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David Ahenakew was forced to resign from the FSIN and was stripped of his Order of Canada, after being found guilty of wilfully spreading hate comments at an aboriginal meeting in 2002. Ahenakew, a former leader of the Assembly of First Nations, was convicted in 2005 of inciting hatred.
His conviction was overturned by the Court of Queen's Bench in 2006 and the Crown has appealed to the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal. The case begins April 30.
Chief Irvin Starblanket suggested at an FSIN meeting last week that Ahenakew should be reinstated.
"Does the punishment have to continue throughout that person's life? Do you have to punish them forever?" Starblanket said in an interview Tuesday. "To me, everybody's subject to recall. I like to be fair to people."
The suggestion sparked debate at the gathering, with some, such as Chief Marcel Head of the Shoal Lake First Nation, opposing Ahenakew's reinstatement.
Head said Ahenakew hasn't demonstrated any change in attitude.
"I'm worried about it, if he's changed, if he's humbled. ... It's going to take a lot to convince me," he said. "I think people are going to have a hard time accepting this."
Head said the chiefs were unanimous in their decision to oust Ahenakew in 2002 and he doesn't know of any provisions in the FSIN's Senate Act for reinstating someone who has been ejected.
When Starblanket suggested passing a resolution to reinstate Ahenakew, "right there and then," Head urged the assembly to tread carefully.
At his suggestion, the chiefs directed the executive to review the Senate Act and look into the possibility of amending it to include a clause for reinstatement.
Such a process "won't happen overnight," and wouldn't necessarily result in Ahenakew's return to the fold, Head said.
Anita Bromberg, legal counsel for B'nai Brith, said Ahenakew's reinstatement would send a "very sad message" after the efforts of many aboriginal and Jewish groups to find understanding and commonality in the wake of Ahenakew's divisive remarks.
"Statements of intolerance are painful and simply saying enough time has passed, where there hasn't been the acts of repentance that are required, is not sufficient," she said.
"It is not about his status before the criminal courts. That is still an open matter to some extent. It is a matter of what is the right way of dealing with a man who expressed views that he has not completely apologized for."
B'nai Brith and the Canadian Jewish Congress may seek intervener status at Ahenakew's upcoming appeal.