It’s election day at the Assembly of First Nations gathering in Vancouver.
538 chiefs and proxies will vote for the person who will lead the AFN for the next three years.
What matter the most is getting 60 per cent of those 538 votes – or 323.
Thrown into the mix at the assembly on Wednesday was Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett.
Four of the candidates took issue with what they saw as political interference.
Opportunity lost. The real, authentic leaders were shut down, and the government shills prevailed. Carolyn Bennett is a highly effective agent of the colonial government, as is Perry Belgrade.
The very act of showing up is political interference especially if she showed up and met with some Chiefs and not others behind closed doors as reported yesterday. She should have waited until after the elections to pop by and not one second before. If she was invited then that is political Interference because the current “Chief” is using his clout to show the electorate that he has friends at the federal level. I wonder how many grassroots people had an opportunity to voice who our choices were? No one asked me. Why is an advocacy group, the AFN, being given political power to speak on our behalf? When the Federal Government wants to speak to us Indigenous they go to the AFN. Advocacy is not allowing one organization to talk about my title and rights. By showing up at this event, and never just popping into our gatherings here, shows the importance the Federal Government places on the AFN. #BadForm
Opportunity lost. The real, authentic leaders were shut down, and the government shills prevailed. Carolyn Bennett is a highly effective agent of the colonial government, as is Perry Belgrade.
The very act of showing up is political interference especially if she showed up and met with some Chiefs and not others behind closed doors as reported yesterday. She should have waited until after the elections to pop by and not one second before. If she was invited then that is political Interference because the current “Chief” is using his clout to show the electorate that he has friends at the federal level. I wonder how many grassroots people had an opportunity to voice who our choices were? No one asked me. Why is an advocacy group, the AFN, being given political power to speak on our behalf? When the Federal Government wants to speak to us Indigenous they go to the AFN. Advocacy is not allowing one organization to talk about my title and rights. By showing up at this event, and never just popping into our gatherings here, shows the importance the Federal Government places on the AFN. #BadForm