“We will not stand by as decisions are made that impact our lands, our people,
and our future without our participation.”
– Grand Chief Daniels
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 18, 2025
ANISHINAABE AND DAKOTA TERRITORY, MB — The Southern Chiefs’ Organization (SCO) is raising urgent concerns about the federal government’s Bill C‑5: An Act to enact the Free Trade and Labour Mobility in Canada Act and the Building Canada Act. This Bill grants Cabinet sweeping new powers to fast-track infrastructure and resource development projects without ensuring full and meaningful consultation with First Nations.
“This legislation threatens to bypass our rights, ignore our voices, and override the Treaty relationship,” said SCO Grand Chief Jerry Daniels. “We will not stand by as decisions are made that impact our lands, our people, and our future without our participation—that is not reconciliation.”
At the same time, SCO is sounding the alarm over provisions in Bill C‑5 that empower the federal Cabinet to designate infrastructure projects as being of ‘national interest,’ triggering an accelerated approval process with reduced parliamentary oversight and diminished consultation with First Nations governments.
“This approach disregards Treaty obligations and could allow development on our territories without our consent. This approach is unacceptable,” shared Grand Chief Daniels. “The federal government cannot speak of reconciliation on one hand while sidelining First Nations’ voices on the other.”
SCO is calling for mandatory consultation and consent clauses for all fast-tracked projects; legal assurances that Treaty rights will not be bypassed in the name of national infrastructure; and immediate engagement with First Nations leadership to co-develop implementation guidelines for the bill’s criminal justice reforms.
“Under Bill C‑5, the federal Cabinet can declare a project to be in the ‘national interest’ and force it through without proper oversight or our consent,” stated Grand Chief Daniels. “Our Nations are ready to lead and not be left behind.”
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The Southern Chiefs’ Organization represents 32 First Nations and more than 87,000 citizens in what is now called southern Manitoba. SCO is an independent political organization that protects, preserves, promotes, and enhances First Nations peoples’ inherent rights, languages, customs, and traditions through the application and implementation of the spirit and intent of the Treaty-making process.
For media inquiries:
Email: Media@scoinc.mb.ca