Change the AFN?

Page 8

All three candidates said the format of the AFN needs some repair.

Fontaine said change is part of the history of the movement.

"We change when circumstances drive us to reorganize ourselves. For example, the predecessor to the National Indian Brotherhood was the National Indian Council. It was status blind. First Nations people decided that wasn't meeting their needs so the National Indian Brotherhood was created, an organization made up of provincial and territorial organizations. That did the job for a period and then the chiefs decided that what was needed was a chiefs' organization. So we created the Assembly of First Nations," he said. "And it may be time now to reinvent the Assembly of First Nations to create an organization that is both inclusive and effective and address regional issues.

"I recognize that we're a national body and our mandate is to address national issues, but we forget there are important regional issues that are in effect national issues, and we don't make enough of an effort to regionalize ourselves and that's hurt us. As a result we've undermined our efforts to be an effective political voice for First Nations. That's what we have to be."

He blamed the decline of the organization on Coon Come and on the implementation committee, a group of chiefs of which Jamieson was the chairperson.

"At a lot of our meetings, there's a very low turnout of chiefs. Clearly, too many of our chiefs feel alienated. We need to do something to bring them back into the fold. We recognize that there's strength in unity and we have to speak with a unified voice. We haven't done that in the last while," Fontaine said.

"What we have faced is a small group that hijacked the organization. They've hijacked the different processes and in effect they've paralyzed the organization. Our strategic capabilities have pretty much dissolved in the last three years. Political respect has been diminished.

"If we use funding as just one example, the funding has been cut in half with the assembly. Of course that makes the organization ineffective. And when you have your national organization ineffective, it effects the regional organizations and it certainly effects local communities."

Jamieson sees the AFN becoming more like the United Nations, a place where Indigenous nations can meet and come to consensus on important issues.

"I don't see this office as the prime minister of our people. I don't see it as that at all. And I think maybe that's what's been wrong. The AFN has really been able to be manipulated by government for so many years. On the one hand we say one size doesn't fit all and then we turn right around at the national level and behave as though it does, and one national chief can negotiate arrangements for all First Nations. That's not how I see the role. That's not how I see the future.

"What we need is leadership that will create an environment where First Nations themselves can sit at the table. That's what I want to do. It's almost like Kofi Annan and a UN body. The analogy is much more like that. Because I don't see the nations across Canada giving any individual national chief or otherwise, the mandate to speak for and finalize agreements for our people. That really belies our whole position on nationhood."

Coon Come sees some problems with the UN-style approach.

"The UN is more like a lobby, consent type. I would like us to behave as nations, as governments. Asserting our rights from section 35 [of the Canadian Constitution], from court decisions, and not waiting on governments to adopt policies they can apply to us. I think you have to go beyond that in order to move forward.

"We need to develop our own economies, something that is not subject to Her Majesty's tolerance. In order to do that you have to create the atmosphere that they have to deal with us, they cannot go on without us. That's what I did in Quebec and I was the most hated guy in Quebec. Quebec saw me as one who was in the wy. They saw me as someone who was anti-development. I was not anti-development.

"The colonialistic relationship will not bring about change. It will not. I'm sorry but I disagree with those people who think that it can. And we don't have to give up normal programs and services, education and health, in exchange for recognition of Aboriginal rights and title to the land."

He sees First Nations being welcomed to the Canadian system as equals in a true nation-to-nation relationship.

"That's what we need to discuss all across this country. If you want a third order of government, which I would like to see, a real third order of government that is a fact, then you have to talk about a pan-First Nation type of government," Coon Come said. "And that will not happen unless we have discussions amongst ourselves of what powers you want to give to this national organization. So it's just not about advocating rights and setting up processes, but it's a real institution as I think was contemplated under section 35, one of the pillars of Canada."

One Jamieson, two roles

Roberta Jamieson has 18 months to go in her three-year mandate as chief of Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation in Ontario. A mandate she says she wants to fulfill.

As a candidate for Assembly of First Nations national chief, she's now seeking a new mandate that could put her in the position of having two demanding jobs at the same time.

Some of her political opponents in Canada's most populous First Nation (located about a half-hour's drive to Hamilton, Ont.) are trying to pressure her to appoint an interim chief while she's on the campaign trial seeking the Assembly of First Nations' top job. So far, she has resisted that pressure.

Opponents at the local and national level have criticized the Six Nations chief for even considering the idea of keeping both jobs. Some have suggested she's hedging her bets in case she is unsuccessful in securing the national chief's position.

But Jamieson told Wndspeaker it's a matter of keeping her word to the people who supported her in Six Nations' last election.

"When I decided to run for national chief, I really consulted extensively with community and council on the issue. In keeping with their wishes, I'm remaining chief during the campaign period. I am committed once I win, to a smooth transition both here at home and in the national office. I have a strong sense of responsibility to Six Nations and I'm going to make sure they're not left high and dry. But at the same time, if I win the election, I'm going to be accountable to all the chiefs across the country. So I'm going to have to make sure the transition balances their interests as well," she said. "One of the options, of course, is staying on as chief until the end of my term. And that is clearly the wish of quite a number of people in my community and council."

There are other examples of First Nation politicians holding two political jobs at the same time, she said.

"Stewart Phillip for example is chief of Penticton and the head of the [Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs]," she said.

Although the combined salaries of the two positions would equal $185,000 tax-free per year, the 50-year-old lawyer said it's not about the money.

"I'm not in this to better my own pocket or prejudice the rights of Six Nations people," she said.

Both the other candidates for national chief were asked what they thought about Jamieson's plan. Phil Fontaine, who was national chief from 1997 to 2000, was asked if he thought it was possible to do an effective job as national chief while remaining chief of a home community.

"Absolutely not. Those two automatically produce not only a conflict of interest but more importantly, in my view, stamps the AFN as a second rate and ineffective rump group. It devalues the Assembly of First Nations because what we would end up with is a part-time national chief," he said. "The position of national chief, in my view, is every bit as iportant as the position of Prime Minister or premier. It's the most senior elected position for First Nations people in the country and it deserves the best, it deserves a full-time commitment."

National Chief Matthew Coon Come was asked the same question.

"I'm going to give you the legal answer," he said. "The legal answer is that you will be required if you're national chief to resign from all committees or boards that you sit on because you can only hold that office. If Roberta wants to continue with that, she would have to take it to the assembly if she gets in and ask whether they want to amend the charter and then it would go from there."

Jamieson said she reads the charter differently.

"I've done my homework, as I'm known to do. I've gotten advice and there's nothing in the AFN charter or the Six Nations electoral code that precludes me from maintaining both the positions at the same time," she said.

The AFN charter does say that the national chief must reside in the Ottawa area. Jamieson pointed out that requirement can be met by maintaining two residences-one at Six Nations and one in Ottawa.

"That happens all the time. I think if you look at the past history, the past national chiefs, and calculate the times when they were wherever, being national chief really does require you to be in many places besides Ottawa," she said.

The Hamilton airport is only 10 minutes away from Six Nations and from there Ottawa is less than an hour away by air, Jamieson noted.

She insists that her position is logical. She didn't seek to be national chief, she said, but the issues forced her hand.

"I didn't seek this. I came to this conclusion after being approached and lobbied from right across the country. And my own people saying, 'This is where the action is. These are the issues that are hurting us. The fact is that we do not have effective leadership at the national level and it's time for Six Nations to step up.' We really have taken quite a leadership role in