Decisive first ballot win for Fontaine

Jubilant supporters of National Chief Phil Fontaine are claiming that history was made at Vancouver's Canada Place on July 12. It was a short workday for the delegates on day two of the 27th Assembly of First Nations (AFN) annual general assembly as the incumbent made short work of his lone challenger, Chief Bill Wilson. At shortly after 1:00 p.m. Pacific Time, the results of the first ballot were announced by AFN chief electoral officer Bob Johnson. Of the 493 ballots cast that morning, Fontaine picked up 373. That works out to 75.66 per cent.

Only 117 or 23.73 per cent of the delegates voted for Wilson.

"That's three historics," Fontaine supporter Robin Wortman told Windspeaker. "First ever first ballot win, biggest margin of victory and the first time anyone has earned a third term."

Observers were watching for a significant number of spoiled ballots as a sign of protest of the limited choice of candidates. Many of those who opposed Fontaine were not prepared to support Wilson, but it turned out that the electronic voting system employed by the AFN makes it difficult to spoil a ballot.

Johnson explained how it was that three ballots didn't count.

"Three electors who approached the voting area walked away and declined to cast a vote, so the machines registered a blank ballot," he said.

The eventual outcome was apparent after the candidate's forum the previous afternoon. Wilson gave a passionate, but rambling speech that received only polite applause at its conclusion. Fontaine's speech was well rehearsed and carefully crafted, full of details on his plans for the next three years but only rarely matching the passion of Wilson. But when it was done, the room exploded with applause and cheers and many delegates rose to their feet.

Fontaine saved his passion for his victory speech. Surrounded by his family, friends and supporters, his voice quavered with emotion on several occasions as he laid out his agenda for the new term.

Fontaine thanked his supporters and family, including "my partner [University of Calgary law professor] Kathleen [Mahoney]."

"I want to thank an individual that encouraged me when I was not so certain that I was going to run for this office again. He impressed upon me the importance of doing so. He supported me throughout the last three years in so many different ways, and I'm referring to my good friend who's been a friend of mine for years, Ken Hill." Hill is the lead partner in Six Nations cigarette company Grand River Enterprises.

The national chief took note of the fact that protesters appeared at the site of the assembly the day before.

"The fact that we have protesters trying to get our attention means we have to do our job better. We need to listen, we need to plan and we need to act and we need to take time to consider if we are doing well or not," he said.

He told the chiefs that he will take on the Conservative federal government. The language he used throughout the first two days of the assembly was far more forceful than he has previously employed in his public statements.

"You cast your ballots for accountability. Accountability, Prime Minister Harper. Accountability, Minister Prentice. You need to be accountable to us First Nations," he said to applause. "I will insist on accountability for the millions wasted by bureaucrats doing badly what we do best. I will insist on accountability for the millions wasted in court trying to defeat our rights. I will insist on accountability for the millions wasted on perpetuating poverty instead of alleviating it."

He pledged to not give up on the Kelowna agreement, despite the new government's apparent disinterest in pursuing it.

"You have cast your ballot for principled, effective negotiations. We got an agreement in Kelowna'a unanimous, non-partisan nation-to-nation agreement. First ministers of every political stripe; Conservative, Liberal and NDP, all agreed to our plan, as did all of the other Aboriginal leaders. We are not going tolet this agreement die. It is too important. It points the way out of poverty and that is our direction. We will stay the course," he said.

Fontaine blasted the Harper government's decision to vote against the declaration on Indigenous rights.

"The new government has demonstrated in Geneva that they are prepared to align themselves with such human rights giants as Russia. Can you imagine? We will build a case. We will take our story to every Parliamentarian in Canada. We will take our case to the people of Canada and with our brothers and sisters to the people of the world. We will not stop until we see the United Nations general assembly adopt the declaration on the rights of Indigenous peoples," he said.

He outlined the vision that will fuel the work of his third term.

"I ask all of you here assembled to dream with me of where we will be in 10 years. To truly dream about the kind of life we deserve," he said. "The kind of homes we desperately need, safe and healthy communities, vibrant economies, our people taking their rightful place in this country. Standing proud and committing themselves once again to making this country the kind of place it deserves to be, one that honors all of its citizens, and most importantly our people, the first peoples of this land."

But while Fontaine has earned a new mandate, it does not necessarily mean that all of the First Nations chiefs across Canada will accept his leadership.

Number treaty chiefs will meet for an organizational meeting in Winnipeg at the end of July and may form a separate organization.

Mississaugas of the New Credit (Ontario) Chief Bryan LaForme said his council and others in Ontario are seriously considering leaving the AFN if there isn't a different approach in the new term. With close to 200 chiefs in British Columbia and those chiefs forming the basis of Fontaine's power base, some other regions are feeling left out.

"In talking with some of the chiefs, there's other chiefs out there that feel thesame way that I do that at the national level there's not enough being done to address some of the concerns that some of the other provinces have, such as land claims, treaty rights, that kind of thing. Ontario has virtually been invisible when it comes to those kinds of things at the national level with the national chief," said LaForme.

During the campaign, Wilson and others argued that accepting the benefits of programs that are delivered at the discretion of the government rather than because of an acknowledged obligation allows any claim to having the right to receive those benefits to be undermined. LaForme agreed with that sentiment.

"It does undermine rights and my responsibility as a leader in my community is to protect those rights that we have entrenched in, not only our Constitution, but in our treaties. And to agree to water them down to a degree because you're opting into certain programs, especially the Land Management Act and things like that, takes away and erodes our treaty rights as First Nations. And I'm not in a position to allow that to happen," the New Credit chief said.

"I think Phil has got his own agenda and he's shown that through the past three years the chiefs' direction doesn't really mean anything and he's going to go ahead and follow his own agenda.

But Bryan LaForme said Phil Fontaine will get time to show he's willing to listen to concerns of the First Nations that didn't support him. He said, for all the talk of leaving the AFN, there has not yet been any concrete preparation to actually make the move.

"To my knowledge no there hasn't been. They would just withdraw. Maybe they would align themselves together or maybe attempt to go with another organization. We've given it some thought around the council table but not a lot has come out of it because we were sort of waiting to see how the election's going to go and to see what Phil's going to do. But if he continues on the same path that he's on right now, we'll probably witdraw."

Bill Wilson gave a very gracious concession speech. After congratulating Fontaine, he provided some encouragement for the chiefs, and a few laughs.

"My purpose in coming to this assembly as a nominee was to raise new issues that had to be dealt with and I'm very pleased and proud of the fact that those issues did come to the fore. Not enough people supported them but that's democracy," he said.

He urged young people and women to get involved in AFN politics.

"I'll tell you what I want you to do," he said. "When Phil comes up here in his walker three years from now, I want him to be competing against two or three women and two or three young people."

He offered a bit of final advice.

"I think that we have to recognize that the enemy is not within. The enemy is out there. And it isn't the non-Indian people. It's their institutions, discrimination and racism and other things like that. What we require in Indian Country is a more positive approach rather than complaining about the things that go on. The things that happen in our communities are horrendous, but we can change them. We can change those conditions," he said.