Treaty 8 Grand Chief Arthur Noskey says before the Queen’s death, First Nations people were making progress with the Crown toward upholding treaty agreements.

Treaty-Crown relations have long been a complex issue. Some treaty agreements were signed under vulnerable circumstances, while others were implemented as peace treaties, and most weren’t negotiated accurately or in Indigenous languages.

Some First Nations leaders in British Columbia have urged the King to make his first official act a renunciation of the Doctrine of Discovery, which are edicts or papal bulls used to justify the colonization of the Americas.

National Chief RoseAnne Archibald of the Assembly of First Nations says her next step in Crown relations is to see a Royal Proclamation of Reconciliation issued by the Crown.

Canada’s high commissioner to the United Kingdom, Ralph Goodale, has said the King may be “a little more outgoing and a little less reserved” than his mother.

He said he expects the new monarch will want to continue to take an interest in issues that are important to Canada, including reconciliation with Indigenous communities.