POLITICS
COVER:
Aboriginal
Gangs in Prairie Provinces in "Crisis Proportions"
BIOGRAPHY
Chad
Denny Makes Quebec Major Juniors
BUSINESS
Casino
Of The Rockies: The Casino Where Everybody Wins
CULTURE
Buffy
Honours Dudley George's Life with Music Concert
Vancouver's
Museum of Anthropology Strives To Accurately Represent First Nations Culture
ENVIRONMENT
Chippewas
of Nawash Defend Lake Huron and Georgian Bay
HUMOUR
Bee
in the Bonnet: Artsy Fartsy
Bee
in the Bonnet: Halls!
POLITICS
AFN
Leader Seeks to Reorganize National Body
AFN
Leader Seeks to Reorganize National Body
By
Lloyd Dolha
Recently re-elected National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations,
Phil Fontaine is beginning a complete review of the national lobby group's
decision-making process through a National Chief's Commission on Organizational
reform.
"It
[the AFN] evolved into a chief's organization and it may be time to re-invent
the assembly," said Fontaine in a recent interview.
A National Chief's Commission will review the way the national chief is
elected. Currently only elected chiefs can elect the national leader.
The AFN's governance structure has been harshly criticized by Indian Affairs
Minister Robert Nault as an elitist body representing only self-interested
chiefs. Nault cut the AFN's funding during the 2000-2003 term of the confrontational
Matthew Coon Come from $19 million to approximately $6 million.
Coon Come attempted a similar review in 2001, but his efforts were quickly
stifled by the governing chiefs. He tried to revive the issue earlier
this year in a 46 page discussion paper on restructuring, but was defeated
by Fontaine in the July AFN election.
Fontaine, back at the helm of the AFN after his defeat by Coon Come in
2000, said the chiefs now favour change in the organizational structure
of the national body.
Fontaine said he'd like to see the AFN promote a more positive image of
Canada's First Nations so taxpayers will see more First Nations success
stories.
"They have to know that the money that's going towards First Nations'
services and programs is not going into a sinkhole, but that there is
a significant return on investment," said the national chief.
Fontaine added that social conditions for First Nations can be improved
if a way can be found to train the growing number of aboriginal youth
to match the emerging labour shortages in the Canadian economy as baby-boomers
retire in the near future.
Native youth hold future
It's a daunting challenge. The 2001 Aboriginal Peoples Survey released
by Statistics Canada on Wednesday September 24th, found that 48 per cent
of young aboriginals aged 20 to 24 were high school dropouts as compared
to about one-third of non-aboriginals. One quarter of native girls aged
15 to 19 said they left school because of pregnancy or child-care issues,
while 24 per cent of boys in the same age group cited boredom.
Survey questions were answered by117,000 Indian, Inuit and Metis people,
including 86,000 living off reserve.
Witness the aboriginal youth gang phenomenon
exploding across the prairie provinces. The aboriginal youth population
is set to quadruple in the next decade and with that comes a greater need
to educate and train native-teens - almost 70 per cent of whom drop out
of school for private sector jobs.
If the problem is left un-addressed, the social and financial implications
will punish Canadian taxpayers said John Kim Bell, president of the Aboriginal
Achievement Foundation (AAF).
By 2016, nearly 400,000 aboriginal youth will be eligible to enter the
work force said Bell.
"If we don't change the drop out rate, the cost of health is going
to go up, the cost of welfare is going to go up - because if these 350,000
kids are unemployable, what are they going to do?"
Many of the Canada's 92,000 aboriginal youth aboriginal youth aged 15
to 19 can only find low paying part-time or seasonal work said Bell.
Bell, the founder of the Achievement Foundation, that tirelessly encourages
aboriginal youth to pursue higher paying employment in manufacturing,
transportation and information technology industries through career fairs
held four times per year across the nation.
On Tuesday, September 23rd, some 300 corporate executives, academics aboriginal
leaders and youth gathered in Toronto in an effort to introduce aboriginal
students to new career paths.
Fontaine sets up office
In the meantime, AFN leader Phil Fontaine has recently come under fire
for a proposed $900,000 budget to set up his national office.
That includes plans to spend an additional $300,000 to upgrade AFN headquarters
that were upgraded four years ago during Fontaine's first term as national
chief for a total of $1.2 million in the proposed budget.
Fontaine was not available for comment, but Manny Jules, his new chief
of staff defended the request currently under review by Indian and Northern
Affairs Canada.
"There's always a difference between what you request and what you
get," said Jules in an interview.
At least $250,000 of the proposed amount will be used to compensate four
non-political staff who were fired after Fontaine's
return to the national office.
Fontaine wants to double his staff to 18 from the number who served under
Coon Come.
As for the renovations, Jules said that work was being done during Fontaine's
first term, that included oak wood flooring and cherrywood wall panels
for the national chief's office and more upgrades are expected.
"One of the things we want to make sure of is that people, when they
come into the Assembly of First Nations, know they're coming into a national
institute that represents First Nations across the country," said
the new chief of staff.
Roberta Jamieson, leader of the Six Nations of Grand River in Southwestern
Ontario was also a candidate for the AFN leadership in the July election.
Jamieson expressed surprise at the news of the proposed office budget.
"It's a very big price tag. We all know what the needs are in the
communities," said Jamieson."He'll have to account to the chiefs."