First Nations Governance Institute to open June 1

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The creation of an institution that was recommended by the Royal Commission on Aboriginal People was announced in downtown Vancouver on May 7.

National Chief Matthew Coon Come was present along with a 10-person board of directors representing all regions of the country to announce that the First Nations Governance Institute will open its doors on June 1. The institute, intended to be a place where Native and non-Native academics and staff members will study, compile statistics and provide information on governance processes to First Nations, will be headquartered in a former residential school building on the Long Plains First Nation territory in Manitoba.

More than two years ago, interim executive director Gordon Peters said, Indian Affairs consented to fund the institution for five years at $5 million per year. But the AFN was not ready to take advantage of that funding immediately because no operating plan was ready. Former national chief Ovide Mercredi and Leroy Littlebear were asked to provide that plan. Only $1 million of a possible $15 million was accessed over the first three years. Institute treasurer Marie Smallface-Merule of Alberta told Windspeaker the board is currently negotiating with Indian Affairs for more funding.

Coon Come took advantage of the announcement to take a few shots at Indian Affairs Minister Robert Nault's First Nations governance act.

"This certainly is not what Mr. Nault is talking about," he said. "It comes from our people. It does not come from an office in Ottawa."

Well-placed sources admit the minister's initiative has helped convince the political leaders to speed up the opening of the governance institute, but it appears the AFN's claim that it's only a co-incidence that this institution is ready to open at a time when governance issues are dominating the political landscape, is true. The institution has been in development since well before Nault announced his plans to revamp the Indian Act.

Coon Come also suggested that there's no need for the minister's initiative now that the institute is about to become operational.

"Minister Nault cannot be faulted for taking the initiative," the national chief said. "But he is starting off on the wrong track."

The board members are: chairman Willie Seymour, British Columbia, Marie Smallface-Merule, Alberta, Harry Lafond, Saskatchewan, Louis Harper, Manitoba, Vernon Roote, Ontario, Bart Jack, Labrador and Quebec, Bob Atwin, New Brunswick, Joe B. Marshall, Nova Scotia, Mark Wedge, Yukon, James Wah-shee, N.W.T.

During a presentation to the chiefs at the Confederacy several days later, board member Roote, the grand chief of the Union of Ontario Indians, told the chiefs the institute will secure charitable status and then begin fundraising. Memberships will be sold to First Nations and corporate sponsors. He also said three academics and non-voting youth, Elders and women will be appointed to advise the board.