Local Chief prepares for meeting with Prime Minister

By Nigel Maxwell

paNOW Staff

The Prime Minister will meet on Tuesday with the country's aboriginal chiefs.

The Chief of the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation will fly to Ottawa as part of the Saskatchewan contingent.

"I'm not sure exactly the kind of meeting we are going to because some meetings we have been invited to before, we were supposed to just sit there and listen and not really ask any questions. Later on we'd find out it was a meeting where we were consulted," said Chief Darrell McCallum.

The Prime Minister has already made it clear that chiefs should not expect any grand announcements or "buckets of money."

This comes as many first nations across the country deal with a housing crisis. Chief McCallum said that the communities within the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation are facing the same problem.

"We haven't seen any increase in capital or infrastructure, or housing in 25 years. Our populations continue to populate annually. That's the shortfall," he said.

McCallum said he would also like to hear some commitment from the government, that they will honour the treaties.

There has been some speculation that there could be some sort of education announcement made.

The government is expected to introduce legislation that that would give first nation communities the power to set up their own school boards.

nmaxwell@panow.com