Good morning.  Thank you for welcoming me here today.

Thank you. Meegwetch. Gilakas'la. Mahsi' Cho. Kinanâskomitin. Welálin.

And I could keep going, but there’s 60 of them and we only have 20 minutes, so...

Before I begin this morning, I’d like to recognize the Algonquin Nation on whose traditional territory we are gathering.  We acknowledge them as the past, present and future caretakers of this land.

Elders, youth, National Chief Bellegarde, members of the AFN Executive and Chiefs and Assembly, thank you for the opportunity to be here with you today.

When I last joined you in July of this year I said that I hoped you’d invite me back whatever my job description might be.  I’m so glad you took me up on that offer.

As you know, just a few things have changed since we last met.  But there are many things that endure.  Meeting with Canadians, hearing your stories, and through those conversations getting a better sense of what it is that people are going through.

You can’t be an effective Member of Parliament if you’re not doing those things each and every day.  And that’s no less true when you’re the Prime Minister.

The difference is that my government is now in a position to transform this understanding into action.  In other words, we are now able to effect real change, as we underscored in last week’s Throne speech. And to achieve this real change we must give voice to Aboriginal peoples in Ottawa.

To start with, we will do so with our new MPs. Of the dozen Liberal Aboriginal candidates in the last campaign, eight were elected and of those eight, Nunavut’s Hunter Tootoo and Vancouver’s Jody Wilson-Raybould are now ministers.

(Applause)

They are joined in Cabinet by a capable and experienced Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs, Carolyn Bennett.

(Applause)

This is a new role for Carolyn, but she was previously the Liberal critic for Aboriginal affairs and as you know full well, she is very intimately acquainted with the files that are important to your members.

But you’ve heard me say it before.  It’s not just about individual people or even individual governments.  What’s needed is nothing less than a total renewal of the relationship between Canada and First Nations peoples.

(Applause)

During the election and the months before and in the days since, I’ve made a personal commitment to bring new leadership and a new tone to Ottawa.  I promised Canadians real change.  That includes not just doing different things but doing things differently, including the way that we as a government approach our relationship with others.

History has shown, as the elder highlighted, that taking an adversarial approach is not only ineffective, it can be profoundly damaging.  Nowhere is this more obvious than in the government’s relationship with First Nations.

It is time for a renewed nation-to-nation relationship with First Nations peoples, one that understands that the constitutionally guaranteed rights of First Nations in Canada are not an inconvenience but a sacred obligation!

(Cheers & Applause)

One that is based on recognition of rights, respect, cooperation and partnership.  One that is guided by the spirit and intent of the original treaty relationship, one that respects inherent rights, treaties and jurisdictions, and one that respects the decisions of our courts.

I know that renewing our relationship is an ambitious goal, but I am equally certain that it is one that we can and will achieve if we work together.

This is a responsibility that I take seriously and I have instructed my entire government to do the same.

In the mandate letters given to my government ministers, my expectations were clear.  I told them that no relationship is more important to me and to Canada than the one with First Nations, Métis Nation, and Inuit Peoples.

Today…

(Applause)

Today, I promise you that this relationship will be transformed, and it will be respected.  We are going to work with you to rebuild trust between the Canadian government and Aboriginal peoples. We will tell the truth. If we make mistakes, and all governments make them, we will own up to them and learn important lessons from them.

We will work together and view the First Nations as full partners, while finding inspiration in the values of mutual respect, sharing and kindness.

To that end I have given the new Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairsexplicit instructions on how to move forward.

Among Carolyn’s top priorities will be the creation of a national public inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women and girls in Canada.

(Cheers & Applause)

And I’m already pleased to announce the progress has become…and an update on our progress will be provided to you by Ministers Bennett, Wilson-Raybould, and Minister Patty Hajdu, Minister of Status of Women from Thunder Bay, this afternoon.

We have made this inquiry a priority for our government because those touched by this national tragedy have waited long enough.  The victims deserve justice; their families, an opportunity to heal and to be heard.  We must work together to put an end to this ongoing tragedy.

A second priority will be to make significant investments in First Nations education. This is one funding area…

(Applause)

… where we know we can’t afford to wait, and we won’t.  Every child and young person living in Canada deserves a real and fair chance at success.  First Nations students are no less deserving.

(Applause)

At the same time we will never impose solutions from the top down.  We know that this approach is wrong and we know it doesn’t work.  While we share a commitment to improving education outcomes, we believe that education reforms that affect First Nations children must be led by First Nations.

(Cheers & Applause) 

Third, as National Chief Bellegarde alluded to, our government will immediately as part of our first budget lift the 2% cap on funding for First Nations programs.

(Cheers & Applause) 

As you know, that limit has been in place for nearly 20 years.  It hasn’t kept up with the demographic realities of your communities, nor the actual costs of program delivery.  It’s time for a new fiscal relationship with First Nations that gives your communities sufficient, predictable, and sustained funding.  This is a promise we made and a promise we will keep.

(Applause)

Fourth, in partnership with indigenous communities, the provinces, territories, and other vital partners, we will fully implement the calls to action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission starting with the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

(Cheers & Applause)

And fifth, we will conduct a full review of the legislation unilaterally imposed on indigenous peoples by the previous government.

(Applause)

Where measures are found to be in conflict with your rights, where they are inconsistent with the principles of good governance, or where they simply make no public policy sense, we will rescind them.

(Cheers & Applause)

And then I know just the Minister of Justice to keep an eye on that.

(Laughter)

These are just five of the commitments we’ve made as part of our efforts to repair this most important relationship.  There are many other actions we will undertake, from partnering with First Nations as we review and monitor major resource development projects, to providing significant new funding to help promote, preserve, and protect indigenous languages and cultures, to working together on essential infrastructure projects, from water to roads.

(Applause)

But in every instance we cannot do this alone.  We need your help and leadership too.  We cannot close the gaps between the First Nations’ experience and those of others without a collective, collaborative, nation-to-nation approach like the one that resulted in the Kelowna Accord.  As leaders that is a responsibility we share.

(Applause)

I am convinced that being partners will enable us to make significant and immediate progress on the files that count most for your communities, such as education, housing, employment, health and mental health care, community safety, child welfare and the protection of our lands, water and air.

Doing less would simply be unacceptable.

We have much work ahead of us.  Some we will be able to tackle right now.  Some, no matter how hard we work, is going to be for future leaders to build on the groundwork that we lay.  But we know we walk forward together in the right direction.

All our communities and all our children deserve a brighter future, and we can give them just that if we all work together.

As I said when we last met, a respectful, cooperative partnership is not only possible, it is a sacred responsibility inherited from past generations and entrusted to us by future ones.

I promise you that I will be your partner in the years to come and hope that you will be mine.  We have much work to do together.

Thank you.

(Cheers & Applause)