The Ontario government is implementing another recommendation from the Ipperwash Inquiry by offering funding to aboriginal communities to hire a variety of experts.
First Nations administrations will receive $25 million over the next two years to hire professionals who can represent their interests during negotiations with the government, Aboriginal Affairs Minister Michael Bryant said on Thursday.
"The purpose of this fund is to establish it in a more co-ordinated way and to establish in-house capacity so that it's First Nations engineers, and First Nations lawyers, and First Nations scientists, and First Nations consultants who are providing assistance to First Nations leaders," Bryant said at a news conference.
The "New Relationship Fund" is designed to build stronger relationships between the province and aboriginal communities, said Ontario Grand Chief Angus Toulouse.
"To put it into some perspective, First Nation administrations don't have any resources to hire anybody to do any of this work that the minister talked about," Toulouse said.
"In order for our First Nations to properly get engaged whenever there's going to be any development, we're going to need those engineers, those lawyers."
The government plans to spend the summer consulting with native communities before handing out the first cheques in the fall.
