Two former First Nation chiefs appeared on Iran’s state-run TV recently to express their frustrations with Canada’s treatment of their people, including its efforts to “exterminate” them.

Terry Nelson and Dennis Pashe visited with Press TV host Kaveh Taghvai to discuss First Nations and aboriginal issues, including missing and murdered aboriginal women, Canada's history with reserves, aboriginal jail populations and more.

Nelson described Canadian reserves as “more or less concentration camps.”

“The reservation was the standard, it was the system that South Africa studied and put in place for Apartheid,” he said.

In response to a question about the large number of First Nations people in jail, Pashe responded, “It’s part of the ongoing effort by the Canadian government to exterminate us.”

"They use policies, they use legislation, and in the past they used the gun and a disease-infested blanket to wipe out our people, to take our resources, take our lands and to exploit them for their own profit,” he later added.

The subject of Canada’s oil also featured prominently in the interview. Nelson said indigenous people don’t see the revenue from the oil Canada pumps to the United States from their land, yet they suffer the environmental effects.

Nelson is trying to explore relations with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the Winnipeg Free Press reported.

"Any country that can influence the indigenous people has to realize what kind of leverage they have ... I don't think everybody understanding that the chiefs won't sit back any more and say, 'Take our oil,’” he told the Free Press in a phone interview.

The interview comes in the wake of Canada severing diplomatic ties with Iran in September. Despite the growing tension between the two countries, Peshe praised Iran for welcoming them.

“We’re thankful for Iran for bringing these issues of how our people are treated in Canada to the world,” he said.

Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan responded to the interview on Monday, according to Sun News.

“We're disappointed that Mr. Nelson has allowed himself to be used as a pawn by the Iranian regime in yet another PR stunt to distract from their own record,” he said.

Related on HuffPost:

Loading Slideshow

Loading Slideshow

• Oka Crisis

  Canadian soldier Patrick Cloutier and Saskatchewan Native Brad Laroque alias "Freddy Kruger" come face to face in a tense standoff at the Kahnesatake reserve in Oka, Quebec, Saturday September 1, 1990. Twenty plus years after an armed standoff at Oka laid Canada's often difficult relationship with its native peoples bare in international headlines, the bitterly contested land remains in legal limbo. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Shaney Komulainen)

• Oka Crisis

  A warrior raises his weapon as he stands on an overturned police vehicle blocking a highway at the Kahnesetake reserve near Oka, Quebec July 11, 1990 after a police assault to remove Mohawk barriers failed. Twenty plus years after an armed standoff at Oka laid Canada's often difficult relationship with its native peoples bare in international headlines, the bitterly contested land remains in legal limbo. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Tom Hanson)

• Oka Crisis

  A Quebec Metis places a stick with an eagle feather tied to it into the barrel of a machine gun mounted on an army armored vehicle at Oka Thursday, Aug. 23, 1990. The vehicle was one of two positioned a few metres away from the barricade causing a breakdown in negotiations. Twenty plus years after an armed standoff at Oka laid Canada's often difficult relationship with its native peoples bare in international headlines, the bitterly contested land remains in legal limbo. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Bill Grimshaw)

• Oka Crisis

  A Mohawk Indian winds up to punch a soldier during a fight that took place on the Khanawake reserve on Montreal's south shore in 1990. The army broke up the fight by shooting into the air. Twenty plus years after an armed standoff at Oka laid Canada's often difficult relationship with its native peoples bare in international headlines, the bitterly contested land remains in legal limbo. (CP PHOTO)

• Ipperwash

  Two aboriginal protesters man a barricade near the entrance to Ipperwash Provincial Park, near Ipperwash Beach, Ont., on Sept. 7, 1995. (CP PHOTO)

• Ipperwash

  Ken Wolf, 9, walks away from a graffiti-covered smoldering car near the entrance to the Ipperwash Provincial Park in this September 7, 1995 photo. A group of aboriginal protesters were occupying the park and nearby military base. (CP PHOTO)

• Caledonia Protests

  Caledonian activist Gary McHale (right) is confronted by a Six Nations Protester as he attempts to lead members of Canadian Advocates for Charter Equality (CANACE) in carrying a makeshift monument to Six Nations land in Caledonia, Ont., on Sunday February 27, 2011. CANACE claim inequality in treatment for Caledonian residents from Ontario Provincial Police compared to that of the Six Nation population. They planned to plant a monument of six nation property to demand an apology from the OPP, but were turned back by protesters. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

• Caledonia Protests

  First Nations people of the Grand River Territory stand with protest signs as they force the redirection of the Vancover 2010 Olympic Torch Relay from entering The Six Nations land Monday, December 21, 2009 near Caledonia, Ontario. The Olympic torch's journey across Canada was forced to take a detour in the face of aboriginal opposition to the Games, with an Ontario First Nation rerouting its relay amid a protest from a splinter group in the community. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Dave Chidley)

• Caledonia Protests

  Six Nations protesters guard the front entrance of a housing development in Hagersville, Ont., just south of the 15-month aboriginal occupation at Caledonia on Wednesday, May 23, 2007. The protest was peaceful. (CP PHOTO/Nathan Denette)

• Caledonia Protests

  Mohawk protestors block a road near the railway tracks near Marysville, Ont. with a bus and a bonfire Friday April 21, 2006. The natives showed their support to fellow natives in Caledonia, Ont. where they were in a stand off with police regarding land claims.(CP PHOTO/Jonathan Hayward)