Former federal minister Jody Wilson-Raybould speaks on reconciliation in Pembroke, Ont.

It was a full house Tuesday morning at Algonquin College in Pembroke, Ont. as Canada's first Indigenous attorney general, Jody Wilson-Raybould, spoke.

The former justice and veteran's affairs minister shared her perspective about the ongoing efforts of reconciliation with Indigenous people in Canada.

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Wilson-Raybould criticized what she calls "performative reconciliation", calling for more substantial work to be done.

"Governments, in particular, have equated everything as being an act of reconciliation when all acts are not equal," Wilson-Raybould said to CTV News.

"So we can always lower a flag, we can wear an orange t-shirt — and those are important — but they're not the same as actions that lift a child out of poverty or settle 150-year-old plus land disputes."

Wilson-Raybould clashed with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and quit his cabinet in 2019, calling Trudeau's commitment to reconciliation "petty words."

Wilson-Raybould also called for more "in-betweeners" as she put it; people who can help bridge the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities to help Canada strive towards true reconciliation.

It's a term that resonated with Pembroke's Algonquin College Elder in Residence and Pikwakanagan First Nations member, Aimee Bailey.

"I guess I've been in the role of 'in-betweener' for most of my life because I've not been living on the reserve, and in most places I can pass as non-Indigenous," said Bailey.

Wilson-Raybould, a former Vancouver Granville MP, said this was her first ever visit to the Pembroke area.

Recently, local Indigenous groups have voiced concerns regarding a drug epidemic on the Pikwakanagan First Nation and the tainting of land by an incoming nuclear waste disposal site in Chalk River.

"I hope I give them some hope or some further grounding in the reality that they are the original owners of this land," said Wilson-Raybould.

"It is very uplifting to have her come and be the mentor that we that we need to follow," added Bailey.