MATAWA FIRST NATIONS MANAGEMENT INC. ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING — Delegates at this corporate meeting pull up in pick-up trucks, not limos. Leaders sit at the table with elders and youth rather than aides or shareholders. No one dresses in suits or ties; they wear running shoes and ball caps.
The annual gathering of the Matawa First Nations Tribal Council doesn’t follow the conventions of the usual corporate annual general meeting, nor the formalities of government sessions.
During a sacred opening ceremony, elders load long pipes with tobacco and puff out billows of smoke as three men and a boy pound a powwow drum. Songs from time immemorial reverberate through the open doors of a rundown community centre where kids play ball hockey in the gym. At the top of the agenda: How to assert a unified stance on mining development that encroaches on traditional territories in this part of northern Ontario, home to a bed of lucrative mineral deposits that has been dubbed the Ring of Fire.
Near the back of the auditorium sits former Ontario Premier Bob Rae, whom Matawa has hired to head negotiations with the province over the mining projects. The snowy-haired 65-year-old is the only leader checking his BlackBerry and stands out in his crisp dress shirt when he takes a seat next to an elder wearing a “Native Pride” hat.
Rae is a long way from Parliament Hill. No one appears concerned when the meeting doesn’t start on time; there is no time limit on discussions and everyone has a chance to speak as much as they like.
This is the political arena Cornelius Wabasse knows well. As chief of the Webequie First Nation he embodies his community’s wants and needs as ambassador to the tribal council. During the three-day-long meetings, he’s more likely to be leaning in to listen rather than holding court — weighing in only when he can be confident his opinion reflects that of the 840 members he represents.
Until just a few generations ago, decisions were made by collaboration and consensus among small, nomadic groups that claimed this stretch of the Canadian Shield as their traditional land. In 1876, a federal government with a focus on assimilation introduced the Indian Act, which moved groups to reserves and imposed a Western system of elected chiefs.
Unsurprisingly, there’s a deep distrust of the government among many in the nine Matawa First Nations communities, and skepticism over having any one speak on their behalf.
The discovery of the Ring of Fire, an estimated $50 billion deposit called “Canada’s next oil sands,” has thrust the Matawa council into high-stakes political discussions. The First Nations are under pressure from mining companies and the province to consent to complex agreements needed to move the project forward.
Development hinges on the success of talks over environmental protection, regional infrastructure, revenue sharing and social assistance with Ontario, which is striking a conciliatory tone as it eyes the royalties and jobs the Ring of Fire could produce.
For chiefs like Wabasse, these are historic negotiations and the first time their communities have been in the national spotlight. For Rae, it is a step out of the limelight — his first post-political role since announcing retirement from his storied 35-year career in June.
The council sees Rae as their best hope: a political insider with a history of advocacy for native rights.
The veteran politician knows he is taking on centuries of government oppression that have disadvantaged Matawa communities in negotiations with the province.
“The Indian Act created small communities that have a very weak economic base and have a real challenge surviving in the modern world,” he says.
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