AFN Chief on pending federal election, fires
- Tiffany Head | July 19, 2015
It has been voiced time and time again that it is time for a change in Canada: time for First Nations people to start voting, to shake up the vote, to get government parties to realize that First Nations voices matter and can make a difference. In an interview with Assembly of First Nations Chief Perry Bellegarde, EFN intern Tiffany Head asks him about the importance of voting as well as his thoughts on the Saskatchewan forest fire situation.
EFN: Which way do you think the vote will turn out for the October 19th Federal election?
AFN is totally non-partisan. What we are trying to do is make sure that the people get out to vote.
The more First Nations people go out to vote, they can influence approximately 51 ridings across Canada. In other words, our issues matter, our voices matter, our people matter, and we want to make sure that our vote counts.
The Members of Parliament who think that our issues do not matter, who think that Indians don’t vote and that our people don’t vote, will hopefully be in for a rude awakening.
So they have to start listening to us. On October 19, no matter who gets in, we want to work with who gets in, whether it is the Conservatives, New Democratic Party or Liberals, whoever it is, is up to the people to decide.
We just want to make sure the First Nations vote gets out there. It is an important voting process and our issues matter. The only way you can make your voice count is at the voting station.
EFN: Is there a strategy in place, to get more First Nations people voting?
The strategy in place is the education awareness campaign. It is what we are looking at, we brought it up to our chiefs at the assembly, and we wanted to make sure that the people know that you need 2 pieces of Identification in order to vote.
One of the pieces of I.D. is a form letter that the chiefs or band managers can sign for the band membership to verify that the individuals do live and reside on the reserve.
So it’s an education awareness campaign. We just want to make sure that the people are aware that if they so desire and chose to vote, they know where to vote, what they need to vote, and when to vote.
EFN: How did you feel when Prime Minister Stephan Harper did not show up for the AFN General Assembly?
When Mr. Harper did not show up and neither did Mr. Bernard Valcourt, again they missed an opportunity to build a relationship with First Nations people that’s built on mutual respect and productivity.
It’s unfortunate. As a National Chief, I continually reach out to all parties and all party leaders to build a relationship because we have to try to find common ground. Again, they were not there and it was a missed opportunity.
EFN: What did you want Mr. Harper to hear from First Nations people?
Well, basically, he is the Prime Minister and ministers set policies, legislations and programs that affect First Nations people. It would be good to listen and get some direction in terms of priorities from the First Nations Chiefs and Leadership.
If you want to develop good legislations and good policies, it’s always best when it is done in a collaborative, cooperative manner and that’s the way we got to move forward.
EFN: Justin Trudeau and Thomas Muclair were present at the Assembly. Did they campaign for support?
Oh, yeah, they are obviously looking for support. They unveiled some of their party platforms. As National Chief, I made presentations to their caucuses, the Liberal caucus and the NDP caucus, as well as had meetings with Elizabeth May from the Green Party.
The statements that Thomas Muclair and Justin Trudeau made were well received by the chiefs. They talked about national support for the national inquiry for missing women and girls. they talked about supporting the upcoming strategy plan for the truth and reconciliation’s call for action.
They talked about appealing bad legislation, like Bill C-38, C-45. They talked about a senior cap at level process to look at restoring the nation’s relationships and to look at treaty implementation processes at the highest levels.
Another key thing they talked about was removing the two per cent cap that has been in place for 20 years and establishing a proper fiscal timeframe agreement in place to be in crown for First Nations people.
They definitely said all the right things. We've just got to make sure whoever gets in now on October 19th that we hold them to the commitments that they made so that we see some real change because we need investments in education, training, access to potable water; investments in housing, so that the gap that exists in Canada will close.
The gap that I refer to is according to United Nations humans’ development index. Canada is rated sixth, when applied to our people the index we're 63rd. That’s the gap that’s got to change.
If they are no key strategic investments in those areas I just described, then the status quo will be maintained and that’s not good for our people and that’s not good for the provinces and that’s not good for this country. It has to be addressed.
EFN: It is speculated that the fires will not be fully put out until the fall. Do you have any encouragement for evacuees of when they will be able to go home? Have you been following the forest fire situation?
Totally. I have talked to Chief Tammy Cook-Searson, Chief Ed Harrison; I called him, talked to him from Montreal Lake and the fact that Chief Ed Harrison made an address to our chiefs here at the Assembly.
We had a blanket dance for the evacuees and we raised $12,000 for the evacuees: about $2100 from the Chiefs in the Assembly and $10,000 from one of the organizations that made a contribution there, so definitely our hearts and minds and thoughts go out to the evacuees, and hope that they know it is for their safety, first of all, and hopefully a speedy return back to their home communities.
There is a lot we can learn from this travesty in terms of the need to be properly involved. First Nations need to be properly involved, every step of the way in developing emergency management plans.
First Nations people have to be included in all developments. As well as making sure there are proper adequate communication strategies in plan so everyone will know what’s going on.
Again it’s such a travesty, it’s a devastation, especially with 13,000 people being evacuated, that’s a huge number of people.
We offer our support in any way shape or form, that we can help them in getting things done.
Regarding to the fires, we lift up the other First Nations that are helping and assisting and hosting their First Nations members and helping out with accommodations, we thank them for that. We thank the neighbouring First Nations for helping out and assisting in this time of need. We thank them and lift them up for their support.
We hope that there is some flexibility when it comes to firefighters, a lot of our people have the experience, fighting fires for years and years but because they are not certified they are not allowed to fight fires so we hope that there will be some flexibility.
Related stories:
- SIGA commits to help fire relief efforts in North
- Redirection of mail to other evacuation centres now possible
- Access to credit services for fire evacuees
- Crown corps provide overdue bill relief for evacuees
- SPL offering services to evacuees even without ID
- Evacuation uncomfortable for mothers, expectant mothers
- Red Earth evacuees head far south for better air
- Young voters have no taste for old-school politics
- New AFN Chief ready to face challenges of job