FSIN Debating Ahenakew’s Future

Wednesday, March 07, 2007 at 15:15

 

 

A chief from a Swampy Cree band in east-central Saskatchewan says he thinks a recent call to reinstate David Ahenakew as an FSIN senator is a bad idea.

 

The topic was pitched at the recent Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations assembly in Saskatoon by Chief Irvin Starblanket.

 

Shoal Lake chief Marcel Head says he knows there are those leaders who support Ahenakew, despite the uproar Ahenakew generated with the anti-Semitic remarks he made to a newspaper reporter in 2002.

 

However, Head doesn’t know what good Ahenakew’s reinstatement would do for First Nations in the province, given the amount of controversy it would likely receive.

 

Head admits no one spoke out against the idea when it was raised last week, but he figures that was likely due to the fact no one was expecting it to be brought up.

 

The issue has been passed onto to the FSIN Senate, which is set to examine whether anyone who has been banished from that body can actually be allowed to return to the fold.

 

(with files from the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix)