Fort William First Nation Chief resigns

By Rick Garrick

FORT WILLIAM — Fort William Chief Peter Collins announced his resignation, effective Sept. 18, during an Aug. 29 press conference in the Fort William First Nation Council Chambers.

“Sept. 18 will be my last day as Chief of Fort William First Nation,” says Collins, who was elected as Chief for 10 terms after first being elected as a councillor in 1986. “I’ve had an opportunity come my way and I think it’s a great opportunity for me and for my future.”

Collins, who plans to take on a role in the public sector, says he had advised the Elders and staff that he was resigning before holding the press conference. He had previously announced after the last election in 2019 that he would not seek re-election in the upcoming Fort William election in April 2023.

“Next, I will meet with the council,” Collins says, noting that the decision on a new Chief is up to council. “It’s so close to the election time that I couldn’t tell you how council is going to deal with that.”

Collins says one of the biggest issues for him is he does not have a pension for retirement.

“So I’ve got to pretty much work until I can’t work any more,” Collins says. “Politics will probably be always in my blood. I can’t see it happening anytime soon but returning to politics, I don’t know. After I get back into the public sector, then maybe not. The stress on me and the stress on my family may be lessened, so at the end of the day, you never say never.”

Collins says the settlements his community achieved during his time as Chief, including the Boundary Claim that was settled in 2011 for about $154 million and the 1905 appropriation of land claim that was settled in 2016 for about $99 million, were “a lot of work and a lot of challenging moments.”

“They are still important to our community and will be important to our community for generations to come because we have a trust fund,” Collins says. “We continue having programming, helping our Elders, building houses, so we still have a great resource there and we did the right thing by putting this money in a trust.”

Collins says he enjoyed his time as Chief.

“Once you become a politician, it’s in your blood,” Collins says. “It’s going to take a long time to come out of my system, I know that for a fact after being here this long.”

Collins says he has received a range of messages from people since he first announced his resignation, including “Don’t leave” and “Good luck.”