What's the common denominator? I come from it as an elder, from a school of wonderful elders who have taught me the old ceremonial way. What's the common factor? We all have to live in Canada and will have to work together.
It's time today, in 2019, for government to stop telling first nations people what to do. That worked in the 1800s. That worked when nobody spoke English on our side. Today we have brilliant academic people all over in various walks of life and careers, but we can sit at the table, as Chief Wapass said, and co-habit and work as a collective.
What's the common factor here? For example, in government, the policies of the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs didn't work as they thought. Perhaps I can say this respectfully: Do not tell us what to do anymore. The residential schools destroyed an era: the languages, the ceremonies, the identity of our people. There is intergenerational trauma.
Allow us; don't interfere through that policy regime. The Creator gave us a brain just like you.