By Canadian Press

Meet the candidates seeking to be national chief of the Assembly of First Nations

Dec 6, 2023 | 4:20 PM

OTTAWA — The Assembly of First Nations is choosing a new national chief as part of its three-day special assembly in Ottawa.

There were six candidates competing to lead the Assembly of First Nations, a political advocacy organization representing more than 600 First Nations across Canada.

The first round of voting did not produce a winner and the two lowest-ranking candidates, Reginald Bellerose and Craig Makinaw, were dropped from the second ballot Wednesday afternoon.

Here are the four remaining candidates competing to be the assembly’s chief advocate.

Sheila North: North, a former grand chief of Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak and an advocate for missing and murdered Indigenous women, is running on a platform promising to prioritize respecting the inherent rights of First Nations. North has also said the assembly itself needs to improve and act in the best interest of the chiefs it represents.

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David Pratt: Pratt currently serves as the vice-chief for the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations. He says the assembly is at a “critical juncture,” and the election necessary to restore and rebuild trust in the AFN after years of internal turmoil that tested its legitimacy and influence.

Dean Sayers: Sayers, a longtime Batchewana First Nation chief, was most recently involved in negotiations for the Robinson Huron Treaty settlement, in which signatory First Nations argued that Canada and Ontario did not uphold their treaty obligations to make annual payments to Indigenous beneficiaries. They had first been promised in 1850, and were capped at $4 per person in 1875. If elected, Sayers says he would empower First Nations to improve internal governance, and force governments to honour their promises to communities.

Cindy Woodhouse: Woodhouse, who serves as the assembly’s regional chief for Manitoba, was a central player in a landmark $23-billion child-welfare settlement approved last month by the Federal Court. If elected, she says she would continue fighting for the rights and well-being of First Nations children and help to advance economic reconciliation.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 6, 2023.

Alessia Passafiume, The Canadian Press