Littlechild after Tom Siddon's job as Indian Affairs minister

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Native MP Willie Littlechild say he wants to be Canada's first Indian-born federal Indian Affairs Minister.

And he wanted the job on his terms.

Littlechild, 46, from the four bands at Hobbema, says he agonized all summer over whether he'd accept the job if the prime Minster offered it to him.

"The more I've thought about it, the more I'd accept that challenge," said the first-ever treaty Indian to be elected to the House of Commons. "If the opportunity arises, I'd take it on."

Littlechild, an accomplished athlete and lawyer who won the largely non-Native Wetaskiwin riding two years ago for the conservatives, has often been named by the media as a natural choice for the job.

But he says he wouldn't accept the job unless he's given a "good reign" on the department.

And that means changes - including making the job a permanent one rather than as a short-term stepping stone to more senior cabinet posts.

"Changing ministers too often has been a problem," says Littlechild. "The Indian leadership complains too often. I'd have to be there long enough to affect change."

Among the changes he'd demand, splitting it up into two department is one - an Indian affairs department and a separate northern affairs department responsible for the Yukon and Northwest Territories. The department is currently responsible for both.

Personally, the whole department has to be completely reviewed and drastically changed," he said.

He says he'd also want guarantees that Aboriginal peoples have direct input into how the department is run.

Although Prime Minister Brian Mulroney is known to be considering a major cabinet shuffle in the not too distant future, Littlechild says he might be considered too politically inexperienced to take on the portfolio.

However, he says he has a lifetime of experience in Indian politics to draw on, and already sits on a number of important federal committees dealing with everything from justice to Aboriginal affairs.

And he's got a history of loyalty to Mulroney - despite widespread criticism the government has come under from the Native community for its handlong of they Mohawks situation at Oka, the ill-fated Meech Lake accord which ignored Native demands for recognition and special status, and the enormous public backlash against the goods and services tax (GST).