There is a need to complete the Constitution talks from the 1980s. I have called on the Prime Minister to have a table again with first nation leaders from across Canada, because that's the starting place of how we build this relationship in a truly equal and positive manner. Courts tend to be combative. We end up getting to a resolve, but the process of getting there isn't positive.
I think if we had constitutional talks and we defined a process together on first nations' role and place within Canada as a country, given that the creative place is here.... This is our country, so to speak. We are the original people. Our laws and all of our lives and processes—ceremonially, culturally and spiritually—have been in a way blanketed. A blanket has been put upon us in terms of Canadian laws and Canadian processes. We need to figure out the original government-to-government, nation-to-nation relationship. I think constitutional talks are a good place to begin.
I also think we need a process in Canada that begins to define those rights. I believe the government did attempt that with legislation, but it was pushed back. I think if you look to first nations for those solutions, they will give them to you. That's what I think this government has to be a little more open to, that they don't have the answers themselves. They bring something to the table, but first nations themselves have the solutions on how to make this country a workable and better place for everyone—truly just, truly fair and the place that we say we are.