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Wednesday, the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development told the Post they had no plans to slash AFN funding over a regional chief’s election plans.

“Ms. Wilson-Raybould’s political affiliations are not a relevant factor in determining funding agreements with the AFN,” said a department spokeswoman Erika Meekes.

According to the Assembly of First Nation’s 2014 financial statements, the organization received $10-million of its $16-million budget from Aboriginal Affairs, with the remainder coming mostly from other federal agencies.

Last month, Ms. Wilson-Raybould accepted an invitation from Liberal leader Justin Trudeau to run in the newly created riding of Vancouver-Granville.

While she intends to take a leave of absence during the campaign, Ms. Wilson-Raybould will keep her job as regional chief until the writ drops — and is expected to resume her duties if she loses at the polls.

Within hours, the news prompted Isadore Day, chief of the 1,300-member Serpent River First Nation, to complain in a letter to AFN national chief Ghislain Picard “fiscal resources are funding a formally announced candidate.”

Although Ms. Wilson-Raybould is one of 11 members of the AFN executive, she is elected by British Columbia’s 203 First Nations.

Therefore, any question of her future with the AFN “is a matter for determination by B.C. leadership,” Mr. Picard wrote in a reply to Chief Day.

“This is the business of the BC Chiefs and, it is important that other individuals … focus on their home communities and not interfere with the business of other First Nations,” Maureen Chapman, a representative with the Board of Directors for the B.C. Assembly of First Nations, told the Post by email.