The Lac La Ronge Indian Band is frustrated by the lack of consultation with First Nations people before Bill C-428 became law.
Conservative MP Rob Clark had put forward the bill to amend the Indian Act and that bill became law on Wednesday.
In a media Release today, Lac la Ronge Chief Tammy Cook Searson says they have called for the withdrawal of this bill from the beginning. Chief Searson says They want ‘real input into the laws that govern us.’
“We would hope that our representative in the federal government would actually represent us,” she stated in the release. “That there would be an attempt to work with us on the issues that we, collectively, agree are priorities for the communities we represent, and how we can together move forward on these issues.”
The laws of Canada, through the Supreme Court, require consultation and accommodation from All First Nations people before any law affecting them is passed. The new bill requires band councils to publish their by-laws and it also repeals outdated provisions in the Indian Act.