The Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) now has an Indigenous Caucus within the organization, thanks to the efforts in part of a Williams Lake city council.
Not wanting to take all the credit, Coun. Michael Moses said he emailed a suggestion about creating the caucus to the FCM chief executive officer Carole Saab after meeting with about three dozen Indigenous mayors and councillors from across Canada during the FCM 2023 Annual Conference and Trade Show in Toronto, May 25-27, 2023.
“This is a super exciting prospect and a really big step forward in Indigenous advocacy or reconciliation,” Moses told Black Press Media Wednesday, May 31.
He said they had an unofficial inaugural Indigenous Caucus meeting in a private boardroom that Saab booked for them for the whole evening.
“We had a speaking circle where we all shared our stories, we started our mailing list, and we came up with a handful of actions and goals to proceed with immediately.”
Saab acknowledged Moses for his courage and authenticity.
“Our commitment to lifting up the voices of Indigenous voices is real and important,” she said in her address to the delegates.
Moses said the opportunity to have his statement read by Saab in front of 2,700 delegates from across the country was “quite an honour.”
The Indigenous Caucus is going to provide many things to the FCM, to the whole country of Canada, and to the Indigenous peoples in every one the country’s communities, Moses said.
Mayor Surinderpal Rathor also attended the FCM convention. Normally a city only sends one delegate, but Moses happened to be going to a wedding and visiting family in Ontario when it was happening so council agreed he should also attend.
READ MORE: NCLGA has two Williams Lake city councillors on the board after 2023 AGM
monica.lamb-yorski@wltribune.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter