Former First Nation Chief in Canada says democracy 'doesn't work' for indigenous people

In discussions about a possible name change to the British Columbia city of Powell River, former Tla’amin Chief and four-time elected councilor, L. Maynard Harry, also known as KWAST-en-ayu, proclaimed that democracy "doesn't work" for First Nation or indigenous people.

In an interview with The New Westminster Times, KWAST-en-ayu said, “Democracy has nothing to do with First Nations or indigenous culture." He added, “It's an alien system.”

“It's a broken system. Democracy is broken,” KWAST-en-ayu said. "It's not been good for my people. We're not a people that developed democracy for the last thousand years. We're a potlatch people. We're a longhouse people.”

In February, the city council decided to hold an "opinion poll' about the possible name change of Powell River City in 2026. The Tla’amin First Nation said in a statement that they don't "support opinion polls or referenda because the human rights of a minority should not be decided by a majority."

The outlet notes that the same officials for Tla’amin are democratically elected to their positions, and adopted the system in 2016 when the First Nation implemented its Final Agreement with the Province of British Columbia.

On Feb. 15, the Powell River City Council approved the use of the opinion poll and allowed all the citizens to vote on whether to change the name or not. The motion says, "Take substantive steps toward reconciliation with Tla’Amin Nation, by engaging the public on the topic of a name change, including a possible new name, leading up to a public opinion poll timed with the 2026 municipal election.”

The Tla'amin First Nation is pushing for the name to be changed to tiskwat.

For KWAST-en-ayu, the statements on democracy are not the first time he has caused controversy. He was forced to apologize after he referred to white people as "subhuman" more than fifteen times in an interview with the outlet in Feb.

“I made these statements on my own and they in no way reflect the opinions or beliefs of Tla’amin Nation elected leadership,” KWAST-en-ayu said. “I … apologize to our Tla’amin community for any harm that you may have experienced as a result of this interview.”