Mandy Gull-Masty becomes first Indigenous person to head Indigenous Services

Mandy Gull-Masty, Indigenous services minister

For the first time ever, an Indigenous person has been chosen to lead the federal department responsible for providing services to First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities.

Mandy Gull-Masty, former grand chief of the Grand Council of the Crees, was sworn in Tuesday morning as the Indigenous services minister.

Gull-Masty replaces longtime minister Patty Hajdu, who will now serve as the minister of jobs and families and the minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario.

Sitting with her at the cabinet table will be rookie Anishinaabe MP and minister Rebecca Chartrand, who takes on the northern affairs portfolio, and Métis secretary of state for rural development Buckley Belanger.

Gull-Masty inherits a series of uncompleted tasks in her new portfolio, including reforming the child welfare system and ensuring communities have access to clean drinking water.