CW STAFF
- Ottawa -

While pundits are predicting a new, more aggressive era in aboriginal politics with the election of Matthew Coon Come as chief of the Assembly of First Nations, fellow Christians look forward to a strong-but-thoughtful approach.

"He's a leader of absolute excellence," says Mohawk evangelist Ross Maracle. "Through his skills and experience he will move our people from the margins to the mainstream."

"He's not a militant," adds Kenny Blacksmith, a former colleague of Coon Come on the Cree Grand Council in northern Quebec. "He strongly believes in national reconciliation, healing and unity."

Coon Come, 44, unseated Phil Fontaine during the July 12 election. His victory was only the latest in a string of achievements that started with two terms as chief of the Mistissini First Nation and his election as grand chief of the Grand Council of Crees in 1987. He was only 31, but had already brought many improvements to his community, including a new arena, an adult education centre, a bank, new administrative offices, new health facilities and improvements to housing and community infrastructure.

Married to Maryann Matoush since 1976, he became a Christian in the mid-1970s and has never looked back. "I was prepared to lose this election," he told National Post writer Allen Abel. "But I am not prepared to abandon the gospel of Jesus Christ."

Terry LeBlanc, aboriginal programs manager for World Vision Canada, says Coon Come has a "strong, vibrant, active, life-changing faith." Coon Come spent last year in Florida studying at a Bible college run by Rodney Howard-Brown.

The new chief has a close attachment to his parents, who are traditional hunters and trappers, says Blacksmith. "He learned a lot from them regarding life on the land." In fact, he was born on the land, in a wood-frame tent on the shores of a lake in the spring of 1956. He was named Ne-Ha-Ba-Nus, "the one who wakes up with the sun."

He was given the name Matthew by the priest who baptized him, and Coon Come ("coon" is "snow" in Cree) by an Indian Affairs official.

His early schooling was at a residential school. Later he attended Trent University in Peterborough and McGill University in Montreal.

Winning battles

Fiercely committed to protecting the traditional way of life for aboriginal people, Coon Come is known for fighting epic battles and winning.

Ten years ago, for example, Coon Come led a canoeing expedition down the Hudson River into New York to protest Hydro-Quebec's $7.5 billion Great Whale hydroelectric project on Cree land. New York media loved the charismatic young chief’s presence, and in the end, the state cancelled a contract to buy electric power from Quebec.

For his efforts, Coon Come was awarded the Goldman Prize, referred to as the "Nobel Prize of environmental awards," in 1994. He has also received the Equinox Environmental Award, the Conde Naste Environmental Award, and the National Aboriginal Achievement Award.

His other major victory was holding a Cree referendum in 1995, when then-Bloc Quebecois leader Lucien Bouchard was pushing for a separation vote. Ninety-six percent of Crees voted to stay in Canada rather than go with a separate Quebec.

Now that he has taken his place on the national political stage, Coon Come's friends and colleagues in the aboriginal Christian community are confident that he will rise to the challenge. "He will not compromise his own faith as a Christian," says his friend Kenny Blacksmith.

In Philippians 2:4, it says to think on things that are noble, pure and praiseworthy, Blacksmith notes. "I think Matthew has that….He will move away from the spirit of negative, confrontational relationships."
Neither will he compromise his commitment to working against poverty and injustice in native communities, says Maracle. "Matthew is going to aggressively push for the rights of our people, specifically in the areas of dealing with the poverty on native territory and structures of self-government," he says.

"He will be a man of integrity."