AFN regional chief resigns

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The chemistry of the executive board of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) will change in June, now that Ontario Regional Chief Charles Fox has submitted his resignation.

Fox's resignation will be effective as of the Chiefs of Ontario annual meeting to be held in Eagle Lake First Nation near Dryden from June 14 to 16. His successor will be chosen at that meeting.

The regional chief occupies the influential Ontario seat on the 10-member AFN executive board. A long list of potential replacements for Fox is being discussed in First Nation political circles.

Former regional chief Gord Peters is said to be considering a run, as is former Akwesasne chief Mike Mitchell. Two former Union of Ontario Indian (UOI) grand chiefs, Vern Roote and Earl Commanda, and another UOI candidate, Eugene Manitowabi, are also rumored to be sniffing the political wind and assessing their chances.

Chief Alan Luby, who spearheaded AFN National Chief Phil Fontaine's campaign in the Treaty 3 area, is also rumored to want the job. And Larry Sault, who ran Roberta Jamieson's unsuccessful campaign for national chief in 2003, is being mentioned as a possible candidate.

During a recent Ontario political confederacy meewzng, said Chris McCormick, grand chief of the Iroquois and Allied Indians, Fox was asked about rumors that he was considering stepping down to accept a position as special assistant with the Ontario ministry of Health. Fox admitted there had been discussions with the province and was then asked by the chiefs to make a decision about his future with the organization by April 29. As that deadline approached, he sent out a letter to all Ontario chiefs announcing his departure. By May 6, the letter was received by e-mail or fax in band offices across the province.

"Five years ago in June, I was just elected in Couchiching, the Ojibway nation of Grand Council of Treaty 3. It is highly symbolic that I take my leave at Eagle Lake, the Ojibway nation of Grand Council of Treaty 3," he wrote. "There have been many developments in my personal and professional growth over the last five years. I have lost a son, a brother and both parents since that time. Their departure from the physical to the spiritual world has strengthened me as an individual, emotionally, mentally and spiritually."

He thanked the leaders and Elders in the province and said the decision to resign was not an easy one.

"I know that wherever I go I will continue to work for the advancement and improvement of our peoples' lives. I wish nothing but the best for you and all our people. Let us move forward with our Creator," he concluded.

In the last federal election, Fox attempted, unsuccessfully, to cross the line into mainstream politics in a bid to become the Liberal candidate in Kenora. As a result of his admission that he had become a member of the Liberal Party, many chiefs and technicians in the province say Fox lost the confidence of a significant number of the 134 Ontario chiefs and would have faced a difficult campaign if he attempted to run again for regional chief.

On the national scene, Fox was openly criticized and then marginalized by his AFN executive colleagues as punishment for his public support for Roberta Jamieson, who finished second behind Fontaine in the 2003 run-off for national chief. He was stripped of the six portfolios he held previous to the election, which included the health portfolio. Some sources say the move was intended to eliminate him as a future candidate for national chief.

Although the national chief publicly announced during the December 2003 Confederacy in Ottawa that he and Fox had resolved their differences, other members of the AFN executive were not so forgiving.

Nova Scotia and Newfoundland Vice-chief Rick Simon said that Fox running as a Liberal would be contrary to an AFN resolution that was passed in 1986. The assembly, then led by Georges Erasmus, resolved "that a First Nation spokesperson r representative shall not be a member of a non-First Nation political party."