ANNUAL GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Resolution no. 56/2004

July 20, 21 & 22, 2004, Charlottetown, PEI

subject:

SUPPORT FOR LEAH KELLY’S FAMILY

Moved by:

Chief Gary Kishqueb, Lac Des Milles Lac First Nation, ON

Seconded by:

Proxy Goyce Kakegamic, Cat Lake First Nation, ON

DECISION:

Due to lack of quorum on July 22, 2004, the Co-Chair referred the resolution to the AFN Executive Committee.  On October 3, 2004, in Ottawa, ON, the AFN Executive Committee recommended action to implement the resolution.

WHEREAS Leah Kelly, a member of the Ojibways of Onegaming First Nation, died on June 1, 2000, in a car accident in Boulder, Colorado; and 

WHEREAS Leah is the subject of the biography ‘In My Own Voice” written by Ward Churchill, her surviving husband, published in 2001; and 

WHEREAS the family of Leah Kelly is angered by the lack of research that went into the making of this book relating to Leah and her family’s history; and 

WHEREAS in the attempt to inform the author and publisher of “In My Own Voice” that there were many inaccuracies in the book, the family was met with threats by the author; and 

WHEREAS serious false allegations and insinuations are made in the book against Leah Kelly and family members; and 

WHEREAS a screenplay based on “In My Own Voice” is currently in the works by the author of the book despite the disapproval by the family of Leah Kelly. 

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED the Assembly of First Nations support the family of the Leah Kelly by denouncing “In My Own Voice” as an inaccurate portrayal of the life of Leah Kelly and her family; and 

FURTHER BE IT RESOLVED the Assembly of First Nations denounce the book and anticipated film as a continuation of the inaccurate portrayals of First Nations people in Canada and their histories; and 

FINALLY BE IT RESOLVED the Chiefs in Assembly direct the National Chief state the healing of our First Nations people comes through the telling of our own stories by our own people.