National Chief Shawn A-In-Chut Atleo continues to face challengers ....

National Chief Shawn A-In-Chut Atleo continues to face challengers and dissension in the ranks a full year after his election win in Toronto that gave him a second term as head of the Assembly of First Nations. The chiefs are meeting again this summer, this time in Whitehorse, Yukon, and it was there that Atleo delivered a message of unity on July 15. “Our goal, our strategy is to find the ways to empower and support one another as First Nations… We are often united in opposition—we reject top-down approaches and one-size-fits-all attitudes. But knowing what we oppose is only half the fight.” An estimated 200 chiefs had traveled to Whitehorse to attend the gathering, the theme of which is “Our Nations, Our Rights, Our Future: Empowering Our Citizens to Drive Change.” But in Saskatchewan at Onion Lake First Nation, a different kind of meeting took place, led by Grand Chief Derek Nepinak who is proposing an alternative to the AFN. Nepinak is hoping the Saskatchewan gathering will be the springboard he needs to create a new organization called the National Treaty Alliance, citing too much rhetoric and not enough action from the AFN. “As these institutions have become more politicized and more developed along bureaucratic lines, we’ve lost them,” Nepinak said. He wants to be done with the Indian Act, and threw his status card in the garbage while speaking to the chiefs. “We need to recreate treaty cards and put our faith back in one another again. I think that’s how we deconstruct the Indian Act.” Perry Bellegarde, grand chief of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations and a former contender for the post of national chief, said both meetings were important to attend. Treaty implementation and comprehensive claims were on both agendas. Bellegarde is a vice-chief on the AFN executive and called on First Nations leaders to remain united, borrowing from Atleo’s campaign slogan ‘We are stronger, together.’
   “We gotta resist everything from being the source of divisiveness amongst ourselves, because when we stand shoulder to shoulder we’re strengthened in our solidarity. United we are stronger.” Bellegarde prefers the approach of restructuring the AFN by treaty territory rather than starting a whole new group. “That doesn’t mean breaking up the national organization. It means re-aligning and re-structuring so it becomes more focused. And that’s a possibility,” Bellegarde said.