CAP board unhappy with former leader

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At a time when things were going smoothly for the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples (CAP), the organization decided that a leadership change was required.

For many in Ottawa and beyond, the decision was a real mystery.

Dwight Dorey was almost a year into his third three-year term as national chief of CAP. Having endorsed the Conservative Party of Canada during the federal election campaign, he and his organization were nicely poised to capitalize on that decision as Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government took power after almost 13 years of Liberal rule. Because of that endorsement, and as funding negotiations are completed over the next several months, CAP could find itself breathing the same rarified air as the Assembly of First Nations (AFN), currently Canada's best-funded national Aboriginal political organization.

But on Feb. 23, exactly one month after the election, Dorey abruptly resigned. Instantly, CAP's political opponents fueled the rumor mill. As a group that claims among its constituency people that other Aboriginal organizations also claim to represent, CAP is not particularly well liked at the headquarters of the AFN and the Metis National Council (MNC).

In announcing his decision to step down following a meeting of the CAP board of directors in Ottawa, Dorey's statement provided no clue to those trying to determine what was going on behind the scenes.

"I have been immersed in Aboriginal politics for nearly 30 years. In that time, I have seen much occur and have done my utmost to move the cause forward for off-reserve and non-status Indians and Metis in Canada. Under Prime Minister Harper, we have a government in place that is prepared to acknowledge and accommodate the needs of the 'Forgotten People.' In making our declaration for Mr. Harper and his team in the recent election campaign, I believe that my job is now done," he said.

Dorey then passed the torch of leadership on to 31-year-old Patrick Brazeau. Windspeaker met the new CAP leader at a public meeting at the Edmonton Friendship Centre gymnasium on April 5. He was in town as part of a five-stop tour of the province to look for an Alberta affiliate for his organization. Dorey had removed the previous Alberta CAP affiliate a couple of years before and no replacement had been found. CAP also lacks an affiliate in Saskatchewan.

The current affiliates are the Labrador Metis Nation, the Federation of Newfoundland Indians, the Native Council of Prince Edward Island, the Native Council of Nova Scotia, the New Brunswick Aboriginal Peoples Council, the Native Alliance of Quebec, the Ontario Metis Aboriginal Association, the Aboriginal Council of Manitoba, the United Native Nations (BC) and the CAP National Youth Committee.

In both Alberta and Saskatchewan there have been past problems with regional affiliates. Brazeau admitted that the former Alberta group had problems with accountability.

"Our board has seen the problem and we're trying to tackle that. Ever since Dwight stepped down specifically we've reconstituted our finance committee to ensure proper transparency and accountability," he said. "There's always some problems in every organization, but we took the steps in February to start dealing with them."

What Brazeau didn't explicitly say was that Dorey left in February and had had seven years to make the changes necessary to ensure accountability, changes that were left to make after his departure.

Was it fair to say that the organization changed direction after Dorey left?

"That's fair to say," Brazeau replied. Were some of the board members dissatisfied with Dorey's leadership?

"That's fair to say," he replied, dealing directly with one of the rumors that had been circulating around Ottawa.

"There were no financial problems," Brazeau assured. "There were some, perhaps, political direction issues within the board. Some of the board members weren't necessarily pleased with some of the direction. But i the end, he just thought he had done his work and it was time to move on."

Other CAP sources said Dorey angered certain members of the board by endorsing the Conservatives and that may have led to his performance being viewed critically.

Brazeau said CAP was in the process of getting a group in Saskatchewan to affiliate and was hopeful that Alberta would also soon join the fold.

"We've been in communication with several groups who might be interested. We actually received an affiliation request two weeks ago [in Saskatchewan] and we're in discussions," he said.

The Edmonton meeting was attended by about 25 people, most of whom are involved in urban service delivery organizations. Brazeau let them know that they were welcome to form a group that could benefit from joining CAP.

He made no secret of the fact that his organization feels it's in a very good position with the federal government. He pointed out the Liberals didn't respond when CAP sent out letters during the election campaign asking about their position on a variety of issues.

But, he added, the Conservative Party "went out of their way encompassing and doing some real, tangible things for Aboriginal people off reserve and also recognizing the non-status population. And that's the first time in Canadian history whereby a mainstream Canadian political party has specifically addressed the issue of off reserve Aboriginal people."

While AFN National Chief Phil Fontaine was always a highly visible guest at public events when the Liberals were in power, Brazeau noted that he was noticeably absent at the Conservatives' biggest public event since the election.

"Yesterday, I was at the speech from the throne and I was the only Aboriginal leader there. Phil Fontaine, [MNC leader] Clem Chartier were nowhere to be seen. I was asked if I was happy with the speech and I answered that I was happy because back in January the Congress received its own throne speech," Brazeau said.

While CAP receive a very detailed seven-page list of policy statements and commitments from Harper, Brazeau told the gathering that the AFN got only a two-page letter.

But what is CAP? During the public meeting, Brazeau explained the structure of his organization.

"Our members are provincial organizations. We don't have direct membership. We can't claim, per se, to directly represent people. The provincial organizations, they directly represent the people," he said. "We say sometimes we represent 800,000 people, but we don't directly represent 800,000 people. We get phone calls occasionally from people who say, 'You don't represent me.' The answer to that is, 'How do you want to become involved?' There are avenues out there in the provinces where people can get involved and it's their individual choice."

He suggested that tolerating division amongst Aboriginal groups is not the best way to go. He said he believed Indigenous nations should be reconstituted and all Indigenous people, regardless or residence or status, should be included.

"We have to speak with one voice. Strength comes in numbers and that's how we can make a difference. There's a lot of infighting happening between the Congress and the Assembly of First Nations on the question of representation. I don't care about representation. I just care about the needs of people," he said. "I'm not a politician. I consider myself a spokesperson for the people. I don't care if I stay in this business two years or five years or whatever. I just want to make sure the grassroots people get what they deserve in terms of rights and programs and services."