Head to head for national chief

It'll be Phil versus Bill when the election for national chief is held on July 12, the middle day of the three-day Assembly of First Nations' (AFN) 27th annual general assembly.

National Chief Phil Fontaine, a Seaulteux (Ojibway) from the Sagkeeng First Nation in Manitoba, will be seeking his third term as leader of the AFN.

Fontaine will be opposed by only one other candidate, Bill Wilson, a hereditary Kwakgewlth/Musgamagw chief from Cape Mudge on the West Coast.

It's a homecoming of sorts for Fontaine, who was first elected at the site of this year's vote-the Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre- in 1997. He was upset by Matthew Coon Come at the Ottawa Civic Centre in 2000 but returned the favor in Edmonton three years later to return to the national chief's office.

Windspeaker asked from both candidates a list of the 15 nominators that a candidate must have to comply with the AFN charter. Wilson provided a complete list and in our interview with him had lots to say.

"The basic reason I'm running is that I really believe that things have to be said in regard to the political direction of the organization. I simply find, and I've said this on numerous occasions, and I guess that's why I'm in trouble in B.C. and around the country, that an organization that seems to be dominated by white assumptions is not what our Aboriginal people require. I think the issues need to be discussed. We're putting aside the major issues our people should be dealing with instead of confronting them head on: child abuse, family abuse, spousal abuse, alcohol, drugs, sexual abuse in the communities. We don't talk about those things. It's pretty hard to think about those things when you're flying to Australia or Israel or wherever it is these guys are going to lately."

He believes there should be two structures within the AFN, one for programs and services and the other dealing with treaties and land claims, which he called "the most important issues."

"If you could decide the two, instead of mixing them as we've done since 1969, I think we might make more progress on the more important issues, of which Caledonia is one," he said. "Obviously the communities need money. But if we're going to pursue the larger issues we're going to have to pursue them with a stronger political organization that isn't dependent on the existence of those handouts."

Wilson is seen as a controversial figure. He has been the centre of major storms because of past remarks he has made.

In an article in a Vancouver newspaper a few years ago, he criticized First Nation leaders.
"I referred to them as 'hang around the fort Indians.' I still believe that. I wouldn't change one thing," he said.

Earlier in his career he responded angrily to non-Native politicians.

"The exact quote was: You were nothing but a bunch of dirty, smelly white people on boats and if we'd known what you were going to do, we should have killed you all," he said.

"I still believe that. If we'd have known what the white people were going to do and I was a chief at the time that's what I would have done," he said.

He says he's running a shoestring campaign with the help of volunteers and relatives.

Wilson fully expects the Fontaine team to outspend him and bring a large and sophisticated team to Vancouver. He hinted that candidates generally pay little attention to the $35,000 spending limit prescribed in the AFN charter.

"I ran in '91 and that cost me $25,000 of my own money and there was other money spent by other people. But then you have to report it. But if people take leaves for a month to work on the campaign, does their salary get included in it? It's an unrealistic figure unless you're into equalization across the board so that every candidate who qualifies gets, say $50,000. There was no limit in those days but realistically the campaign cost $60,000," he said.

Going head to head with the incumbent was not what he expected.

"I was very, very surprised that it's just Phil and I," he said. "Now they know it's one on one, people are telling me, and this is not my campaign slogan, that it is time for a change and if we are going to change we need a strong, aggressive leader who can stand up to government."

Wilson reached out to the numbered treaty chiefs who have been criticizing the national organization for not paying enough attention to treaty rights. There's a message in their situation that applies in B.C. as well, he added.

"I know from my experience that the treaties that were signed on the Prairies are sacred documents to all of the people in the numbered treaty areas. All of them have been violated and none of them have been lived up to. So what does that say about the possibility of treaties in the province of B.C. if government is going to follow the same policy of betrayal?"

He commended the national chief for his residential school compensation agreement.

"I congratulate Phil for the work he did on residential schools. It sadly is too little, too late. For many people, it'll never happen because they're dead. The miniscule amount of money that is being offered, that's not Phil's fault. I think he did the best within his talent for our people. But it's time to move on now. We can set that aside and start to build a new future," he said.

At 62 years of age, Wilson has been involved in First Nations' politics for 48 years. Both candidates were born in 1944. Wilson is six months older than Fontaine. Both have extensive and varied resumes.

The UBC law school grad said he is ready to sit down with the prime minister and move forward.
"The Kelowna Accord failed. I don't want to re-hash the Liberal promises or all the other things or whether it was a photo op or whether it was Paul Martin's last gasp. I want to talk about the reality that the problems that it was going to address are still there. Now, what are we going to do about it together? I think that with the authority of the national chief's office and no kind of bias-because Phil took a beating and he may still take a beating in terms of his affiliation with the Liberals which was a gamble that paid off for a period of time and I don't begrudge him that because I'm not a member of those political parties-I intend to sit down and say to Mr. Harper, 'What are we going to do now? What are you going to do now?'"

Windspeaker attempted to conduct interviews with both official candidates.

Fontaine promised an interview and set a time of 8:30 a.m. Mountain Time on June 13. When we called his cell phone, he answered and asked that we call back in half- an-hour.

"I'm driving right now. It would be better if we wait until I arrive at my destination," he said.
It was the last time we spoke to him before our deadline, despite numerous calls to his cell phone and numerous conversations with Roland Bellerose, who is managing communications for the Fontaine campaign.

Bellerose set up another interview for 9 a.m. the next day, but the national chief did not answer his phone at that time or throughout the day.

Bellerose said the Fontaine campaign team would not be able to provide the incumbent's list of nominators.

"The point is that Phil Fontaine was asked to run by 60 chiefs plus the [campaign] chairman [Joe Miskokomon], whereas Bill Wilson is self-nominated. He had to go get the signatures himself," he said. "Yes, you could say we're too busy to go and get the permission from all 60 signatories to release their names."

Windspeaker held the presses for three hours past deadline, waiting while his staff prepared a press release that outlined the position Fontaine will take in the campaign.

"National Chief Fontaine's tough negotiating style has been the most effective we have witnessed. Through tough negotiations, National Chief Fontaine derailed legislation that the federal government put forward that would have diminished First Nations' inherent right to self-government and was able to turn the government's attention toward narrowing the gap of impoverished First Nations and Canadian citizens," the release stated. "The national chief's challenge to the prime minister and the premiers culminated in the development of the Kelowna Accord. Through this process, many of our political leaders have come to respect and consider National Chief Fontaine a statesman who is protecting the inherent rights of First Nations to choose. The advancement of these rights have come through co-operation and understanding."
Wilson's list of 15: Nominators-Chief Wayne Edwards of Nanoose andChief Rose Dumont of Sooke in B.C. Endorsers in B.C.-Chief Charlie Williams, Gwawaenuk, Chief Russell Chipps, Scia'new(Beecher Bay), Chief Vince Harry, Malahat, Chief Chris Tom, Tsartlip (Brentwood Bay), Acting Chief Gary Albany, Songhees, Chief Bob Chamberlin, Kwicksutaineuk Ahkwa'mis (Gilford Island)

Other regions: Chief Susan Levi-Peters, Big Cove, N.B., Chief Ann Mary Simon, Bouctouche, N.B., Chief Ann Francis Muise, Pictou Landing, N.S., Chief Jeff Tomah, Woodstock, N.B., Chief David Peter Paul, Pabineau, N.B., Chief Candice Paul, St. Mary's, N.B. Chief Joe Knockwood, Fort Folly, N.B. Chief Wilbert Marshall, Chapel Island, N.S.