Work-plans off the table

Page 10

When the chiefs-in-assembly rejected Indian Affair's sanctioned governance consultation work-plan at their December Confederacy in, whether they realized it or not, they were also rejecting the two other work-plans they had no problem with.

A meeting between the Assembly of First Nations' executive members and the minister of Indian Affairs on Jan. 28 showed that any hope the AFN may have had of pushing ahead with the social-economic conditions and the inherent right of self government work-plans is gone, unless the organization agrees to join in the governance consultations.

Nault told this publication he still believes in the work-plans, but he clearly isn't going to let the AFN take one or two without taking all three.

"I still believe that that work-plan is a good one. It's one I committed myself to, to the executive and the national chief. I've signaled to all the political organizations representing First Nation across the country we'd be willing to use this work-plan as sort of a template that we all agreed to that we can work on a regional basis," he said

The minister said several regional groups are ready to break ranks and join the governance consultation process.

"I'm told that the BC Summit has passed a resolution committing itself to allow Herb George and others to participate. I understand Saskatchewan has a mandate, Alberta's Treaty 6 and I think 8 and 7 have a mandate and then there's others, but I won't get into that until they formally recognize that by putting out a press release," he said.

But two well-placed sources, who asked not to be named, confirmed that the minister rejected any notion of setting up a joint DIAND/AFN process to push forward on the social-economic and inherent right issues, telling the executive members that the three work-plans were a package deal.

National Chief Matthew Coon Come was scheduled to be at the meeting with the minister, but travel problems preventing him from attending. One First Nation source said he didn't miss much, saying the minister clearly demonstrated he didn't want to accommodate the AFN on governance.

"[Nault's] driving the agenda, you know," the source said. "He feels like he's got 400 First Nations in his hip pocket and it'll grow some more. It's going to grow some more because the Atlantic First Nations are going to agree to go into it. Not because they want to; they want to protect their interests in case they have to go to court to challenge the legislation."

There will be a special chiefs' assembly in Winnipeg on Feb. 25 and 26, the source said. Throughout the month of January there had been speculation all over the country about whether that assembly would be held. The cost of holding such a gathering was one point that seemed to weigh against it. Originally, the special assembly was requested to discuss the two work-plans. Speculation by First Nation technicians now is that the organization has reached a key moment in its history. The AFN is going to have to make a firm decision on its future direction at that meeting, they say, because the split is a threat to the credibility of the organization.

In some corners, the national chief is seen as having lost a vote of confidence when the governance consultation work-plan was rejected.

Leading up to the Ottawa confederacy, Coon Come was careful not to say whether or not he supported it. Remarks by the minister and internal documents seem to suggest the entire executive, which includes the national chief, were satisfied with the contents of the work-plan and prepared to implement the plan if the membership approved it.

The organization is now markedly (and perhaps terminally) split along the governance line.

The Inherent Rights Coalition, a group of First Nations leaders who adamantly oppose participating in any way in the minister's governance initiative, were able to hijack the agenda and defeat the work-plan at the Ottawa Confederacy. But the group, consising of chiefs from theBritish Columbia Interior, southern Manitoba, Barriere Lake in Quebec and many or even most of the chiefs in Ontario, does not have a clear majority nationally, and it does not have the influence to keep other chiefs' organizations from breaking the AFN boycott of the governance consultations.

Matthew Coon Come, so far, has not shown he is able to broker the kind of accord that will unite the chiefs, observers say.

The minister may have rejected the idea of working with the AFN on the social-economic conditions work-plan, but one chief pointed out that that agenda is a government-wide agenda that's related to the promises of the speech from the throne. It appears right now that the AFN is in danger of being left out of any process related to the promises in throne speech unless it embraces the governance initiative.

Nault, meanwhile, was in high spirits when he met with the Native press on a conference call on Jan. 16.

"I very pleased to be continuing on as minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development," he said. "I lobbied for this job when I first became minister and I continued to lobby to stay here when others were, I'm sure, out lobbying and looking for other positions in this last (cabinet) shuffle. I'm very pleased with the vote of confidence the prime minister has given me in allowing us to continue on with this very rewarding and valuable work that we're undertaking."

The Prime Minister appointed Stephen Owen as Secretary of State responsible for Indian Affairs and Northern Development. Although the Hill Times, a well-connected publication that deals only with developments on Parliament Hill, reported Nault was "less than delighted" with the news that he was getting an assistant and that some observers see it as an indication that the prime minister isn't convinced Nault can do the job without some help, Nault told the Native press he welcomed Owen's appointment.

The minister continues to press ahead with thegovernance reform agenda. He saidhe hopes to have legislation creating an independent claims body in the House this year. He is also looking at introducing the Fiscal Institutions Act and allowing more First Nations to get involved with the First Nation Land Management Act "in the not too distant future." All of this is in addition to the First Nations Governance Act that could go to the drafting stage as early as the end of February.

All this activity may be the reason the Prime Minister appointed Owen, Nault said.

CORRECTION:

AFN changes plans

Despite what it says in our story that begins on page 11 in the February

print edition of Windspeaker (Work-plans off the table) - the special

chiefs assembly will not go ahead at the end of February.

Reliable sources told us in late January that it would be hosted in

Winnipeg on Feb. 25 and 26. But Assembly of First Nations chief

executive officer Dan Brant told us on Feb. 6 that the special assembly

has been postponed until after the end of the current fiscal year. No

date has yet been announced.