Ottawa will appoint commissioner to oversee treaties with Indigenous Peoples: Trudeau

The federal government is planning to create a new agent of Parliament to oversee modern treaty implementation, something Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says will ensure Ottawa is held to account no matter who is in power.

He announced the plan to appoint a commissioner for modern treaty implementation Tuesday in Gatineau, Que., at the second annual meeting of self-governing Indigenous governments.

"To honour our agreements with Indigenous Peoples, we need to ensure that trust, transparency and accountability remain at the heart of our efforts to build renewed nation-to-nation, Inuit-Crown and government-to-government relationships."

The government is planning to wrap up consultations on the role by late June, table legislation sometime after that and budget $10.6 million over four years to support the commissioner's work.

Chief Robert Louie of Westbank of First Nation in British Columbia said something similar as he spoke alongside Trudeau at the morning event, calling the move an important step forward in renewing Crown-Indigenous relations.

The commissioner will, according to the federal government, conduct independent oversight of Canada's work on modern treaties and ensure their timely and effective implementation.