(By Cam Fortems / Kamloops Daily News.)
KAMLOOPS.
The All Nations Party of B.C. won’t limit its membership to native Indians and must appeal to other voters in order to succeed, the party’s president and interim leader said.
In order to attract broad-based support, Don Moses and the other founding members of B.C.’s newest party decided against using the term First Nations in the party’s name.
“The object of the name is to be inclusive of all nations, not just First Nations,” Moses told about 50 native people who gathered at the Kamloops Indian Reserve for the founding convention of the All Nations party.
The one-time chief of the Lower Nicola Band near Merritt and owner of a successful construction-materials and retail business said founding members wrestled with the party name as well as policies.
The party’s mission statement reads “The ANP will strive to address First Nations issues as a priority, and will address the concerns and aspirations of all Canadians and will welcome their input, participation, support and membership.”
Moses said the inclusiveness is rooted in the struggle of natives in Canada, who were not permitted to vote until 1951.
Eligibility for membership and candidacy of the party “are tough questions,” he said.
“I think they’re healthy. The questions are rooted in being excluded ourselves. First Nations were excluded (in B.C.) for the first 75 years.”
Brendan Cross, who founded the First Nations Party of Saskatchewan last year and remains its leader, predicted the formation of a native party here, in Saskatchewan and eventually in other provinces will lead to a federal party.
He said the same questions about party membership were raised in his province.
“It’s like the civil rights movement in the U.S. in the 1960s. Their sole reason was to represent the social issues of the black population. They had the assistance of many others.”
He compared the struggle of natives in Canada to historical battles for identity waged by Gandhi in India, Moses in ancient Israel and Martin Luther King in the United States.
Cross will contest a provincial seat in downtown Regina for the party in a byelection in February.
Moses said the All Nations party intends to run candidates in the upcoming provincial election in B.C., including in Kamloops and Yale-Lillooet.
The latter constituency, held by NDP Highways Minister Harry Lali, has a population comprising more than 17 per cent aboriginals.
The North Coast constituency held by outgoing minister Dan Miller is nearly 38 per cent native.
Evelyn Camille, a Kamloops Indian Band councillor, said she was disappointed there wasn’t any noticeable participation from non-natives at the convention.
“We will need their votes and support. I got the feeling when I came in here it was just First Nations.”
Despite that, Camille wondered during a debate on the party’s constitution if candidates shouldn’t be restricted to those of First Nations ancestry.
But Simon Moses, a party vice-president, said the ethnicity of candidates shouldn’t matter if the policies and bylaws are clear in their focus.
“We should focus on our goals and issues, regardless of who is a candidate.
Native or non-native, the important thing is to focus on our goals and issues in social and economic areas.”
