A group of First Nations leaders sat down with Prime Minister Stephen Harper and several cabinet ministers in Ottawa on Friday but there were a lot of empty chairs at the table.
Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations Chief Perry Bellegarde was one of several leaders from the prairies who boycotted the meeting.
Bellegarde says not enough leaders from his region have been given a chance to speak.
“We wanted to have more than two chiefs speak and we made that presentation to the Prime Minister’s Office to get more delegates to speak and we weren’t successful in getting more than two chiefs from each region to speak. So they said maybe just don’t attend that portion of it so I am listening and just respecting that direction.”
The FSIN chief said he did plan to attend the meeting with Governor General David Johnston at Rideau hall and Attawapiskat First Nations Chief Theresa Spence said she also planned to be at the meeting.