Assembly of First Nations leadership candidates took part in a final forum Tuesday before Wednesday’s vote.
Three candidates are competing for the AFN’s top job including Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations Chief Perry Bellegarde, former Treaty 3 Grand Chief Leon Jourdain from northwestern Ontario and AFN interim Chief Ghislain Picard from Quebec and Labrador.
In his address, Bellegarde said First Nations need a new fiscal relationship with Ottawa.
“These contribution agreements we have, they’re not based on total population, they don’t even keep up with inflation, they don’t even keep up with the needs of your people on and off reserve. So one of the things we need to push for is a new fiscal relationship with the Crown.”
The FSIN Chief also said a national inquiry into missing and murdered Aboriginal women is imperative.
“Keeping the spotlight on this whole travesty has to happen so people wake up and open their eyes and see that it’s not right, it’s not right for that to happen. We thought it was 600, now we know it’s 1,200 and it’s probably more. And it is systemic and it’s racial discrimination.”
The AFN assembly wraps up Thursday in Winnipeg.