Canada: PM Trudeau on Indigenous-led conservation projects, RCMP equipment contract – December 7, 2022

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau holds a news conference in Montreal to announce an investment of up to $800 million to support four Indigenous-led conservation projects across the country. He is joined by Steven Guilbeault (federal minister of environment and climate change), Grand Chief Alison Linklater (Mushkegowuk Council), George Quviq Qulaut (The Qikiqtani Inuit Association), Grand Chief Jackson Lafferty (Tlı,cho Nation) and Dallas Smith (president of Nanwakolas Council). The announcement comes as thousands of delegates from 196 countries gather in Montreal for the UN biodiversity conference known as COP15. The prime minister responds to questions from reporters on the RCMP equipment contract awarded to a company with Chinese government ties, his government’s ongoing conservation efforts, as well as claims from Muslim charities that they are being unfairly singled out for audits by the Canada Revenue Agency.