CALGARY - The election of Phil Fontaine’s successor as national chief of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) begins today in Calgary. Regional chiefs have come from across Canada for three days of speechmaking and hobnobbing, after which they’ll vote for one of five candidates on Wednesday, July 22nd.

The event is a unique blend of feudalism and democracy. Although the national chief will represent over 600,000 status Indians in Canada, only the 633 regional chiefs are eligible to vote. The system is controversial and will certainly be discussed during the week ahead. It has already informed the campaign platform of one of the frontrunners.

“The AFN must be more than just a special interest group,” John Beaucage of Wasauksing First Nation in central Ontario has said, promising that he would “allow each and every First Nation citizen to vote for their national chief” in future elections should he win this time around.

Beaucage’s main competitor is Shawn Atleo, the articulate regional chief of the B.C. Assembly of First Nations who hails from Vancouver Island’s Ahausat First Nation.

Atleo is well regarded both within and beyond the First Nation community, and has placed education at the center of his campaign. Referring to the horrid legacy of residential schools in a recent interview with the Georgia Straight, Atleo asked “shouldn’t education now be a tool of emancipation and support for the rebuilding of communities, families, culture and language?”

Atleo has a strong head start in this week’s election given that about a third of the voters come from B.C. - an advantage somewhat lessened by the late entry into the competition of Kwakwaka’wakw chief Bill Wilson, a veteran of federal politics who also calls B.C. home.

Despite his claim that “I have more experience at the national level than all four of them [the other candidates] combined,” Wilson is seen as an long shot, as are the final two competitors.

Terrance Nelson, chief of Manitoba’s Roseau River Anishinabe Nation, has placed economic independence at the center of his campaign, arguing that “economists not lawyers should lead the way in the new AFN system.”

Perry Bellegarde, former grand chief of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations, rounds off the field with a focus on technology and environmental stewardship, promising to “[balance] the promise of future technologies with the wisdom of our ancestors.”

Freelance journalist Arno Kopecky is blogging the AFN General Assembly for The Tyee.