Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said this week that one thing Indigenous youth really want is more places to store their canoes and paddles.
Trudeau on what Indigenous youth need: "Most of the young people I've talked to want a place to store their canoes… https://t.co/dUCVOa0sOf
Trudeau made his remark in Saskatoon on Wednesday in response to a question about funding for First Nations.
According to CBC News, Saskatoon Tribal Council Chief Felix Thomas asked the prime minister why so little of the money promised in the Liberal budget had made it to First Nations.
Trudeau said that money alone couldn't solve everything, and that some chiefs he has spoken to have demanded youth centres with "TVs and lounges and sofas" so young people can "hang around."
"And when a chief says that to me, I pretty much know they haven't actually talked to their young people," Trudeau said. "Because most of the young people I've talked to want a place to store their canoes and paddles so they can connect back out on the land, and a place with internet access so they can do their homework."
Indigenous Twitter quickly lit up with mockery of Trudeau's canoe comment.
Canoe + paddle storage is the great unmet need of our time. #ShitTrudeauSays
Trudeau wants to know: Do you have a canoe shed? What trust fund boy doesn't get is Canadians have bigger problems.… https://t.co/PV2qGd5JBb
Clearly this is a crisis.
Yeah, I remember the last chief and council meeting when we were all denouncing the chief for not addressing our needs, CANOE STORAGE
Some people wondered how they could have missed this crisis of "homeless canoes" on First Nations.
Here's a satellite view of Attawapiskat and Alexis First Nation, where oh where are all these homeless canoes Trude… https://t.co/TWZ2iQXynw
And how their own lives would have been different with better canoe storage.
Just think where I'd be in life if I'd had more reliable access to canoe storage.
People definitely had some choice words for the PM.
I know where Trudeau can put his canoe and paddles.
"My canoe and paddles are okay," this person tweeted at Trudeau, demanding action on First Nations funding.
My canoe and paddles are okay. No shed req'd #trudeauscanoe #fixtheproblem @JustinTrudeau
There might be a few more urgent priorities, after all.
@FancyBebamikawe Oh, screw clean tap water & mold-free homes & schools forget health care, those paddles aren't gonna store themselves #PMJT
And, for what it's worth, some young people doubted Trudeau's strong connection to Indigenous youth.
@JustinTrudeau So the chiefs don't talk to #IndigenousYouth? Well neither do you, cause I keep asking you direct questions & get no response
"I keep asking you direct questions [and] get no response," Nipawi Kakinoosit, a young Indigenous activist in British Columbia, tweeted at Trudeau.
Trudeau's comment about canoes and paddles is something he repeated a day later in Winnipeg, where he was also confronted over his support for pipelines.
Trudeau grew angry with protesters for disrupting his answer to a question, and warned another person who sought to intervene that he would "get tackled" by security if he didn't stay seated.
Questions about Trudeau's commitment to Indigenous peoples have dogged the prime minister repeatedly during his cross-country tour. In Halifax, two students used a selfie to press Trudeau on his promises.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Dear Liberal Party of Canada at this point it may be wise to take the mic away from your leader #TrudeausCanoe