Terry Nelson says a new movement in Winnipeg will deal with aboriginal issues by "whatever means necessary."
A Winnipeg chapter of the American Indian Movement will be formally organized on Saturday with Nelson, the former head of the Roseau River reserve, announcing Tuesday that three of 20 positions on the Grand Governing Council will be filled in a ceremony at Thunderbird House.
Nelson said the Idle No More movement has engaged aboriginals.
"The American Indian Movement doesn't ask permission from governments to carry out what we need to do," he said. "It requires people that are prepared to go to jail and prepared to take the consequences of their actions."
Nelson said AIM takes issue with the large number of aboriginal children in foster care, and police brutality.
"Ten thousand children in care in the province of Manitoba is no longer going to be tolerated," Nelson said. "We're hearing very clear stories from the people … and they're not asking for permission from the government or from anybody else.
"Whatever means is necessary to be able to stop that will be taken."
Joseph Quesnel, a policy analyst with the Frontier Centre, says AIM could be effective if it avoids tactics such as vigilantism.
"They've had some success in American cities," he said of AIM, which originated in Minnesota in the 1960s. "If this chapter aims for First Nation pride, self-reliance, looking out for First Nations in the city, while avoiding some of the mischief, then I don't see anything bad with it."
