Media.Knet.Ca

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Sioux Lookout Mothers and Daughters Canoe to Raise Money for Youth

May 11, 2007 - Sioux Lookout. Twelve women announced here today that they will embark on a three-day, 50- kilometre canoe trip to help keep the Sioux Lookout Anti-Racism Committee (SLARC) Youth Centre open.

On June 1, 2007, the women will set out from Abram Lake near Sioux Lookout paddling 25 kilometres to Stranger Lake and back in an effort to raise $5,000 on behalf of the Youth Centre, a popular place for town youth to hang out in the evenings.

This is the fifth time the women of the community both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal have experienced a wilderness adventure together under the leadership of Lorraine Kenny, Lac Seul social activist. “For each trip we look for a cause that will benefit the community,” said Ms. Kenny. One year it was the Sunset Women’s group. Another time it was the Sioux Lookout Menoyawin Hospital. This year we are focusing on youth because our daughters are involved in the trip and because the Youth Centre really needs our help”.

The Multicultural Youth Centre is an important and successful resource for Sioux Lookout’s youth, providing a safe and cool hangout that is drug and alcohol free. The youth – from both First Nations and non-Native backgrounds –  run the Centre with supervision. Participation at the Youth Centre has been growing exponentially with over 2,400 visits from local youth this year. Supported by SLARC with space provided by the town, there is at present no funds available to provide programming and supervision support for the Centre.

“The canoeathon is always fun and a challenge,” said four-time women’s canoeathon participant Laurel Wood. “It’s great to introduce new women to canoeing and the time together on the water is good for us all and good for our community too."

All donations will receive a tax-deductible receipt from the Sioux Lookout Anti-racism Committee.

For More Information Please contact
Jennifer Morrow Business Manager
Sioux Lookout Anti-Racism Committee
(807) 737-4901
jmorrow@slarc.ca

or

Lorraine Kenny
807 7372727
lorrainekenny@knet.ca

From the Canadian Press ...

Aboriginal land claim spending set to drop
By SUE BAILEY The Canadian Press

OTTAWA — Tensions are rising over native land disputes, but federal funds to settle them would drop under newly released spending plans.

The government’s Plans and Priorities report says the core amount budgeted to resolve land claims will be steadily cut over the next three years.

Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice says the document should be ignored, however, since he’ll move this spring to overhaul a discredited system "as soon as is practical."

Basic funding for related settlements is set at about $159 million this fiscal year, said Michel Roy, assistant deputy minister overseeing land claims at Indian Affairs.

That amount is slated to drop to just under $153 million next year and to $143.1 million in 2009-10.

The planned spending decrease is mainly due to the gradual completion of payments owed under certain major land deals, Roy said.

Yet there are no planned increases to speed a settlement process that the government itself concedes isn’t working.

An exhaustive Senate committee report earlier this year urged the Conservatives to commit at least $250 million a year. The alternative, it warned, is the flare-up of more potentially ugly clashes like the one that pitted native against non-native in Caledonia, Ont., last year over a housing development.

Frustration is once again building in the southwestern Ontario community as complex talks drag on.

Farther east, a rail blockade three weeks ago by a splinter group of Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte paralyzed passenger and freight traffic between Toronto and Montreal. The protest near Deseronto, Ont., caused chaos for a day until it was peacefully ended.

There are more than 800 unsolved claims in a growing "inventory" of cases across much of Canada, Roy says. Of those, just 120 have made it to the active negotiation stage.

It typically takes 13 years for a case to be resolved from start to finish, he says.