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Abstract
This paper examines the structural constraints and contradictory roles of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN), with a particular focus on state funding. How does incorporation into the settler state mesh with the organization’s mandate to advance First Nations’ self-determination and sovereignty? While the transformative potential of the AFN is severely restricted, I argue that its importance in articulating and amplifying First Nations’ resistance to state policies should not be discounted.
Notes
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank the interview participants for sharing their views with me. I would also like to thank the SPE reviewers, Patricia McGuire and Aziz Choudry, and editor, Susan Braedley, for their helpful comments, as well as Doreen Fumia and Tonya Davidson for feedback on earlier drafts.
Disclosure statement
The author reports no conflicts of interest. The author alone is responsible for the content and writing of this article.
Notes on contributor
Julie Tomiak teaches in the Department of Sociology at Ryerson University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Notes
1 CBC News, “Atleo Resigns”; CTV News, “Real Structural Problems”; The Globe and Mail, “Atleo Quits”; National Post, “Atleo’s Resignation.”
2 Bill C-33, First Nations Control of First Nations Education Act, was introduced by Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Minister, Bernard Valcourt, in April 2014. Bill C-33 has been put on hold after second reading.
3 See AFN, “Financial Statements.”
4 Indigenous Waves, “Pam Palmater.”
5 Indigenous Waves, “Pam Palmater.”
6 While this paper is more narrowly focused on the national organization representing First Nations, many of the structural constraints and funding arrangements faced by the AFN also apply to regional First Nations organizations as well as Metis and Inuit organizations.
7 I use the current name of the federal department. It was renamed Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) in October 2015. The documents obtained through an access to information request and the bibliography reflect the name of the Department at the time (Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada) and the corresponding acronym (AANDC).
8 I am a researcher of Anishinaabe and European descent and this paper is also motivated and informed by my past employment with a First Nations organization from November 2009 to February 2014.
9 Interviews with author (Ottawa, Ontario, 2014).
10 Alfred and Corntassel, “Being Indigenous”; Corntassel, “Re-envisioning Resurgence”; Coulthard, “Subject of Empire,” Red Skin, White Masks; Simpson, Dancing on Our Turtle’s Back; Simpson, Mohawk Interruptus.
11 See also INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence, The Revolution Will Not Be Funded.
12 Veracini, Settler Colonialism; Wolfe, “Settler Colonialism.”
13 Coulthard, Red Skin, White Masks; Kino-nda-niimi Collective, The Winter We Danced.
14 Originally, as the National Indian Brotherhood (AFN n.d.).
15 AFN, www.afn.ca.
16 Alfred and Corntassel, “Being Indigenous”; Corntassel, “Re-envisioning Resurgence”; Coulthard, “Subject of Empire,” Red Skin, White Masks; Green, “Canaries in the Mines of Citizenship,” “Decolonization and Recolonization”; Maaka and Fleras, Politics of Indigeneity; Simpson, Dancing on Our Turtle’s Back; Simpson, Mohawk Interruptus; Veracini, Settler Colonialism; Wolfe, “Settler Colonialism.”
17 Alfred and Corntassel, “Being Indigenous”; Corntassel, “Re-envisioning Resurgence”; Maaka and Fleras, Politics of Indigeneity; Simpson, Mohawk Interruptus.
18 Green, “Canaries in the Mines of Citizenship,” 716.
19 Green, “Decolonization and Recolonization”; Maaka and Fleras, Politics of Indigeneity.
20 Venne, “NGOs, Indigenous Peoples,” 75.
21 AFN, “Charter.”
22 APTN, “The Struggle of Aboriginal Representation.”
23 ATIP, 93.
24 Corntassel, “Re-envisioning Resurgence.”
25 Coulthard, “Subject of Empire,” Red Skin, White Masks; Simpson, Dancing on Our Turtle’s Back; Simpson, Mohawk Interruptus.
26 Simpson, Dancing on Our Turtle’s Back.
27 Howitt, “Getting the Scale Right?”
28 Cardinal, The Unjust Society.
29 Staeheli, “Empowering Political Struggle,” 388.
30 Manuel and Derrickson, Unsettling Canada, 56, 205 − 6.
31 See Dean, Governmentality.
32 Brodie, “Reforming Social Justice”; Harvey, Brief History of Neoliberalism; Larner, “Neo-liberalism,” “Neoliberalism?”
