New AMC grand chief set to tackle poverty and social issues

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This article was published 20/07/2017 (3053 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Arlen Dumas’s first task at Manitoba’s newly elected grand chief is to remind Canada’s Prime Minister and provincial premiers that First Nations are equal partners in Confederation and expect to be treated better.

“I’m going to use that support and that confidence I have with my colleagues and move very strongly towards developing meaningful ways for us to collaborate federally and provincially,” said Dumas during a phone call from Thompson Thursday.

Dumas was elected Wednesday in a landslide vote on an unprecedented first ballot by chiefs who represent more than 12 per cent of Manitoba’s population.

“I think the election signals an opportunity and a time for change,” Dumas said of his victory. He won 33 out of 54 votes at the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs election in Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation in Nelson House, located 80 kilometres north of Thompson.

Dumas succeeds Pine Creek chief Derek Nepinak, who served two terms before announcing he would not take any more “titles in the colonial system.”

Dumas praised his predecessor for leading during troubled times.

“You have to keep in mind Grand Chief Nepinak survived the Harper years and the villainization of our chiefs during that era,” Dumas said referring to the friction and outright animosity between Canada’s First Nations and the former federal Conservative government led by Stephen Harper.

Movements such as Idle No More were born out of that tension and contributed to the growth of a grassroots form of activism through social media that altered the face of indigenous politics in Canada.

Dumas is the first chief from a remote, isolated First Nation to be elected to the top AMC post, which traditionally alternates between Manitoba’s 63 southern and northern chiefs.

He has been the long-time chief of Mathias Colomb Cree Nation at Pukatwagan, 700 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg, and is widely respected among environmentalist and Indigenous-rights advocates in Canada for asserting Indigenous land rights.

Dumas said he’ll be using his mandate to solidify unity among Manitoba’s Indigenous leaders and to draw the attention of his federal and provincial counterparts to long-standing poverty-related issues.

Canada consistently ranks as one of the world’s top countries when it comes to standards of living, but First Nations are nearly always ranked near the bottom alongside Third World countries using the same statistical yardsticks.

The new grand chief’s first task is to put the country’s non-Indigenous leaders on notice that it’s in everyone’s interest to even out the standards.

“I want to send a letter to all the federal and provincial ministers informing them that I am the grand chief and I have this support, and they need to start preparing and become ready to a accept that opportunity to work with us in a meaningful way,” Dumas said.

“I’m not asking for anything. I’m demanding it, and I feel I have the mandate from the chiefs to do it.”

Chiefs are overwhelmed by socio-economic issues in their communities and feel hamstrung by federal and province funding and policy restraints which prevent efforts to raise living standards, he said.

“We have to acknowledge the work chiefs have done. They’re inundated with issues and they haven’t had people working with them on the federal and provincial level who have the same initiative,” Dumas said.

He was careful to use language that levelled the playing field and emphasized equality between First Nations and other levels of government.

“I challenge my colleagues out there, whether they’re federal or provincial ministers, to really take a look at it (their relationships with First Nations),” Dumas said.

His assertions struck the same note of dissatisfaction the country’s Indigenous leaders expressed earlier this week about their relationships with federal and provincial levels of government.

“We’re not just another special interest group,” Assembly of First Nations national chief Perry Bellegarde told reporters while explaining why he and the other top two Indigenous leaders in the country boycotted a session set aside for them separately at the premiers meeting in Edmonton.

“As leaders we say we need to help with youth suicide, with overcrowding, with all these things. Well if we’re not (getting it), we need to take an analysis on what’s impeding that. Unfortunately, there are stagnant bureaucracies that need adjusting to ensure our governments are able to serve their constituents the way they’re meant to,” Dumas said, adding he’ll use his three-year term to be “be visible and on the ground.”

His first visit will be the Peguis commemoration of the Selkirk Treaty Friday.

“I want to make every effort to support our chiefs and our communities and draw attention to issues, celebrate our people and good things we have, and also draw attention to the things we need to work on,” he said.

alexandra.paul@freepress.mb.ca