Editorial: Atleo wins AFN chiefdom

There was a notable generational change last week at the leadership level of Canada’s largest national aboriginal assembly.

Shawn “A-in-chut” Atleo, 42, was elected national chief of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) in the eighth round of voting in Calgary on July 23, beating out final rival Perry Bellegarde from Saskatchewan.

(For any non-Canadian readers unfamiliar with our aboriginal politics, the AFN represents Canada’s 750,000 or so “status” Indians, but not the “non-status” ones, nor the mixed-race Metis or Inuit in the Arctic. Each Indian community in Canada is called a “First Nation.” While a national chief doesn’t exert hard power, he or she does exert considerable clout as the lead spokesperson for aboriginal issues in Canada, and sets the tone for much of the relations between aboriginal and non-aboriginal groups in the country.)

A new face on the national political scene, Atleo is a hereditary chief of the Ahousaht First Nation, who live on the remote Flores Island, about halfway up the western coast of Vancouver Island.

He’s married with two adult children, and holds a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in education that he earned online. Atleo’s father was the first aboriginal to earn a doctorate from the University of British Columbia.

Most recently, Atleo has been the two-term B.C. regional chief to the AFN, and is chancellor at Vancouver Island University.

Unlike his national chief predecessors, Atleo comes from a new generation of aboriginals who did not attend the defunct and damaging residential school system that traumatized many aboriginals in the 20th century.

Atleo’s personal style is a departure from his predecessors, too.

In contrast to many of the hulking, brooding men, mostly from the Prairies provinces, who pretty much locked up the AFN leadership since its creation in 1968, the likeable Atleo is short, urbane and a gentle but persistent communicator who likes to quote John Ralston Saul and maintains a slick website that’s hooked into YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.

Indeed, Atleo’s supporters openly compare his campaigning and communication style to U.S. President Barack Obama’s, with its upbeat tone, tech-savvy targeting of youth and even a catchy but vague slogan: “It’s our time.”

Have a look for yourself at http://www.shawnatleo.ca

Atleo’s particular zest for opening up educational opportunities for young aboriginals is an area that should be strongly supported by Canada’s mining industry, as it increasingly relies on skilled aboriginal workforces at exploration sites and mines that are being built in ever more remote reaches of the country.