News Release
April 23, 2019

Coalition on MMIWG2S Stands With  Wilson-Raybould & Philpott

(Coast Salish Territory/Vancouver, B.C. – April 23, 2019) The Coalition on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit People in BC is deeply outraged and angered at the expulsion of former Justice Minister of Justice and Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould and former Treasury Board President Jane Philpott from the federal Liberal caucus and that they were dropped as election candidates for the party. The Coalition stands with both of these strong women and we remain staunch in our support and solidarity.

Dear Ministers Bennett and Wilson-Raybould,

We write today to call on you to demonstrate your government’s public commitments to transparency and the renewal of Canada’s relationship with Indigenous peoples by disclosing how Canada calculates its contingent liabilities regarding Indigenous Nations’ land claims – and by affirming your government’s intention to fulfill its outstanding lawful obligations to Indigenous Nations by fairly resolving these claims.

Dear Minister Tootoo and Minister Wilson-Raybould:

We are writing in regard to the circumstances surrounding the 2015 legal decision Morton v. Minister of Fisheries and Oceans and Marine Harvest. It has come to our attention in British Columbia that in your capacity as Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Canada you appear as a co-appellant with the salmon farming corporation, Marine Harvest, to appeal that 2015 legal decision. We find your decision very disturbing and we ask you to immediately reconsider your participation.

Coast Salish Territory (Vancouver, BC) – BC First Nations Leaders are optimistic following today’s appointment of the new federal Liberal Cabinet by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The First Nations Leadership Council (FNLC) are particularly pleased that for the first time there will be two indigenous members of Cabinet, including former BCAFN Regional Chief and FNLC member Jody Wilson-Raybould (Vancouver-Granville), who was appointed Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada.