TORONTO – Ontario Regional Chief RoseAnne Archibald welcomes the new Minister responsible for Indigenous Services Canada and those other impacted by today’s cabinet shuffle that included key changes to the Treasury Board, Justice, Indigenous Services and Veteran’s Affairs portfolios.
“On behalf of the Chiefs of Ontario, I’d like to welcome and offer my congratulations. I look forward to working with those Ministers involved in today’s cabinet shuffle in their new assignments,” said Regional Chief Archibald. “Of note though, I would like to acknowledge Minister Jane Philpott who displayed such strong and dedicated leadership qualities during her time as the Minister of Indigenous Services. With her progress on First Nations issues such as working on health transformation, and child well-being. I am disappointed that she will be leaving these files at such a time, however, we would like to thank her for her hard work and I believe that her promotion to the Treasury Board will be beneficial for First Nations with her recent expertise on the file.”
“In her place, we welcome the appointment of Minister Seamus O’Regan of Newfoundland. I was happy to meet him at the AFN MOU Joint Priorities meeting today and have begun already to build a positive relationship in order to keep moving forward in such a manner that we established with Minister Philpott. We hope to do this immediately and begin collaborating on ways to progress First Nations in Ontario and ensure our priorities will continue to be met.”
Other cabinet moves included Jody Wilson-Raybould, who will replace Seamus O’Regan as the Minister of Veteran’s Affairs and MP David Lametti of Montreal, former professor of Law at McGill who became the new Minister of Justice.
“I would like to also acknowledge the work Minister Wilson-Raybould had done for First Nations during her time as the Justice Minister. She not only made history as the First Indigenous woman to hold the post but had worked closely with First Nations and contributed to renewing the relationship between Canada and First Nations. We would like to wish her well on her next endeavour as Minister of Veteran’s Affairs and welcome MP David Lametti as the new Minister of Justice.” said Regional Chief Archibald. “We particularly look forward to working closely with Minister Lametti to ensure First Nations needs are recognized and actively met and we hope Canada will continue to collaborate and work together to ensure justice and equality for First Nations across Canada.”
The Chiefs of Ontario look forward to working with all the new Ministers and returning Ministers in today’s shuffle. We hope too that with today’s shuffle, that Canada will continue to be responsive to First Nations issues and move forward on our shared priorities.
Ontario Regional Chief RoseAnne Archibald
