WHITEFISH RIVER FIRST NATION—Whitefish River First Nation Chief Shining Turtle (Franklin Paibomsai) has announced that he is seeking the position of grand council chief at the upcoming June 6 Anishinabek Nation grand council elections.
“I have already discussed my plans with my council during a closed door meeting we held at our hotel (the Manitoulin Hotel and Conference Centre in Little Current) back in January,” said Chief Shining Turtle in conversation with The Expositor last Friday. He described the reaction as “supportive, but a little bit concerned.” Chief Shining Turtle has been the spearpoint of a lot of the initiatives in his community. “That probably explains a few of my scars,” he chuckles.
The Whitefish River chief goes into the race with a solid legacy of accomplishment in his home community to back him up. Since he took the helm almost two decades ago, his community has seen $40 million of development take place, including a new water tower project that is currently underway.
“I explained to them that this is the next phase of what I have decided,” he said, noting that he wants to take his focus to a new level. He explained that his goal is to shift the focus of the Anishinabek Nation leadership toward a greater emphasis on advocacy and action with the target being not only the provincial and federal government.
“Toronto is not going to go away tomorrow,” he said. “If we don’t get around this politically it will be always be an albatross around our necks going forward.”
Chief Shining Turtle said that he would devote more of his time to sitting at the table in Toronto and Ottawa, as well as corporate board rooms, than in travelling around the territory to take part in powwows and poking into local affairs.
“The local band chiefs and councils know their communities best, they are best ones to take care of that business,” he said. “The way I look at it, I need you at the table in Toronto and Ottawa taking care of business at that level. I intend to stay at them.”
Chief Shining Turtle notes that this is a paradigm shift in approach from the current model, but one that he says he feels is needed if goals are to be met.
“We have big needs, much of it centres on wellness, mental health and physical health needs, but also education,” he said. “We need advocacy and action at the federal and provincial levels—and not all of it is strictly government.”
He points to the example of recent headway made with Fisher Wavy, with whom the band partners on that company’s operations at Fisher Harbour. “There is now an endowment made by the company for funding promising students,” he said. “That is working with the private sector. If you don’t tell them, they don’t know. It’s important that we are at those tables to let them know what is needed in our communities to move things forward for everyone.”
As for a framework of governance and reconciliation, Chief Shining Turtle noted that the current model is too focussed on what he calls an “institutional model.”
“We need to move forward on a people basis,” he said. “If you only focus at the top, there is often pushback from the people. The government tries to ram things down a community’s throat.” That results in a negative reaction that hampers any potential positive outcome.
“It is not going to be easy (to change the current framework),” he said. Particularly since governments prefer to work with as large a group or entity as possible. “But if we are not there, then there are going to be Titanic consequences.”
When it comes to reconciliation, Chief Shining Turtle notes that the current approach is trying to swim upstream. “You need a continuum of reconciliation,” he said. “It is not a race.”
Chief Shining Turtle will be going up against current Deputy Grand Chief Glen Hare for the post of grand chief. Chief Hare has already announced his candidacy.
Nominations are to take place on the afternoon of Tuesday, June 5. The leadership of the member First Nations will then take part in a traditional stand up election vote on Wednesday, June 6. In that vote the chiefs line up behind their preferred candidate who stands at the edge of a blanket.
The current position of deputy grand council chief will change this year, transitioning into four regional deputy grand council chief positions. The change in political structure is being undertaken to “allow for more capacity and political representation at the regional level.”
These five new positions will have a term of three years. Current leadership and citizens who are interested in candidacy should consider the criteria below.
Each region will elect their own regional deputy grand chief in a standing vote similar to that for the grand council chief election.
