Time for change in MAA leadership - candidate

Page 2

Metis Fred House has been on the campaign trail for the last couple of months seeking the job as president of the MAA.

He's been as far north as Grande Prairie, his home riding, and Fort McMurray and as far south as Calgary.

House recently registered his name as a candidate with the electoral office of the Metis Association of Alberta.

With MAA elections drawing nearer (Sept. 4), House says one of his goals if elected is to ensure Metis at the community level will be given to opportunity to participate in MAA decision-making.

It's time for a change in Metis leadership in Alberta, he said.

Another of his concerns is that the province's off-settlement Metis do not have a land base.

But he said he would not do anything to jeopardize the settlements' position with the provincial government and would rather work with them and gain their support so "Metis under the MAA can be dealt fairly with," Howse said in an interview with Windspeaker.

He said he would pursue getting a land base and self-determination for off-settlement Metis through constitutional talks on aboriginal rights with the provincial and federal governments.

Born and raised on the Metis settlement of Paddle Prairie, Native politics is not new to House.

In 1969, after moving to British Columbia to work as a heavy equipment operator, he became a field organizer for a Native organization in that province.

Then in 1971 House was elected president of the B.C. Association of Non-Status Indians, representing over 60,000 Metis and non-status people.

Under his direction other Native organizations like a newspaper, B.C. Native Outreach, Native Housing, social services and a Native education department flourished, he said.

House served as president for three terms before resigning to run as a candidate in a B.C. provincial election.

In 1975, he received a contract to promote multiculturalism and in 1976 he held the position as colony co-ordinator and administrator / supervisor for Paddle Prairie Metis Settlement.

Then in 1977 he moved back to B.C. at the request of the Metis people to help form a Metis organization.

>From 1978 to 1987 he was the founder and president of the Louis Riel Metis Association of B.C.

For five years his administration operated without government funding. The association represented all B.C. Metis at constitutional meetings in Ottawa and throughout the country.

House presented the opening statement at the First Ministers conference in 1985 where he also negotiated with the prime minister and provincial premiers in Ottawa.

Since 1988, House has worked with the Dene Tha' Nation in northern Alberta as a heavy equipment operator, a consultant and a construction foreman. Also in the same year he organized the founding meeting for the Northeast Metis Association.

House, who speaks Cree fluently, said a change in Alberta Metis leadership is long overdue. "I am confident I can help make that change with team work, cooperation and understanding."

House has chaired annual assemblies of the MAA, was elected Zone 6 board member in 1976 and also served as vice-president of the Federation of Metis Settlements.

A member of the MAA, House admits he is a strong advocate for aboriginal rights for the Metis and says if elected, "the poorest of the Metis will not be forgotten."