First Nations National Chief talks spirit of the treaties and repealing Indian Act
Push reset button, smash status quo: AFN chief
Kathryn Blaze Carlson - Oct 15, 2011
Shawn Atleo’s hair is short and neat, he carries a BlackBerry, and he wears dress shirts. He is conciliatory rather than combative. He does not think he should have to choose between an economic agenda and advancing First Nations treaty rights. The current national chief of the Assembly of First Nations is not like those who held the title before him.
When he was a young boy, his grandmother had urged him to become educated and comfortable interacting with the broader Canadian society. She also told him the value of being cemented in his identity.
On June 11, 2008, he asked her to stand beside him in the House of Commons for perhaps the key moment in modern First Nations-Crown relations — as Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologized for the Indian residential school system.
“Grandson,” she told him, “they are beginning to see us.”
The 44-year-old today holds a master’s degree in education and global change from the University of Technology in Sydney, Australia. Three years ago, he became chancellor of Vancouver Island University, making him the first aboriginal chancellor in British Columbia’s history. He has a home with his wife, Nancy, in Nanaimo, B.C., but he finds time to visit his modest dwelling in his ancestral community of Ahousaht, where he is the hereditary chief.
Chief Atleo was among the first generation not to attend residential schools, although his father told him stories of seeing fellow five-year-old students have their tongues pricked for speaking their native language. Still, Chief Atleo is not one for the blame game. He avoids pointing fingers, focused instead on his vision of healing the rift between First Nations and the government.
He wants nothing less than a return to spirit of the original 400-year-old treaties, which speak to a shared partnership and mutual respect. He wants more dialogue, less red tape, and new fiscal arrangements that give First Nations more autonomy and more responsibility. He wants to get rid of the Indian Act, and swap the federal aboriginal affairs department in favour two new entities — one to focus on the relationship with the Crown and the other to deliver programs. The time, he said, is now.
“I believe this could be the moment to hit an important reset button in the (First Nations-Crown) relationship,” Chief Atleo said in an interview this week. “It’s time to smash the status quo because the idea of tinkering at the margins has us slipping backwards.”
Chief Atleo was elected in 2009 as the contest’s youngest candidate, hailed as a generational bridge to First Nations Canadians, half of whom are under the age of 25. The father-of-two ran on an education platform, and has spent much of the past couple years collaborating with Mr. Harper’s Conservative government to improve on-reserve education.
Earlier this year, the pair adopted the Canada First Nations Joint Action Plan, which includes a traveling education panel aimed at combatting a stark reality: Upwards of 60% of the roughly 110,000 students in hundreds of on-reserve schools across the country will fail to complete high school, and fewer than 30,000 of Canada’s million aboriginals have university degrees.
But Chief Atleo is optimistic, and said Mr. Harper has sent clear signals that Ottawa is continuing to “see” First Nations: Mr. Harper’s government reversed its earlier position and endorsed the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; he has agreed to meet collectively for the first time with First Nations leaders later this year; he brought First Nations living on reserves under the umbrella of the Canadian Human Rights Act for the first time; he agreed to establish a specific claims tribunal to resolve land disputes; and he partnered to launch the historic joint action plan to improve life on reserves.
“I believe in my heart that Mr. Harper has, in his own heart, recognized the important moment at which we have arrived,” Chief Atleo said. “But make no mistake, resetting the relationship requires leadership — it requires somebody like the prime minister. We’re both fathers, we both have kids, and we both want the best for our kids.”
Chief Atleo, father to Tyson and Tara, may have run as the education candidate, but he has emerged also as an economic voice. He has worked hard to appeal to the hearts and minds of business leaders, philanthropists and even Mr. Harper. He speaks in a language those stakeholders understand.
“If we were to unleash the human potential of First Nations, we’re talking about $400 billion in additional economic output in one generation as well as savings in government expenditures to the tune of $115 billion,” Chief Atleo said. “We can quantify the cost of a relationship that’s gone awry.”
In speaking at the conference of Philanthropic Foundations Canada in Toronto last week, he became the first national chief to address the philanthropic community at such a level. Chief Atleo has also secured partnerships within the community, including one with television star Mike Holmes, who will help build houses in First Nations communities.
“The philanthropic community is stepping forward and saying, ‘These conditions may not have been created by us, but we share in a concern for the plight of our neighbour,’” Chief Atleo said. “That signals to the country and the government that it’s time for a significant shift. Perhaps we’re at a collective breaking point.”
Chief Atleo is not always business-friendly. He stood up against massive mining projects such as the Prosperity Mine in his home province, which is slated to spur job growth across at least six First Nations communities.
“It’s not about being supportive of development at any and all costs,” he said, citing the environmental impact.
Economic development is also stifled by the 1876 Indian Act, which gives Ottawa legislative jurisdiction over Indian reserves. Chief Atleo would see the Indian Act repealed, and seeks greater autonomy for the more than 600 bands he represents.
That desire fuels his opposition to a recently introduced federal bill that would define property rights for aboriginal women who divorce. It is just another example of Ottawa’s lingering “we-know-best” legislative approach.
Chief Atleo is the first national leader from B.C. in more than three decades, and while he must balance the regional divide, he must also contend with tempers. Several band chiefs opted out of the education panel this summer, claiming their leader had been co-opted by the Conservative government.
“There’s a long history of mistrust with governments when it comes to the chances of real change occurring,” Chief Atleo said. “But the apology in 2008 triggered the idea that we’re entering an era of reconciliation. It’s what we do with this era that will be absolutely critical.”