Bulbulian, Maurice. Dancing Around the Table. NFB. 1987.
Dancing Around the Table: Part One provides a fascinating look at the crucial role Indigenous people played in shaping the Canadian Constitution. The 1984 Federal Provincial Conference of First Ministers on Aboriginal Constitutional Matters was a tumultuous and antagonistic process that pitted Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau and the First Ministers鈥攚ho refused to include Indigenous inherent rights to self-government in the Constitution鈥攁gainst First Nations, Inuit and M茅tis leaders, who would not back down from this historic opportunity to enshrine Indigenous rights.
In a now infamous exchange, Kwakwaka鈥檞akw lawyer and lead negotiator Bill Wilson states that he has two children who want to become lawyers and prime minister. When he says that they are Indigenous women, the male audience bursts into laughter, and Trudeau replies, 鈥淭ell them I鈥檒l stick around until they鈥檙e ready.鈥 Over 30 years later, Bill Wilson鈥檚 daughter, Jody Wilson-Raybould, became Canada鈥檚 first Indigenous minister of justice and attorney general in the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The conference was Pierre Elliott Trudeau鈥檚 last constitutional meeting before he resigned and the process was handed over to his successor, Brian Mulroney.
