"Erasmus Stepping Down After 6 Years as Top Chief"

Georges Erasmus leaves the top Indian job in the country this month still warning to the wind that Canada should play fair with natives while it has a chance.

A peaceful chance.

"If the government doesn't move very quickly on these things, then we may be drifting back into a situation of last summer," Erasmus said after the recent release of a Commons committee report critical of all parties in last summer's crisis at Oka, Que.

Erasmus is stepping down after six years as national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, which represents half a million status Indians across Canada.

He worries that native children play Mohawk Warrior. He would rather see them find a role model in Elijah Harper, the NDP politician in Manitoba who blocked the Meech Lake constitutional accord because it ignored native issues.

Erasmus hopes his time as leader has built a foundation in the Assembly of First Nations that will allow young natives to search peacefully for solutions.

That foundation is based on court challenges to gain native rights, non-violent protests to bring attention to grievances, and links to the rest of Canadian society to get more non-natives involved in Indian issues.

"I think I'm leaving the organization healthier, stronger, with a much clearer idea of where it's headed and with more arrows in its arsenal than it ever had before."