By Tim Fontaine
APTN National News
HALIFAX--The Assembly of First Nations says it’s changing to become more relevant to the people it represents.
The AFN, which represents over 600 First Nation communities in Canada, wrapped up their three-day annual general assembly Thursday in Halifax.
AFN officials said 302 First Nation Chiefs and proxies attended the meetings and the passed 33 resolutions on issues ranging from natural resource development to renewed calls for an inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. The resolutions are used to give direction to the AFN executive.
In the weeks leading up to the assembly, many articles appeared in the media that questioned the relevancy and even the future of the AFN. But Saskatchewan Regional Chief Perry Bellegarde said the AFN is listening to calls for change coming from some chiefs and First Nation citizens who feel the organization has drifted from the people.
“We’ve established a working committee to look at overhauling the Assembly of First Nations and reviewing the (AFN’s) charter. That’s definitely needed to make it more responsive and reflective of the diversity and relevant,” said Bellegarde. “I think the chiefs-in-assembly really came up and were clear that they still need an Assembly of First Nations and they want a strong voice, but it has to be renewed, revamped and updated.”
A task force of chiefs will be taking a long hard look at the AFN and reporting back with recommendations during a special chiefs assembly in December. But one chief, who asked not to be named, said the changes are coming too slow and the delay in reform left people wondering if the AFN was serious about restructuring.
The Confederacy of Nations, a body within the AFN that some saw as a way of making the organization more reflective, was almost shelved. A resolution was introduced on the first day of the meetings calling for the Confederacy of Nations to be dissolved. The sections about dissolving the Confederacy were taken out of the resolution before it passed, but there was some confusion over what it meant.
Serpent River First Nation Chief Isadore Day, who opposed the resolution, said the issue is complex and the resolution wasn’t clear enough. Day said the Confederacy was simply being added to the review of the AFN as a whole.
“There were some that were led to believe that this shelved the Confederacy, but the clarity needs to be established that in order to remove the Confederacy or nullify the Confederacy you have to go through the proper amendment formula in the AFN Charter,” said Day.
He said leaders from the Treaty Six area of Alberta offered to host the next Confederacy meetings in the coming months.
Sakimay First Nation Chief Lynn Acoose was also opposed to the resolution and called the Confederacy of Nations vital to keeping the AFN open and transparent.
Treaty issues were also on the agenda, with delegates telling the AFN it’s time to get tougher with Ottawa. A resolution was passed directing the AFN to begin an aggressive communications and legal campaign to force the federal government to the negotiating table over implementing treaty rights.
Chiefs say First Nations need to learn how to leverage the recent Tsilhqot’in court victory, which granted the country’s first declaration of Aboriginal Title to the nation.
“That’s a message for First Nations, take action in your territory. Know what the (Tsilhqot’in) decision is. Go through our decision because that’s going to give you clear guidelines of what you need to do,” said one of the Tsilhqot’in Nation’s Chief Roger William.
One of the most highly anticipated topics at the assembly was education. The government’s proposed First Nation education bill was rejected by First Nation leaders in May, ultimately leading to the unprecedented resignation of former national chief Shawn Atleo.
When Aboriginal Affairs Minister Bernard Valcourt announced the bill was on hold, the attached $1.9 billion in funding was also pulled.
Kitigan Zibi Chief Gilbert Whiteduck is one of the chiefs on the AFN’s education task force. He’s confident the AFN can still get that money flowing.
“The funding has been committed, it’s a matter as to how that funding is going to flow, what are the instruments that need to be put in place. I believe, if we really work hard at it within the next six months, we can have something that is going to be satisfactory for First Nations.”
A meeting on the education bill was held at the annual assembly but was closed to the media. Whiteduck says it was an opportunity for chiefs to hash out a strategy.
“We believe something can be done, we believe the opportunity is now and collectively we can do something but it needs to be on our terms and clearly we’ll be putting ahead some non-negotiables which we believe should not be an issue with the government of Canada,” he said.
Whiteduck wouldn’t say what those ‘non-negotiables’ were, but further steps are going to be discussed at a meeting of the AFN’s education task force in two weeks.
Chiefs also used the meetings to choose an interim national chief. Ghislain Picard, a long time regional chief from Quebec, assumes the leadership role until the election is held in Winnipeg on December 10.
Ontario Regional Chief Stan Beardy said the move was important.
“I think any time a ship doesn’t have a captain, there’s always the question, ‘Well now who steers?’” said Beardy.
Beardy said Atleo’s sudden departure shook the AFN.
“I think we were in shock. Which direction are we supposed to go?” he said.
Beardy says he’s confident when a new leader is chosen in December 2014 that the AFN is going to be stronger and more united.
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