Media.Knet.Ca

Eabametoong First Nation (Fort Hope), ON: Mould infected walls, ceilings contaminated with asbestos, fuel contaminated floors and mushroom breeding. You would think that these conditions were of a poverty ravished home in a third world country, but they are not! They describe the deplorable conditions of a medical facility operated by Health Canada and currently still admitting and treating patients in Eabametoong First Nation in Northwestern Ontario.

The community of Eabametoong First Nation officially declared a ‘State of Emergency’ in their community nursing station today due to serious health and safety concerns. Urgent requests have been made to Health Canada to suspend operations of the Nursing Station until the existing facility is deemed a safe environment for public health. The Chief and Council are waiting on a decision from Health Canada on the decisive plans for the local health facility.

Says Chief Charlie Okeese of Eabametoong First Nation; “We have been asking Health Canada for a new health facility for several years now and yet, they assert that the current facility can be expanded to service the community for another 20 years! Our First Nation is demanding a new health care facility for our community and we are willing to provide the land for its development and a temporary local facility for the transition period. We need answers and assistance immediately to determine if this building is environmentally safe.”

The barely standing nursing station was originally built in the early 70’s to serve the health and medical needs of the community. During these early years there have been fuel and oil spills that have contaminated the soil in the perimeter of the building. Since then, the facility has been subject to annual flooding in the basement which led to the growth of mould and mushrooms. It was discovered during an annual clean up of mould that asbestos was found in the basement walls and furnace room. Health Canada has sealed off the furnace area pending the complete removal of asbestos by Public Works Government Services.

Continues Chief Okesse; “We have called in independent investigators today to assess whether the building needs to be condemned. Regardless of the outcome, Health Canada has already sealed off the basement to the building due to asbestos. We have no way of testing the air quality in the building but nursing staff have started to complain about skin reactions. At this point, we have no other choice but to demand the cessation of operations until the facility is deemed safe for public health and usage.”

-30-

Eabametoong First Nation is a remote community, accessible by air only and located 155 kilometres northeast of Armstrong, Ontario.

The Yellow Ribbon campaign is happening in Sioux Lookout and across the Nishnawbe Aski Nation thanks to the efforts of Norma Kejick, principal of the Wahsa Distance Education Centre. Working with Norma, Cal Kenny (K-Net's Multi-media Coordinator) produced a video of this year's Suicide Awareness Walk for Life event in Sioux Lookout.

The video is available online as a Flash presentation at ...

http://knet.ca/walk_for_life/walk_for_life.html

The first clip highlights the different parts of the event. Then the speakers share their stories and thoughts for all the participants.

The final clip is the "SEE ME, HEAR ME" music video produced this year by the Grade 6, 7 and 8 students attending Eel Ground First Nation School in New Brunswick. This song is used in a play about Suicide Awareness and Teenage Stress, that the students produced and presented this past month at various gatherings. They won 5 awards at this year's NB Drama Festival for their performance.

From Peterborough Examiner editorial ...

Hold Off On The Cavalry
Drew Hayden Taylor - June 5, 2007

I'm sure that if the Fathers of Confederation were around today putting together this newfangled piece of legislation they called "the Indian Act," there would be a new provision. Something akin to: "Under no circumstances will the government build or permit a road, bridge, railway or anything blockadable across Native land."

Once more the First Nations voice has been heard via stalled traffic and irate commuters. A month or so ago, the Mohawks of Tyendinaga, near Belleville, used the negotiation tactic of parking a school bus across a VIA rail line. I think it's important to mention that blockades are not part of our traditional culture. Historically, Canada had too many wide open spaces for Native people to successfully blockade anything. The Metis tried it with Manitoba. But we are an adaptable people. After a while, we learned to blockade roads and railways, just like we learned to hunt with guns, cook with flour and lard, ride in cars, and go to residential school. It seems like a natural progression.

Unfortunately, this image of the camouflaged native as blockader is replacing the drunken Indian as Canada's favourite stereotype. Canadian children are in danger of being more familiar with the Indian wearing a bandana to hide his face then that of a mighty warrior on a horse hunting buffalo.

