The minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation says the Innu Nation needs to be “treated with respect,” and government needs to “rebuild the trust” that has been lost.

Lela Evans was responding after the Innu Nation decided to cancel a planned exhibit for National Indigenous Peoples Day.

The Innu say they were told they were not allowed to present “the accepted academic consensus timeline” of the Innu presence in Labrador, and that the presentation must support what the Innu call the province’s “controversial theory” of their history.

Evans, who has been in Ottawa for the Northern Development Ministers Forum, had a brief conversation with Innu Grand Chief Simon Pokue. Others in her department have also been having conversations.

She says they are committed to working with the Innu Nation, and it was not their intention to offend or to dictate what was presented. She says they are going to work on rebuilding trust with Innu Nation.