these issues were brought forward yesterday in the caucus room with our Chiefs and we do have an open letter to you, Premier Eby. Also want to recognize, I was hoping a former Premier would be here, John Horgan and recognize his leadership and his many years. Certainly when I met him many, many years ago as part of some of the work I was doing for my nation, Taffel Nation, fighting for Amazae Lake. There was John Horgan, Scott Fraser, Doug Donaldson, Shane Simpson, they all became part of the previous administration and now they've moved on to pass their public life or political life to all other things in their private life. So want to thank them for the work that they did many, many years ago. And as I worked for my community and my tribal council in those years and no 405 before I ran for Chief, I did have the opportunity of first meeting our now Premier Eby when he used to work for Pivot Legal and also for Civil Liberties because of the issues that we were experiencing of our indigenous peoples with the RCMP and Prince George. So certainly the assistance and help that you brought forward back then and we're looking forward to now as many of you are in this room. We heard some of your priorities yesterday and I'm certain that you'll bring those forward with your many, many meetings that are scheduled in the next couple of days. But as we met and you know many of the conversations that I had with them then his Lawyer Life Premier Eby, we finally got an opportunity to meet in a room physically and I realized how short I was and standing and literally looking up to him, I realized, okay, I'm not that tall. I'm not that tall and certainly does take a tall person physically and perhaps figuratively to become a leader of this place that really rocks British Columbia. Last couple of weeks has been terrible on my sleep as I did have the opportunity to represent the Assembly of First Nations at the Conference of the Parties 27 on climate change and I had the opportunity to speak to the President Lula from Brazil and many indigenous peoples who looked at us as Canada as a beacon of light of leadership. We passed United Nations Declaration Act but who's the shining star out of Canada? It's British Columbia. As we celebrate three years yesterday as I stood with my colleagues from the Leadership Council in the legislature of passing Bill C-41 and certainly the journey hasn't been easy. There has been setbacks but as Grand Chief said last week at the meetings on child welfare and the amendments came through which is great to take over jurisdiction. There's no turning back. There's no turning back. We're moving ahead and whether we do have some shortcomings on some of our relationships, we're still moving forward with our relationship with the provincial government and that's a good thing. And certainly with my other colleagues from other provinces here in Canada, they're looking to us. They're looking to British Columbia for leadership. They're looking to British Columbia to develop which is my file, a national action plan to implement the declaration, Bill C-15 and certainly we do have that experience here in British Columbia as we do have the 89 commitments on our action plan. We have five years and to align many of the colonial laws with the United Nations Declaration. I wish you well on many of your meetings and just a note to that, as I said yesterday, if there's anything concerning to you and anything that you need help with to push forward on some of your agenda items, let us know at the FNLC so we can push to and help you in any of these very important matters. And one of the things that as Leah stated, I am a recovering forester and forestry has been, and this is to Minister Conroy, has been a very difficult one to align the laws with. It was a part of the commitment document that was signed in 2016. It was environmental assessment, child welfare and forestry. I've been banging at the table for the last several years on forestry and there hasn't been enough movement. There has been challenges and we need to get moving on aligning Forest Range and Practices Act and Forestry Act. So thank you and wish you well, Masichou. Thank you, regional chief. Our last speaker is BC's premier, the Honourable David E.B. David E.B. is the elected MLA for the riding of Vancouver Point Gray. He was first elected to the provincial government legislature in 2013 and has been re-elected three times. Previous to becoming an MLA, he was an award-winning human rights lawyer. Now he is the new premier and the president of the Executive Council. This is his first time addressing the BC cabinet and First Nations leaders gathering. I'd also like to say that we had the honour to see Premier E.B. sworn in at Musqueam Cultural Centre using not only the ceremony and the pomp and circumstance of the legislature, but also the ceremony of our Hualmukh people, the ceremony of Musqueam. We heard Musqueam language. We saw Hualmukh ceremony. And I must say, Mr. Premier, that did a lot for our First Nations community because we could see ourselves and for that, we raised our hands. Let's give a warm welcome to Premier E.B. Thank you very much, Leah, for that kind introduction and let me join in recognizing the territory of the Squamish, Musqueam and Slewa Tooth People and express my appreciation for the welcoming song. Starting us off in a good way. It was fun to hear the regional chiefs reminiscing about our old days. He was a young go-getter. His hair was a different color. Coming out at Carrier-Siccanny and when we worked together and I was a baby lawyer working in the downtown East Side. It was a different time. I mean, Grand Chief, you'll remember that as well. You were basically the same. 20 years ago. Unchanged, as far as I can tell. Still the Grand Chief, still looking great. And Cheryl, working with the Summit over the years, it's been a real journey. And I know for myself, I never imagined to be in this position of being the Premier of British Columbia. It's a great honor for me. And I'm almost certain that everybody at this table never imagined that either. But here we