b'MESSAGE FROM THE CEOMESSAGE FROM THE CEOMESSAGE DE LADIRECTRICE GNRALEPaulette TremblayS ekon, Tanis, GreetingsThe Circle is nationS ekon, Tanis, SalutationsThe theme of this edition of Le thme de cette dition du Cercle est ldification des building and revitalizing traditional law. Firstnations et la revitalisation du droit traditionnel. Les Nations have the right to self-determination,Premires Nations ont le droitlautodtermination, including rights that derive from their political, economicy compris les droits qui dcoulent de leur structure politique, and social structure, and from their cultures spiritualconomique et sociale, ainsi que de leurs cultures, traditions traditions, histories, laws and philosophies, especially theirspirituelles, histoires, lois et philosophies, en particulier leurs rights to their lands, territories and resources. These rightsdroits envers leurs terres, territoires et ressources. Ces droits sont are recognized and affirmed in Section 35 of the Constitutionreconnus et confirmslarticle 35 de la Loi constitutionnelle de 1982 et noncs dans la Dclaration des Nations Unies sur les droits des Act, 1982, and outlined in the United Nations Declarationpeuples autochtones.on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Les Premires Nations sont diverses. Elles en sontdiffrentes tapes First Nations are diverse. They are at different levels ofsur la voie de leur statut de nation et elles prendront de nombreux nationhood and they will take many different ways tomoyens diffrents pour atteindre leur objectif. Il y aura de nombreuses achieve nationhood. There will be many different responsesactions et mesures diffrentes. Ce que lon sait, cest que de petites and actions taken. What is known is that taking smallactions en vue de ldification dune nation fait une diffrence et quil actions towards nation building does make a differencefaudra peut-tre prendre plusieurs mesures, au fil du temps, pour and it may take several actions, over time, to arrive at thearriverlobjectif dtermin par une Premire Nation.destination set by a First Nation. Lexercice 2019-2020 a t une anne extraordinaire pour The 2019-2020 fiscal period was an extraordinary year forlAssemble des Premires Nations (APN). Le travail de dfense the Assembly of First Nations (AFN). The ongoing advocacydes intrts du Chef national Bellegarde, des Chefs rgionaux et work of National Chief Bellegarde, the Regional Chiefs anddu personnel de lAPN a donn lieuladoption de deux textes lgislatifs importants qui ont confr aux Premires Nations le AFN staff resulted in the passing of two significant piecescontrle de leurs langues et du bien-tre de leurs enfants : le projet of legislation, which gave First Nations control over Firstde loi C-91, Loi concernant les langues autochtones et le projet de loi Nations languages and First Nations child welfare: Bill C-91,C-92, Loi concernant les enfants, les jeunes et les familles des Premires Continued on page 12 suitela page 12Disclaimer: The advertisers herein are not supported by or endorsed by the Assembly of First NationsWhile we are grateful for the support of all of our advertisers, they are in no way affiliated or endorsed by the Assembly of First Nations The Circle is printedEditor: Published by:President: The contents of this publication may annually for theCarlyn SchellenbergKevin Brown not be reproduced by any means, Assembly of FirstSenior Design Specialist: Senior Vice-President: in whole or in part, without the prior Nations. James Mitchell33 South Station StreetRobert Thompson written consent of the association.55 Metcalfe Street, Suite 1600Junior Design Specialist: North York, OntarioM9N 2B2 Marisa Giesbrecht Phone: 1-866-480-4717Director, Publication Mail Agreement Ottawa, ONK1P 6L5Business Development: #40787580Phone: 613-241-6789Contributing Writers: robertt@mediaedge.caJamie Monastyrski, Ashley Albert,Michael BellToll Free: 1-866-869-6789Autumn Peltier, Caleb Z. Behn, 531 Marion StreetBranch Manager: Please ReturnFax: 613-241-5808David A. Diabo, Ashley Bach, Jay Thakar Winnipeg, MBR2J 0J9Undeliverable Copies To: www.afn.ca Nancie PrivSales Executives: Toll Free: 1-866-201-3096Assembly of First Nations Publisher: Bill Biber, Brenda Ezinicki, Fax: 204-480-4420Published December 2019 55 Metcalfe Street, Suite 1600 Maurice LaBorde Pat Johnston, Dawn Stokes, David Tetlock www.mediaedgepublishing.com All rights reserved. Ottawa, ONK1P 6L5THE CIRCLE is printed on 10% post-consumer FSC certified paper using soya based inks. When necessary to mail an issue in an enclosure, we use an environmentally-friendly, 100% oxo-degradable poly-wrap.'