New Ontario Regional Chief Isadore Day puts focus on children

Isadore Day, the new representative at the Assembly of First Nations for Ontario's 133 First Nations communities, says children will be the focus of his leadership.

Day is from Serpent River First Nation, east of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., and was elected Ontario Regional Chief at the all-Ontario Chiefs meeting on Wednesday.

He spoke to the CBC about his election win and his priorities:

CBC: Congratulations on your election, how does it feel?

Day: It feels like it's been a preparation for a big work project and I know the work that's ahead is a big task and a long set of issues and I'm prepared and I'm ready for the task and there's a lot of people behind this and ready to get to work. They have a lot of expectations but they have a lot of willingness to help.

CBC: What was it in your platform that brought the support to you?

Day: It was the mandate of securing a future for our children. Basically I had to ask myself when I decided to run for the Ontario regional chief, what is one thing that all chiefs believe in? It's the responsibility we have to our children, not just our children, but all the children in our communities, and making sure that what we do at these assemblies and what we do at those government tables is going to create a better life for our kids.

CBC: What would be the priority for children then?

Day: We need to have a child-centred approach to the work that we do. If we're looking at resource development for example, really we need to be looking at the next generation. If we're looking at jurisdiction of child welfare, we need to keep our children in our communities and we need to build our own jurisdiction. If it's education, what are we doing for the next generation of children? It's very easy and simple in that sense, however lots of hard work and that's what the chiefs are putting in front of me.

CBC: You've said that political justice is one of your key priorities, what do you mean by that?

Day: Part of the political justice in Ontario is going to be taking a treaty enforcement approach versus a treaty implementation approach and what I mean by that is, it's now time to enforce the treaties and start raising the bar in terms of the outcomes and benefits back to First Nations. We've been talking implementation forever. It falls short of meeting the needs and the crisis happening in our communities and our people are now saying, 'listen, if Ontario or any developers come into our territories, we need a fair shake at that' and we'll enforce the treaty based on that principle. No longer should it be the government of Ontario setting the rules and the regulatory issues holding us down. We have to sit at the table as equals with our treaty partner. 

CBC: What will be your first act as Ontario Regional Chief?

Day: My first way forward is to get coordinated with the political confederacy and the chiefs in assembly. The next one is to work with the staff and the political confederacy to line up a meeting to set the bar in terms of what the working relationship is going to be with the premier and the Ontario government, as well as the Assembly of First Nations. We need to be a voice at that national level and Ontario has not had the national voice that it needs. Those are a few things I'll be putting forward. But I also want to ensure that there's increased communication at the community level and we need to find ways to engage our grassroots people and people on the ground into our process.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.