Chiefs warn they’ll fight any assault on First Nations rights in major projects push

OTTAWA — First Nations chiefs say they’ll oppose any actions by federal and provincial governments to expedite major projects that would undermine their rights and environmental protections.

They passed two resolutions at the Assembly of First Nations annual general meeting in Ottawa on Wednesday confirming that stance and committing the AFN to opposing legislation or policies that dilute their rights or undermine their decision-making processes.

Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation Chief Veronica Smith said recent federal moves to speed up major projects “have raised concerns among First Nations across Canada that efforts to expedite project approvals may undermine the meaningful implementation of free, prior and informed consent, treaty relationships, environmental stewardship responsibilities and nation-to-nation decision-making.”

Many First Nations have expressed concerns about Prime Minister Mark Carney’s major project agenda. Calls for a meeting between chiefs and first ministers got louder last year when the federal and provincial governments started discussing among themselves ways to fast-track major infrastructure projects.

In her opening remarks to the annual general meeting Tuesday, Assembly of First Nations National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak said a planned meeting this fall between first ministers and chiefs from across the country was hard to secure and must not be the last of its kind.

Woodhouse Nepinak told chiefs the Prime Minister’s Office has confirmed the meeting will take place in October.

Speaking on a panel about major projects Wednesday, Woodhouse Nepinak said the federal government’s desire to speed up project approvals may lead to questions on if consultations were legitimate.

Chiefs passed a resolution Wednesday stating that the AFN should only act as a co-ordinator and administrator of that meeting and should let First Nations decide how they are represented.

It also says the AFN should call for a First Nations-Crown table on constitutional change at the meeting with first ministers to support the recognition, affirmation and implementation of inherent, treaty and human rights.

They have been strategizing for months about what topics they want discussed at the meeting, who should represent them and what specific outcomes they want from Canadian leaders.

The Assembly of First Nations is a national advocacy body that takes its direction from some 630 First Nations chiefs through special and annual general assemblies.

Chiefs at this week’s assembly are debating and voting on 53 resolutions on various topics, including the major projects agenda, the state of First Nations child welfare, status rules under the Indian Act and calls for the Vatican to rescind a series of papal decrees.

They passed an emergency resolution Tuesday calling on the feds to criminalize residential school denialism as hate speech.

“Truth is not optional and reconciliation cannot exist without truth,” said Chief David Monias of Pimicikamak Cree Nation.

“We must honour the survivors, and we must honour every child who never came home.”

Anishinabek Nation Grand Council Chief Linda Debassige said community members deal with the effects of residential school denialism every day, and that it harms survivors and their descendants.

“Our survivors, both here today and those who have passed on, have kept the truth alive for generations. Now, hate speech needs to be incorporated into law to ensure denialism will no longer prey upon survivors, their families, or our people across this country,” she said.

“We stand united across this country to ensure that we will continue to honour our ancestors, our survivors, and to continue to push this until this is formally recognized in the Criminal Code of Canada.”

Indigenous Services Minister Mandy Gull-Masty addressed the chiefs Wednesday evening, highlighting what she called progress toward closing the infrastructure gap in First Nations communities.

“We want to continue working together alongside First Nations. We want to ensure that in implementation we are meeting the needs that you have identified,” she said.

“There’s truly a roadmap — one that’s going to help us shape how we move forward together, and often how we can get out of the way for community to do that work.”

The meeting continues Thursday, where Gull-Masty and a handful of other ministers will speak in front of chiefs.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 15, 2026.

Alessia Passafiume, The Canadian Press