“The chiefs who are sitting here [voting], they’re the conservative ones. The feeling out in the communities and out on the streets is more radical. If they were to have had the election open to the general Indian public, we would have found much more different leadership,” said Doug Cuthand, a member of the Cree Little Pine First Nation in Saskatchewan and a columnist for The Star Phoenix.
Some 540 chiefs voted in last week’s election. Mr. Atleo was re-elected on the third ballot of the day, receiving 67 per cent of the vote in the end.
Under the AFN’s charter, a national chief must receive at least 60 per cent support. Only chiefs of the AFN can vote to elect a national chief, and whether a reserve has a population of 200 or 2,000, it’s a one-chief-one-vote system.
Mr. Atleo, who had been criticized as being close to the Conservative government and not vocal enough, told the First Nations that he will fight to stop any mining, logging, and pipeline projects proceeding without the consent of First Nations.
“We will stand in front of efforts to sweep away our titles and rights,” Mr. Atleo said on July 19 after winning the leadership, adding that First Nations must be made partners in the development of the major resources on their land.
Mr. Atleo was challenged by seven candidates, including four female candidates. Interestingly, the gender equilibrium remained in place throughout all three ballots, with one man and one woman being knocked off or withdrawing after each round of voting.
Pamela Palmater, a Mi’kmaq lawyer whose family comes from the Eel River Bar First Nation in New Brunswick, placed second to Mr. Atleo, and won 27.5 per cent support on the third ballot. Ms. Palmater, an associate professor in politics and public administration at Ryerson University, and an off-reserve, urban aboriginal voice, told APTN that the unprecedented number of candidates who ran indicates their growing concerns.
“We [had] seven candidates challenging Atleo,” said Ms. Palmater. “I think that’s almost history. So for me, and what I’m hearing, that is pretty strong evidence that we’re not happy with what’s happening.”
But Herb George, a Wet’suwet’en hereditary chief of the Frog Clan and current president of the National Centre for First Nations Governance, told The Hill Times that the AFN chiefs sent a clear message that they need “continuity” in the relationship between First Nations and the Crown.
“I think that’s what the chiefs in the assembly were looking for was the continued advocacy of national chief Atleo. The way he conducts himself, his diplomatic style, is what they need,” said Mr. George. “But the other side of it is that talk at the assembly was the fact that we’ve got to get organized in our communications and within our nations to deal with those issues regarding land and resources.”
In the lead-up to the election, there were rumours of an “anyone but Atleo” movement as a result of widespread criticism that Mr. Atleo was under the thumb of Prime Minister Stephen Harper (Calgary Southwest, Alta.) and the Conservative government, but Mr. Cuthand said with all the candidates, votes never coalesced around one Atleo-alternative. Mr. Atleo started strong on the first ballot with 284 votes, or 53 per cent support, and came just three votes short of 60 per cent on the second ballot.
Meanwhile, the AFN is at a “tipping point” in its approach to relations with the federal government, Mr. Cuthand told The Hill Times, adding that there’s a point where “you just cannot work with them anymore.”
“There’s no negotiation…it started with the Kelowna Accord. The first week that the Harper government came in with a minority, they scrapped an accord that had been worked out in detail with the provinces and First Nations and it would have gone a long ways because there was a funding disparity, and there still is a large funding disparity between First Nations’ needs and what they’re getting,” said Mr. Cuthand. “There’s a strong feeling that we’re being bullied, and that the First Nations are in quite a bit of trouble and the message is not getting out there. So there’s a strong sense of private frustration and anger growing.”
Mr. Atleo is a hereditary chief from the Ahousaht First Nation on Vancouver Island in B.C., and as AFN national chief, will be the top liaison between First Nation chiefs and various levels of the federal government.
On April 23, at a Canadian Club of Toronto luncheon, Mr. Atleo said in order to achieve true reconciliation there must be an economic partnership between aboriginal communities and the rest of Canada.
“Almost every resource development activity currently operating or planned is occurring within 200 kilometers of a First Nations’ community and right in the middle of our traditional territories,” said Mr. Atleo.
In his first term as chief, Mr. Atleo’s established a national panel on First Nations on-reserve education in 2010 and organized the Crown-First Nations meeting held in December 2011, which was seen as an important step forward in dialogue with the federal government.
But since that meeting, the chiefs have said they felt muzzled by Prime Minister Harper’s government.
Marilyn Poitras, a Métis and an assistant professor in the University of Saskatchewan’s law faculty, told The Hill Times that more action is needed, and not more studies and discussions, which she said the government uses as “busy work” for the AFN.
