Nate has been a strong ally in support of action towards reconciliation with Indigenous communities.

He has made public statements in the House, he has been an active member of a caucus working group focused on Indigenous child welfare, and he has raised the issues of boil water advisories and discrimination in policing and foster services directly with the Ministers responsible.

Locally, Nate hosted a Kitchi blanket exercise in association with KAIROS at East Lynn Park, a town hall with Indigenous leaders, and a public screening of Indian Horse and a thoughtful conversation with award-winning author Tanya Talaga. Audio/video is available at beynate.ca 

Nate sponsored an e-petition from Jenna Robar, highlighting the need to preserve and protect Indigenous languages.

Nate recognizes the systematic racism that exists within Canada and says,

 “Beyond these two individual cases, we need to continue to address systemic racism in our criminal justice system. Whether it’s carding, drug laws, or police violence, Indigenous and Black communities in our city and country have been, and continue to be, subject to unacceptable discrimination.”

Some Canadian stats for you: Indigenous people make up only 4.8% of the population, yet represented 15% of total fatalities from police interactions.”

Recently, Nate led efforts to establish a working relationship between Toronto MPs (the Liberal 416 caucus) and the Toronto Aboriginal Support Services Council.

Accomplishments to date:

• 85 long-term boil water advisories have been lifted since 2015, and there are projects and funding in place to lift the remaining 57

• Every budget between 2016 to 2019 has delivered billions of new funding for Indigenous communities, in critical areas of housing, education, and health

• Introduced Indigenous Languages Act to fulfil TRC recommendations, with funding for languages in Budget 2019

• Introduced Indigenous Child Welfare Act to devolve authority to communities