Renewal the goal

Page 8

A total of 17 people showed up over the course of a day-long session of the Assembly of First Nations Renewal Commission held in Edmonton on May 26.

Lewis Cardinal, director of the University of Alberta's Native studies program, facilitated the session. He told Windspeaker the 17 people who attended in Edmonton was more than attended either of the Calgary or Saskatoon meetings.

The renewal process has received $2 million over two years to travel the country asking Aboriginal people a series of questions regarding the effectiveness of the national organization in order to compile a report for the 2005 AFN annual general meeting.

In December 2003, National Chief Phil Fontaine announced the official launch of the initiative. The commission is made up of two co-chairs, R.K. (Joe) Miskokomon and Wendy Grant-John, and is joined by nine other commissioners who represent different aspects of current First Nation issues.

Commissioners Gregg Smith, current chief executive officer of the Treaty 7 tribal council and a former Alberta AFN vice-chief, and Francois Paulette, a Dene former Northwest Territories AFN vice-chief, were in Edmonton Grant-John.

They asked the audience to answer the following questions:

What can the AFN do to improve its representation and dynamism of First Nations and their citizens?

What can the AFN do to become more supportive of urban First Nation citizens, groups and associations?

What can the AFN do to broaden its role to include all First Nation demographics?

What should the AFN keep, change, avoid, or create?

It quickly became apparent that people feel out of touch with their national assembly. The very first speaker, Albert Cardinal, president of the Aboriginal Disabilities Society of Alberta, brought up that point.

"A lot of young people in the cities, healthy young people, they're lost. They don't have an identity in the city. They don't have a network of family and support services. There really is nothing happening for them because the communication is not there," he said.

Noreen Samson, who said she was speaking on behalf of Samson Cree Nation Chief Victor Buffalo, questioned the AFN's independence from government.

"I must remind you that it's funded by the federal government. So the AFN is not an Indian organization per se," she said.

She suggested the AFN should restructure to "fight the oppressor with a treaty mandate, not a federal mandate."

Mel Buffalo, president of the Indian Association of Alberta, suggested the AFN needed to change its structure to accommodate the growing urban First Nation population. He suggested there be an urban representative on the AFN board and that satellite offices in major urban centres be established to make it easier for grassroots people to be in touch with their national organization.

The national chief said in Vancouver last year that he wanted a lot of new ideas to come out of the process. He suggested that places could be made within a restructured assembly for urban people and even traditional leaders.

Grant-John made a point of asking people to speak freely, saying the commission was arm's length from the organization and was free to bring any idea to the table.