Dene National Chief Norman Yakeleya to meet with federal cabinet ministers at AFN special chiefs meeting in Ottawa

Dene National Chief Norman Yakeleya. (File photo/CKLB).

Dene National Chief Norman Yakeleya is joining hundreds of other First Nations leaders, Elders and Knowledge Keepers, women, youth and other delegates on Algonquin Territory in the nation’s capital for the Assembly of First Nations Special Chiefs Assembly taking place Tuesday through Thursday.

Chiefs and delegates are gathering in Ottawa under the theme “Honouring Promises” to assess progress, set priorities and strategic direction for the coming year.

The Assembly will hear from ministers in the new federal cabinet, including Marc Miller, the new Minister of Indigenous Services and Carolyn Bennett, Minister of Crown Indigenous Relations.

Also on tap to speak are Perry Bellegarde, AFN national chief, B.C. Premier John Horgan, David Lametti, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada as well as Heritage Minister Steven Guibeault.

It’s the first real chance many of the delegates have had to sit down with federal leaders since the election and see where the government to government, nation to nation partnerships are going.

We’ll hear from Yakeleya on the meeting later this week.

Stay with CKLB on radio and on this website all week as we update the news coming out of the AFN special meeting.

About the Author

John McFadden
John has been in the broadcast journalism industry since the 1980s. He has been a reporter in Yellowknife since 2012 and joined CKLB in January of 2018. John covers the crime and court beat as well as reporting on other areas including politics, business, entertainment and sports. He won seven national community newspaper awards while he was a journalist with Northern News Services Limited (NNSL). John worked in Ontario before coming North including stints as a TV sportscaster in Peterborough and senior news writer for CBC and CTV in downtown Toronto.