Ontario Regional Chief Candidate: Nathan Wright

Dear Anishinabek Nation Leadership,

For nearly two decades of my career, I have had the opportunity to work directly with the Anishinabek Nation and many of you, leaders of these strong communities. I have been consistently humbled with the reciprocal support of our advocacy organizations in addressing issues that are important to empowering the communities we lead and work for. I believe in the values instilled through your community leadership, and express my gratitude for the years of collaboration, guidance and advice that has led me to embarking on a journey to represent your community and collective efforts in a more meaningful way. I am humbled that I write to seek your support in my candidacy for Ontario Regional Chief on June 16.

As I embark on this journey, I am reminded that our collective successes were only made possible by our collective strength. In my time at the Chiefs of Ontario secretariat, I think about the significance of successful initiatives that were done in tandem with your communities’ past and present leadership and the incredible team at the Anishinabek Nation. Together, we demonstrated success in defeating the First Nation Governance Act in early 2000s, the imposition of HST in 2010, and the prosperous creation of the Sovereign Wealth Fund in 2018. By harnessing the momentum from our successes in past initiatives while also incorporating a strategic approach to planning, we can – and will – find solutions to the challenges we face collectively.

I have had the privilege to witness first-hand, the efforts and sacrifice of your leadership to evolve your communities.  It is truly inspiring, and I know that your representative, political advocacy body must evolve too for our nations to continue meaningful growth. I look to the direction of many of you, in evolving our political forum that will create space for all leadership styles and create a bridge for the next generation of leadership to come. We must address archaic structures that are inapplicable to you and the generations we are responsible for.  Evolution of course, means prioritizing your current collective efforts, particularly your advocacy efforts. It is time the erosion of our Treaties ends, and the successor state of the Crown takes their responsibilities seriously and advance these agreements to truly reflect what was agreed to.

Supporting your governance initiatives, your Treaty approaches, and Nation alliances is vital and a missing element in the larger advocacy efforts. Often, we find that centralized strategies create unnecessary divisions and dissention within our assemblies. When this occurs, it overwhelms the Nation and Treaty approaches that communities are pursuing. I am committed to avoiding this by helping communities shift from centralized strategies which enable governments to continue their one-stop-shop approaches. We must make room for all voices that are reflective of community needs while respecting and supporting your Treaty and Nation alliances.

I feel confident that I have the experience and bring a strong, balanced skillset for this role. Currently, I am an elected Council member at Six Nations of the Grand River Territory. This has provided me the opportunity to understand not only the importance of on the ground, community leadership but how vital community autonomy is in decision making and advocacy. As your representative voice, I will champion your autonomy and elevate you to raise your own issues at tables of change — not to overtake them on your behalf.

My experience with government relations has spanned 18 years through my experience with the Six Nations Elected Council, the Chiefs of Ontario and the Assembly of First Nations. Through this work, I have developed strong relationships with members of provincial and federal governments, as well as opposition parties, and most importantly, you the Chiefs. Relationship building is crucial to ensuring that collective advocacy is successful and the portfolios that are important to your community receive the attention they need. As an Independent Consultant for First Nations across Turtle Island, I have also gained decades of experience providing capacity building and strategic planning initiatives that will ensure the issues you want raised will be done in a way that is thoughtful, practical, and easy to monitor.

I know our collective issues need attention and immediate addressing by the governments.  Our most valued and vulnerable citizens of our nations must no longer suffer. Our Elders, survivors of the Indian Residential Schools, the Sixties Scoop, and victims of the child welfare system. Many people across our nations have been impacted directly or indirectly by these imposed systems and it must stop now for our future generations to flourish. As a founding member of the Ontario First Nations Young Peoples Council, it is critical to my beliefs to continue to lift up the youth who have embraced their traditional ways and who have learned from mainstream education systems, as they each have a vital role to play in addressing the social and economic issues impacting First Nations today and into the future.

I hold in high regard, the Anishinaabe teachings of the Seven Grandfathers: Truth, Respect, Wisdom, Humility, Honesty and Bravery and have consistently applied these principles throughout my life and career. My leadership will be guided by these principles and infused in the following priorities, that I have outlined in my campaign which I believe are reflective of the focused leadership you need to advance your communities:

• The Evolution of our Political Forums;
• The Voice of the Chiefs Lead this Evolution;
• Strategic Planning Approach for Our Collective Future;
• Focused Advocacy for First Nation Pandemic Recovery Plans

On June 16, I hope you make the “Wright” choice and continue with the trust and support you have given me over the last 18 years. It truly comes from the humility of receiving your guidance and concerns and acting on it in a strategic and effective manner. I am happy to arrange virtual Zoom calls with your Chief and Councils to discuss my approach, hear from you on your vision for the future of the Ontario Regional Chief’s Office, and discuss solutions to our collective issues. The next seven generations depend on us getting this right.

Nya:weh go:wa for your time and I look forward to seeing you all very soon.

In friendship,

Nathan Wright
Candidate for Ontario Regional Chief

Please email me at campaign4ORC@nathanwright.ca