The promise of change: when Matthew Coon Come was elected the new Grand Chief of the Assembly of First Nations in July 2000, it was said to be the beginning of a new age for Canada's Native people. (Native People--A New Leader).

An intelligent, articulate, and assertive chief is what many felt was needed to press for changes that would lead to a better deal for the country's Indigenous people. Matthew Coon Come fit the bill. In him, they found a leader who did not shy away from confrontation, who was willing and able to fight for the rights that have been denied Canada's Native people for generations; an outspoken advocate determined to clear a path to better times. After all, Mr. Coon Come won the leadership with the promise of forcing Native issues onto the government's agenda, and that isn't going to happen quietly. He's looking for justice, which is why he wants more than an apology from the federal government for the abusive treatment of Natives at residential schools: he wants an investigation that would be similar to South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission. He'd like a national revenue-sharing agreement, such as the one he signed as Grand Chief of the Northern Quebec Cree (see "Having A Say," "A Voice To Be Heard"), for all natural resources projects on Native lands. And, he promised to embarrass the federal government before the United Nations if it doesn't deal with the brutal social and economic conditions on reserves. Matthew Coon Come's ability as an eloquent speaker showed up early in his life. When he was 16, Hydro-Quebec set up a meeting in his village of Mistassini to explain the James Bay hydroelectric project that would flood much of the nearby Cree lands and hunting grounds. At the meeting he talked about the Cree people, their language, their culture, and their tradition and got a standing ovation for his efforts. According to one newspaper report, his father later said to him: "I learned something today, son. You went to school--and you can speak better than most hunters. You speak very well. But, you know nothing.

"You have not been out on the land. You're like the white man. If I took you into the bush, you would probably get lost. When you are ready, I will take you."

There was a good reason why Mr. Coon Come had not learned the traditional ways of his people. When he was six, a government official knocked on his door to take him by bush plane, along with other Cree children in his village, to a residential school. While he says the school taught him English, sports, and music, he also says it was such a negative experience that he and his wife decided to home-school their own children. And, when his oldest child enrolled in university in Montreal, the whole Coon Come family moved south to stay together.

But, in his earlier years, his father urged him not to quit school, saying he would need to learn the white man's tools well. Later, he studied political science at Trent University, where professors saw him as a very bright and very personable young man who they predicted was destined to go places.

When he finished his studies at Trent (and a brief spell at McGill Law School), he returned to his father in Mistassini. He was 20, and he was ready to complete his education--in the bush. He spent two years there with his father, a trapper who scoffed at the detailed topographical map young Matthew Coon Come proudly produced and said that he now "would learn the land by heart in ways that a map could never teach (him.)"

Websites
Assembly of First
Nations--http://www.afn.ca/

Royal Commission on
Aboriginal Peoples
http://www.ainc-inac.
gc.ca/ch/rcap/
index_e.html
As the Grand Chief of the Assembly of First
Nations, which represents the 633 First Nations
in Canada, Matthew Coon Come works with
Aboriginal movements around the world, with
the aim of influencing the United Nations and
other international agencies to redress ancient
grievances. He reminds us that while Canada
consistently ranks near the top of the best countries
in which to live, First Nations in Canada
rank a distant 63rd on that list. At left is Mr.
Coon Come with his wife Mary Ann and
Emma, one of their five children.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

RELATED ARTICLE: Having a say.

During the 1990s, Matthew Coon Come was a member of the Mistassini Cree Nation in Northern Quebec, and it was then he rose to national prominence. He cut his political teeth by fighting the multibillion-dollar Great Whale River hydroelectric project, and winning. His campaign to put a stop to the Hydro-Quebec development included paddling a canoe from the Ottawa River to the Hudson River and right into New York City. As Grand Chief, he struck a revenue-sharing deal with the province for all future natural resources projects on Cree land.

RELATED ARTICLE: A voice to be heard.

Following, are some quotations from media interviews and recent speeches made by Matthew Coon Come, Grand Chief of the Assembly of First Nations:

"We are denied our proper voice in our own land. I want Canada to respect the rule of law. I want Canada to respect its own laws. I want Canada to respect the treaties it has signed with us, for they are also the rule of law."

"Our peoples have the right to expect the same quality of life as other Canadians. Our peoples have the right to live in communities where there is opportunity for work, for education, to live a traditional life in the modern world, or a modern life in a traditional society."

"First Nations citizens have the right to live in a society where their cultures, traditions, and beliefs are respected and recognized. Our peoples have the right to live in a worm where our Nations are respected and recognized as nations."

"For seven generations now our Nations have been under attack. We have stood strong and stood together against the assaults on our rights and cultures. The government has constantly tried its old tactics of `divide and conquer.' They have broken our Nations into smaller communities. They created an alphabet soup of status and non-status categories. They fund organizations to fight for `ownership' over on-reserve and off-reserve, status and non-status ... They can divide, but they will not conquer!"

"I'm non-confrontational, but somehow, when we talk about our issues, we're seen as adversarial ... I do believe in using all the avenues available to us, whether it be the courts, the media, the judicial system, participating in standing committees and boards, and international forums to advocate our rights ... I know when to fight and I know when to negotiate."

"I consider myself a hunter ... I'm from the North. I am a man of the land, concerned about that way of life, and the continuation of that way of life, especially for trappers, I'm concerned about development, and the way development takes place. I'm not anti-development. I abhor double standards ... poverty, unemployment ..."