National chief pressing for surge in native turnout
Assembly of First Nations National Chief Perry Bellegarde said he will continue to push any candidate who is elected prime minister to address First Nations issues.
Bellegarde’s top priority is addressing those needs, but says change needs to be made first.
“Voting becomes another arrow in our quiver to bring about change,” Bellegarde said Thursday as he spoke to about 300 people at a conference called Aboriginal Peoples and the Law: We’re here to Stay.
“If we don’t do that, the potential MPs, the potential prime ministers don’t care about First Nations issues because they don’t vote, they don’t help (them) get elected.”
Bellegarde wants the non-voting attitude to change, saying indigenous issues, people, concerns and votes will matter come election day.
Bellegarde said the candidates have been silent on indigenous issues during the campaign. As a result, the AFN released a document called Closing the Gap, which is the No. 1 priority for the AFN going into the election.
“That gap represents the overcrowded houses; that gap represents the cap on education; that gap represents the 130-plus communities with boil-water advisories; it represents the violence and the missing and murdered indigenous women and girls; it represents the high youth suicide rates; it represents the disproportionate number of First Nations people in jails.”
The AFN calls for immediate investments in six key areas such as strengthening First Nations people and communities, upholding rights, and the revitalization of indigenous languages. The gap relates to the UN Human Development Index, where Canada typically places between sixth and eighth place in quality of life. First Nations communities would rank 63rd if they were included in the index. Bellegarde titles the phenomenon “Six versus 63rd.”
Bellegarde said the Liberals and the NDP have issued strong responses in key areas such as housing investments, an inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women, the ongoing water advisories crisis on reserves in Canada, and the two-per-cent funding cap on annual expenditure increases for First Nations education.
In early September Bellegarde made it public that he had never voted in a federal election, but on Sept. 9, the AFN issued a statement saying that after he consulted with “First Nations Elders, leaders, citizens and young people from across our territories,” he would be casting his ballot on Oct. 19.
“The message to me is consistent and clear,” the statement said. “It is vital that First Nations voices be heard in every way possible, including through the ballot box.”
As a result, Bellegarde “reassessed” his long-standing practice as a way to reinforce his message that: “First Nations priorities must be Canada’s priorities.”
Revitalization of indigenous issues and a plan to implement the 94 calls to action in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s report were also discussed.
Bellegarde noted the First Nations people entered into the treaties with the Crown, not the elected parties. Indigenous teachings state that whoever is elected must abide by and enforce the treaty relationship, but that has changed in recent years. It is the unwillingness to confer with the First Nations in recent years that has contributed to the call for change, he says.