Mayoral candidates face off in FSIN-sponsored debate
- Andréa Ledding | October 20, 2016
The four mayoral candidates in Saskatoon's civic election went head to head on Indigenous issues at a forum held by the FSIN.
FSIN hosted an Indigenous issues mayoral forum at the Travelodge on Wednesday, October 19th. Four prospective mayors fielded tough questions, moderated by David Kirton.
“We’re looking for respect and inclusion. Education, employment, housing opportunities,” noted FSIN Chief Bobby Cameron. “On average, anyone of our First Nations has anywhere from 40 to 80% living off-reserve.”
He noted they are all tax-payers too, paying the PST which comprises the funding formula cities and towns receive back from the province. Questions from the audience focussed on police carding and racial profiling; youth suicide and youth programming; homelessness; educational issues at the U of S, and FNUC campus; core neighbourhood issues such as grocery and civic centre access; and a general vision of reconciliation, inclusion, and partnership. Incumbent Mayor Don Atchison was the only candidate who defended and supported carding during this forum. In opening remarks, city councillor Charlie Clark noted that he has worked on treaty education for years, along with other initiatives side by side with the Indigenous community. Atchison credited the Indigenous community with enriching the city, and was especially proud of passing out white buffalo statues to other civic mayors during a conference. Kelley Moore noted that she grew up with Indigenous foster children and said she “didn’t really see colour” growing up; she now runs a multicultural business, and believes in nation-to-nation partnerships. Devon Hein repeatedly talked about freedom to self-determine destinies without the imposition of city hall and excessive taxation, which he blamed most things on throughout the evening. Over an hour of questions followed from both the audience and the live FSIN Facebook video, with each candidate responding for one minute. At the end, candidates were given two minutes for final remarks.
Related: Meet the Indigenous candidates in YQR Ward 6
“Don’t listen to them. Don’t trust them. They will spend every single tax dollar you give them,” said Hein, insisting the other candidates didn’t care and needed to be gotten out of the way.
“The other thing that is important to me is youth and entrepreneurship,” noted Moore after listing nation-to-nation partnership and planning as leading points, adding that inclusion and diversity also needed priority. “We have to be more intentional and transparent quite frankly in whether we’re meeting our targets.”
Atchison talked about going to Ottawa to create Fire Creek on 20th Street, where he was told it was the first time a mayor and a band asked for treaty land entitlement within city limits. He also highlighted other events.
“Look at downtown when we had that big ceremony raising the Treaty 6 flag and the Métis flag,” said Atchison. “Those are things that we are doing. Tourism: the Aboriginal folks are the ones that are going to be able to help us with tourism in our community.”
Clark repeated Cameron’s words that 30, 000 Indigenous people were assessing Saskatoon, the biggest city in the province, as their home. He called Indigenous incarceration one of the biggest tragedies in the community, and Indigenous success, partnership, education, and investment was key to a better future.
“This city is going to define the future of this province, and I believe this city is going to also define what it means to live in good relationship for the whole country,” said Clark. “I believe it is incumbent on us as a city to say, how do we learn from the mistakes, the lessons of the past, and change our relationship going into the future?”
Chief Cameron noted that Indigenous people were going to vote in the upcoming election, something FSIN encourages with these forums.
“We made a big difference in the federal election, and we’re going to make a big difference in this city.”