In his March 22 budget, Trudeau committed C$8.4 billion ($6.5 billion) in funding over five years for the country’s indigenous population, aimed at reversing a long-widening gulf in living standards that has been condemned by the United Nations.
“The C$8.4 billion that was announced has not yet gone out to the communities,” Perry Bellegarde, national chief of Canada’s Assembly of First Nations, said in an interview. Indigenous support is a critical component for major energy projects in Canada, with groups divided on proposals. Trudeau will soon decide Kinder Morgan Inc.’s Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, Petroliam Nasional Bhd’s Pacific NorthWest liquefied natural gas project and Enbridge Inc.’s Northern Gateway project. A group of First Nations chiefs signed a pact Thursday to work to stop Canadian oil development.
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