APTN National News
OTTAWA–First Nation chiefs gathered for a special meeting of the Assembly of First Nations Tuesday are expected to formally reject the Harper government’s proposed bill for on-reserve education.
About 174 chiefs gathered in a conference hall in Ottawa to hash-out their collective position on the First Nation Control of First Nation Education Act and decide on a process for the election of the next national chief of the AFN.
Most of the chiefs who spoke during the morning session of the gathering called for an outright rejection of Bill C-33. Some criticized the wording of a resolution tabled at the beginning of the discussion because it contained a clause leaving the potential overhaul of the bill as an option.
“Onion Lake has told me, take this message to the leaders, to the leadership, we cannot support Bill C-33,” said Onion Lake Cree Nation Chief Wallace Fox.
The proposed resolution also calls on the government to immediately provide funding even without new legislation.
The Harper government had promised $1.9 billion in new money for reserve education if the bill passed.
Tensions between the treaty chiefs and the chiefs from British Columbia and the East Coast, however, bubbled to the surface as a result of the resolution on the education bill, which was moved by AFN BC regional Chief Jody Wilson-Raybould.
The Ontario and Manitoba chiefs did not see the resolution before it was put on the floor. Chiefs from both those regions have been pushing to re-establish the authority of the Confederacy of Nations within the AFN and put the assembly’s executive on a shorter leash.
Serpent River First Nation Chief Isadore Day moved to break up the session into regional caucuses to discuss the education resolution. He said it concerned him the resolution seemed to have the backing of the AFN executive without any input from chiefs.
“This is clearly a top-down situation we find ourselves in,” said Day. “I don’t want to waste your time, then don’t waste mine, we need to have some real questions tabled with respect to the legitimacy of the AFN.”
Wilson-Raybould said the resolution was the result of extensive discussions by the AFN executive, which has as member chiefs representing B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, the Northwest Territories and the Yukon.
“It was my understanding that the AFN executive was putting this forward as a recommendation,” said Wilson-Raybould. “Do not confuse a top-down approach with leadership. I am standing here as a council member in my own community. I am backed up from all of the chiefs and proxies (from British Columbia).”
Day’s motion to break into caucus passed 125 to 49.
One chief on the AFN executive told APTN National News that Wilson-Raybould’s resolution did not have the full backing of the executive. Another source, with knowledge of internal discussions, said the executive couldn’t arrive to a consensus on rejecting resolution.
Chiefs are also expected to debate dueling resolutions on when to have the election from national chief. One resolution calls for the election to happen in July during a scheduled AFN general assembly in Halifax, while another resolution calls for the election to be held in Winnipeg this fall.
The meeting resumes Tuesday afternoon.
