CAP leader wants a united Aboriginal front

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Dwight Dorey wants all Aboriginal political organizations to pull in the same direction and stop allowing their differences to get in the way.

Since he displaced Harry Daniels as the national leader of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, Dorey has made it his first priority to "re-profile" the organization by cleaning up messes within CAP's regional affiliates and attempting to create closer connections with other Aboriginal political groups. He has a good start. His sister, Darlia Dorey, was recently elected to replace Marilyn Buffalo as president of the Native Women's Association of Canada.

In Edmonton on Aug. 2 to lend his support in Sam Sinclair's fight to keep his status in the Federal Court of Canada - Sinclair is contesting a decision by the Indian Registrar that he should be stripped of his status because one of his ancestors may have been enfranchised - Dorey met with Windspeaker to discuss his new job.

"I think we should all be about providing equitable service to all Aboriginal people," he said. "As a national leader, I see a role for each one of us to play. There are undeniable overlaps in our responsibilities and we have to remember that when we sit down to meet with federal ministers, that the positions we take will impact on the others. Let's not focus on our differences or problems, let's work together."

There has been antagonism between the national organizations in the recent past as the different groups fight for their slice (or more) of a federal funding pie that most would say is already too small. Dorey believes the fight should be with the federal government and not between the Aboriginal groups and he'll resist playing what many Aboriginal leaders say is a divide-and-conquer game.

He knows First Nations chiefs in Ontario saw the Lovelace case as an attempt to attack them. Lovelace is a recently decided Ontario Court of Justice case where CAP's Ontario affiliate was trying to use a Charter equality argument to gain access to a share of the revenues from Casino Rama.

"It's unfortunate but that's the impression the chiefs have," he said. "But it really wasn't about getting casino dollars. It was about trying to force the government to treat them equally."

He argues that a short term approach that falls into the government's divide-and-conquer trap is not a smart approach and he hopes that by opening lines of communications with the other national Aboriginal leaders a winning strategy can be formulated.

"The ideal for the federal and provincial government would be for the whole Indian scenario to go away," he said. "That's not gonna happen. But the government is still intent on trying to contain its responsibility to First Nations and that's just not practical. Statistics show that wherever Aboriginal people live - on or off reserve - they have social and economic problems that prevail."

Dorey said the funding is far below what the real need is and that's the real issue. He looked at the history of his organization for clues and ideas for an approach and has decided that unity is the only answer.

Originally called the Native Council of Canada, CAP split away from the Metis National Council because so many First Nations people were being disenfranchised or forced off reserve in search of employment that they became a sizeable population with political needs of its own. The organization hit its stride in the fight against Section 12 of the Indian Act, which was eventually replaced by Bill C-31 in April 1985.

Dorey said that fight was only part of the job for CAP.

"There were misconceptions that CAP would dissolve after Bill C-31. Over 100,000 people regained their status but the fight isn't over," he said.

First Nations leaders say the government promised that the jump in population created by C-31 would never create financial hardships for First Nations communities and that funding would keep pace with the changing numbers. They also say this promise was quickly broken. As a result, C31s are resented in many communities because they are seen as a drain on dwindling resources. Dorey's organization and its regional affiliates are still seen as the last hope for many First Nations people who can't, or won't, move to their home reserves.

The federal Department of Indian Affairs' policy of only taking responsibility for status Indians who live on-reserve has created divisions between CAP and the Assembly of First Nations. Dorey hopes to meet with new National Chief Matthew Coon Come to discuss a way around that problem.

"The government sees us as an after-thought," he said. "They develop their plans with the AFN and then we're sort of a tag on later. Based on what I've read in interviews with Matthew Coon Come, I anticipate a new relationship between the two groups."