Leaders gather

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The first Indigenous People's Leadership Conference held on Jan. 27 to 29 allowed an opportunity for First Nations and Metis leaders to share information about the common goals of Aboriginal leaders while working to develop new ideas, new tools and new relationships to achieve those goals.

Hosted by the Saddle Lake First Nation, the conference included panel discussions on leadership and accountability, the sharing of success stories, and a number of tips on what to do with the information gathered at the conference once at home.

Charles Wood, the chairman of the conference, said the gathering stressed the importance of increasing First Nations involvement in mainstream society while protecting rights to self-determination and heritage.

"The solutions need to be ours. We are the ones who know what is good for us, not someone else. We need to take the good from our culture but we also need to take the opportunities and values from other cultures. Our leadership needs to do that in our own communities. We need to create our own concepts on how we see things happening for us and giving it back to the government and saying here is what we'd like to see in the community. If we develop our own ideas then we have ownership," he said.

"Why can't we be the bosses," asked federal senator Thelma Chalifoux, a guest speaker at the conference. "Let our leaders do the job. They might make mistakes but they get back up again. We have to depend on our leaders. We cannot run them down."

Alberta Premier Ralph Klein shared a few ideas he's learned about leadership over his time in provincial politics. He challenged the conference delegates to try things differently. He said that leadership was a balancing act.

"There are two components to leadership-education and programs to develop leadership quality," said Klein.

"If you set a new course of action and you hit a brick wall, do not give up. Back up and make a detour if you have to but do not give up. When you do this you are still trying to make the destination as in growth and prosperity. We have to achieve a proper balance and we have to know how to keep the balance when change comes along."

He warned however that leaders also must be aware that people are watching for a slip-up.

"It is not your successes that will get the headlines. It is that one mistake that will make the headlines," Klein said.