New AFN chief looks to turn page with Pierre Poilievre from Harper-era tensions
CTV
The national chief of the Assembly of First Nations is trying to make inroads with Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, hoping to forestall the tensions and angst that marked the party's last time in power.
The national chief of the Assembly of First Nations is trying to make inroads with Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, hoping to forestall the tensions and angst that marked the party's last time in power.
The legacy of the Idle No More movement has shaped how young Indigenous activists and leaders view the Conservatives, an image that still hangs over the party nearly a decade later.
"I want to be optimistic that he will work with First Nations," Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak said of Poilievre in a wide-ranging interview with The Canadian Press.
"Young people were so frustrated (with the previous Conservative government), and out of that was born Idle No More. That's certainly not the treaty relationship that I want to see."
Idle No More was a widespread Indigenous-led protest movement triggered in part by the Jobs and Growth Act, a sweeping and controversial omnibus bill introduced in 2012 by Stephen Harper's majority government.
Indigenous Peoples feared the bill would diminish their rights while making it easier for governments and industry to develop resources without a strict environmental assessment.
The movement grew to encompass environmental and Indigenous rights more broadly, and earned widespread support across Canada and around the world.
