Ontario ponders new First Nations ridings for 2018 election

The Ontario government is looking at creating two new electoral ridings just for First Nations in the far north.

It's expected to table a bill in the coming days calling for a commission to look at carving one or two new ridings out of what is currently covered by Kenora-Rainy River and Timmins-James Bay.

The bill has to pass by Dec. 8 if the new ridings are to be added to the electoral map in time for the 2018 election. 

The plan comes as a surprise to Timmins-James Bay MPP Gilles Bisson, who said he hasn't heard from a single First Nations leader who knew this was coming. In fact, Bisson said that "nobody's talked to anybody" about the plan.

Bisson worries that lack of consultation could cause divisions, especially with small remote communities getting their own MPPs, while thousands of other indigenous people — on and off reserve — are stuck with the status quo.

"We have a good idea with a flawed bill that's going to come out with something that's better than what we got now, but it's going to create problems, I think, in the future," Bisson said.

Should be 3 levels of government, says Grand Chief

Instead of adjusting ridings, First Nations would be better served by their own level of government, said Anishnabek Grand Chief Patrick Madahbee.

"The Canadian constitution in my opinion is based on a lie," Madahbee said, "it says the two founding nations of Canada are English and French, when there were well over 50 first nations here in this country long before newcomers came to this land. So, there should be three levels of government."

The idea of a national assembly for indigenous members that would interact with the House of Commons and Senate on government decisions has been floated before.

It's also been proposed in the past that Canada institute a similar system to New Zealand, where Maori people have elected their own representatives to the national legislature since the country gained independence.

In Maine, three first nations sent non-voting representatives to the state capital until two quit out of frustration last year.

Theodore Mitchell, who represented the Penobscot Nation for ten years, was one of them. 

He warns Ontario First Nations about the pitfalls of joining the mainstream political system.

"We were glorified lobbyists who sat in front of the glass, instead of behind the glass," Mitchell said.