Ontario Regional Chief Candidate: Glen T. Hare
Aanii/Boozhoo/He/Kwekwe/Shekoli/Sekoh/Waachiyaa
“Glen Gwiingos Hare is seeking your support for the Ontario Regional Chief position. HARE is Here for the Nations !” Chi-miigwetch for allowing me to use this forum to address the First Nation Chiefs as a candidate for the Ontario Regional Chief. I have been happily married for 47 years to my wife Sally and with the support of my four boys I am ready to work for the Nations as the Ontario Regional Chief. I know about commitment to family and communities.
My familiarity with key Government Provincial and Federal levels is what I bring to the table, after all the advocacy at the Chiefs of Ontario level is crucial to addressing your First Nation priorities.
As the former Grand Council Chief, I worked tirelessly to make sure we were listening and getting answers to all First Nation needs. When I worked with the Grand Council Chiefs in the Chiefs of Ontario Leadership Council we highlighted many issues that needed to be addressed like the Housing Crisis which, will only become worst as the lumber prices tripled this year and will gouge our First Nations. As part of my platform, we don’t need any more studies, we need to have a sustained lobbying effort to get governments to give us a fair share of the resources to handle the problems. Major action will be required to coordinate a lobby effort to get a fair share of resources to address this crisis. Clean drinking water is another major concern in Ontario that we will need to launch a task force to address this long standing concern. When I am asked what my plans are to improve the Committees, I look to work collaboratively with the Grand Chiefs from each region to move on the important and sometimes critical issues to opportunities. We need to build our relationship with Assembly of First Nation as we are all working towards finding solutions to help our First Nation communities like government procurement, COVID programming and improving the economic stimulus. With existing government programs we will need to aggressively lobby for more funding. We need to start talking at all levels about joint ventures, look at the economies of scale, small business development and definitely work collaboratively at a solid economic plan. My position is that we need to work on a region by region basis …there is no one size fits all.
First Nations decided to close our communities even before Ontario did, we declared a state of emergency, all of our Chiefs made that call to protect the most vulnerable. Drugs and overdoses increased and we still see the impacts it has in our communities. It is getting worse during this pandemic and we need to work together to find solutions to help them deal with their addictions. Suicide in our communities increased with the pandemic as mental health issues were magnified with people during lock down. I will commit with you to focus on tackling these serious issues.
Minister of Indigenous Affairs Ontario was asked to assist with transportation to northern communities that were dealing with shelves being bare and people were hoarding food and supplies like toilet paper and baby formula was a major concern in the north. We worked to get essential food and supplies to these communities. As Ontario Regional Chief I want to ensure all our communities get the same consideration and support, I work for all 133 First Nations.
Personal protection equipment (PPE) was necessary in all our communities with the essential workers, nurses, doctors, Nurse Practitioners in our communities as well as in our schools. When I got a call from a First Nation that required an immediate response and needed PPE I picked up the supplies in Sudbury and drove it out to the community on Hwy 69 as they were experiencing Positive test results of COVID 19 in several members. The Chief needed help in his community and I responded! And I will continue to respond when Chiefs ask for help!
In Education we quickly responded when a need arose and students who didn’t have adequate resources for home schooling during the lock down. We helped with issues of internet support and still need to work on improving the internet/broadband connectivity. We are seeing the effects in our youth–some who are not doing well with on-line learning and the loss of social interaction with their peers.
I listened and acted to specific concerns in Child Well-Being. Protection of our kids is one of my strongest passions! The disheartening news of the 215 children that were found in Kamloops requires action We need to occupy the field and exert jurisdiction of our nations responsibility for the well-being our of children.
As Ontario Regional Chief I will continue to ensure Vaccines in our First Nations remain a priority. I want to see the Chiefs of Ontario continue to advocate for all our First Nations –that’s why we are here!
I don’t take the Ontario Regional Chief position lightly! The Ontario Regional Chief position is not new to me, I have been asked several times to be the Acting Ontario Regional Chief. I respectfully ask for your support to vote for me as the next Ontario Regional Chief!