The Assembly of First Nations Annual General Assembly begins today at the Vancouver Convention Centre. The highlight of the three-day event is the election for National Chief.
Incumbent Perry Bellegarde is challenged by four—Katherine Whitecloud, Sheila North, Russ Diabo and Miles Richardson.
After a sunrise and pipe ceremony, today’s activities will start at 8:30 a.m. (PT) with Grand Entry and the National Chief’s address, a welcome from B.C. regional chief Terry Teegee and from representatives from the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.
Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation Scott Fraser will bring greetings from British Columbia.
An all candidates’ forum will dominate the afternoon, running from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. The election will begin at 9 a.m. on Day Two, and the first round of voting will end at 11 a.m. A candidate must gain a majority of 60 per cent of the available votes registered at the assembly before being named national chief.
This measure has been a tricky business to achieve in the past. The 2009 election ran a full 24 hours with front-runner Shawn Atleo failing to reach the 60 per cent mark over eight voting rounds.
Atleo took the contest by concession with only 58.11 per cent support. In the early morning hours after an exhausting overnight battle, opponent Bellegarde saw his support slipping through attrition, and chose not to put the chiefs through a ninth ballot.
In 2014, after Atleo resigned his post, Bellegarde ran for his replacement and won easily with 62.98 per cent of the first ballot.
Indications are, though, that the 2018 contest could be another horse-race. Reports say that Bellegarde’s team expects to win his second term on the first ballot, but influential support for candidate Miles Richardson, former Haida Nation president, includes former national chiefs Ovide Mercredi, Matthew Coon Come and Georges Erasmus.
Sheila North, who served as Grand Chief of Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak, has been straight-talking and direct with her criticism of Bellegarde’s closeness with the governing Liberals under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. She’s warned the chiefs that Bellegarde is more cheerleader for Canada than advocate for First Nations.
Russ Diabo has been inexhaustible on the campaign trail, but he may be more the people’s choice, with his call for a major overhaul of the AFN organization and its operations, a popular position with the grassroots.
Whitecloud, a former regional chief of Manitoba, may not have the Canada-wide profile of the others and it will be interesting to see how she distinguishes herself in today’s forum.
It’s a one-chief, one vote election no matter how many First Nations members each chief represents at home.
The oath of office will follow after the final results are announced.
The AFN assembly will be streamed online at https://livestream.com/afn/AGA2018. Go to www.AFN.ca for details of the agenda.