Mike Metatawabin wants to listen to the Mushkegowuk communities and hear what their thoughts, priorities and pressing issues are.
He is one of four candidates vying to be the Mushkegowuk Council grand chief. The byelection is Feb. 25.
Metatawabin is the former Fort Albany First Nation chief and former Nishnawbe Aski Nation deputy grand chief.
He has worked with Five Nations Energy, Wawatay Native Communications Society and Aboriginal People’s Television Network (APTN). He sat on a few health services-related boards in Timmins. Currently, he chairs the Nishnawbe Aski Police Service board.
If elected, some of the issues he’d like to work on include addictions, homelessness, housing and child welfare.
Metatawabin says he feels there’s a need to have conversations with the communities to ensure everyone is on board.
“I’ve always been an advocate for community issues,” he says.
He says he’d like to see the treatment program, launched by Dr. Julie Samson and Dr. Louisa Marion-Bellemare, expanded and available to First Nations communities. He says the work of the two doctors needs to be acknowledged and it provides one of the solutions to the opioid crisis.
“On a personal level, I do understand and know what people are going through in dealing and watching their loved ones struggle with this addiction,” Metatawabin says. His daughter, who is on the program, commended how effective it is, he adds.
Metatawabin says First Nations should work together to address homelessness, help each other, establish resources and find ways to help people on the streets.
“First Nations cannot do this on their own. We can’t do this on our own when we live in Timmins. Timmins is the host, so it’s only a good protocol if we choose to work together,” he says. “We don’t have a solution at the moment but we can figure it out if we work together.”
Metatawabin says the issue of overcrowding and housing in the north, which impacts people and their mental well-being, needs to be resolved.
There also needs to be a conversation about the ongoing pandemic and how it has impacted people, their families and their way of life, he says.
“We don’t realize the impacts we’ve been going through,” he says. “If people aren’t aware of what’s going on, you don’t know how to handle things … Creating that awareness is a solution.”
Going into the communities is one way to ensure people are engaged, Metatawabin says.
Making time and ensuring elders are accommodated and feel comfortable to come forward is important because some aren’t familiar with online platforms like Zoom and find them “intrusive and disrespectful when they’re given a limited time to speak,” Metatawabin adds.
Metatawabin says he understands “both sides of both worlds”: the First Nations’ way of things and how the government works.
“I’ve been doing this for pretty much all my life: being a community advocate, a community voice in addressing issues,” he says adding he’s also fluent in Cree. “I have both feet in both worlds. I have no difficulty communicating in both worlds. I’m very passionate about working as a leader to help our people.”
For more details on Metatawabin's campaign, connect with him on Facebook.
The other candidates vying to be grand chief are Ernest Beck, Alison Linklater and Andrew Solomon. The selected grand chief will serve the remaining term until Mushkegowuk Council’s next general election in August 2023.
