Newly elected chief wants a successful community

A thriving community is a key goal for the newly elected chief of Six Nations of the Grand River, home to the largest Aboriginal population in Canada.
"The way ahead for me is to put back the public affairs of our community into a healthy and sustainable state," said Bill Montour.
He defeated incumbent chief David General by 663 votes to 287 in the Nov. 17 election.
"The previous council in my opinion has allowed our public infrastructure to deteriorate by focusing on the actions of the federal government ­ the governance act and all the other stuff, which really is of no concern to Six Nations because we do our own thing anyway."
Roads, bridges drainage, water, sewers, waste management, education, social services, health, recreation and economic development ­ these will be the pre-occupation of the elected council or, as Montour likes to word it, the "administrative council."
As for the land claims that have kept Six Nations in the headlines since the February 2006 reclamation by a group of community members of a proposed subdivision in Caledonia, Montour says all that is none of his business.
"I've been badgered by Ontario and Canada on what my position is going to be in negotiations," he said, referring to calls from Michael Bryant, Ontario's new Aboriginal affairs minister and chief federal negotiator Ron Doering. "I've clearly told them, 'not any position.' The land issues in the Grand River tract I believe should be handled by our national government, the Confederacy."
The Haudenosaunee Confederacy Council was ousted by the Canadian government in 1924, to head off an appeal to the League of Nations by the Deskaheh, Levi General, and a council elected under the Indian Act was imposed. While Six Nations never gave up their traditional form of government, it took 82 years for the Canadian government to recognize it once again.
In April 2006, Confederacy Chief Allan MacNaughton was at the table with Canada and Ontario at the head of a Six Nations team - a significant victory for the people involved in the reclamation.
Elected chief General was at the table too. That led to problems, because the General's positions often differed from those taken by the Confederacy.
"You can't have two heads in negotiations ­ when you have two heads, the opponent can drive a wedge through it and that's what they have done," Montour said. The role of the elected council will be to provide support, he adds. "Any negotiation has to have a strong back room."
Montour plans to meet with federal and provincial representatives within the next few weeks, "and then we'll see what kind of relationship we're going to have."
He's no neophyte when it comes to dealing with government of any stripe. First elected to council in 1976, Montour served as Six Nations chief from 1985 to 1991. From 1991 to 1994 he worked at the Assembly of First Nations as chief of staff for Grand Chief Ovide Mercredi. In 1994, he went to work for Indian Affairs where he was associate regional director for British Columbia, then Atlantic regional director-general, ending up back in Ottawa as national director of housing.
"I went in with the idea that I was going to make significant change from the inside," Montour said of his time as a federal bureaucrat. He laughs. "I quickly realized that you can't change the course of Queen Mary with a paddle."
Upon retiring from government, he set up a consulting firm with his wife to help First Nations deal with housing and economic development issues. They helped write proposals for subdivisions and assisted First Nations in accessing programs that weren't accessible because they weren't explained.
"We had contracts from Manitoba to the Atlantic," he said. "I really enjoyed that."

Community development is Bill Montour's first love, dating back to the 22 years he spent in construction as an ironworker.
Looking forward, Montour hopes to develop a new way of existing with Canada.
"I still believe we as Six Nations, we have our own sovereign right to our own self-determination as a First Nation, not as an independent body or a dependent body, but as an interdependent body because I still think the idea of Canada is a good idea," said Montour.
Like many Aboriginal leaders, he sees welfare as something that has sapped the community's self-reliance.
"In 1956, the government came in, it said we're going to give you welfare, we're going to take care of you. A lot of people took that to heart. Prior to that we had numerous farms on the territory that were second to none on any place, producing great crops and cattle and sheep and chickens. We had everything, everything was here. "My family, we continued farming, in fact my brother still runs the family farm, but we found over the years that the whole welfare system created the idea that people don't have to work. So we can't get help in the summer time, we had to mechanize."
Six Nations land could be put to better use, he believes. "We have so much land that's sitting here, but we're buying everything off the territory, we don't buy our own food anymore, we're dependent on the world market."
Montour shakes his head when he considers the wasteful attitude towards land across southern Ontario, the breadbasket of the province, with subdivisions built on prime agricultural land while city centres look like war zones.
"I remember going to Brantford when I was a kid, there were so many people walking on the street that it was crowded. Now you can shoot a cannon down the street, and not hit anybody. The people who live on the outskirts need to drive to buy food. "And it just goes on and on and on. We've got to come to grips with this, because Mother Earth can't take this crap any more."
It's a problem that Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people have to solve together, he says, and he plans to start repairing relationships with Six Nations neighbours that have been stressed by the reclamation. "I think the whole council has a role to play, not as peacemakers but more or less as advocates of our history, we've got a proud and long history here and people have got to know that.
"Communication to me is critical information, is the currency of democracy, so we've got to do more of that kind of stuff."

Community development is Bill Montour's first love, dating back to the 22 years he spent in construction as an ironworker.
Looking forward, Montour hopes to develop a new way of existing with Canada.
"I still believe we as Six Nations, we have our own sovereign right to our own self-determination as a First Nation, not as an independent body or a dependent body, but as an interdependent body because I still think the idea of Canada is a good idea," said Montour.
Like many Aboriginal leaders, he sees welfare as something that has sapped the community's self-reliance.
"In 1956, the government came in, it said we're going to give you welfare, we're going to take care of you. A lot of people took that to heart. Prior to that we had numerous farms on the territory that were second to none on any place, producing great crops and cattle and sheep and chickens. We had everything, everything was here. "My family, we continued farming, in fact my brother still runs the family farm, but we found over the years that the whole welfare system created the idea that people don't have to work. So we can't get help in the summer time, we had to mechanize."
Six Nations land could be put to better use, he believes. "We have so much land that's sitting here, but we're buying everything off the territory, we don't buy our own food anymore, we're dependent on the world market."
Montour shakes his head when he considers the wasteful attitude towards land across southern Ontario, the breadbasket of the province, with subdivisions built on prime agricultural land while city centres look like war zones.
"I remember going to Brantford when I was a kid, there were so many people walking on the street that it was crowded. Now you can shoot a cannon down the street, and not hit anybody. The people who live on the outskirts need to drive to buy food. "And it just goes on and on and on. We've got to come to grips with this, because Mother Earth can't take this crap any more."
It's a problem that Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people have to solve together, he says, and he plans to start repairing relationships with Six Nations neighbours that have been stressed by the reclamation. "I think the whole council has a role to play, not as peacemakers but more or less as advocates of our history, we've got a proud and long history here and people have got to know that.
"Communication to me is critical information, is the currency of democracy, so we've got to do more of that kind of stuff."