Wawatay spoke with Regional Chief of Ontario Stan Beardy soon after he won the election to represent 133 First Nations. Here is an excerpt from that interview.
Wawatay: What are your thoughts on winning the election, and what that means for yourself and for northern First Nations?
Stan Beardy: First of all, it’s definitely a great honour to be selected as Regional Chief of Ontario with 133 First Nations. Yes, I am from the North, and I have a good understanding of northern issues, but I am responsible for all First Nations in Ontario. I believe there is great diversity, and we need to find a way to use that diversity for our strength.
My mandate is for three years, and I believe I was selected based on the platform which I put forward. I am very strong on our rights-base, and I am very strong on our Treaty position. That Treaty relationship, I believe, is the number one priority in terms of moving forward on improving the quality of life.
When we talk of First Nation laws across Ontario, and asserting our jurisdiction, we’re talking about finding a way to harmonize the federal government’s legislation and laws with ours. It’s not one or the other. It’s a matter of harmonizing what works best for all of us. Because when we made treaties with the settlers, we agreed, first of all, to peaceful coexistence. That means we agree that we accept the fact that there are visitors that are here on Turtle Island, who will live with us side-by-side.
In terms of the land, we agree to share the land and resources from time to time. Implying there has to be proper consultation, accommodation and consent. That’s why the statements made by people today in regards to resource extraction like the Ring of Fire, they make it very clear that we’re not against resource development, but we have to make sure that we benefit. Also we have a sacred responsibility that the environment is protected as much as possible.
We agree that when we talk about benefits we talk about guaranteed jobs and training, across the board, for First Nations people. We’re talking about first refusal on economic spinoffs, economic development opportunities. But also there has to be a discussion on arrangements in regards to sharing the wealth. That means not only being compensated for being displaced from your homelands, but also we’re talking about sharing the wealth of the funds collected by the governments for user fees, royalties, and other economic activities like taxes.
Wawatay: What are going to be your priorities that you’ll bring to AFN on a national context on behalf of Ontario First Nations?
Stan Beardy: First of all what I’ll be doing is developing a framework in consultation with all First Nations, along with the Treaty territories, in terms of what their priorities are and how do we integrate those into the national agenda. Definitely treaty is very important, economic participation and resource revenue sharing is very important. But also I think education and decolonization of our children through the education process is very important.
Also the profile of Ontario First Nations, regionally, nationally and internationally is very important. There has to be international work as well, in terms of promoting, advancing, enhancing First Nations rights as per United Nations and the UN declaration.
Also I think its important when you talk about our rights, that the First Nation people are educated about their rights. Because at some point in time, if things are to change for the better for First Nation people there is a need to mobilize First Nation people. The way to do it is to educate First Nations people on all their rights, Aboriginal treaty rights, their legal rights, human rights, so that they can understand what they’re being denied of, to make sure that they have a right to all of the education, health, economic participation and all those things.
And I’m very big on the technology, so we have to make sure there is high speed internet for all Ontario first Nations as well.