Aboriginal Leaders Await Meeting With P.M.

Aboriginal Leaders Await Meeting With P.M.

Thursday, January 15, 2009 at 14:47

 

 

It’s a day aboriginal leaders had circled on their calendars weeks ago.

 

Thursday night the leaders of 5 national groups will sit down with the Prime Minister to give their thoughts on the upcoming budget.

 

Stephen Harper is hosting a working dinner with the members on the eve of the first ministers’ meeting Friday.

 

Metis national council leader Clem Chartier says the upcoming budget stands to be a main topic of conversation.

 

He wants Stephen Harper to remember metis communities and workers when he begins to dole out money on infrastructure spending.

 

Chartier also wants infrastructure money that’s been set aside for provinces to have a metis component in it well.

 

In the meantime, the leader of the Native women’s association says she worries many first nations and metis women won’t see the benefits of the huge expenditures.

 

Beverly Jacobs notes much of the talk has centered around spending billions on infrastructure projects that are “shovel ready”.

 

She says that might not mean very much for a lot of women.

 

Jacobs adds she’ll be asking the prime minister to create a fund that can enable aboriginal women to find new jobs.