Indigenous leaders meet premiers on sidelines of national meeting in P.E.I.

OTTAWA — Indigenous leaders meeting premiers on the sidelines of a national conference this week say their voices must be heard nationwide as provincial and federal governments pursue major projects and a new trade deal with the U.S.

Provincial and territorial leaders are assembled in Charlottetown this week for the annual Council of the Federation meeting.

Indigenous leaders typically meet with the premiers ahead of their official meetings, something Assembly of First Nations National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak has compared to being relegated to the “kiddie table.”

First Nations chiefs secured their own meeting with premiers and Prime Minister Mark Carney this October after years of demanding one.