Ottawa residents who cross the river into Gatineau for work, groceries or a night out are neighbours to a provincial election that First Nations leaders say has almost entirely ignored them.
Chiefs gather outside the National Assembly
About twenty Indigenous leaders from First Nations across Quebec gathered in front of the National Assembly on September 28, 2026, to denounce their exclusion from the campaign. Among them was Essipit Innu First Nation Chief Martin Dufour, who said it's the first time in his 14 years as chief that he's heard so little about First Nations during an election campaign.
After roughly 33 days of campaigning, the Indigenous representatives present said Indigenous issues have been nearly absent from the debate between the parties vying to lead the province right next door to the National Capital Region.
'A form of insidious systemic racism'
One leader at the gathering said the heavy silence of the campaign toward First Nations reflects a form of insidious systemic racism. That silence is made sharper, leaders noted, by the fact that three of the major parties, the Parti Québécois, the Coalition Avenir Québec and the Parti Conservateur du Québec, still refuse to recognize the existence of systemic racism at all.
Chief Dufour is calling for co-construction and co-management of the forestry regime in talks with whoever becomes the next premier. Another leader was direct about where the limits are: no compromise will be made on First Nations' own right to self-determination, and there will be no access to First Nations territory without the free and informed consent of their Nations.
Why it matters on this side of the river
Gatineau and Ottawa share one metro area, one river and, for many families, one commute.
One leader said the message isn't going away after election day: First Nations issues will be part of the discussions with whichever party forms the next government, regardless of how little airtime they got during the campaign itself. As one leader put it, "We've exhausted the process. We're at that point. With the next government, this is going to be part of the discussions."
The bigger picture
The frustration voiced outside the National Assembly echoes concerns that have surfaced closer to home in recent weeks. Ottawa was the legal guardian of two Indigenous brothers whose case advocates say exposed failures in the child welfare system, as detailed in ottown's earlier report. Across the river or across town, the leaders who spoke outside the National Assembly this week are making a similar argument: that Indigenous concerns keep landing at the back of the conversation until a crisis forces them forward.
For now, with the Quebec campaign in its final days, the leaders who gathered on September 28 say they intend to keep pressing their case directly with the next government, whoever that turns out to be.
Sources: Le Droit, Le Manic
