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THEBACHA/FORT SMITH
For the past dozen years, Ken Hudson has been at the helm of the Fort Smith Metis Council.

Ken Hudson: main accomplishment and continuing goal as president of Fort Smith Metis Council is to make sound investments. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

And his goals are the same as when he first held elected office with the Metis Council in the mid-1990s.

"We didn't have much at that time and I remember one of the things that I was interested in when I became president the first time was to try to build the association, try and get something built, get ahead, get some money and get some investments," he said.

That was done through constructing buildings and buying property.

A dozen years ago, Hudson said the council owned an office building which it rented out, Roaring Rapids Hall and its own "rickety old" office building, which burned down not long after he became president for the second time in 1999.

"Somebody had sense enough at the time to have an insurance policy on that office," he said, noting the insurance settlement and other money helped launch more investments.

That was done when a new council office building was constructed and the top floor was rented to a GNWT department.

"That generated money for other investments," Hudson said.

Now, the Fort Smith Metis – about 1,000 people – have more buildings and properties through the council. In fact, it is also planning to build a carpentry shop for four young carpenters it has employed for the last two years.

"I think we're probably close to $2 million in assets now," Hudson said.

He said the earned money goes to help Metis member for suach things as assisting with expenses when there is a death in a family and helping to send children to sporting events.

Hudson, 61, is the full-time paid president of the council, one of eight employees.

His first time as Metis president was in the mid-1990s, but he was ousted by a non-confidence vote.

At that time, he said the Metis organization contained people who would later become members of First Nations, and some of them "ganged up" with 20 to 25 people at a meeting and voted him out.

"Large families could actually vote you right out of office and that's basically what happened in them days," he said. "I think we're getting a little more organized now. We've had over a hundred people at our assemblies."

Hudson was away from Metis politics for several years before returning as council president in 1999.

That was just after he began a well-known battle with Parks Canada over Metis hunting rights in Wood Buffalo National Park.

Hudson said many Metis may have voted for him because of that rights battle.

"They recognized that and voted me in again, and I've been president ever since," he said.

Hudson hunted in the park in an effort to get the issue to court, but it never went before a judge after the park granted him hunting rights after discovering his great-grandfather had hunted in the park many years ago.

Hudson's involvement in politics goes back to the 1980s as vice-president and later president of the Fort Smith Hunters and Trappers Association.

"That's where I kind of started out as a politician," he said, noting there was a lot of politics involved with the hunters and trappers in those days.

Before becoming a politician, Hudson was a carpenter by trade, and also started building furniture.

"I've been doing that ever since," he said.

Hudson said his political style is to try to build consensus, but he is also not afraid to speak his mind.

"Once you make your mind up, you've got to go that direction," he said. "If you're going to be wishy-washy about things, who the hell's going to vote you in? You've got to be strong on these things and just make up your mind. So far I think the reason why I get voted in is because I've made pretty good decisions or at least direction for everybody else to follow all these years."

Along with building assets, Hudson said one of the reasons he continues as president is to remain involved in land and governance negotiations between the Northwest Territory Metis Nation and the federal and territorial governments.

Those negotiations, which have been ongoing for 14 years, are close to an agreement, except for the money part, he said.

"I think our goal is to be self-sufficient," he noted. "We can get that through the claim big-time, but, at the same time, let's not sit and wait for it as the answer to everything. We have opportunities here to invest and that's what we've been doing."

Hudson said that gives the Metis knowledge about how to handle investments, which will be valuable after a negotiations settlement.

"It's like going to school," he said. "It gives you experience."

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