A senior Grit campaigner says Assembly of First Nations Grand Chief Phil Fontaine and former Churchill Liberal MP Elijah Harper will be visiting Vancouver Island tomorrow to speak out against Conservative advisor Tom Flanagan and his "fuck off and die Indians writings that he is world famous for in the past." Those writings include First Nations? Second Thoughts, a controversial 254-page treatise that argues the assimilation of aboriginal peoples is not only inevitable but desirable. Mr. Flanagan is a University of Calgary political science professor and longtime friend to Tory leader Stephen Harper.

Messrs. Harper and Fontaine will be making their statements at a $75 a seat fundraising dinner hosted by Vancouver Island-North Liberal candidate Noor Ahmed at Thunderbird Hall in Campbell River. There are currently 7,790 aboriginals living in Vancouver Island-North, which has a total population of 101,200. Mr. Ahmend is running against incumbent Conservative John Duncan, who won with 42.7 percent of the vote in 1997 and 51 percent in 2000. Also running: New Democrat candidate Catherine Bell, former vice-president of the B.C. Government Employees Union.