Candidates named for Saskatchewan's top chief

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Three candidates will face-off to be chief of Saskatchewan's most powerful First Nations organization. Allan Adam, Rodney Gopher and Blaine Favel, the incumbent, are all vying to be chief of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations.

The elections will be held on Oct. 16 in Saskatoon. This year's elections will also see a new pared-down executive, with voters deciding on four vice-chief positions instead of the usual seven.

Adam is from the Fond Du Lac First Nation in northern Saskatchewan and just finished serving as the seventh vice-chief of the federation. He feels that as chief of the federation he could do more to bring First Nations people into all levels of government.

"I'm pushing for First Nations to be involved in all levels of government," he said. "If you're just sitting on the outside complaining all the time, you'll still be sitting on the outside four or five elections from now."

He thinks that this philosophy will benefit First Nations people in the long run.

"For so many years we've been on our hands and knees waiting for the next government hand out and I'm damn sick and tired of it," continued Adam. "I'd like to see our people empowered. . . stand up for themselves. Let's wake up. Let's move ahead."

Even though he knows he'll be criticized for "buying into the system," Adam is convinced that participating in politics at all levels will give First Nations people the power necessary to make positive changes.

Gopher is from the Saulteux First Nation in central Saskatchewan. He released a pamphlet outlining his platform that stressed building new relationships with governments and improving political, program and fiscal accountability.

The biggest shake-up in the federation was its recent reduction of seven vice-chiefs to four. Gopher seems to feel that an "examination of the re-organization of the FSIN" is required.

Adam, on the other hand, feels that there will be some growing pains with the new streamlined executive. The workload for each vice-chief will increase but "in the long term, it will be a lot better in terms of how things are done," he said.

The casinos are another issue that will certainly be important to the election. Profits from the four casinos have exceeded expectations and the federation has been studying the profitability of purchasing the Regina Casino from the provincial government.

Even though Adam considers buying the Regina Casino "an option," he does want to analyze the social, as well as economic, effects of casinos on First Nations people.

"I want to take a serious look at the social implications of the casinos on our people. I want to look at that component and not just the money-making end," he said. "We have to look at whether the casinos have a positive or negative impact on our people."

As far as economic development is concerned, Gopher's pamphlet states: The implementation of a First Nations economy can be structured to establish a community based economy, owned and operated by our Bands. The financing and institutional arrangements of a First Nations economy at the community level has to be a priority.

As one of his portfolio assignments as the federation's seventh vice-chief, Adam was in charge of examining the effects of the 1930 Natural Resources Transfer Agreement. He feels that the economic future of Saskatchewan's First Nations is in resource development.

"Self determination for our people is going to be in the area of natural resources," he said. "I think the biggest push is how co-operatively resources are going to be managed in the future. We've had a lot of running battles with the Natural Resources Transfer Agreement and the province. We have to look at other models for revenue," he said. "We can't just look down one road. We have to look at all the paths."

Despite repeated attempts, Blaine Favel could not be reached for comment. As well as the three candidates for chief of the federation, there will be 11 other candidates campaigning for three ice-chief positions. Terry Sanderson was the only candidate for second vice-chief and, unless he pulls out of the election, will be acclaimed on Oct. 16.