Line up for next AFN election?

During a conference call with Assembly of First Nations (AFN) National Chief Phil Fontaine on Feb. 7, Windspeaker asked if he would be seeking re-election this July in Vancouver. The national chief gave a very indirect response, saying he had every intention of seeing the Kelowna agreements hammered out at the first ministers meeting last year, and the residential school compensation agreement announced only days prior to Kelowna, through to a conclusion.
Several days after that answer, a very short message was e-mailed to Windspeaker by Nancy Pine, a communications advisor to the chief.

"National Chief Phil Fontaine announced [Feb. 10] at the Chiefs of Ontario meeting at Rama that he will put his name forward for national chief elections," the message stated.
It may now be a horserace of sorts.

Before the federal election of the Conservative minority government on Jan. 23, most Ottawa watchers were wondering if anyone would be fool enough to run against Phil Fontaine this July. Given the stunning success of Kelowna and the residential school accord and the promise of more dramatic developments in partnership with the Paul Martin Liberals, many thought the AFN election this summer would be a coronation of sorts.

But since the Liberals have been vanquished to the Opposition side of the House, a number of names have popped up as potential candidates.

Informed sources in Alberta say lawyer J. Wilton (Willie) Littlechild is rumored to be thinking about entering the race. The former Progressive Conservative MP has spent the last number of years representing First Nation interests at international venues. He is a member of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues at the United Nations. He has been the AFN's own special representative on international matters.

Sources in Saskatchewan say it's all but certain that former regional chief Perry Bellegarde will take a shot at the office. He was defeated by current Saskatchewan regional chief Alphonse Bird and is currently working for the provincial government.

Former Mississaugas of the New Credit (Ontario) Chief Larry Sault is also said to have made up his mind to run. He finished fourth in 1997 behind Fontaine, Wendy Grant-John and Ovide Mercredi. He ran Roberta Jamieson's campaign in 2003.

It's still very early in the AFN electoral game as candidates court political and financial support and test the waters before formally announcing. All three of those potential candidates were given the opportunity to confirm or deny their intentions to seek the AFN leadership. None responded in any way.

Speaking of Mercredi, Manitoba sources still think he may throw his hat in the ring. He was elected chief of his home community and has been active in the numbered treaty rights organization that issued a manifesto of sorts just before the first ministers meeting in Kelowna.
The national spokesman for that group, Chief Sandford Big Plume, was a non-factor at the first ministers meeting, although he gained entrance to the private session as a member of Alberta Premier Ralph Klein's delegation. Organizers behind the treaty group are now looking elsewhere for a candidate.

And with some chiefs now wondering if Fontaine can forge the same kind of relationship with the Conservatives as he had developed with the Liberals, the always-influential British Columbia caucus may throw up its own candidate.

That's because, AFN sources say, the delays and disruptions caused the by demise of Paul Martin's Liberals means there will be no grassroots voting this summer.

The special assembly scheduled for early February to deal with the AFN Renewal Commission report has been delayed until late March because of "funding concerns." That means that even if the chiefs accept the commission's recommendations to allow grassroots voting, the changes could not be ratified according to the requirements of the AFN charter in time for July's vote.