Chiefs to politicians ahead of election: the Indigenous vote carries clout

First Nations chiefs send message to politicians They say the Indigenous vote will carry clout in this fall's election. Laura Brown reports.

After spending the week in Fredericton, about 1,000 chiefs and members from First Nations communities all over the country, are going home, but not before sending a clear message to politicians ahead of the fall election: the indigenous vote carries clout.

"I attended residential school for eleven years, I was sexually abused, physically abused," said Ted Quewezance of the Keeseekoose First Nation in Saskatchewan.

Quewezance says he's working on his own reconciliation by telling a bit of his story in front of hundreds of chiefs at the Assembly of First Nations.

"There's a lot of our survivors, that are in pain, that are hurting in our communities," he said.

He met with Indigenous Services Minister Seamus O'Regan yesterday and feels optimistic O'Regan listened.

"He personally said he's going to come out our community and look around and deal with the perpetual crisis that we're in," Quewezance said.

Not everyone is walking away from these meetings with the same optimism.

"It was really disappointing to see that none of the other federal leaders felt it was important," said Chief Judy Wilson of Neskonlith-Secwepemc Nation in British Columbia."Justin Trudeau didn't show up either to address the chiefs; this is our last assembly before the election."

Wilson says while she was here this week, she's been thinking about those searching for their missing loved ones back home.

"Doreen Jack, a whole family that went missing," Wilson said. "The regional chief spoke to it, and the chief from that region spoke to it, the search was happening this week."

She says she feels the assembly heard her calls for more action on missing and murdered indigenous women and girls, but politicians still haven't.

"In the world of politics, numbers count and when the Assembly of First Nations takes a position -- to some extent -- they are speaking to a wide range of communities across the country," said Wayne MacKay, a professor emeritus of law at Dalhousie.

MacKay says while it's always important for Indigenous voices to be heard, it may be even more so with this election.

"It may be a fairly close election potentially, at least on the polls between Conservatives and the Liberals -- and maybe others," MacKay said. "It's also potentially an election where the Green (Party) may have a significant impact for the first time. So I think it's a particularly important one for the aboriginal or indigenous voice to be heard."

The federal election is three months away and many of the chiefs and delegates in Fredericton this week say they will be taking the issues that were discussedand putting a lot of pressure on their local candidates once they return home.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Laura Brown.