Coon Come answers Nault

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The national chief responded to the minister of Indian Affairs on Sept. 26 in the latest round of a war of words over the minister's First Nations governance initiative.

The Assembly of First Nations had hoped to join in the governance consultations-and access federal funding-before a funding shortfall forced the national organization to start laying off staff. But when the AFN couldn't convince the minister to listen to their idea of what the governance initiative should look like, the chance that First Nations leaders would join in the consultations effectively vanished. As of Oct. 24, no deal has been reached. The consultations are due to wrap up on Oct. 31.

In an Oct. 16 press release, the AFN claimed the minister had never entered into good faith negotiations on its budget.

"He removed all authority from the department to negotiate the AFN budget and arbitrarily decided the organization's funding levels," the release stated.

Coon Come announced that 70 employees ? or 64 per cent of the workforce ? were laid off because of funding shortfalls. A further 24 vacant positions will not be filled. Just 53 jobs remain.

"The AFN is a national institution in Canada," the national chief said. "It is the national voice for all First Nation citizens living in our communities or in urban areas. This action by the minister to silence us is an ominous sign for all First Nations organizations in Canada. It could very well be a sign that dissent to government policies will not be tolerated and that our ability to fight for our rights will be severely limited."

The minister's actions regarding governance are seen as heavy-handed in many quarters. First Nations technicians increasingly are wondering out loud how the federal government would react if an outside entity tried to interfere with its powers by going directly to Canadian citizens, rather than dealing with elected representatives. In his letter to the minister, Coon Come reminded Nault that the AFN was made up of duly elected political representatives of First Nations people and those leaders deserved Ottawa's respect.

"[Y]our government legally recognizes the constituent base of the AFN as representative, and the AFN receives its mandate directly from them," he wrote.

Coon Come again reminded the federal minister that a variety of exhaustive studies by respected bodies had made recommendations to Canada on ways to improve conditions in First Nations communities. He then told the minister his governance initiative was not consistent with any of the high level advice the government had received from royal commissions, academic studies or reports from domestic or international committees.

"Consequently, many First Nations question whether the motivation behind this process is primarily to diminish potential federal liabilities rather than support First Nations in ever fully realizing self government," he wrote.

Coon Come urged the minister to meet with him as soon as possible.