By Rod Nickel
WINNIPEG, Manitoba, Jan 25 (Reuters) - Canada's top
aboriginal chief wants more action from new Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau to alleviate crippling poverty and poor living
conditions among the country's indigenous community, saying:
"Words are easy."
Perry Bellegarde, national chief of the Assembly of First
Nations, the main political group representing the country's
aboriginal people, said he would put pressure on Trudeau to
deliver on election promises to his community.
"It's a travesty that this quality of life persists in this
great, rich country called Canada," Bellegarde said in an
interview on Monday after a shooting spree in a remote
aboriginal town last week.
"Everyone's focused on La Loche now, saying this is not
acceptable in 2016."
A gunman shot 11 people, killing four, at a school and home
in La Loche, Saskatchewan, an impoverished northern community
with high rates of suicide, addiction and unemployment.
A 17-year-old youth made his first court appearance on
Monday, facing four counts of first-degree murder, seven counts
of attempted murder and unauthorized possession of a firearm.
He remains in custody.
"Words are easy to say ... there has to be these investments
now to get us to the same starting line as everyone else,"
Bellegarde said. "We've got 10, 12, 13 people living in a
two-bedroom house. That affects everything."
Bellegarde, who voted for the first time in the October
election that vaulted Trudeau to power, said he believed the new
prime minister "gets it," referring to the need to improve
living standards.
Less than half of Canada's aboriginal people, also known as
First Nations, have typically voted in elections because many do
not recognize the government's sovereignty.
But anger over disproportionately high rates of violence
against indigenous women, dire living conditions as well as
resource development and environmental issues, prompted
Bellegarde to publicly urge aboriginal people to cast ballots
last year.
PLEDGED HELP
Trudeau, the Liberal Party leader, took power last year
promising to tackle high levels of poverty, crime, bad housing
and poor health among aboriginal residents who make up 4 percent
of the country's population of 36 million.
In December, Trudeau promised a new "nation-to-nation
relationship with First Nations peoples" and an inquiry into the
high rates of missing and murdered aboriginal women.
The prime minister, 44, was speaking after a report found
the forcible separation of aboriginal children from their
families amounted to cultural genocide.
Friday's school shooting occurred in La Loche which, with
the neighboring Clearwater River Dene Indian reserve, embodies
the dire prospects for Canada's aboriginal people.
"We are living in Third World Conditions," said
Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations Chief Bobby Cameron.
"The mold in our homes, the cold that comes through the walls
... something's going to give."
Trudeau, who plans to run deficits to stimulate Canada's
struggling economy, called Bellegarde on Friday to express
condolences about the shooting.
The national chief urged Trudeau to demonstrate support by
increasing aboriginal spending in his first budget, expected in
March or April.
Trudeau responded by saying it was a priority for him to
repair Ottawa's strained relationship with aboriginal residents,
Bellegarde said.
Bellegarde said he wanted more spending on health, training,
preserving languages, policing and infrastructure, such as
housing, water treatment and recreation centers.
Infrastructure Minister Amarjeet Sohi said on Monday he had
a mandate to deal with infrastructure that is lacking in
aboriginal communities, such as clean drinking water, adequate
housing and proper wastewater systems.
"As part of our plan for the new money, we are going to be
fulfilling the commitments we made in order to make sure that
our First Nations have the right infrastructure that the rest
of Canadians take for granted," he said, declining to say how
much money the government would spend.