Fox and Fontaine smooth over differences

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All is well between Assembly of First Nations (AFN) National Chief Phil Fontaine and Ontario Regional Chief Charles Fox, they say, but Fox is still fixed in the sights of another member of the AFN's executive board-Rick Simon.

"Regional Chief Charles Fox and I met today. We buried the hatchet, so to speak," Fontaine said Dec. 9 during the AFN Confederacy in Ottawa. "I'd like to thank Regional Chief Fox for agreeing to join with us and to work for the cause of our people."

AFN sources say the two men were barely speaking to each other in the weeks leading up to the meeting. Fox had openly supported Chief Roberta Jamieson in last summer's election for national chief. When all the vice-chiefs took to the stage after Fontaine's election win in Edmonton to pledge their allegiance, Fox was nowhere to be found. Shortly after the election, the national chief stripped Fox of the health portfolio, in what most observers believe was an act of retaliation.

Fox was not in the room when Fontaine made his announcement that the two had come to an agreement to work together, which fueled speculation that all was not as rosy as the national chief claimed. But Fox confirmed that he and Fontaine were ready to move forward.

"It's unfortunate he made that statement at the time when I was out of the room," Fox told Windspeaker on Dec. 10. "But we did meet yesterday afternoon and we did agree to bury the hatchet. We have more common agenda items that we should be concentrating on instead of looking at the disagreements that we've had in terms of the political landscape over last year or so. In the interest of moving the agendas that we agree on forward, it's time to make peace. If we disagree, let's be gentlemen about it."

Last month, media reports suggested that Fox, not Fontaine, would be the First Nation leader closest to new Prime Minister Paul Martin. It was rumored Fox would be asked to run for the Liberals in former Indian Affairs minister Robert Nault's Rainy River riding in the next election.

Nova Scotia and Newfoundland vice-chief Rick Simon said that would be contrary to an AFN resolution that was passed in 1986. The assembly, then led by Georges Erasmus, resolved "that a First Nation spokesperson or representative shall not be a member of a non-First Nation political party."

Simon said the resolution meant that Fox would have to resign as Ontario vice-chief if he was a member of the Liberal Party. Fox freely admits that he is.

"I took out a Liberal membership last year," he said. "Part of our campaign in the fight with the suite of legislation was to go right into the house of the Liberal Party. That's from the Chiefs of Ontario. Not only to meet with the backbenchers of the opposition, but to meet with the Liberal backbenchers, to meet with the Liberal grassroots people. To access that, a lot of our leadership, a lot of our technical people, took out memberships in the Liberal Party. So we took the fight right into their own house. I daresay we succeeded quite well."

He said he joined the party with the full knowledge and support of his chiefs and will fight any attempt to force him to step down.

"I would fight it. I would go back to the Chiefs of Ontario. They elected me by a 75 per cent majority; I just got re-elected in June. They knew all these actions had taken place. If they so choose, that's their right. If there's an AFN resolution, I would have to look at that. I'll take it back to our assembly, then they would make that decision. Not before," he said.

He is still seriously considering a run in the Rainy River riding.

"For us, the First Nations' people in that riding, we're taking a real close look at that riding because 40 to 50 per cent is going to be an Aboriginal vote and that's a huge number. And we've had a huge fight with Nault over the legislation. As his constituents we told him, 'Don't do it.' But he went ahead and did it. So accountability to a constituency is an issue. But it's a secondary issu. So we're going to look at the Liberal nomination process. Even if we lose on that issue, there's going to be a backlash on Nault if he's the incumbent running as a Liberal in that riding, and the Liberals will lose. We're going to vote for an alternative. The primary point, and this is something that's really gripped our interests, is Martin is saying the right things. He's saying, 'I want to make Aboriginal issues a priority. The Aboriginal file, the Aboriginal issues that we're going to be dealing with for the next decade is going to be so big that we have to begin to do something,'" he said. "Bottom line? We're taking a serious look at that riding, we're going to look at the numbers within the Liberal Party. If we fail there then we may run an independent candidate or go with another existing party. But the accountability on Nault in that riding is a definite issue."

Fox said there was no lingering resentment about being stripped of the health portfolio by Fontaine.

"The portfolio assignments have happened. Let's leave it at that," he said. "I have 134 First Nations in Ontario-over a quarter of the First Nations population in Canada. That's enough to keep me busy. We've got a new Liberal [provincial] government we're developing relationships with. We're looking at developing relationships also with the new federal Liberals. What can I say? I've got enough work."

Speculation that Martin had chosen Fox over the national chief may have been wrong. Fontaine told Windspeaker that reports he was turned away from the Liberal leadership convention in Toronto were incomplete. He was turned away at first because he lacked proper security clearance, but later did gain access to the floor.

And Elmer Courchene, an Elder from Fontaine's Sagkeeng First Nation and a personal advisor to the national chief, performed the smudge ceremony for the new prime minister just before he was sworn into office.