This website has been developed to provide Canadians with information and documentation resulting from the Canada-Aboriginal Peoples Roundtable and related follow-up activities to this historic event.

The Canada-Aboriginal Peoples Roundtable held in Ottawa on April 19th, 2004 represented an unprecedented opportunity for members of the Federal Cabinet, Senate and House of Commons to engage with Aboriginal leaders from across the country.

At the April 19th Roundtable, the Prime Minister made four key commitments:

• A Report on the Roundtable: Strengthening the Relationship, Canada-Aboriginal Peoples Roundtable which was released on May 20th, 2004.
  
  
• Sectoral discussions in six priority areas with Aboriginal groups, Provincial and Territorial governments, sectoral experts and practitioners;
  
  
• A Policy Retreat with members of the Cabinet Committee on Aboriginal Affairs (CCAA) Aboriginal leaders and;
  
  
• The development of an Aboriginal Report Card to track progress.

As follow-up to the second commitment, a series of sectoral follow-up sessions has been held; these sessions included Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal experts from across the country. Sectoral session themes were: Health, Life Long Learning, Housing, Economic Opportunities, Negotiations and Accountability for Results.

These sectoral follow-up sessions have been guided by a Planning Committee consisting of representatives from lead federal departments (Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, Health Canada, Industry Canada, Canada Mortgage and Housing, Treasury Board Secretariat); National Aboriginal Organizations:(Assembly of First Nations (AFN), Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK), Métis National Council (MNC), Congress of Aboriginal Peoples (CAP) and the Native Women`s Association of Canada (NWAC)); and a number of provincial and territorial governments which worked in a collaborative partnership to develop and implement each session. Important background papers developed by members of the Planning Committee in advance of the sessions, as well as independent facilitators reports on each session as well as a final report prepared by a team of session facilitators are all available electronically on this site.

Members of the Planning Committee may have also drafted outcome statements and reports stemming from this process, these additional materials along with outcomes of related forums and discussions that were not designated as sectoral follow-up themes (e.g. the Environment) can be easily found by linking through the What’s New section.

Documentation from these sectoral follow-up sessions may be used to help inform the future development of Aboriginal policy in Canada and will be important documents for consideration at upcoming meetings between governments and Aboriginal leaders including a Policy Retreat in the Spring of 2005 and a First Ministers Meeting with Aboriginal leaders on Aboriginal issues planned for the Fall, 2005.

The documentation contained on this website does not necessarily represent the views of any government or National Aboriginal Organization. The purpose of this website is to share information related to the Canada-Aboriginal Peoples Roundtable: background papers, Facilitator's sectoral and final reports, agendas and media announcements.

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