Phil Fontaine's re-election as national chief of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) will lead to more economic partnerships between Ottawa, the provinces and the private sector on reserve lands, say Aboriginal business and community leaders.

"With his method of working together with private and government sectors, he'll build trust between First Nations and people that want to invest in First Nations lands and people," says Allan Louis, a councillor with the Okanagan Indian Band in B.C.'s Okanagan Valley.

Fontaine handily defeated lone challenger Bill Wilson during the AFN's annual general assembly in Vancouver last week.

Originally from the Sagkeeng First Nation in Manitoba, Fontaine captured an overwhelming 76 per cent of the vote enroute to his second consecutive term and third overall, with 373 votes compared to Wilson's 117.

Phil Fontaine

His re-election comes as First Nations are struggling to overcome severe poverty on many reserves across Canada, settle land claims disputes with the federal government, and negotiate agreements with governments and industry in such sectors as oil and gas, forestry and fisheries.

During the campaign, Fontaine was perceived by many as conciliatory when it comes to dealing with the federal government, while Wilson, a lawyer from the Cape Mudge band on Vancouver Island, was viewed by some as confrontational. Wilson accused Fontaine of being afraid to participate in a televised debate with him in the final days before the election and described non-Aboriginal institutions as "the enemy" in his concession speech.

Louis says Fontaine will be able to bring more government money to the Okanagan and all other First Nations areas than Wilson could have. The Okanagan band wants Fontaine to help it develop more opportunities in tourism - its primary interest - and forestry while also continuing negotiations with the feds on a land claims settlement covering 2,800 acres.

"I think he's done a good job for First Nations," says Louis, who also serves as president of the Round Lake Treatment Centre, an Aboriginal drug and alcohol abuse healing facility in Armstrong, B.C. "He knows how to negotiate with governments. He's strong. He's not radical, but he has the respect of government, obviously, with his negotiations before."

Fontaine said he won because the chiefs who voted preferred his past "skilled negotiations" with Ottawa. He vowed to maintain the same approach during his new three-year term.

"That doesn't mean that we're going to be a pushover, or that we can be bought off," said Fontaine. "That's absolutely not true."

Fontaine, who campaigned largely on the AFN's $1.9 billion settlement with Ottawa over abuses at former Indian residential schools, said ending poverty among Aboriginals will be his next priority.

"We want to say to the private sector - the business community - that we're open for business," said Fontaine. "We want to create good partnerships and we want a respectful relationship."

First Nations also want a respectful, effective relationship with Ottawa, he noted, but will only have political power if they also have economic power. Much economic activity will occur on First Nations lands or traditional territories in the next few years, and the AFN, industry and other governments must figure out how to proceed with development in a way that benefits Aboriginal communities and the rest of the country, he added.

Fontaine also said he hopes the Saskatchewan government's economic summit next Jan- uary, involving Ottawa, the provinces, Aboriginal governments and the private sector, will bring First Nations closer to an economic development blueprint that contains an investment strategy enabling Aboriginal communities to revitalize their economies and build on the successes that they now have. He pointed out that 30,000 small businesses across Canada are owned and operated by First Nations people.

"There are areas in the country where there are significant engagements of our communities, for example in Fort McMurray (the heart of Alberta's oilsands)," said Fontaine.

He pointed to the lengthy, and often bitter, land claim dispute between Ottawa and the Deh Cho First Nation of the Northwest Territories as an example of the uncertainty that can arise when First Nations feel they have been left out of negotiations, or treated unfairly.

The Deh Cho are refusing to recognize a July 31 deadline to join the Aboriginal Pipeline Group on the proposed $7.5- billion Mackenzie Valley Pipeline because they fear signing the agreement could adversely affect their land claim settlement.

They are the only First Nation in their region that has not joined the consortium, and some energy industry observers view their opposition as a roadblock to the pipeline's completion.

Fontaine said land claims and partnerships on economic development projects should be negotiated together. But such a position appears to run contrary to energy and forestry companies' repeatedly stated view that Ottawa should set the rules on projects on First Nations lands - before firms negotiate partnerships and resource-rights deals.

Fontaine's supporters also called on him to help create more business education and skilled-trade training programs.

"Economic development is good, but we still have a ways to go learning how to run a business," says Gino Odjick, a well-known former National Hockey League player who now owns and operates the Musqueam Golf & Learning Centre in a 50-50 joint venture with the Vancouver-area Musqueam First Nation on its land.

"Even for myself at the golf course, it took me a good three years to figure out the budget and when to lay off (seasonally employed) people, and when to hire extra staff. Every penny counts. (Knowledge) is the difference between being in the red at the end of the year and being in the black. It's a learning process - but the (economic) opportunities are there."

Odjick, who grew up on a reserve in Quebec before embarking on his junior and pro hockey journeys, would like to see more training programs for carpenters and other skilled-trades workers who toil in the oilsands. He also wants Fontaine to help create a national Aboriginal trades school, beginning with a pilot project in B.C. that could later expand across the country.

"There's so much work right now in Canada," says Odjick, who played for the Vancouver Canucks and Montreal Canadiens, among other teams. "We just don't seem to be taking advantage of it. (People) say you need two things in life - something to do and somebody to love you. But you get caught in an isolated community and there's no work and no opportunity - and (Aboriginal youth) are not trained to do any work."

Roland Bellerose, publisher of the Bragg Creek, Alta.-based Aboriginal Times magazine, says Fontaine could introduce national strategies that help small businesses grow, encourage more public-private partnerships and "help us level the playing field and get involved in the economic engine of Canada."

Bellerose is also calling on Ottawa and the provinces to give Aboriginal businesses the same fiscal tools that "mainstream" companies get, such as public funding, government guarantees, credits similar to the ones farmers receive and tax breaks, in return for investment.

"We're always labelled as people who are a tax burden or don't pay taxes - and that's as false as it comes," says Bellerose, who assisted Fontaine with media relations during the election. "Look at the oil industry in Alberta right now. They're paying almost nothing in royalties to try to kick investment into the Alberta economy. Well, we're not asking for anything different here, so why not do it for the Aboriginal community?" Fontaine's re-election marked the first time in recent memory the national chief was elected on the first ballot. Only chiefs and their proxies were eligible to vote.

(Monte Stewart can be reached at monte@businessedge.ca)