Financial institutions debated among chiefs

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A national conference on fiscal relations held at the Squamish Nation Recreation Centre near Vancouver on Sept. 26 and 27, turned out to be a very civil clash between chiefs, a former chief and technicians who support the proposed fiscal institutions act and those who fear its potential effects.

Former Kamloops Indian Band Chief Manny Jules joined current Assembly of First Nations British Columbia Vice-chief Herb George as leaders of the pitch in favor of embracing the proposed federal legislation. Some chiefs from the British Columbia Interior, Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario were there to listen and press their call for a special chiefs assembly that would be the scene of a detailed debate of the act.

Instead of a special assembly, a meeting involving the implementation committee, the AFN executive and the chiefs committee on fiscal relations will be held in Ottawa on Nov. 19 and 20. The implementation committee is a group of chiefs and technicians. It was formed after the non-sanctioned chiefs meeting in Winnipeg last March that was called in response to concerns that the AFN executive was not following the wishes of the chiefs in assembly regarding the First Nations Governance act.

Rumors were circulating that Abenaki businessman Roger Obonsawin, partner in the OI Group of Companies in Toronto, would foot the bill for the Ottawa meeting.

Obonsawin denied that.

"We're helping, but we're not putting up the money for it," he said. "We do believe a full discussion is required on this. We'd like to look at what the alternatives are."

The Ottawa meeting will be preceded by another gathering in Saskatoon on Oct. 24. The monthly AFN executive meeting will be attended by implementation committee members who want to lobby for a special assembly to deal with fiscal institutions.

Yet another meeting, this one on Sept. 25 in Vancouver, the day before the fiscal relations conference began, saw Six Nations Chief Roberta Jamieson (Ontario) make a presentation to the AFN executive. She began the call for a special assembly. It was continued by several other chiefs on the second day of the conference.

National Chief Matthew Coon Come agreed to mediate discussions between the two competing groups. He has supported the concept of the fiscal institutions act, but is willing to participate in a process that will allow the two sides to come to an agreement.

"We do have some internal disagreements, especially in regards to the taxation part of it. Those will all require an internal debate," the national chief told Windspeaker on Oct. 1.

Sources say the national chief's office is caught in the cross-fire as two groups of chiefs with markedly different views of the proposed legislation wage an all out war to either kill the bill or ensure its survival.

Jules, chairman of the Indian Taxation Advisory Board (ITAB) and co-chair of the AFN's chiefs committee on fiscal relations, made several impassioned arguments in favor of the act during the Squamish conference. If passed through Parliament, the act will codify in law the right of First Nation governments to tax non-Native parties who conduct business on their land. It will also create several financial institutions.

"My dad taught me you can't fix a flat tire by shouting at it," Jules said. "This is about the status quo. The status quo as we know it is poverty."

Jules said the fears that this legislation is part of a hidden government agenda to introduce taxation on reserve are "monsters and boogie mans." He went after the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs (UBCIC), whose president Chief Stewart Phillip is part of the implementation committee, saying one of the UBCIC's founding principles was to "promote legislation helping Indian people."

He then took on Six Nations Chief Roberta Jamieson, saying that Six Nations had made several attempts in its history to impose taxation on outside entities.

Jules argued that this legislation would only help First Nations. He listed sveral past Canadian laws that oppressed Aboriginal people, including laws that banned potlatches.

"In 1918, the federal government banned us from raising our own revenues," he said. "What we're proposing today would have been outlawed in 1918."

"We want to make a difference. We're not prepared to just hope for a better future. We're prepared to work hard to do it," he added.

Cheam Chief June Quipp told Jules she had concerns. She said she was concerned that the legislation would leave the appointment of board memberships of the proposed financial institutions to be done by ministerial appointment.

"We've had some of our fearless leaders removed from boards when they spoke up," she said, adding that more docile or easily manipulated people usually took their places.

Jules said any policy that expressly excluded non-Native people would be unconstitutional. He added that the practice has been employed already with success.

"The rationale for having three non-Native people sit on the advisory panel is to prevent a charter argument centered around taxation without representation," he said. "This has paid off. At the end of their tenure, you wouldn't have stronger advocates for our jurisdiction."

Others argued that the government had ignored the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples report that contained many recommendations that would accomplish the same goals as the proposed law. Obonsawin wanted to know why First Nations needed to use the federal system rather than create their own.

On Day 2 of the conference, Chief Stewart Phillip started the day with a statement.

He agreed with Jules that the leaders need to take the high road in the way they conduct their discussions of contentious issues. He said both sides had resorted to using disparaging remarks about the other side and suggested it was time to change the way business is conducted at the AFN.

"We need to take a close and serious look at the assembly itself," he said.

He suggested that some variatio of the parliamentary method of dealing with issues, with bills receiving three readings and room being provided at each reading for debate, might eliminate the bitterness that has arisen over this issue.