Protesters camping out in front of the Saskatchewan legislature will be meeting with government officials on Monday.
The meeting was organized by File Hills Qu’Appelle Tribal Council Chief Edmund Bellegarde. The meeting will be held in Fort Qu’Appelle at the Treaty 4 signing grounds.
Protest organizer Robyn Pitawanakwat said the location and the time were decided by both parties. The government has confirmed that Justice Minister Don Morgan, Social Services Minister Paul Merriman, Minister Responsible for First Nations Warren Kaeding, Central Services Minister Ken Cheveldayoff and Education Minister Gordon Wyant will attend the meeting next week.
“We’re hopeful that this will go through,” Pitawanakwat said. “We, of course, have believed ourselves to be ready for a meeting before, thought we had a date planned and set, and then those meetings didn’t come through. So, we’re hopeful that this meeting will.”
The campers plan to stay at the site until the meeting — and they will evaluate how long the plan to remain at the site after the meeting.
According to the protesters, committees working on Canada Day plans are willing to change their plans to accommodate the camp.
“I think that Indigenous people have been accommodating long enough. I don’t think it’s up to us to be accommodating at this point,” Pitawanakwat said.
On Tuesday, the group organizing Canada Day celebrations said some of the activities are moving to the north side of Wascana Park near the Royal Saskatchewan Museum.
Some events, like the 21-gun salute and the Plywood Cup, will remain in front of the legislature and close to the Albert Street Bridge.
The organizers didn’t give a specific reason for the move.
There are currently multiple tipis standing at the protest site. First Nations from across the province added to the site on Sunday and Monday.
“These are issues that each of these First Nations and each of these larger communities are dealing with. So, it reinforces our need to be here and it reinforces our strength and our stamina to stay,” Pitawanakwat said.
The group said it plans to discuss child and family services, youth incarceration and police investigations — among other issues — at the meeting on Monday.
