SASKATOON - The Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations is considering changing its name.

The group, which began its winter assembly Wednesday at the Dakota Dunes Casino outside of Saskatoon, is mulling removing Saskatchewan from its name as a political statement to break down provincial boundaries.

Federation Chief Perry Bellegarde said Thursday the new name could be the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations.

Bellegarde also talked about the need to renegotiate the current gaming agreement and get a resource revenue sharing agreement with the provincial government.

Bellegarde adds the federation should get revenue from video lottery terminals that are located within its casinos and would like to explore online gaming.

Federation senator Roland Crowe expressed frustration over the Harper government’s Education Act and the fact that some chiefs were excluded from an education meeting in Saskatoon last week.

"I have never seen, and many of us have never seen in our entire time, of leadership saying to chiefs and councils who can go into a meeting and who can’t. There is nobody in this country should be able to say to a chief, ‘No, you can’t be at that meeting.'”

The assembly runs wraps up Thursday.

(MBC)

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