Looks like a three-horse race

Page 11

Campaign for national chief officially begins

Prospective candidates for the position of Assembly of First Nations national chief have until midnight June 11 to get the paperwork in to electoral officer Bob Johnson to be on the ballot this July in Edmonton.

The spending limit for a campaign, as set out in the 1990 version of the Assembly of First Nations' charter, is $35,000. That's what it costs to go after the $125,000 a year, tax-exempt salary that comes with the AFN's top job. The headaches you take on are part of the bargain.

Thirty-five thousand dollars is not a lot of money as political campaigns go, but it's just a large enough sum a candidate has to raise that careful First Nation political observers can spot just who might be getting ready to make a run.

One thing everybody knows for sure is that Matthew Coon Come is going to run for a second term. He announced that several months ago. He's the only official candidate so far.

But reliable sources in Manitoba say Phil Fontaine, who was unseated by Coon Come in 2000 in Ottawa, is getting ready to vie for his old job. They say he has already informed his closest supporters he will enter the race. Fontaine is currently the chief commissioner of the Indian Claims Commission.

For several weeks it looked like it was going to be a two-man showdown, a rematch of 2000 when you consider that the other two candidates, Marilyn Buffalo and Lawrence Martin, were not really factors. But then, in mid-May, word reached Windspeaker that Six Nations of the Grand River (Ontario) Chief Roberta Jamieson had made up her mind to join the race.

Scott Cavan, communications officer for Six Nations' council, was asked if the rumors were true.

"In response to your inquiry as to whether or not Chief Roberta Jamieson is running for the office of national chief, I can tell you that Chief Jamieson is being lobbied a great deal to run for national chief, but at this time, I cannot confirm that Chief Roberta Jamieson is a declared candidate for the office of national chief," he replied by email.

But the sources are solid, well connected and they're certain she's going to run.