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Chief Reginald Bellerose wants to become the next chief of the Assembly of First Nations — and the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) wants him in that position, too.
The FSIN held a press conference Thursday morning to launch the bid by Bellerose. Bellerose, who has been the chief at Muskowekwan First Nation for the past 17 years, will look to keep the AFN chief’s seat filled with a Saskatchewan-born dignitary.
Chief Perry Bellegarde announced he was stepping down from the position in December, following the conclusion of his term. Bellegarde is originally from Little Black Bear First Nation in Treaty 4 Territory, near Balcarres.
Bellerose’s Muskowekwan First Nation is also the site of Saskatchewan’s final standing residential school. During Thursday’s press conference, Bellerose spoke of what he’s looking for from Ottawa in terms of the residential school ground searches, along with what he’s hoping for in his candidacy.
“It’s a very critical time,” he said. “One of the most important things is we need to unify our chiefs; we need to find one agenda. We need to have a unified vision … There’s so many critical issues, but our focus needs to be on Ottawa.”
Bellerose said Ottawa is passing a lot onto provinces through its transfers.
He said rights and jurisdiction, economic sovereignty and health and wellness are all important issues that need to come to the table.
“It’s federal legislation that we really need to work on,” he said.
Bellerose is also chairman of the Saskatchewan Indian Gaming Authority (SIGA), a position he’s held for eight consecutive terms.
Happening now:
the @fsinations is putting its support towards Muskowekwan Chief Reginald Bellerose in his bid for AFN National Chief. pic.twitter.com/NB3RSZiy7X
— Brady Lang (@BradyLangSK) June 3, 2021
He said his community is in the same boat as Kamloops, with regards to human remains located within the residential school site.
“The sonar work is being done. The study is not finalized yet, so we’re not going to make any public statements until it’s done,” he said.
“Part of my platform is land, peoples and history. Why I want to focus on history is we can’t erase the history. When the residential schools come down, it gets erased.
“We have to keep our stories alive. We have to keep all of our knowledge that’s here. We’ve got to pass it on to the younger generations.”
He said the federal government needs to make funding for the searches essential. He said currently, it’s a proposal. The University of Alberta came down to do the study, but he said its crew had left following the end of the funding.
“If the federal government wants to help and support, they need to turn this into an essential funding,” he said.
When it comes to the provincial response Thursday to what it has done with the Indigenous population in Saskatchewan, Bellerose had some words for what’s next.
“In gaming, the province has been a partner. There’s many areas where there still needs to be more work to be done,” he said.
Child welfare, the justice system and being a part of the economy is integral, according to Bellerose.
“Welfare’s not the economy. Neither is being in jail,” he said.
He hinted a new economy — one that’s digital, which could be the creation of currency — could be in the future.
“We need to enter that, and we need to start owning more and more of it,” said Bellerose, who said another of his ideas is creating a new currency.