Nault at fault?

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His name is Chief Eagle Feather. It's also Spiritual Walker, but he's better known to the Windspeaker readership as the Minister of Indian Affairs, Robert Nault.

Nault attended the Frog Lake Cree Nation Gathering on Aug. 24 and was issued new status as an honorary Cree chief. The minister received a headdress and acquired his Cree name, Spiritual Walker, in a sacred naming ceremony performed by Frog Lake Elders.

"Now if you ask me the question of what the Elders intended by the name, I think it would be unfair for me to say what exactly the Elders had in mind," said Nault. "You'll have to ask them directly what their definition of the rationale for the name. But it is a great honor for any minister or non-Native to be given a name."

Nault views the naming as an invitation from the First Nations to continue to work to resolve relationships and make them more conducive to success.

"We're hoping that by giving the minister a Cree name that he would feel a part of the Cree people since we have initiated him to be a part of the Cree people," said Frog Lake Chief Thomas Abraham. "This is why we are hoping that he would see the needs of the Treaty 6 people, that he could spend more time amongst our people and see for himself first hand the needs of our Native people."

But Minister Nault may have inadvertently wandered into a controversy. Department advisors had failed to mention that the minister, just the day before had received a Blackfoot name from the Blood First Nation.

"Oh, it was...ah...ah...Chief Eagle...Feather, yeah," said Nault.

Cree Elder, Pete Waskahat from the Frog Lake First Nation who was the head Elder in giving the minister his Cree name was disappointed when informed.

"They should have notified us right away, so they won't give him the name. It won't work," said Waskahat. "Suppose to have only one. That's not right. Should have only one name. They should tell us right away and we would have just done a pipe ceremony for them."

When Waskahat was asked if it was disrespectful, he said "it looks that way."

Chief Abraham was surprised when informed of the two names received by Nault, but disagreed with Waskahat.

"Oh, that's no problem. That's Blackfeet. This is Cree," said Abraham.