Prime Minister Paul Martin said gaps in education, health care, housing and employment opportunities that exist between aboriginal Canadians and others in Canada must be closed.

In an unprecedented summit involving First Ministers and aboriginal leaders in Kelowna, B.C. on Thursday, Martin said aboriginal Canadians must have an equal opportunity to enjoy the benefits of prosperity.

"We are here today because the descendants of the people who first occupied this land must have an equal opportunity to work for and to enjoy the benefits of our collective prosperity," Martin said during the event's opening ceremony. "Today, the majority do not."

During the two-day conference, Martin is also expected to address outstanding claims of child abuse and treaty violations with the aboriginal leaders.

But with the minority Liberal government poised to collapse on a non-confidence motion, there's no guarantee any deal will survive.

Martin and the premiers of Canada's 13 provinces and territories have chosen the western city of Kelowna for the two-day summit with leaders of five national First Nations and aboriginal organizations.

It's the first ever summit to tackle such a comprehensive range of aboriginal issues with the federal and provincial governments all at the table.

Ottawa is expected to commit as much as $4 billion in federal cash over the next five years to improve aboriginal housing, health care and education for the estimated 700,000 First Nations and some 45,000 Inuit of eastern Canada and the Arctic north.

Health care concerns

But one of the central objectives of the meeting -- improving access to health care for aboriginal Canadians -- remained elusive as the summit opened.

Health care is a provincial jurisdiction, and native groups and the premiers are concerned about Ottawa downloading its historic responsibilities for First Nations.

"There are some disagreements on health right now -- and more agreement on education and (economic) development," Manitoba Premier Gary Doer told the Canadian Press.

Meanwhile, the current housing shortage on reserves is estimated at between 20,000 and 35,000 and high school graduation rates are around 40 per cent compared with almost 70 per cent among other Canadians.

"Canada has a Third World in its front yard and back alleys," Phil Fontaine, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, wrote in the Canadian edition of Time magazine this week.

"That is a national tragedy and an international embarrassment."

Some are hoping the summit will be a historic turning point for the people who once helped European immigrants and French fur traders survive the harsh northern climes.

The conference has "the potential to change the course of history," Herb George, president of the National Centre for First Nations Governance, told The Globe and Mail Wednesday.

However, there are concerns that any progress made at the conference could be dropped if the minority Liberals are toppled in a vote of non-confidence.

"I would hope that any political party that has the best interests of aboriginal Canadians and Canadians at heart will support very much what we are doing at this summit," Martin told reporters Tuesday.

Martin called it a "very important conference ... in terms of the future, really, of the youngest segment of our population."

The summit comes one day after the federal government pledged almost $2 billion in compensation for former First Nations students who suffered sexual and physical abuse when they were forced into residential schools.

The deal, which is yet to be agreed by the courts, is open to more than 80,000 former students who can apply to receive $2,560 for each year spent in the once-mandatory system meant to "Christianize" native children.