Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responded to allegations of police brutality against Indigenous peoples by saying that authorities need to be better and that Canada is “colonialist” and systemically racist. 

Trudeau listened to crying Indigenous mothers on Thursday at the Assembly of First Nations, who alleged that their children were murdered by police.

Trudeau responded, telling them that Canada has “built-in colonialist, systemic discrimination, the racism that continues to exist without our systems. These are things that should not be,” he said.

The assembly focused on issues like policing, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, Two-Spirit, and Gender-Diverse People (MMIWG2S+), and child welfare.

Later in the event, the Prime Minister was heckled by attendees while he left the stage.