"Six Nations delegation lobbies Ottawa"

OTTAWA - Elected Chief Ava Hill along with a size­able delegation of Six Na­tions Council and staff as well as other stake hold­ers were at Parliament Hill in Ottawa recently on a mission to educate the new Liberal government and MP's about the fund­ing shortfalls, land rights, and the uniqueness of the Six Nations of the Grand River.

The March 7 and 8 delegation consisted of representatives from the Elected Council, Lands and Resources, Health Services, Social Services, Lands and Membership, Public Works, Fire and Emergency Services, Finance, Polytechnic, Grand River Employ­ment and Training, Police, Grand River Enterpris­es, Ganohkwasra and the Woodland Cultural Cen­tre.

During the two-day ad­vocacy trip delegates met with close to 30 elected of­ficials, including the Min­ister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs, Carolyn Bennett. In attendance at the evening reception was Jody Wilson-Raybould, Minister of Justice and At­torney General of Canada.

According to Chief Hill, the delegation was well received and the trip was well worth the effort.

"It went really well," she told the TRT upon her return. "We met with about 30 MP's and most of them knew nothing at all about Six Nations."

According to an Elect­ed Council media release: Last week the Elected Council had an invaluable opportunity to meet with newly elected Members of Parliament and senior government officials to raise awareness and dis­cuss how Canada can be­gin fulfilling its commit­ments to Six Nations.

"There is an urgent need for a new process in this promised era of na­tion-to-nation building and reconciliation," said Six Nations Chief Ava Hill.

More than 232 years ago, after fighting as allies during the American Rev­olution, Six Nations of the Grand River was prom­ised nearly one million acres of lands. Today more than 12,000 of Six Nations residents live on less than 5 per cent of their land.

Together, the Elected Council and Six Nations community support ser­vices are hopeful for a new process with Cana­da based on true justice, through land and revenue sharing, as intended in the treaties between the Na­tions.