The Anishinabek Nation will hold a vote this fall on an agreement nearly 25 years in the making that will give its 40 member First Nations, including two in the Sudbury area, the ability to craft their own laws around elections, citizenship, language and culture.

If ratified between August and November when the voting period takes place, the Anishinabek Nation Governance Agreement will recognize the nation and its members as governments and remove them from parts of the Indian Act that cover band lists, elections for chief and council and meeting procedures.

The agreement comes with up to seven times more funding for governance, including for elections and government operations, and will set the stage for an intergovernmental forum with the prime minister and cabinet, similar to a First Ministers’ meeting with Canada’s premiers.

The forum, which would give First Nations a chance to discuss specific issues with the appropriate ministers, will be the first of its type for any self-government agreement in the country.

“If every one of our First Nations communities come together to ratify this, this will represent the biggest self-governance agreement in Canadian history,” Anishinabek Nation Governance Agreement chief negotiator Martin Bayer says.

“And so in recognition of that, and in recognition that we still maintain that Canada has a fiduciary relationship to its First Nations, we want to make sure that the Government of Canada is still there if we want to have discussions on matters that are important to our communities.”

Atikameksheng Anishnawbek near Naughton and Wahnapitae First Nation near Capreol would be part of the agreements.

Others in the Sudbury area and the northeast include Henvey Inlet First Nation, Aundeck Omni Kaning First Nation, Mississauga First Nation, Sheshegwaning First Nation, M’Chigeeng First Nation, Sagamok Anishnawbek, Sheguiandah First Nation, Serpent River First Nation, Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory, Whitefish River First Nation, the Zhiibaahaasing First Nation, Nipissing and Dokis.

Bayer and others recently held an information session at the North Bay Indigenous Friendship Centre to give citizens a chance to learn more about the agreement before casting their votes later this year.

Similar sessions were held in Parry Sound, Sudbury and Sault Ste. Marie.

Audrey Commanda of Nipissing First Nation, who attended the North Bay meeting along with a few others, has been following the negotiations from the start and says she believes the agreement will empower citizens to move beyond issues such as poverty or a lack of funding, and create the future they rightly deserve.

“In the end, it’s going to be the best thing for everyone in all the First Nations across Canada,” she says.

Work on a governance agreement began in 1995 with the signing of an Anishinabek Nation Grand Council resolution which authorized negotiations.

A framework was agreed to in 1998 and an agreement-in-principle was signed in 2007.

Even with a federal election scheduled for this fall, former Anishinabek Nation Grand Council chief Patrick Madahbee says any government would be hard-pressed to “scuttle” something that different parties have been involved in for years.

“I look at it as an opportunity our First Nations should not let pass,” he says. “We’ve been talking about taking back our jurisdiction and responsibility in a lot of areas, and governance is key because we need to be in a position where we make our own path, our own laws, and get out of the Indian Act which, as I said, has been controlling us from cradle to grave.”

As part of the agreement, First Nations would be allowed to determine citizenship rights and responsibilities, qualifications for office and finance management laws, including not being forced to disclose salaries, honorariums and travel expenses of chief and council.

First Nations also may extend terms of office for chief and council, which are currently limited to two years under the Indian Act.

Members are allowed to run for re-election, but the short terms mean communities hold near constant elections,

Of the 40 communities in the Anishinabek Nation, 18 will hold elections by November, Bayer says.

Changing this system will not only give them greater stability, but allow them to tackle other issues such as housing shortages, health challenges, education reform, infrastructure, and possibly even develop their own court systems, he says.

“I think it represents an end of a long journey we’ve been engaging with our people.”Anishinabek Nation nearing end of ‘long journey’