On Mr. Atleo’s road to re-election he was told that he needs to take a harder line with the government.
Ms. Poitras said national chiefs have the potential for powerful leadership, but are restricted by the fact that the federal government controls their funding.
“If you can’t disempower somebody with a stroke of a pen and a chequebook I think that of course you have more power,” said Ms. Poitras. “Shawn Atleo, I think, is trying to go about this in a way that he is taking measured, contemplative steps about what he says and where he says it. ... I think he has a potential for leadership that could turn the corner.”
The Department of Aboriginal Affairs underwent a 2.7 per cent cut this year—a reduction of $26.9-million this year, $60.1-million next year and $165.6-million in 2014-15—one of the smallest departmental trims as part of the government’s cost-cutting measures. The government has also committed $175-million over three years to fund on-reserve education.
But NDP MP and aboriginal affairs critic Jean Crowder (Nanaimo-Cowichan, B.C.) told The Hill Times that many First Nations communities are already so behind financially that “any kind of reduction in funding makes a bigger difference.”
On July 16, the Canadian Council of Chief Executives released a report prepared for provincial leaders which urged governments to work with aboriginal communities as full partners in developing energy and mining projects, and to help train their workforce so First Nations can participate and share the wealth of business initiatives in their territories.
“I think that’s a huge development as an external or third party coming in…and saying, wait a minute here. And frankly, I think it’s one of the few things that’s going to put any kind of brakes on the Harper machine,” said Ms. Poitras in an interview with The Hill Times.
A share of resource wealth would provide First Nations communities with an economic foundation, making them less reliant on funding from the Department of Aboriginal Affairs, and would open up employment opportunities. First Nations communities argue that just as they have a right to the land, they have a right to the resources it produces and a right to weigh in on environmental assessments.
“There’s some everyday issues that face First Nations people that are pretty universal, that unfortunately unite a lot of colonialized communities. They’re the issues that are some pretty basic ones: health issues, poverty, education, justice issues, maintaining language, economic developments within communities, employment issues. There’s really foundational issues that face a lot of communities, ‘Can I drink the water that’s coming out of my tap today?’” said Ms. Poitras.
In October 2011, as temperatures in Canada dropped, the First Nation community of Attawapiskat in Northern Ontario declared a state of emergency due to a severe housing shortage. Many residents were living in tents or other temporary shelters, and many homes lacked water, electricity or proper sewage disposal—all factors that directly impact health and quality of life. The drastic conditions in Attawapiskat sparked a flurry of national attention, but they were far from new or unique, and Attawapiskat became the case in point for renewed national discussion around the range of issues that continue to face First Nations communities, from housing to education to economic opportunities, which are all interconnected.
Education and child welfare are huge issues for First Nations communities who are still suffering the impact of the residential school system.
A federal two per cent cap on funding for First Nations schools, introduced in 1996, has left the First Nations education system under-funded. Less than half of First Nation youth graduate high school and only eight per cent of First Nations, Métis and Inuit have a university degree, compared to 23 per cent of Canada’s non-indigenous population, and many First Nation communities are without a school, and many more have schools in portable trailers or schools that require extensive renovations. Mr. Atleo has previously estimated that $500-million would be needed to bring First Nations schools up to speed with the rest of Canada.
Though it varies by community, First Nations communities in Canada are dealing with high suicide rates. Health Canada reports that suicide rates, which have an impact upon the entire community, are five to seven times higher for First Nations youth, compared with non-Aboriginal youth. As recently as last May, the Cowichan Tribes on central Vancouver Island in B.C. declared a state of emergency following four suicides in two months, and even more suicide attempts.
The issue of violence against aboriginal women has garnered international attention. In 2004, Amnesty International reported that aboriginal women between the ages of 25 to 44 were five times more likely than other Canadian women of the same age range to die of violence. And in 2008, the United Nations called on the Canadian government to investigate the deaths and disappearances of hundreds of aboriginal women in 2008. Since 1980, more than 600 aboriginal women have gone missing or have been murdered. There have been recent mounting calls for a national inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women.
Unemployment among aboriginal Canadians, both on and off reserve, is significantly higher than the national rate of 6.6 per cent, according to the 2006 census. That year, 23.1 per cent of First Nations people living on reserve were unemployed, while 12.3 per cent of First Nations people living off reserve were unemployed.
Ms. Crowder said First Nations people haven’t “seen the kinds of gains that they had hoped for after the residential school apology” delivered by Mr. Harper in 2008, and “people are losing patience.”
Original Article
Source: hill times
Author: Laura Ryckewaert
No comments:
Post a Comment