NCC(A) members tired of fighting, want to get down to business

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Treaty 6 members of the Native Council of Canada (Alberta) in the Edmonton area, say they are tired of all the secret meetings, mud slinging and name calling incidents they believe are happening and want to get down to business.

At a meeting on October 17 with approximately eight NCC(A) members, spokes-

person, Haddie Jahner, and one board member, Frank Logan, expressed their concern over the way "Windspeaker" had handled coverage of the NCC(A) annual assembly, held near Calgary on October 5 and 6.

The members say only a few expressed their points of view, and, "We have not come out as members and said anything so far," commented Jahner.

"We want to say first of all that the fighting on the board is just a repeat of the old board. All the new board has done is fight and hold improper meetings," she added. Jahner was referring to a recently held meeting where, depending on who you talked to, Doris Ronnenberg, president of the NCC(A) was either asked to leave the meeting or left on her own.

Frank Logan attended the meeting.

"I left the meeting after receiving a formal letter from Doris regarding a meeting planned for the future (October 18.)

"What I got from that meeting was strictly bull. Instead of trying to move ahead and trying to help the association and its members, all they did was attack the president. She did this and she did that. To me that is not the way to hold a society together," said Logan.

Logan says he fully realizes that the type of work NCC(A) is trying to accomplish is very important to Native people. "This society is here to help Native people regain their status, to be Indian again," Logan commented, while stating the fighting is destroying the organization.

Jahner believes all the problems the board have been arguing about has already been settled at the Rafter Six annual assembly. Concern over money being unaccountable and the signing of cheques and where NCC(A) money was spent was all in the auditor's report at the assembly, says Jahner. "All of this took place at Rafter Six, and that is where it should have stayed. There is so much to do without the board fighting," Jahner added.

The members at this particularly meeting stressed that this time the board of directors for NCC(A) must be made accountable.

"This time we are saying the board is going to be accountable to the members who elected them. We are concerned. It is our society and it doesn't belong to the board. We put them there to run it for us. It is our society and it is something we are building for our children and our children's children. When my child grows up I want that board to still be there representing her," stressed Jahner.

Jahner believes because of the way things are going that they are not going to get third and fourth generation people incorporated in Bill C-31, one reason why petty fighting must cease so the NCC(A) can work together on building a foundation.

"My daughter is not Metis and she is not German. She's a non-Status and by a stroke of a pen she was made that. So this is why our concern is. We are building the foundation for our children and they will put up the walls. Hopefully, our grandchildren will put the roof on."

The members said the board cannot use the excuse that they have only been elected for two weeks and, "what do the members expect," because of elected board members such as Logan.

"Logan has been elected for two weeks and he is working with members and not

at some improper meeting calling down the president."

The Treaty 6 members have already set the wheels in motion for bingo games in order to raise money for projects they would like to attempt. They have a group home project underway and already have rooms donated to them to use as a halfway house for people needing a place to go.

"They're fighting amongst each other, and members like ourselves here, we went out and got things happening without the board, except for Frank. He has helped us all the way," said concerned membr Raymond Daniels.

Asked if they felt if there was mismanagement at the administration level, again Jahner stressed that it was all dealt with at the assembly.

"The audit was brought to the assembly and it was discussed at the assembly and was accepted as well as the managers report.

"Doris and Richard Long, formerly research director were supposed to have done something with all this money. Russell White started flashing these cheques around and the cheques that he was showing had gone through three auditors and at least a dozen lawyers. These were the same cheques they were trying to discredit people with."

According to Jahner (they) are now having trouble with Richard Long because he has signing authority in regards to cheques being signed.

"Well, Gordon Belcourt, who was the treasurer at that time, took Richard to the bank and Gordon Belcourt signed Richard on as another signing officer while Doris (Ronnenberg) was in Ottawa. At the time there were signed cheques and the organization needed money here (Edmonton) so he became a signing officer.

"In August, (1985), Richard took his name off as a signing authority and that is what they are still yelling about," said Jahner.

"I guess the point we are making here is that the board must work with the members. We know what can be accomplished. In just two weeks we have been working with our board member (Frank Logan) and , like Raymond said, we haven't seen the other two members other than to hear they tried to fire our lawyer and accounting," Jahner added. Logan feels just as bitter about the in-fighting as Jahner and the other members did. He believe that Doris Ronnenberg wants to move ahead and believes that is also what the members of the NCC(A) want.

"We don't want to sit around name calling and mud slinging amongst our own people. It is not the way we should operate," commented Logan.

"When I attended that improper meeting all I saw was fighting. I didn't see nothing in progress. So I sat down with someof the members concerned and we put together quite a few things that concerned us like halfway houses for youth from the northern communities who don't have a facility to go to for continuing their education. We would like to see halfway houses in Edmonton and other cities where they can come and stay and have a good place to stay while continuing their education, Logan added..

The Treaty 6 members in the Edmonton area alone number approximately 90 people, and, according to Jahner, most of them want to get down to business. The NCC(A) membership is placed somewhere near 700 members.

"I didn't even know about NCC(A) until Haddie (Jahner) phoned me to become a member. Now I'm caught up in it. I guess people like fighting against each other like cowboys and Indians. That's what happened at the assembly. So many people were turned off because of lack of education. Can't understand anything like what Russell was saying," said another concerned member, Nora Belder.

"I think one of the main things is the old people were wondering why we as Native people were discriminating against each other," added Raymond Daniels, backing Belder's statement.

"If there was any possibility that we could stop the board from fighting and instead work together we would do it. But they have not listened to us," added Jahner.

Another member voiced his opinion. "If you take all the members and their resources, we could do a lot of things for the association," commented Tom Daniels. Their concern to get down to business was real. They believe in their membership and know if they came to terms they could accomplish much. "Everybody as an individual has something to offer whether it is just a little or a lot. Everyone has an experience to share," stressed Wes Daniels.

"We don't want to keep on arguing. What we are trying to do is keep everyone together, trying to unite them instead of saying, well, like, Russell lost by more votes than what was said. We are not here to run people down. We ar here to stay together," he added. Jahner says they are working closely with another member, Sharon Collins in the Faust area, and that Sharon is getting the members involved in that area.

Jahner also says that the Fort McMurray members are also fed up and are saying that whoever is elected is not going to miss out Fort McMurray anymore.

Jahner and Logan believe that Doris and the membership have a lot to do in a very short time. Tired of the arguing, they want to move now on concerns such as Bill C-31. "We have to get to work now and put all our stuff together for Bill C-31, for the Constitutional talks in the spring. We are also co-defendants in a lawsuit that Chief Walter Twinn initiated. That work has to be done.

"The Implementation Act is one and one-half years behind. If we as members and the board could work together, we could help with that. We could help with the paperwork, etcetera, and they would just have to process sit. Right now there is nothing being done,"said Jahner.

The Treaty 6 members have taken the first step towards accomplishments for their organization. This is not to say that other members and even board members are not concerned and are not doing anything. Treaty 6 is only hoping that the organization can come together and be strong for one another. Treaty 6 members are not waiting. They are moving ahead regardless of the fighting, even if is with only one board member, Frank Logan.

"We went to a meeting last night, that was very successful. We are going to set up more meetings, just in houses, in people's homes, even if it is just to meet people," commented Jahner.

"I took this board position as a volunteer to help people, to get them into the society without assimilating them into the white society. They have to hold onto their own culture. We must help each other," Logan said.