Anishinabek Nation leadership gather to discuss restoring rightful jurisdiction

BAAWAATING TRADITIONAL TERRITORY (SAULT STE. MARIE, ON) March 5, 2019 — Anishinabek Nation leadership have come together at the Anishinabek Nation Governance Gathering in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. The objective of the conference is to build a sense of unity and understanding about the proposed Anishinabek Nation Governance Agreement.

“It’s us as leaders that need to make the call about what happens for the good of our people,” says Anishinabek Nation Grand Council Chief Glen Hare. “It’s our own destiny to lead our communities the right way—the Anishinaabe way.”

The draft Anishinabek Nation Governance Agreement is a self-government agreement with Canada that recognizes the Anishinabek Nation member First Nations’ jurisdiction over their elections, language and culture, citizenship, and First Nation government management. The Governance Agreement is an important step out from parts of the Indian Act towards greater self-determination. It will establish a nation-to-nation relationship between the Anishinabek Nation, its member First Nations and the Government of Canada to address concerns and issues important to member First Nations.

“This Agreement will provide our First Nations with opportunities to enact their own election laws and to look at ways of promoting more use of our Anishinaabemowin language and incorporating more of our ceremonial ways of conducting our meetings and governing ourselves in a more traditional fashion,” says Anishinabek Nation Chief Negotiator Martin Bayer. “It will also provide us with the opportunity to define for ourselves, who our citizens are and the rights, privileges and responsibilities that come with that citizenship.”

A vote on the proposed Anishinabek Nation Governance Agreement is planned for later this year.

“The opportunity is here now, the momentum is here for all of us to be leaders in our communities,” adds Grand Council Chief Hare. “We say what happens in our communities — we make the laws. We can no longer have another government doing this for us.”