‘I am really upset:’ Video shows Trudeau meeting with Saskatchewan chiefs

FILE: Justin Trudeau speaks at the University of Waterloo (Photo: Mohammad Jangda/ Flickr,  CC BY-SA 2.0)

SASKATOON — A Saskatchewan chief says a video posted online showing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau telling First Nations leaders he is upset about how time was managed in a recent meeting is unfortunate.

Chief Bobby Cameron, with the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations, said a closed-door meeting with the prime minister last week was productive, but the frustration depicted in the video is real.

“We require more time to discuss the many crises facing our First Nations communities,” Cameron said in a statement on Monday.

Trudeau met with the Saskatchewan chiefs on Sept. 12 when he was in Saskatoon for the Liberal Party’s annual caucus retreat.

In the video, which is about 3 1/2 minutes long, Trudeau said the plan was to meet with about eight people for an hour-long discussion. But around 30 people showed up and there wasn’t enough time for everyone to speak.

Some unidentified people in the video say they drove hours to take part in the meeting but, 45 minutes in, only a handful of people had addressed the prime minister.

“I am really, really upset about this,” Trudeau said in the video.

“It wasn’t for me to interrupt the previous speakers. Bobby (Cameron), there shouldn’t have been every single person speaking for eight minutes in this meeting.

That is not the spirit of reconciliation, of the nation-to-nation relationship we are supposed to have.”

Cameron said the video was not leaked by the FSIN executive or staff.

The FSIN, which represents 74 First Nations in Saskatchewan, said time will be set aside in the future for the First Nations leaders who were unable to voice their concerns.

The Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement that Trudeau was unable to get through all the issues put forward in the meeting, but looks forward to connecting with First Nations leaders in Saskatchewan in the future.

Later during a live interview event with Maclean’s magazine in Ottawa on Monday night, Trudeau said all of the people who showed up at the meeting were divided into three groups, and that each group was supposed to get 20 minutes to speak.

He said the first group took 45 to 50 minutes, and he said he couldn’t interrupt because he wasn’t chairing the meeting. It meant the remaining groups didn’t have the time to say what they’d wanted in the 10 minutes that was left, he said.

“So, yeah, this is something that matters deeply to me and I was frustrated that there were a number of people who’d driven hours to come, sit down and meet with the prime minister who weren’t able to because there was some poor time management taken by the organizers of the meeting,” Trudeau said.

After the video surfaced online Sunday, some criticized Trudeau.

Russ Diabo, a policy analyst who recently ran for national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, tweeted that it showed “Trudeau’s arrogance and petulance towards First Nation chiefs.” He posted the video on YouTube but did not film it.

“I was appalled when I saw it, but not surprised,” said Diabo from Innisfil, Ont., on Sunday. “It indicates to me how he treats First Nations leadership.”

But national Chief Perry Bellegarde said he watched the video and was not “overly concerned” about Trudeau’s tone.

“I’ve chaired meetings where you have chiefs and it is difficult to turn a chief off when they’re on a roll because they don’t always have access to a leader like the prime minister ofCanada,” he said.

Bellegarde said chiefs often want ample time to discuss issues including new schools, clean water and sewage.

“To me, it was just an example of frustration because any time you have a meeting with the prime minister, there’s got to be a very structured agenda,” he said.

— With files from Kristy Kirkup in Ottawa and Rob Drinkwater in Edmonton