On July 18, Chiefs from most First Nations in Canada gathered in Toronto. It was the Assembly of First Nations Annual General Assembly and this year elections were held for the National Grand Chief.

For some reason Willie Dunn’s song, “Ballad of Crowfoot,” came into my mind. I heard, “Comes the spring and its warm thaw / Around your neck the eagle claw / Upon your head the buffalo horn / Today a great new chief is born / So raise him fast toward the sun / A heart now beats, a life comes forth.”

The hope and promise of the song was represented by the four men and four women vying to prove their leadership. The final tally showed incumbent Shawn Atleo winning with 341 votes over runner-up Pamela Palmater, who had 141 votes.

Dunn’s song asks, “…why the tears? / You’ve been a brave man for many years / Why the sadness? / Why the sorrow? / Maybe there will be a better tomorrow.”

Given the Aboriginal situation it is a truism for many chiefs and will weigh heavily on the National Grand Chief. Atleo will have work to do to shore up the AFN’s reputation and effectiveness. With massive cuts or changes to funding for Aboriginal organizations, projects and programs the outcry is getting louder each day. Having Cindy Blackhawk point out that Aboriginal students receive 20 per cent less funding, on average, than other Canadians cannot be ignored.

The changes to the Northern Food Subsidy program not only enforced and increased non-Native control without consultation but it added to the hardships faced by Aboriginal Peoples in the North. The North is no stranger to supposedly well-meaning outsiders making decisions for them without any input.

Treaties and Agreements are not always honoured or implemented. Barriere Lake, here in Quebec, and the Dene out West are just two easy examples. Both have been fighting for years to see their agreement a reality or to even have a real relationship with Canada.

For Crees, it took the Paix des braves and two new relationship agreements with Quebec and Canada to finally see the 1975 James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement implemented as written. Even then the Cree assumed, in return for cash, some of the obligations and duties of these governments.

So looking at where the buck is being passed is a real way to judge how Aboriginal Peoples will be affected across the nation. An example is the new federal law making fundamental changes to environmental assessments and the Fisheries Act. This will speed up the approval process for natural resource development. A free hand for corporations is the new currency being minted in Ottawa these days.

Ojibway writer Richard Wagamese wrote, “We are the people for whom treaty implementation, economic development, education, resource management, potable water, mould-free housing and affordable food for our children remain daily concerns. We are the people whom all these issues affect directly.”

That takes us back to Dunn’s Crowfoot Ballad:

“The years have past, the years have flown.
The nation since has swiftly grown,
But yet for the Indian it’s all the same,
There’s still the hardship,
There’s still the pain,
There’s still the hardship,
There’s still the strife,
Its bitterness shines like a whetted knife.
There’s still the hypocrisy.
And still the hate,
Was that in the treaties, is that our fate?
We’re all unhappy pawns in the Government’s game.
And it’s always the Indians who get the blame.”