33 Mertz and Timmer, “Getting it Done.”
34 Ferguson, “The Uses of Neoliberalism,” 183.
35 Trudeau, “Towards a Relational View of the Shadow State,” 676.
36 Elwood, “Beyond Cooptation or Resistance.”
37 Bell and Hindmoor, Rethinking Governance; Mitchell, “Transnationalism, Neo-liberalism”; Larner and Butler, “Governmentalities of Local Partnerships,” “‘After Neoliberalism.’”
38 Wolch, The Shadow State, xvi; see also Rose, Powers of Freedom; Dean, Governmentality; Leitner et al., Contesting Neoliberalism.
39 Wolch, The Shadow State.
40 INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence, The Revolution Will Not Be Funded.
41 Rodriguez, “The Political Logic of the Non-Profit Industrial Complex,” 23.
42 Ferguson, The Anti-Politics Machine; Green, “Decolonization and Recolonization.”
43 Canadian Heritage, “Evaluation of AROP.”
44 See AANDC, Core Funding for Aboriginal Representative Organizations, https://www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca/eng/1347468975911/1347469133809, for 2012 − 2013 and 2014 − 2015 funding levels.
45 Canadian Heritage, Evaluation of AROP, 5.
46 Canadian Heritage, Evaluation of AROP.
47 Canadian Heritage, Summative Evaluation, 4.
48 INAC, Summative Evaluation, 20.
49 Jenson and Phillips, “Redesigning the Canadian Citizenship Regime,” 79.
50 Canadian Heritage, Evaluation of AROP, ii − iii.
51 ATIP, 3 − 4.
52 Alfred and Corntassel, “Being Indigenous”; Corntassel, “Re-envisioning Resurgence”; Coulthard, “Subject of Empire,” Red Skin, White Masks; Simpson, Mohawk Interruptus.
53 APTN, “The Struggle of Aboriginal Representation”; Nicoll, “Native Women's Voices Silenced.”
54 AANDC, “Backgrounder.”
55 In May 2016, FSIN, the organization representing First Nations in Saskatchewan, changed its name from Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations to Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations.
56 AFN, AANDC Cuts.
57 Canadian Heritage, Report on Due Diligence, 4.
58 A contribution is “a conditional transfer in accordance with specific program terms and conditions and based on reimbursing for specific expenditures, unexpended balances or unallowable expenditures,” ATIP 2014, 920. A grant is an unconditional transfer.
59 ATIP, 95.
60 ATIP 2014, 5. AROs are incorporated under Part II of the Canada Corporations Act, or under corresponding provincial or territorial legislation. “AROs also have to meet eligibility conditions such as incorporation, identifiable membership, and a demonstration of mandate from members to advocate on their behalf,” ATIP 2014, 150.
61 ATIP 2014, 1391.
62 ATIP 2014, 3.
63 ATIP 2014, 20.
64 AANDC, “Application Forms for AROs Project Funding.”
65 ATIP 2014, 229.
66 ATIP 2014, 55.
67 ATIP 2014, 223.
68 ATIP 2014, 672.
69 ATIP 2014, 2.
70 AANDC, “AROP Proposal,” 1.
71 First Nations Child and Family Caring Society, “I Am a Witness.”
72 AFN, “Charter.”
73 Field notes (September 18, 2013).
74 Chiefs of Ontario, “Chiefs of Ontario Express Opposition to Harsh INAC Funding Reductions.”
75 Assembly of First Nations Renewal Commission, Report, 11.
76 Assembly of First Nations Renewal Commission, Report, 61.
77 AFN, “Resolution 20-2013.”
78 AMC, “Federal Funding Cuts.”
79 Chiefs of Ontario, “Letter to Minister,” 1 − 2.
80 Interview with author (Ottawa, Ontario, 2014).
81 Interview with author (Ottawa, Ontario, 2014).
82 Interview with author (Ottawa, Ontario, 2014).
83 Interview with author (Ottawa, Ontario, 2014).
84 Interview with author (Ottawa, Ontario, 2014).
85 Interview with author (Ottawa, Ontario, 2014).
86 Interview with author (Ottawa, Ontario, 2014).
87 Interview with author (Ottawa, Ontario, 2014).
88 Field notes (Ottawa, Ontario, 2014).
89 Cuthand, “FSIN Complacency.”