Sask. affiliate calls on CAP leaders to quit over ancestry questions

Concerns and questions around Aboriginal ancestry have triggered a call for the resignations of some leaders of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples (CAP).

On Wednesday, John Hanikenne, president of the Coalition of Indigenous Peoples of Saskatchewan, an advocacy group representing the interests of Métis, status and nonstatus people living off-reserve in Saskatchewan, issued a news release asking for CAP national chief Robert Bertrand and CEO Jim Devoe to step down immediately.

Bertrand was unable to pinpoint his First Nations heritage in interviews with Aboriginal Peoples’ Television Network journalist Jorge Barrera after his background surfaced as an issue during the organization’s general assembly in September.

“I am, in my opinion, I am Metis from the Quebec side,” Bertrand told APTN. “I have Indian blood. My ancestors were from Algonquin descent. I don’t see the relevance of it.”

On Thursday, Hanikenne said he feels an Aboriginal organization “should be run by Aboriginal people” and that questions around Bertrand’s ancestry have hurt the credibility of the CAP, which represents nonstatus, status and Metis people at the national level.

Bertrand was elected in September 2016 with the mandate to “raise the profile of CAP and make it a truly representative organization,” according to the news release, but has not been able to “establish equitable policy space to advance its agenda.”

“I’ve lost all confidence in National Chief Bertrand and CEO Devoe in their ability to work for Métis and off-reserve First Nations,” Hanikenne wrote. “The lingering questions concerning their Indigenous identities is a major part of the problem as to why CAP has failed to stop its terminal decline.”

Hanikenne said he was “disgusted” after he watched the APTN interview with Bertrand.

He said he wants to tender his resignation as the leader of the Saskatchewan affiliate after the issue is resolved. In the release, he said he feels the resignations would be “starting points for reform of this national Indigenous organization and restoring commitment, celerity and confidence.”

In response to a request for interviews with Bertrand and Devoe, the CAP’s executive assistant, Brad Darch, said both “have declined to comment.”