Chiefs Planning To Attend SaskParty Convention

Chiefs Planning To Attend SaskParty Convention

Friday, February 09, 2007 at 14:59

A delegation of First Nations leaders will be attending the Saskatchewan Party’s annual convention this weekend.

FSIN chief Lawrence Joseph will be in attendance when party leader Brad Wall makes an address tomorrow — as will six other First Nations leaders.

Last year, former FSIN chief Alphonse Bird was one of the keynote speakers at the SaskParty convention — a development that angered officials with the governing NDP.

SaskParty Aboriginal Affairs critic June Draude admits her party got off to a rough start with Aboriginal leaders. She says it took awhile to overcome NDP rhetoric that the SaskParty was somehow not sensitive to Aboriginal issues.

But Draude says there’s no question her party has recently been making inroads with the Native population.

Draude notes the theme for this weekend’s gathering is election readiness — and the party realizes it has to attract more Aboriginal votes.