Treaty 8 Chiefs congratulate Alberta Premier Rachel Notley on historic win

Edmonton, Alberta – May 6, 2015 – In an historic win last night, the Alberta New Democrats will now form a majority government after Alberta’s Provincial Election.

“These are exciting and hopeful times that we live in,” stated Chief Steve Courtoreille, Grand Chief of Treaty 8 First Nations of Alberta, “as one of the youngest populations in Alberta, many of our people have never even seen a government that wasn’t Progressive Conservative. This is truly a monumental achievement for our new Premier and her party. I want to express our congratulations on behalf of all the Chiefs of Treaty No. 8.”

In her speech, Premier Notley mentioned her desire to work with Indigenous people to build new relationships and partnerships, which drew the attention of Chiefs from across Treaty No. 8.

“Our response to the new Premier is absolutely, yes. We are looking forward to meeting with her to discuss new ways to repair and reinvigorate relations between our two governments and to continue the discussions on areas where we had made previous progress,” noted the Grand Chief.

“I would also like to congratulate the Premier on having 24 of her new MLA’s as women. It has always been important to me to advocate for women and, especially, an inquiry into our missing and murdered Indigenous women. I believe that Premier Notley and her party will take this issue as seriously as I do,” added Chief Courtoreille.

Part of the platform that the NDP campaigned under was to support an inquiry in missing and murdered indigenous women.

“The last message I would like to send is to our people from across Treaty 8, that while this is exciting result, as First Nations people we must manage our expectations. Premier Notley has a tough road ahead of her as she takes the reins of this new government. The complex problems that we face as First Nations people cannot be solved overnight and we need to give her and her government some time. What we can do is commit to working with Ms. Notley on the issues that we face and together, make some progress,” concluded the Grand Chief.