Atleo unruffled by rival group’s bid to meet Harper

OTTAWA — The leader of Canada’s largest aboriginal group said he isn’t worried by a separate group of chiefs’ apparent plan to request their own meeting with Prime Minister Stephen Harper to discuss treaty implementation.

Rather, Shawn Atleo, the national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, says he sees the fledgling group’s efforts as part of the continuing and growing push for the federal government to implement treaties signed long ago between First Nations and the Crown.

The AFN’s annual general assembly wrapped up on Thursday in Whitehorse, as did a separate, rival National Treaty Gathering meeting at Onion Lake Cree Nation in Saskatchewan.

The Onion Lake gathering involved discussion on establishing a National Treaty Alliance as an alternative to the AFN to deal with the Harper government on treaties. In a release, Onion Lake Chief Wallace Fox said it would be premature to say a formal Treaty Alliance has been ratified,” but “we have heard a strong message from the people … and we will be meeting again in October to discuss formalizing our Treaty Alliance.”

Atleo has often said it’s not the AFN’s role to negotiate treaties, but to support nation-to-nation discussions on implementing the existing treaties with the federal government. Some chiefs from the treaty areas represented at Onion Lake were also at the AFN’s meeting in Whitehorse, he said, meeting on how to move forward on treaty implementation.

“The treaty leaders who are engaged in a treaty discussion here in Whitehorse are continuing to press for us to help support and advocate for treaty implementation,” Atleo told Postmedia News. “We have resolutions that go back to 2010 instructing us to do this work.”

The breakaway alliance plans to demand a meeting with Harper in the fall, according to a draft document presented at the treaty gathering, APTN National News reported. That document also said that if Harper failed to meet a 30day deadline, the alliance would launch a national campaign with unspecified action, the report said.

Manitoba Grand Chief Derek Nepinak, a leading proponent of the new alliance, wasn’t available for comment on Thursday.

The group’s apparent demands are reminiscent of the heightened tensions seen this past January, when some chiefs boycotted a meeting between Harper and First Nations leaders.

But Atleo, who extended support to the Onion Lake gathering in a speech earlier this week, said news of the group’s plans doesn’t change his support for them, and it won’t detract from the AFN’s continued efforts on treaties.

“We know governments have always had efforts to divide and conquer. What’s different now is the heightened awareness, amongst not only First Nations but Canadians,” he said. “We would hope that Canadians would suggest to governments … that it’s time that they fully respect First Nations and not play those tired old games.”