8 First Nations say they’ll withdraw from Southern Chiefs’ unless summit held before grand chief’s return

December 21, 2024 Canuck

Eight First Nations represented by the Southern Chiefs’ Organization say they will withdraw from the organization unless a summit of its chiefs is held before a decision is made on its leader’s return to office.

A letter dated Dec. 20, sent on behalf of the Southeast Resource Development Council’s chiefs and addressed to SCO chief executive officer Joy Cramer, says they want a meeting in early January before a decision is made on the return of SCO Grand Chief Jerry Daniels, who the organization announced this week will return to his role in the first week of the new year.

It previously said Daniels would be on leave for “an undetermined length of time,” after he was hospitalized following an altercation in Ottawa earlier this month.

But this week, Daniels issued an apology via Facebook, saying he is seeking help after what he described as “a wake-up call,” and the SCO announced his return.

In an emailed statement to CBC News Dec. 12, the organization, which represents 33 First Nations in southern Manitoba, cited “health reasons” for Daniels’s departure.

It said Lake Manitoba First Nation Chief Cornell McLean had been named acting grand chief in Daniels’s absence, and that its chiefs’ executive committee would set “a date for a chiefs’-in-summit to be held early in the new year.”

But in an emailed statement Thursday, SCO announced Daniels will return to his post Jan. 6.

The Friday letter from the Southeast Resource Development Council, a copy of which was obtained by CBC, says “should no SCO summit on this critical leadership be held in January 2025 and Jerry Daniels is reinstated to the SCO Office of the Grand Chief, the SERDC chiefs will be withdrawing membership” from the organization.

A building. — The Southeast Resource Development Council building in Winnipeg. A motion calling for the summit was carried unanimously by the chiefs of all eight SERDC members — Brokenhead Ojibway Nation and Black River, Bloodvein, Pauinigassi, Hollow Water, Berens River, Grand Rapids and Poplar River First Nations. (Ron Dhaliwal/CBC)

It also says if the council’s chiefs withdraw from SCO, they will request a “full valuation of any monetary or assets to be withdrawn from the SCO” and transferred to the council.

A motion calling for the summit was carried unanimously by the chiefs of all eight SERDC members — Brokenhead Ojibway Nation and Black River, Bloodvein, Pauinigassi, Hollow Water, Berens River, Grand Rapids and Poplar River First Nations.

CBC News has asked the Southern Chiefs’ Organization and Cramer for comment.

The organization announced Daniels’s leave after an incident earlier this month in Ottawa, where the Assembly of First Nations was holding a gathering.

A source, whom CBC has agreed not to name, said Daniels was involved in an early morning altercation while in the city for the assembly.

A spokesperson for the Ottawa Police Service said officers were called to the city’s ByWard Market area around 2:30 a.m. on Dec. 3 for a disturbance, after which a man was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Police would not confirm the victim’s identity.

Neither Daniels nor SCO have responded to CBC’s questions about the incident.

Ottawa police spokesperson Julie Kavanagh said Thursday the incident is still under investigation, and no charges have been laid.

Daniels apologizes on social media

In a Facebook post earlier this week, Daniels apologized and said he’s seeking treatment for alcohol use.

“The past few weeks have been a wake-up call, and I recognize the need for change in my lifestyle,” Daniels wrote in the post, vowing to “be the leader you all deserve.”

“Just like anyone who faces the shame of having personal struggles laid bare, I wish I had been honest sooner about my challenges with alcohol,” he wrote.

Daniels said in the post he was proposing a restorative justice model to “resolve the incident that occurred,” but he did not go into detail about that incident.

In its Thursday morning statement, the Southern Chiefs’ Organization said its chiefs’ executive committee, CEO and two knowledge keepers recently met with Daniels and look forward to welcoming him back early next month.

Daniels acknowledged in his Facebook post that “an apology is not enough to repair the harm I’ve caused.”

“That can only be done through meaningful action,” he wrote.

“To that end, I am committing to a treatment plan that includes both traditional ceremony and an alcohol treatment program,” Daniels said in the post.

Daniels also said he’s also committed to maintaining close contact with the chiefs’ executive committee to set up “regular check-ins” to hold him accountable on his progress.

CBC News reached out to Daniels again Thursday evening about the post, but did not receive a reply prior to publication.

Daniels was first elected as SCO’s grand chief in 2017. He was acclaimed for a second term in 2020 and re-elected this past June.

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