--- On Sat, 2/25/12, RDIABO <rdi...@rogers.com> wrote:
From: RDIABO <rdi...@rogers.com> Subject: Treaty, non-treaty natives must work together To: undisclosed-recipi...@yahoo.com Received: Saturday, February 25, 2012, 1:47 AM Treaty, non-treaty natives must work together By Doug Cuthand, Special to The StarPheonixFebruary 24, 2012 Last week Shawn Atleo, the head of the Assembly of First Nations, spoke to the Saskatchewan chiefs and got a rough ride. At the same time the Manitoba chiefs were meeting and they also gave Atleo grief. So what's up? One theory is that these are the first shots in a war that will be the election for the national chief to take place this summer. The chief of the AFN is elected for a three-year term and is restricted to two consecutive terms. The rumour is that Blaine Favel, a former chief of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations, is planning a political comeback and is going to run for national chief. Blaine left the FSIN a few months after his re-election to his second term, so his support from Saskatchewan chiefs will be lukewarm. The last election saw Perry Bellegarde, another former FSIN chief, run against Atleo. That election turned out to be a marathon, with Bellegarde conceding defeat the morning after a night of voting. Saskatchewan didn't go into the last AFN election united - Atleo was supported by a number of Saskatchewan chiefs, so support for Bellegarde wasn't unanimous. In fact, Chief Wally Fox from Onion Lake First Nation in Saskatchewan nominated Atleo for his first term as chief of the AFN. The news media has been speculating that the FSIN is taking a negative position against the AFN because of petty personal politics. The matter is not that simple, however. The issue has historic roots. Canada's First Nations people are split into two groups: Those with treaty rights and those who never signed treaties but rather rely on aboriginal rights. To complicate things further, each chief has a vote at the assembly. The votes have equal weight regardless of the population of the First Nation. Therefore, the chief from a First Nation with almost 10,000 members has the same weight as a chief from a small band of 100 people. This gives British Columbia unequal weight because of the large number of small bands. The Mohawk, for example, have close to thirty thousand people in four First Nations. This gives them only four votes. The AFN has a draconian rule that the national chief must have 60 per cent of the votes to gain office. It's a recipe for disaster because of the close split in votes between the two groups. I'm sure we will see more marathon voting to get a national chief. Since the organization contains two groups, the leadership tends to oscillate between the them in the same manner that the Liberal party used to oscillate back and forth with a leader from Quebec and English Canada. To pin dissension on the politics of personality is not the whole answer. The issue on the prairies is treaty rights and every time we have a national leader who does not come from a treaty area, the treaty area leaders complain that they are not getting the attention they deserve. National chief has to be one of the toughest political positions in the country. The chief must simultaneously balance the wishes of both internal factions while maintaining communications with the federal government. Chiefs who get too close to government catch it from Indian Country. If they are too critical, they lose credibility with government. Ottawa is a one-industry town and everyone lives inside the same bubble. It's easy to get caught up in the belief that everything that matters happens there. When Phil Fontaine was national chief, he was criticized for his close ties to the Liberal government. Atleo is facing the same criticism as he works with the government on the Canada-First Nations Joint Action Plan. The action plan was announced last summer and reaffirmed by Prime Minister Stephen Harper at the recent meeting between the government and the chiefs. Saskatchewan didn't participate in the national panel on First Nations elementary and secondary education, and when the panel released its report the FSIN poured scorn on it. The Harper government is especially suspect by First Nations. It got off on the wrong foot by cancelling the Kelowna Accord, which would have given First Nations a needed cash infusion. In other areas such as Bill C10, the omnibus crime bill, First Nations people fear the impact on our people and communities. Atleo has also made calls for the abolishment of the Indian Act while others want to see incremental change. The fact is that change is coming and we can't bury our head in the sand. We have to work together and lobby government and the public with a consistent message.
