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Six Nations Council prepares for Assembly of First Nations Chief Election

Front exterior of an city adminstration building. the majority of the building is black and the sides are red brick. Green bushes line the front of the building.
Six Nations will be receiving 100 acres of land this week as part of an agreement for not impeding in the construction process of 2200 homes in the town of Caledonia. Photo courtesy of CJKS.
Andrew Dow - CJKS - Ohsweken • ON | 10-11-2023
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Members of Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) are getting set to travel to Ottawa to attend the Assembly of First Nations (AFN), Special Chiefs Assembly and the National Chief Election next month.

The National Chief election will happen on Dec. 6 with six candidates vying to become the head of AFN:

  • Reginald Bellerose – SK
  • Craig Makinaw – AB
  • Sheila North – MB
  • David Pratt – SK
  • Dean Sayers – ON
  • Cindy Woodhouse – MB

"The winner of the election shall be that person who first gains a majority of 60 percent of the votes of the representatives of members who are registered at the Assembly," says AFN website.

Coun. Cynthia Jamieson says she would like to see more information on each candidate before SNEC makes a decision on its vote.

"I think if we have a special meeting so we can hear from these folks and then council can decide on who, if any, we want to support."

The discussion then moved into the current affiliation that SNEC has with the AFN and other reasons for its members to attend in December.

SNEC CEO Nathan Wright says SNEC also needs to be attending to gain information on certain funding that AFN receives on behalf of Six Nations and where that funding is going without Six Nations being consulted.

"The concern was the amount of money that the AFN receives in terms of not only consultation dollars but advocacy dollars on our [Six Nations] behalf."

He discussed the proposed Indigenous Health Legislation and AFN receiving funds for agreeing to it and in turn meaning that Six Nations also agrees to it by the AFN accepting to enter into that agreement with the federal government.

"AFN has been given a contribution agreement on that health legislation to get agreement across the board," he said.

"Our moneys are included in that contribution agreement that the AFN is getting, and we have already agreed by the AFN accepting that money. It's important to go there to formulate our objection to something like the health legislation that's going to deeply impact this community that the AFN has already taken x number of dollars for, on our behalf, without our permission."

Six Nations Chief Sherri Lyn Hill says that council has previously informed AFN by letter that they do not speak for Six Nations and that the current council will determine a stance on it's affiliation with the organization.

"AFN doesn't speak for Six Nations, we speak for ourselves. We go there to get information but the bottom line is that we sent a letter there and they know that Six Nations speaks for themselves."

A recommendation was moved and passed during the Nov. 7 General Council meeting that members of SNEC will travel to Ottawa during the AFN Special Chiefs Assembly and National Chief Election on Dec. 5-7.

For the full CJKS story listen below:

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