Confidence in Fontaine in question, chief

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The proposed federal legislation that would create four national financial institutions for First Nations passed quickly through the House of Commons in mid-December and could pass through the Senate just as quickly early in the New Year.

As Parliament rose for the Christmas break on Dec. 15, a break that will last until Jan. 31, all that was standing between the passage of the bill and one more chance for its opponents to address their remaining concerns was the voice of one Senator. The bill received first reading in the Senate before the break and is listed high on the order paper for second reading on Feb. 1. If unanimous consent to the bill is secured in the Senate it will be rubber-stamped-not sent to committee for discussion and review-and returned to the House of Commons for Royal Assent and proclamation as law.

The issue was on the agenda during the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) assembly in Ottawa from Dec. 7 to 9. On Day 1 of the assembly, the matter caused a brief stir when Dave General, newly-elected chief of Six Nations of the Grand River, asked the national chief about comments Indian Affairs Minister Andy Scott had made while addressing the standing committee on Aboriginal Affairs that morning.

Scott told the standing committee he had a letter from AFN National Chief Phil Fontaine supporting Bill C-20, the latest version of the financial institutions act. (Later, the minister sent a letter to the chair of the standing committee stating that he had been in error in reporting that he had a letter from the national chief but he wrote that Fontaine has "both to me personally and on the public record, expressed his support for the initiative.")

Tyendinaga Chief R. Donald Maracle, Grand Chief Chris McCormick of the Association of Iroquois and Allied Indians, General and Six Nations councillor Melba Thomas were in the gallery when the minister addressed the standing committee. McCormick and General say they had earlier requested a chance to speak to the committee and had been denied. They say the committee only heard from the minister and the four heads of the financial institutions-all proponents of the bill.

"I was at the standing committee this morning, hoping that a voice that had different things to say about C-20 might be given an opportunity to speak. But I was not given that opportunity," General said.

The Assembly of First Nations is on the record against the financial institutions legislation. Chief Tina Levesque of Manitoba's Brokenhead First Nation raised that point with the national chief.

"You receive your marching orders by way of resolution and that resolution was never rescinded. And yet in Saskatoon, you very vocally in front of [former] minister Andy Mitchell expressed your personal support for something that the assembly gave you direction to act on our behalf," she said. "Now you're asking for support by way of resolution for all these other things [on the meeting's agenda]. But will these be set aside if you have a strong personal opinion on something else. I'm deciding whether it's worth my time to come here. Everything that happens here affects me way back in Brokenhead. I'm a strong treaty-based person. That's the marching orders I got from my community. My people give me my marching orders and that's what I do regardless of my personal opinion."

She told Fontaine she was personally against a casino in her community but the community voted in favor of it. She said she was "ordered to make it a reality and I did."

Tina Levesque asked the national chief if she could trust the AFN leadership to do likewise.

"My confidence now as a leader and as a part of this assembly, my confidence now is shaken. When you're dealing with all these ministers and levels of government, will your personal view take precedence over a resolution that was tabled from the floor? So I need clarification on that and some assurance that our resolution will be honored," she said.

Phl Fontaine denied that he had acted improperly.

"It's unfortunate that your confidence has been shaken by what you perceive to be a decision taken by me to go against a resolution by the assembly. In fact, I have not gone against any resolution," he said. "What I did in Saskatoon was indicate my support for all of the good work that has been undertaken by people that believe that the best option for them to bring about transformative change was through the legislation. I made that very clear. When I ran, I ran on the basis of support for that approach. I made no bones about it. I didn't hide my personal preference and in Saskatoon I noted that. That didn't change the position of the Assembly of First Nations. If there are others in the room that feel that I have somehow compromised the organization because of my personal views, I'm sorry about that."

Chief Bryan LaForme of the Mississaugas of the New Credit in Ontario also quizzed the national chief on the matter. He said that he spends a lot of his time talking to government officials about C-20.

"They always say, 'Well, your national chief supports it. Why don't you support it?' And I say, 'Our national chief has a resolution not to support it.' And they say, 'Well, he does.' I think they get that from the comments that are made about personal feelings on certain issues," LaForme said. "I think we have to be careful when we go into assemblies such as this and share our personal feelings, especially when you're a leader. I come here and bring my position on behalf of my First Nation. When we pass resolutions here at the assembly, personal feelings shouldn't enter into it. If there's an impression out there that the national chief is supporting it regardless of what the resolutions say, then we're in trouble.'

LaForme echoed Levesque's feelings, saying he had "misgivings" about the national chief's conduct on the bill.

"I come here with high hopes that we can do business, not like we did in Charlotteown [the organization's general assembly in July], but come away with some resolutions without allowing the national chief's personal feelings to affect how he's going to conduct business on our behalf," he said.

After the assembly, in a one-on-one interview with Windspeaker, Fontaine said the federal officials were able to use his words because he campaigned for the national chief's job by supporting financial institutions.

"I believed in that and I campaigned on that. What I was expressing was my personal point of view but that didn't move me away from the official position of the AFN. The AFN was opposed to C-23 on a number of counts. So C-20 is here. C-20 is different and there are no resolutions on C-20. C-20 is different," he said.

He said he believed the complaints of those who opposed the bill have been addressed.

"It's an improvement on C-23 and in my view it's supportable. There's no resolution, though, for or against C-20," he said.

Asked about the minister's claim he had written a letter, Fontaine said simply, "There was no letter."