----- Original Message -----
From: RUSSELL DIABO
To: Undisclosed-Recipient:;@priv-edmwaa01.telusplanet.net
Sent: Tuesday, November 07, 2006 8:27 PM
Subject: 'Too many chiefs,' aboriginal leader says
'Too many chiefs,' aboriginal leader says
BILL CURRY
>From Tuesday's Globe and Mail
OTTAWA - Aboriginal poverty still exists because Canada has "too many chiefs"
championing the existing reserve system, according to Patrick Brazeau, who was
acclaimed national chief of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples this weekend and
won an extra $1.3-million in federal cash.
The reserve system created by the federal Indian Act in the late 1800s harms
native progress -- yet the chiefs of those reserves depend on that structure
for power, said Mr. Brazeau, who represents natives who live off reserves.
Citing the largely ignored Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, released 10
years ago, Mr. Brazeau said Canada's 600-plus reserves are too small to be
economically viable and should be amalgamated into about 70 ethnically based
nations, such as the Algonquin and Cree.
"This 're-nation building' must occur," he said in an interview yesterday. "I
know this may be seen as a little bit forceful on the chiefs, or may sound
anti-chief -- which it is -- but at the same time, it makes sense. We have to
get away from this reserve system."
The royal commission report determined that the reserve system weakens
aboriginal Canadians' ties to their ancestral nations. It recommended
recreating those nations as the foundation of native self-governance, combined
with financial control of the resources on their ancestral lands.
On the weekend, Mr. Brazeau was formally elected by the assembly of about 120
members in Ottawa. He took over from former chief Dwight Dorey in February as
the Congress was immersed in allegations of misspending.
A federal audit of the provincial affiliates was launched in January and has
yet to be made public. So far, the national office has had to pay back
$127,310, and the Ontario affiliate will be officially suspended in January
unless it pays back $163,245 in spending that was rejected by auditors.
Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice spoke at the weekend meeting and appeared
to turn the page on Ottawa's investigations of the group, praising Mr. Brazeau
for his willingness to "confront these challenges." The minister announced an
extra $1.3-million to the Congress's $5-million annual budget so that it can
help develop government policy.
Mr. Prentice's speech, combined with the fact that Mr. Brazeau endorsed the
Conservatives and describes former Prime Minister Paul Martin as "Mr. Dithers,"
suggests that the two intend to work closely.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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