The four men running for the position of regional chief of the BC-Assembly of First Nations made a last ditch appeal to the voters June 24 in Vancouver. After criss-crossing the province visiting communities to speak about their platforms, a final candidates’ forum was held at the end of Day 1 of the BC-AFN gathering. Voting is today.
The election is to replace outgoing regional chief Puglaas, Jody Wilson-Raybould, who is stepping aside a few months before her scheduled end of term to run in the next federal election under the Liberal Party banner in Vancouver-Granville.
Two Vancouver Island Nation members are in the hunt. Robert Chamberlin is Kwakwakawakw of the Kwicksutaineuk Ah-kwa-mish First Nation, a remote community that once struggled with level 1 mold in all its houses, and lived without potable water for a decade, he said. Under his leadership the community has been rebuilt and their water situation has been addressed, he told the gathering. Chamberlin, of late, has been serving as the vice-president of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs.
Douglas White currently sits as director of Vancouver Island University’s Centre for Pre-Confederation Treaties and Reconciliation. A lawyer by trade, he is the former chief of the Snuneymuxw First Nation and former member of the First Nations Summit Task Group and BC First Nations Leadership Council. He is Coast Salish, and has roots in Hupacasath in Nuu-chah-nulth territory and carries the name Tliishin from there.
Shane Gottfriedson is a former four-term chief of Tk’emlups First Nations at Kamloops, B.C. He has served as tribal chief of the Shuswap Nation Tribal Council, and on the Chief’s Governance Council, the Aboriginal Business Investment Council, Ch’nook Sauder School of Business Advisory Board, the B.C. Roundtable on the Environment, and the First Nations Gaming Commission.
Nelson Leon is a member of the Secwepemc Nation serving in a leadership role over a total of 16 years, nine as chief of the Adams Lake First Nation. Adams Lake also falls under the Shuswap Nation Tribal Council. Leon has served on a number of boards, including All Nations Trust, Central Interior Aboriginal Human Resource Development, the BC AFN Board of Directors and the First Nation Energy and Mining Council.
After the candidates were given 10 minutes each to flesh out their platforms, the floor was open to questions. It quickly became clear that the bitter taste left behind after the last few years of tumult at the national Assembly of First Nations would dominate delegate concerns.
Many BC chiefs are still stinging after the rough treatment of A-in-chut Shawn Atleo, former national chief, who resigned over infighting and internal strife related to the First Nations Control of First Nations Education Act. They were also appalled by the misogyny and mistreatment of Puglaas at a raucous meeting of the national organization in May 2014.
Wahmeesh Ken Watts, vice president of the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council, asked candidates about the rough and tumble politically jousting at the AFN. The NTC had penned a sharply-worded letter addressed to the delegates of the AFN after the treatment of Puglaas, and he acknowledged her yesterday for carrying herself with dignity at that time.
See the letter here: http://www.hashilthsa.com/news/2014-06-11/open-letter-assembly-first-nat...
How will you ensure that B.C.’s voice is brought out on the national stage, Watts asked, when often it seemed the AFN chiefs had it out for B.C.
“It was shameful that it happened. It was shameful what happened to our national chief,” said Gottfriedson, but he said participation in the AFN needs to be maintained.
White said First Nations across the country have commonality and that was the purpose of the AFN. There has to be a way to work on those common issues together. B.C. had done incredible work in the province on education legislation, and at the national level it came apart at the seams, he said, and left first nations children without proper financial supports. B.C. needed to guard against division, because the AFN matters, said White.
Chamberlin said he was disappointed and deeply offended by the treatment of Puglaas. He would bring a strong, respectful and inclusive approach to mending, re-establishing or building bridges over the rifts of the last number of years, he said.
One of the challenges is treaty, and treaty implementation, said Leon.
Another BC-AFN delegate wanted to know how the newly-elected regional chief would help mend the wounded reputation of the national organization. How are you going to rebuild the relevance of the national body and how the world views it? What tools can you use to bring the national executive back together and repair its reputation?
Leon said governance should be conducted in a dignified manner.
White was concerned that this critical moment in history needed to be recognized. White was referring to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and how it created a space for dialogue across the nation with its summary report and 94 calls to action. His comments were also a nod to the Tsilhqot’in decision, a game-changer for first nations in which the Supreme Court of Canada recognized their title over their ancestral lands, acknowledging that decision-making power over their territory did not only rest with the Crown.
“We need a strong national organization to help advocate for our people at home,” White said. The AFN needs to reflect upon itself, acknowledge that first Nations are each sovereign nations and give that its proper respect.
Chamberlin said he was running on a platform of reconciliation. Gottfriedson called on the chiefs to have political will and discipline to create friendly and respectful relationships with other provincial delegates. He acknowledged that “sometimes we are fighting over scraps.”
Chief Maureen Chapman said the treatment of Puglaas last year was “appalling”, but she wanted to comment that there is much work to do in B.C. to deal with lateral violence around political tables. The way delegates treat women at home can be equally appalling, she commented.
There was discussion about how to move implementation of aboriginal title forward in the province.
White commented that both the political and bureaucratic arms of the B.C. government have entrenched themselves in the status quo, so it was the BC chiefs that must put a clear vision forward to guide that work. He said there has been bureaucratic interference getting in the way of that progress, behavior that is premised on old, broken, racist ideas.
Leon said first nations couldn’t wait to see what the province is going to do on title implementation. The chiefs needed to provide a roadmap for change.
One delegate asked for each of the candidates to name two issues out of the six he provided that topped their priorities—reconciliation, rights and title, education, children and families, economic development or health.
Chamberlin said reconciliation was his first choice and his core platform, and children and family was next. The over-representation of aboriginal children in the child welfare system is just an extension of the residential school goals of removing children from their families and communities, he said.
Gottfriedson said children and families topped his list and then education, because it’s “our greatest tool to get out of poverty.”
Leon said, ‘what good is title without children? And then title and rights because all else flows from that.
White said the question was about taking the most powerful approach to organizing the work before the BC-AFN. He said it was critical to build strategy that will achieve the best possible outcomes for children. Title and rights and pushing the Crown to recognize first nations’ legal rights, would be the first step before reconciliation, he said.
BC AFN male youth representative Hjalmer Wenstob of Tla-o-qui-aht has long expressed frustration about the role of the AFN youth council, calling the acknowledgements paid to youth as leaders of tomorrow “lip service.”
White said it was a shame that the youth would even think that they were being treated like window dressing and that youth should be supported at every level.
First ballot voting begins at 9:30 a.m. and, if needed, the second ballot will be held at 11:30 a.m., and if all goes well, the BC-AFN electoral officer Marcus Hadley should announce the results by 3 p.m.
