Slim win for Ronnenberg

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SEEBE - An exuberant Doris Ronnenberg announced she felt fully vindicated after her re-election as president of the Native council of Canada (Alberta) for another two-year term.

The election came at the end of a grueling day of heated debate at the NCC(A) annual assembly held at the luxurious Rafter 6 guest ranch at Seebe, overlooking the Stoney Indian reserve west of Calgary, October 5 and 6.

Ronnenberg ran against former vice-president Russell White, and although NCC(A) officials refused to release the vote totals to Windspeaker, White announced he had lost the race by only four votes.

Delegates also elected Philip Campiou as vice-president, Ray Desjardin for central Alberta and Teresa Bone for southern Alberta. Again, the vote total was not released to Windspeaker.

Elected board members are: Leo Tanghe and Gordon Shaw for the north, Gerald White and Frank Logan for central and Joe Chartrand for the south.

The announcements were made at 10 p.m. after a long day of bitter debate as delegates from all parts of the province exchanged insults, innuendos and accusations.

Bearing the brunt of these accusations were Research Director Richard Long. Long was in residence at the ranch but did not attend the meeting.

Tempers flared as several delegates accused Doris Ronnenberg of nepotism by employing her common-law husband, Richard Long.

However, Ronnenberg replied that she had not made the final decision to employ Long and that there were no bylaws restricting employing family members.

Several other accusations ranging from incompetence to opportunism were brought forward but were ruled out of order by the meeting chairman, NCC national president Smokey Bruyere.

Then another heated debate over membership ensued that it was discovered that several delegates, some of whom had travelled from as far away as Fort McMurray, were being denied membership.

Bruyere pointed out that according to NCC(A) bylaws and constitution, the society did not represent Indians whose names appeared on general or band lists.

This led to another long and bitter debate, with one delegate, former treasurer and founder Madge McRee, who had her membership withdrawn, complaining that she was no longer represented by any Indian organization as the Indian Association of Alberta (IAA) and her band, Slave Lake, refused to have anything to do with her.

McRee also accused Ronnenberg of removing her because of statements she made to Windspeaker which appeared in the September 5 edition complaining she had been unable to access financial information.

"I was put on the band list in January. How come she (Ronnenberg) removed me after I spoke to Windspeaker in September?" she complained.

McRee pointed out that NCC(A) had been formed to help Native people who weren't represented by any other organization.

"Now I and a lot of other women are back in the same position," she said tearfully. "Our bands don't want anything to do with us and you have refused us membership." Several other delegates complained of similar incidents and others said they had been refused membership or had membership withdrawn with no reason given.

Bruyere interceded, pointing out that these concerns were covered by the bylaws and that they couldn't be changed without given 21 days notice and holding a special meeting. Finally, a motion was brought to the floor to review membership codes at a special meeting to be held at the end of November.

The elections committee was then selected and after private discussions, they chose to allow all delegates to vote and for members who had been suspended to be allowed to directly question the president.

In her electoral speech, Ronnenberg pointed out that she had acted as a volunteer in 1984 and had later received a wage of $1,500 per month from November 1985.

"I am now prepared to go back to being a volunteer. My commitment it to the survival of the organization, and I make that commitment today."

Ronnenberg distributed documents ating back over two years covering discussions between herself and the government. She added that she stood on her record as outlined in the documents.

In his electoral speech, White said it was imperative that some strong housekeep-ing measures be undertaken within the organization.

White added that he had done some checking into the financial situation and had discovered that the president and research director had receive 58 per cent of the salary budget between them.

The voting started soon after the speeches and the counting of the ballots took about two hours.