A short agenda for Canada's newest national chief

It took a marathon eight ballots before Shawn Atleo rose up to become the new national chief of the Assembly of First Nations.

There is probably a punchline in there, particularly for someone who began the two-day process with a self-deprecating speech about his short stature.

At 42, Atleo was the youngest chief in the running and his selection could mark the first time that a First Nations leader will have to use a stack of phone books to stand up to the federal government. (Ta-dum.)

But, hey, I'm told the reason that he won is because he had such a strong platform. (There's his punchline.)

Atleo's stature, though, is surprisingly short in another, more important respect: he's virtually unknown outside of his home province of British Columbia.

Other AFN leaders, such as George Erasmus, Matthew Coon Come and Phil Fontaine, had all made their mark on the "National Indian Consciousness" before being elected to the top job.

Having the proverbial clean slate at the start of his relationship with the federal government probably doesn't hurt at this point in time.

However, many questions have been raised during this past week about the current relevance of the Assembly of First Nations. It can't afford to have a what's-his-name leader.

Work is cut out

As for Atleo's agenda, one of his campaign promises was to revitalize the AFN by making it more relevant to First Nations people.

The easiest way to do that would be to give all 700,000 status Indians the right to vote in the next leadership convention.

I think the odds of Atleo doing that are about the same as him convincing Canadians to "you know, just give the land back." The chiefs elected Atleo, which means he is unlikely to try to take away their exclusive AFN voting rights.

So, how can he make the AFN more relevant to ordinary First Nations people? By being a passionate, visible and effective advocate for them on the issues that they care about.

In my not-always-so-humble-opinion, this means he has to do four things.

1) Be all things to all people.

Most politicians have the luxury of representing an area where most people come from a similar socio-economic background.

The AFN leader represents communities that are rich with country clubs and fly-in resorts, such as Buffalo Point, and others such as Ste. Theresa Point, which looks like Afghanistan with trees. And that's just in Manitoba.

Atleo has to reach out to communities that are progressive and flush with cash as well as to others that are struggling just to provide the necessities of life.

In fact, one of the biggest divisions among First Nations is what almost kept him from getting elected in the first place (as the early backers of Ontario chief John Beaucage shifted to Atleo's late-ballot rival).

That is the split between those First Nations that are signatory to treaties (most of Canada) and those in B.C. and the North that have no treaties.

Some fear that because he is from B.C., where the relationship between governments and First Nations is still very, um, fluid, Atleo doesn't properly respect the sanctity of the treaties and won't fight hard enough to honour them.

2) Bring economic development to some of the worst pieces of land in the country.

No one expects Atleo to solve First Nations poverty, but he will have to make progress in fighting it. It was one of the biggest topics at this week's leadership convention.

Some communities have benefited from being located near cities or natural resources and there could be many clever new ways to leverage those advantages.

But there are a large number of native communities who have neither.

They do have one tremendous resource: people, especially young, trainable people.

Aboriginal people are the fastest growing part of the Canadian population and, in cities such as Winnipeg, they will represent a majority of the workforce within a generation.

That brings us to point number 3.

3) Get more First Nations people into school.

I'm very happy that one of the better-educated candidates won. As a young educated aboriginal, nothing ticks me off more than seeing native leaders who aren't qualified to run a McDonald's, let alone an entire First Nation.

Atleo has a master's degree in education and seems to be staking his reputation on the prospect that educational achievement will drive economic development in First Nations communities.

I agree with him. The fact that many First Nations people lag behind other Canadians in their schooling is often simply a question of opportunity: First Nations people have to travel farther, work harder and overcome more cultural barriers to get their diplomas and degrees.

That we're only one generation out of a residential school system where many teachers were physically or otherwise abusing their native students only compounds the problem.

Atleo's biggest hurdle may be that the Harper government seems intent on dismantling the program that funds First Nations post-secondary education.

If he's serious about his education agenda, then this should be one of the big fights he picks with the feds.

4) Develop a plan for the swine flu.

While it would be cool if our new national chief could develop a cure for the swine flu pandemic in some secret B.C. lab, I would settle for a concrete response from the AFN on how to distribute vaccines.

One that included not just rhetoric but money and equipment to help both those on reserve as well as those who live in sometimes dire circumstances in urban centres.

In Manitoba, we've already seen how the poor and crowded social conditions on reserves make them an ideal breeding ground for this new flu virus.

Add to that the fact that past influenza outbreaks have wreaked havoc on First Nations people and you have a ticking time bomb that is set to explode this fall.

This should be Atleo's number one priority, as far as I'm concerned, because great notions such as unity, education and economic development won't matter when everybody is sick.

All of these things may seem like impossible tasks, but that's the job he signed up for.

The good news is that his family appears to have been preparing him for this his whole life. Atleo's Indian name is A-in-chut, which means "everyone depends on you."

It's a good name for a national chief. We will see if he honours it.