are, right? So let's get some good work done. I'm really excited that we're all together. We've been held off by pandemic and by floods. And during the times as we last gathered, we've had tragedy, the revelations about obviously the kids who didn't come home from residential school, shocking to many people in Canada and grief across the nation, the ongoing tragedy and grief of the murdered and missing Indigenous women. But we've had moments of hope too. And I wanna take a moment to reflect on the contributions of my predecessor, Premier John Horgan. You've heard it from many of the speakers here. I know I have, as I say, a big Doc Martens to fill. The Premier showing leadership out of the gate on the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous People. BC, the first province in Canada to recognize and to put into law the declaration to give it meaning with an independent secretariat and an action plan. How we're actually going to turn this from words on paper into change that you can see and feel and touch in your communities. I know from my work way back when that trust is earned. It's not given. And it's my intention as Premier to earn the trust that you gave to Premier John Horgan. I'm here to listen and to learn. And I know that I'm not doing my job if I'm not delivering for people. And we can only do that by listening and partnering in the work together. One of the ways that I want to make sure that we're delivering for you on the ground in your communities is to share with you that I will be establishing in the Premier's office a role of special counsel to the Premier on Indigenous reconciliation. Many of you in the room will know Doug White former Chief Slenemo First Nation. Negotiator, lawyer, did amazing work with Lake Babine. He recently was co-chair of the First Nations Justice Council where I first met him. And together we partnered on delivering the First Nations Justice Strategy, resulting in Indigenous justice centres being established in many parts of the province. And leading to our recent announcement of an expansion of 10 additional Indigenous justice centres. Doug, being in the Premier's office, will assist me, will assist government in delivering for your communities on the ground. Many of the issues that I've heard about was Attorney General and many of you met with me in that role. Many of the issues that I heard about in those rooms crossed over multiple ministries. You know, you have two, three, four provincial ministries as well as the federal government, and you're trying to just deal with an issue in your community that has been a long-standing irritant. We are committed to the action plan. We are committed to the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous People, the big picture things, the foundational work we have to do to work together. But we also have to be committed to the issues that you see in your community that just need to be addressed that are signs to the people who live to your constituents, to the people you represent that government is listening and taking action. And so to help negotiate through all those different ministries to get results for you on the ground, Doug will be instrumental. And Doug's legal background obviously will also be a great assistance to me as well. You know, I'm so excited about the work that we've done to date. And I understand we need to do more. We need to use the tools that we have, the section six and seven agreements like we reached with the Tall Tann, foundational agreements, treaty, a new fiscal framework to make sure that you have the revenue. Governments need revenue to look after their constituents. I recognize that that is critical. The new fiscal framework will support self-determination to achieve a province-wide future where First Nations are the active leaders, where through self-determination you are guiding your own communities to prosperity and to success for your people. I am really hopeful for the future that we're gonna build together in the province. I got two little kids. I got a three-year-old and an eight-year-old. My eight-year-old goes to Norma Rose Point School. And he learns at that school about the Musqueam people. It's a big part of the education. Norma Rose was a Musqueam elder and a leader in community and he comes home and he tells me all about the Musqueam people. And he was really excited about the swearing in that was gonna be at Musqueam. And that event changed me forever. It was such an amazing event. And I'll be, I will always do my best to be as forthcoming as possible with you. The reason why it was at Musqueam is because Government House was booked with a fundraiser, okay? So Government House wasn't available, but sometimes life is like that. You know, you get a setback, it's like what? We can't book a Government House, seriously? Like it's not, okay, it's fine. What are we gonna do? It has to be in the community. And called the Chief Wayne Sparrow and said, can we do it? Can you host us at Musqueam? And the Chief and Council made the decision that we could. And it was such an amazing event. It was a combination of Musqueam tradition and ceremony and the Lieutenant Governor swore me in. And it was in the words of a witness that a friend of mine who came forward, you know, it was an expression of tradition of working together and it was very meaningful. But for my son, you know, he saw the Musqueam warrior dancers come in. He saw his dad get blanketed. He saw the Lieutenant Governor do the swearing in. That is something that will stay with him for his whole life. He saw a $100 rebate on BC Hydro bills for every British Columbia. This is a special, special day for him, for many families across the province. I wanna thank all of you for being here. I know many of you came a long distance for these meetings. My colleagues, cabinet ministers, MLAs are here. We are all working together to build the province that we know British Columbia can be and we can only do it together. And events like this make it possible. So thank you for your efforts in being here. I really look forward to our meetings today. Thanks very much.