BIOGRAPHY
COVER:
A
WORKING GIRL'S NIGHTMARE
The Murdered and Missing
Women of Skid Row
BIOGRAPHY:
Marko
Kane
Metis
born but raised by an adoptive working-class white father and three different
step-mothers...
Edith
Josie
HERE ARE THE NEWS
OLD CROW
Matthew
Coon Come
was elected the
new national chief of the Assembly of First Nations...
HUMOUR: Bee in the Bonnet
Elders
Know Which Way the Wind Blows
When they first
coined the phrase "Been there, done that!" there had already
been an old native there ...
Splapp
The legend of Splapp is an old
Indian story...
Smart Pills
Hopefully this is the generation that finally gets
it ... Never bring bows and arrows to a gun fight!
Sorry I'm Late ... I'm On Indian Time
Are you always
late for appointments? Have you ever been on time to pick someone up?
CULTURE:
Manitoba
Gang Members' Trial Moving at a Snail Pace
In legal parlance
it is known as the Queen v. Pangman et al...
POETRY:
Curses
Hay
Nursery
HISTORY:
Oka
Crisis
A decade later,
the 82-year-old woman hasn't forgotten the clamour of a hot, angry summer
afternoon...
POLITICS:
Phil
Fontaine
Three years ago,
when Phil Fontaine strode confidently in to the Assembly of First Nations'
national conference...
Matthew
Coon Responds to the Burnt Church Crisis
Exactly six years
ago, on September 6, 1995, Dudley George was shot and killed for defending
his land at Ipperwash Park in Ontario...
Matthew Coon Come
Matthew Coon Come was elected the new
national chief of the Assembly of First Nations yesterday, heralding a new
age of confrontational politics between Canada's natives and the federal
government.
Mr. Coon Come, 44 ran a campaign attacking incumbent Phil Fontaine for his
comfortable relationship with the governing Liberals, saying he had become
too cozy with Ottawa. It was a charge that resonated with chiefs, who gave
Mr. Coon Come 50 per cent of the vote on the first ballot and 58 per cent
on the second, forcing Mr. Fontaine to concede the race.
The changes should come soon. After a period of relative calm in the
relationship between Ottawa and the AFN, Mr. Coon Come won by promising to
force native issues onto the government's agenda.
He has said the federal government's apology over the treatment of natives
at residential schools didn't go far enough, and that he will push for a
system of investigation of abuses that would be along the lines of South
Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission. He would like a national
revenue sharing agreement - such as the one he signed as Grand Chief of
the Northern Quebec Cree - for all natural resources projects on native
lands.
He has promised to embarrass the federal government before the United
Nations if it fails to deal with the brutal social and economic conditions
on reserves.
Yesterday, clad in a buckskin-trimmed jacket over a golf shirt emblazoned
with his campaign logo, he promised in his acceptance speech to take
Ottawa to task immediately over the treaty rights.
"We are denied our proper voice in our own land," he said.
"I want Canada to respect the rule of law. I want Canada to respect
its own laws. I want Canada to respect the treaties it has signed with us,
for they are also the rule of law."
However, Mr. Coon Come rejected suggestions that he would turn the AFN
into a radical group.
"I think I know when to fight, and I think I know when to negotiate,
and I think I know when to sign agreements. We need some good cops and bad
cops. I'm willing to be a bad cop sometimes."
Observers say the AFN will be a very different political organization with
Mr. Coon Come as national chief than it was under Mr. Fontaine.
"It will be more like the Ovide Mercredi days. More blockade-type
scenarios. It'll be a different dynamic," said Bernd Christmas, an
observer from Cape Breton's Membertou band. "It'll be an in-your-face
attitude with government."
During his term as AFN leader Mr. Fontaine obtained a long-awaited apology
from the federal government for the treatment of natives at residential
schools as well as a $350-million healing fund.
Mr. Coon Come's victory was effectively sealed about 15 hours before the
vote results were announced, at about 2:30a.m. yesterday.
Mr. Mecredi, a former national chief and a long-time rival of Mr.
Fontaine, delivered a impassioned speech to a roomful of chiefs gathered
at the Delta Hotel in downtown Ottawa. He told them it was Mr. Coon Come's
destiny to succeed Mr. Fontaine as national chief, and that it was
important to the future of Canada's native bands that he be allowed to
fulfill that destiny.
When Mr. Mecredi finished speaking, a procession of previously undeclared
chiefs entered the room from the back. One by one, they publicly avowed
their support for Mr. Coon Come.
"It was a powerful moment," said Armand McKenzie, a member of
the Innu of Northern Quebec. "The chiefs were moved."
Instead of the narrow win for Mr. Fontaine most observers had expected,
the shift in support allowed Mr. Coon Come to become the first Eastern
chief elected to the top post at Canada's largest native organization.
A member of the Mistissini Cree Nation in Northern Quebec , the combative
Mr. Coon Come rose to national prominence during the 1990s by fighting the
multibillion-dollar Great Whale hydroelectric project to a standstill. He
eventually secured a revenue-sharing deal with the province for all future
natural resources projects on Cree land.
He has also long been a thorn in the side of Premier Lucien Bouchard,
holding a Cree referendum in which 98 per cent voted to stay in Canada if
Quebec separated. He later intervened in the federal government's Supreme
Court of Canada reference on the separation issue, ensuring natives would
have a say in any post-referendum negotiations.
In a debate Tuesday night, he promised to be a more outspoken advocate
than Mr. Fontaine has been.
"There is an impression that is given that all is well," he
said. "Well, not all is well ... Since when did we agree to be
silent?"
He also promised to make an international issue of Canada's treatment of
natives, and to take court fights to the UN if the Supreme Court of Canada
ruled unfavourably.
Mr. Fontaine had said the election was about "maintaining the
momentum or starting over." After the second ballot results showed
his defeat to be inevitable, he huddled with his advisers. He could be
overheard asking whether he should force a third ballot - 60 per cent is
the required threshold for victory - then deciding against it.
"We gave the chiefs of Canada a very clear choice. They made their
decision. We have to accept that decision," he told the circle around
him before crossing the convention room floor with his supporters and
embracing Mr. Coon Come.
Lawrence Martin, an Ontario chief and Juno-award winning musician,
finished third on the first ballot and was eliminated, while Marilyn
Buffalo, a past president of the Native Women's Association of Canada,
finished fourth with only 13 votes.
After the first ballot, she complained that Mr. Fontaine and Mr. Coon Come
had polarized the campaign and ignored the issues. However, she later
threw her support behind Mr. Coon Come.
"He's not going to be afraid to speak out," she said.
Mr. Martin remained neutral after the first ballot.