Someone throw “National Chief” Betty Ann Lavalleé a bone!

Better yet, someone toss a few dollar bills at her and send her on her way! 

Betty Ann Lavalleé is the federal government’s “token Aboriginal” National Chief of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples (CAP), a National Aboriginal Organization (NAO) that unilaterally claims to represent the interests of non-status and off-reserve Indians and Métis.  The NAO’s are funded by and a subset of the Department of Indian Affairs.  The NAO’s implement the federal government’s Aboriginal agenda and they do it well.

Betty Ann was “elected” as the National Chief in September 2009 by approximately 180 Aboriginal people; that is, 180 people out of more than one million Aboriginal people in Canada, and she seems to think that it makes her “management” of CAP legitimate.  In a democratic society, a majority vote of the population is often required before a real leader takes the helm. 180 votes out of one million votes is anything but democratic. In fact, it is a dictatorship when a “National Chief” only allows approximately 180 people to vote.

I am using the word “management” to describe Betty Ann’s role as “National Chief” at CAP because she is rarely, and I mean rarely (almost non-existent), heard or seen in the media advocating for the interests of off-reserve and non-status Indians to the federal government.  However, she does like to travel at the taxpayers’ expense doing whatever it is that she does.  When she is seen in the media, she is supporting federal government Aboriginal initiatives and, most often, does so without consulting her “constituents”. 

Although the National Chiefs of the NAO’s are “token Aboriginals” for the federal government, Betty Ann takes the cake over them all, past and present.  She is just plain lying on her back in silence while the Minister of “Aboriginal” Affairs, John Duncan, rubs her belly every once in a while, and says, “Good token”, “good token”.  The federal government is implementing Aboriginal initiatives that are contrary to our interests and Betty Ann is not saying a word in our defence.

Harper changed the name of the Minister of Indian Affairs to the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs two days ago when he reappointed John Duncan to the position. 

In yesterday’s article of the Globe and Mail, it was noted that “Not all native representatives were wary (of the name change), however. Betty Ann Lavallée, National Chief of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, has long advocated on behalf of non-status Indians who do not qualify for the wide range of services that governments provide to status Indians.  She hopes the name change will further that discussion.” “I haven’t stopped smiling,” she said on Wednesday when asked for her reaction to the name change.”  “I love it.”

Here is the link to the Globe and Mail article: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/aboriginal-affairs-a-new-name-with-an-uncertain-meaning/article2026696/.

Uh...did Betty Ann bother to ask any of us, her supposed constituents, if we were satisfied with the name change from Minister of “Indian” Affairs to Minister of “Aboriginal” Affairs???  NO, she did not!  A REAL and democratic leader asks her people what they want reflected in a name. 

Betty Ann SPEAKS and SMILES for HERSELF and NO ONE ELSE!!!  CAP does not ask us if we want to endorse federal initiatives. CAP just does it. That is not democracy.

According to the Indian Act, I am a section 6(2) status and off-reserve Indian and my children are non-status Indians.  I do not know about Betty Ann but I am a CREE woman!!  My children and I do not need or want a token Aboriginal “National Chief” to tell us who we are.  We know who we are.

We, my children and I, do not like the name change from the Minister of “Indian” Affairs to “Aboriginal” Affairs.  The name change is not going to change the relationship between Aboriginal peoples and the federal government because the federal government only collaborates or “consults” with itself through its token “National Chiefs” and the federal Minister of “Indian/Aboriginal” Affairs.  The terms “Indian” and “Aboriginal” are terms created by the federal government for the federal government, not us. We are not “Indians” or “Aboriginals”.  

The name change from “Indian” to “Aboriginal” is going to cost millions or hundreds of thousands of taxpayers’ dollars to implement.  That money could have educated some of our children or provided health care services for our people.   Did Betty Ann think of this fact before endorsing it????   Who knows what Betty Ann thinks because she rarely informs us about the federal government’s Aboriginal initiatives.  Silence is her “game”.

WHO IS WATCHING OUT FOR YOU AND OUR CHILDREN?