PM’s Office fails to value First Nation Relationship & Reconciliation Opportunity through Bear Train – SaultOnline.com
When Chief Jason Gauthier of Missanabie Cree First Nation read the Prime Minister’s refusal to his request for a meeting, these were his reactions:
- our First Nation relationship with him is not important enough for him to meet us
- he is shutting his door on an amazing opportunity for reconciliation
- he shows no respect for us having accomplished everything required to receive the first First Nation Railway Operating Certificate (ROC) in Ontario so as to operate the first First Nation passenger train.
Chief Gauthier is calling upon the Northern Ontario Caucus of Liberal MPs to convince their leader that it is important to meet with him.
After 5 years of demonstrating that the meagre funding required to operate the first ever First Nation-run train—the Bear Train—fits all Marc Garneau’s goals as Transport Minister, Chief Jason Gauthier went over his head. In a letter to the Prime Minister, in the nation to nation spirit that Trudeau claims to value, Chief Gauthier states that the Bear Train (to replace the former Algoma passenger train between Sault and Hearst) fits with the directives the Prime Minister has given to Minister Garneau:
