The National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, Matthew Coon Come, fully supports and endorses the Chief, Council and citizens of the M'Chigeeng First Nation in their struggle for recognition of their community-approved custom governance process. The right to choose your leaders is one of the most basic and fundamental rights that any society has including First Nations communities.

"When the representatives of the Crown encountered and started entering into relationships and treaties with the First Nations peoples the Crown representatives did not question the leaders of the First Nations about their legitimacy nor did they ask them to prove that their leadership process was in accordance with Crown law and policy," stated National Chief Matthew Coon Come.

The M'Chigeeng First Nation developed and adopted an election code in accordance with its customs and traditions and followed the principles and procedures established in the "Conversion to Community Election System Policy" established by DIAND. The M'Chigeeng can establish that it applied an inclusive and transparent process in developing the code and in its adoption as code for use in their community. Yet, in spite of this, the department has refused to recognize the code and does not recognize the duly elected leadership of the M'Chigeeng First Nation. The department is even threatening to impose third party management even though the band's finances are in order and there are no financial or management irregularities.

"The Minister continually advances the principle of accountability. I have to ask, who is the Department of Indian Affairs being accountable to in rejecting what this community has done for itself? Canadian case law clearly supports the position of the M'Chigeeng First Nation in that the power to determine a leadership selection custom is not a power conferred by Parliament or the Minister of the Indian Affairs, but is rather an inherent power of the band. I support the Chief and Council and all the First Nations citizens in their efforts to have the Minister and the department recognize their governance system and stop, imposing their control on First Nations peoples," added National Chief Coon Come.

To this point, according to INAC's own documentation, this matter has not been brought to the attention of the Minister of Indian Affairs and that the bureaucrats have been handling the matter. "It's time for the Minister to deal with this matter especially since he likes to remind First Nations peoples that he is the most powerful man on First Nations reserves. The Minister must show respect to the M'Chigeeng First Nations people and their leadership and resolve this impasse by sitting down with them and working out the solution rather than having this matter dealt with by bureaucrats or the courts," concluded National Chief Coon Come.

The Assembly of First Nations is the national organization representing 633 First Nations communities across Canada and First Nations citizens living in urban and rural communities.