Political fight over new money begins

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Leaders of national Aboriginal organizations are looking carefully at the statements that were issued during the Assembly of First Nations Confederacy of Nations meeting from March 9 to 11 in Edmonton. There's more than a bit of suspicion that the promised changes in AFN behavior are linked to new funding from the federal government that was announced when Indian Affairs Minister Jane Stewart unveiled her department's new action plan on Jan. 7.

The AFN chiefs took on two issues when they passed a pair of resolutions that have in the past earned them a lot of criticism , one dealing with women, the other with off-reserve residents. As a result of the passage of these resolutions, the AFN will establish a National First Nations Gender Equality Secretariat to recognize, as an AFN press release stated, "the traditional role of women in First Nations communities and the negative effects that the imposition of Canadian laws have had on them."

A separate resolution commits the chiefs to pursue equal treatment for Aboriginal people who do not reside on-reserve.

"The chiefs are now more than ever determined to support all their constituents and are taking steps to ensure that all First Nations peoples will see that our organization represents them," National Chief Phil Fontaine said. "Our organization includes all First Nations, be they Elders, women, youth, or off-reserve people, and these resolutions are clear affirmations of this inclusivity."

But the president of the Native Women's Association of Canada isn't even a little bit impressed by the chiefs' resolutions.

"It's not the first time the AFN has passed a gender equality resolution," said Marilyn Buffalo. "I'll believe it's reality when I see how the actual implementation goes. It could take 15 to 20 years. It may not even happen in my lifetime."

Buffalo told Windspeaker that a $2 million fund has been set aside for women's issues by the federal government as part of Gathering Strength, the government's action plan to renew its relationship with Aboriginal peoples.

"Two million has been earmarked for women's programs - to improve the lives of Native women in Canada," she said. "But the Native Women's Association of Canada has received no benefit and I think the public should know that."

The outspoken president of the NWAC believes the AFN is positioning itself to take control of that money and any other money that is freed up for Aboriginal issues by the federal government.

"I don't think the idea of setting up an arm, a token office within the AFN, is the answer," she said. "We already have a nationally-recognized representative for Native women. Is this token office set up to undermine the Native Women's Association? These are the questions that I'm asking?"

NWAC receives a core budget of $322,000 each year from the federal government. That pays for three staff members and a limited number of services for its members. Buffalo has complained in the past that the federal government, for its own reasons, has recognized only the AFN when it deals with Aboriginal issues. The AFN chiefs, she said, have spent very little time worrying about the unique problems that plague Aboriginal women.

"Most of the chiefs are men," she explained. "That means women's voices are muffled even though we represent 52 per cent of the population."

Past indifference on the part of the AFN and the federal government have contributed to the desperate situations in which many Aboriginal women find themselves.

"Aboriginal women are the poorest of the poorest," Buffalo said. "Women feel they're not being represented by the chiefs. The only way for us as Native women to work out of the poverty situation is to get involved in the policy-making."

The president of the national association of off-reserve residents, Harry Daniels of the Congress of Aboriginal People, had some similar remarks when asked his opinion of the AFN resolutions.

"They've done it before and they can't deliver," Danils said. "Their mandate is on-reserve. They're elected to deal with the on-reserve membership. That's what they tell us; that's what they do."

As is the case with the women's association, the Congress exists because its constituents found they weren't getting proper representation from the chiefs of their home territories. Daniels isn't prepared to just step back and let the AFN take over.

"To give you a broad national average, I'd say 70 per cent of First Nations people live off-reserve and they can't get services," he said. "The classic example is New Brunswick where some members have lived off for 30 years and they can't get any money but they're still included in the head count for funding."

Daniels believes the answer is to break up the control that chiefs have and force a little accountability into the mix.

"If they're willing to open up a democratic process and allow all Indians to vote for their chiefs, I'll back them up 100 per cent," he said, adding he has personally relayed his concerns to Minister Stewart and is hopeful that she will work with all Aboriginal organizations to provide services to all Aboriginal people.