Woodhouse brings 'bridge-builder' experience to AFN, but some see Liberal ties as a liability

Cindy Woodhouse brings bridge-building experience to the national chief's office at the Assembly of First Nations (AFN), one campaign insider says, but she also brings political baggage others see as a potential liability.

That baggage includes her past support for the federal Liberal party and her participation in the toppling of her predecessor, RoseAnne Archibald, while serving as AFN Manitoba regional chief, one campaign organizer says.

"There was a lot of chatter among the chiefs that she's a liability because she's a Liberal," said Cara Currie Hall, a campaign manager and strategist for third-place candidate Sheila North.

In 2014, Woodhouse was Manitoba president of the Liberal Party's Indigenous Peoples Commission, an advocacy arm of the party established in 1990. 

In 2015, Woodhouse co-managed the Liberals' unsuccessful election bid in the NDP-held riding of Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, with the Winnipeg Free Press calling her "a well-known local Liberal."

Currie Hall said this raises questions for the AFN, the largest First Nations advocacy organization in Canada representing chiefs from more than 630 communities.

"These alliances are personal choices that people make and I think it's going to be a big problem," said Currie Hall, who is Cree from the Montana First Nation in Alberta. 

Woodhouse, of the Anishinaabe community of Pinaymootang First Nation in Manitoba, was elected national chief earlier this month in Ottawa after runner-up David Pratt conceded.

Woodhouse did not respond to a request for an interview for this story and a statement was not provided by time of publishing.

Michael Hutchinson, a former AFN communications officer and broadcaster with CTV and APTN and a member of the Misipawistik Cree Nation, helped the Woodhouse campaign. He said he believes it was experience that secured her success.

"She is a bridge-builder," said Hutchinson. 

"She knows how to talk to politicians and she has a mandate to advocate and to lobby — no matter who is sitting in the big chair in the Canadian government."

Hutchinson worked on communications and strategy, ensuring Woodhouse was shaking the right hands and talking to the right people, he said.

He recalled working with her when she was 19, when she worked for the AFN's then-regional chief for Manitoba, Francis Flett. She later worked as an adviser to national chiefs Shawn Atleo and Perry Bellegarde.