Ally Bear signs documents in this file photo to officially become a lawyer in Saskatchewan, while wearing a red handprint on her face to symbolize MMIWG. Photo: APTN file
Aly Bear, the former vice-chief of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations who was running for the top spot in the organizationa week ago, says she was the target of a smear campaign on election day.
“As soon as I walked up, there was people telling me there are posters, these flyers are everywhere, hundreds of them all over the outside of the building, all over cars, vehicles,” said Bear from Whitecap Dakota Nation.
APTN News has only seen a ripped up version of the poster and isn’t certain what the offending message is.
At this time, it has not been confirmed who posted the flyers around the downtown Saskatoon area.
“I think that enough is enough and I’m going to stand up for myself,” said Bear, a lawyer. “I’m going to stand up for every other woman that continues to go through this type of abuse, this type of harassment and this type of treatment in the workplace and within their homes.
“We need to do better and we need to protect our women.”
Bobby Cameron was elected to his fourth term as chief of FSIN – beating out Bear on the first ballot on Nov. 1. He denounced the attack on Bear in his victory speech.
Chief Lynn Acoose of Zagime Anishinabek saw the posters and talked to other female delegates who were upset by the posters.
“There was a study done on women leadership in Canada,” she told APTN. “It reported a frightening rise in lateral violence and threats towards women leaders. So, it’s not only at the First Nations level, it’s at all levels.”
Acoose said First Nations should enforce the calls for justice outlined in the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls to combat these attacks.
“Start with making the workplace safe for children and women, as well, as having community supports in place to respond to women who do not feel safe,” she said.
Chief Matthew Todd of Pasqua First Nation nominated Bear for the leadership position. He said while the FSIN did denounce the posters against her, it wasn’t until the election was over.
“It’s sad when we have an election and we have candidates talking like this about the respect for our cocoons, our mothers, our daughters and all our women, and we got to always protect them,” he told APTN. “And then yet you have pictures – derogatory pictures – of one of the candidates.”
Warning at the AFN
In 2019, the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) executive committee adopted a code of conduct after complaints of bad behaviour by chiefs. The code defines various policies, explains conflict of interest, and lists discipline procedures that AFN said applies to the grand chief and regional chiefs.
At the December 2023 special chiefs assembly, the AFN said all participants were asked to sign a declaration that they understood what was expected of them.
Acceptable behavior includes being “considerate, respectful and collaborative.” The unacceptable list said “intimidating, harassing, abusive, discriminating, derogatory or demeaning conduct” won’t be tolerated and may result in “immediate removal” from the assembly.
Bear said the attack won’t stop her from advocating for women facing similar experiences.
“There’s no time to give up, and there’s no time to break down, no matter what people do to you and say to you at the end of the day, my babies are depending on me, and so you can’t break me,” she said.
Meanwhile, Bear and her campaign team are asking organizations in the downtown Saskatoon area for security footage to identify who was responsible for posting the flyers. Bear said she will pursue this legally.
“That’s exactly what we need to continue to do. We need to utilize the law on the police piece to protect our women at the same time,” she said.
Her campaign team said police have been made aware of the situation.
