Evan Solomon, host of CBC Radio's The House, reflects on the fallout from the prime minister's and First Nations' working meeting, as heard in his weekly radio essay on Jan.12, 2013.

This has been an extraordinary week but is it the watershed moment for aboriginals in this country as Assembly of First Nations National Chief Shawn Atleo has said?

Will we look at the whole constellation of events and say this was the moment where it all changed?

Is it too early to tell if this is a bump or break, an evolution or a revolution?

Huge political challenges remain for parties on all sides.

But one fact has not changed: First Nations people live in poverty more than any other people Canada.

Former Auditor General Sheila Fraser, in the 2011 June Status Report, wrote in a chapter on Programs for First Nations on Reserves that "the federal government and First Nations will have to work together and decide how they will deal with numerous obstacles that surely lie ahead."

"Unless they rise to this challenge, however, living conditions may continue to be poorer on First Nations reserves than elsewhere in Canada for generations to come," Fraser said.

Warning made?

Yes.

But has it finally been heard?