National Chief Pans Tories’ Climate Change Plan
Wednesday, October 03, 2007 at 14:07
Assembly of First Nations National Chief Phil Fontaine says the federal government’s climate change plan is “a shame”, “unfair”, and “doesn’t make sense”.
Fontaine spoke this morning at the “Only a Matter of Time” conference on environmental issues hosted by the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations in Regina.
He says he tried to get First Nations people involved in the discussions before the plan’s development and the decisions were made, but was denied.
Fontaine says First Nations people should have been consulted, because they have lived on the land for years and have traditional knowledge that would be useful.
He says climate change will further affect traditional lifestyles and foods.
Fontaine adds that will lead to even higher instances of diabetes amongst First Nations people, something that is already a problem.