First Nations alliance set to challenge AFN on dealings with Harper
OTTAWA — A leader of a nascent First Nations alliance set to challenge the Assembly of First Nations’ authority has issued a sharp warning in advance of parallel meetings to be held by both groups next week.
Manitoba Grand Chief Derek Nepinak has told AFN National Chief Shawn Atleo that his province’s chiefs are unanimously opposed to the AFN’s dealings with the Harper government on treaties.
“Chiefs of Manitoba have been very clear that our treaties cannot be negotiated away behind closed doors at highlevel tables in Ottawa,” Nepinak wrote in a letter to Atleo on Wednesday.
Nepinak has been a leading advocate for a new National Treaty Alliance, arguing the Ottawa- based AFN has made little progress pressuring the federal government into honouring treaties signed long ago between First Nations and the Crown.
His letter to Atleo is a precursor to next week’s gathering of treaty nations at Onion Lake First Nation in Saskatchewan, which will partly focus on forming the new alliance.
The meeting is the same week as the AFN’s annual general assembly, which runs Wednesday to Friday in Whitehorse, meaning some chiefs will have to choose which to attend. It’s unclear who scheduled their meeting first, but Nepinak has said he advocated against changing the treaty gathering dates because it creates a chance for people to see “what platform their leadership are going to stand on.”
In his letter to Atleo, Nepinak says Manitoba chiefs believe “the AFN does not have the authority to carry out any activity on the alleged ‘ implementation’ or ‘ enforcement’ of treaty obligations,” and they oppose the AFN’s creation of a chiefs task force to work toward negotiations with the government.
“Negotiations at the highest level should not be between AFN and Canada but with the treaty holders and the Government of Canada, according to historical protocols,” he wrote. The Manitoba chiefs unanimously passed a resolution on the matter at its annual general assembly.
A commitment to high- level treaty implementation talks was a major outcome of a Jan. 11 meeting between First Nations leaders and Prime Minister Stephen Harper which took place at the height of the indigenous grassroots Idle No More movement.
Nepinak was a prominent voice among chiefs from several provinces who opposed that meeting, siding with then hunger striking Chief Theresa Spence’s demand that both Harper and Gov. Gen. David Johnston be present. The Governor General later met with chiefs in a separate ceremony.
Atleo said last week that groups such as the Treaty Alliance shouldn’t be seen as threats; that he has attended treaty gatherings in the past and welcomes every effort to advocate for the rights of First Nations.
In a letter responding to Nepinak on Thursday, Atleo said he agrees with the Manitoba chiefs, and that the AFN “has always maintained and continues to maintain that any discussions on treaty must be treaty- by- treaty and nation by nation.” The AFN’s role, he said, is to support treaty nations in their efforts.
The AFN’s approach turns treaty talks into a “policy discussion,” which betrays the nation- to- nation approach, Day said.