I know many people who have been involved with blockades and other acts of civil disobedience. They do not make these choices lightly. Most of them know things will get worse before they get better. Everybody remembers the tragic images in Alanis Obomsawin's brilliant documentary, "Incident at Whiskey Trench" where Mohawks being evacuated from Kahnawake during the Oka Crisis were stoned by local whites, resulting in one man dying of a heart attack.

Most non-Native people have come to understand that the actions of natives at Oka, Ipperwash and other standoffs were understandable. All of these involved years of trying to settle land claims with little response or action from the federal government. The ante needed to be upped. On the news I heard an annoyed VIA passenger bitterly condemn the Tyendinaga blockade. "I didn't think they were allowed to do that, but I guess they can do whatever they want." Our elders say the same thing about white people.

Admittedly, I would have been a little annoyed too if I were on the train. But those passengers need to know that First Nations people don't enjoy doing this. It's not a field trip. They don't get paid. Oka was not a First Nations Woodstock. Ipperwash wasn't an Outward Bound for political aboriginals. Most of these people would rather be home with their families, or making corn soup, or watching the playoffs. Sound familiar, Canada? And of course there's the threat that the police will come in with guns blazing. That's always a huge inducement at the "what will we do this weekend" meeting.

Remember that ferry that sank in British Columbia last year? Those were mostly fishing boats from a nearby Native community that ferried everybody to safety. Contrary to popular paranoia, aboriginal blockades are not going to spread across the country like wildfire. Take my community for example. It's on a peninsula with one road in and one road out. Putting up a blockade would be kind of self defeating.

Simply put, all those images from movies you watched as a child of multitudes of feathered and screaming Indians attacking wagon trains in the American West are just a coincidence. They have nothing to do with today's blockades. To the best of my knowledge, there were no flaming arrows shot at the VIA trains.

At the very least, irate VIA passengers will have an amusing tale to tell their grandkids. "I survived the great Tyendinaga Railway Blockade of '07". I'm sure insurance will cover those companies or individuals who may have lost money because of the inconvenience. There must be an "Act of Indian" clause somewhere.

If not, there should be.

Drew Hayden Taylor is an award-winning Ojibwa playwright and author from the Curve Lake First Nations.

Presenting over simplistic solutions like abolishing the Indian Act and paying whatever it takes to settle the land claims; blaming the First Nation leaders and the people for their poverty; or suggesting the use of underfunded First Nation program dollars to pay for people living in urban centres; continue to be presented as the "solutions" that will make everything "right" for mainstream, middle-class Canadians and their relationship with the First Nations. These messages are being delivered over and over by the government to Canadians until they are now saying the same thing without any understanding about the history, the treaties and the relationships between Nations.

From Pembroke Daily Observer editorial ...

Canada is an apartheid state
Michael Den Tandt - Osprey News Network - June 06, 2007

Canada is a an apartheid state. Our laws and institutions systematically keep aboriginal people poor, apart and oppressed. The Indian Act, and the racist mindset at its heart, should have been abolished long ago. The fact that it remains in place is a national disgrace.

Anyone who doesn't wish to believe this should spend a few minutes with the helpful folk at Statistics Canada. The evidence is neatly compiled on their web site, at www.statscan.ca.

For example: Did you know that in the year 2000, aboriginal infant mortality rates were twice as among non-aboriginals, and that most of these deaths were due to preventable causes, such as sudden-infant-death syndrome and postnatal infection?

Or that in 2004, aboriginal people were nearly twice as likely as non-aboriginals to be repeat victims of crime, and three-and-a-half times more likely to be victims of spousal violence?

Native Canadians are three times more likely than the rest of us to be victims of violent crime - specifically rape, robbery and battery. And the chances of that crime being committed by someone they know, as opposed to a stranger, are much higher - more than 50 per cent, as opposed to about 40 per cent for non-natives.

Aboriginals make up three per cent of Canada's population. They account for 17 per cent of the country's murder victims and 23 per cent of those accused of committing murder.

On native reserves, rates of violent assault are eight times higher than in the rest of Canada; sexual assaults, seven times higher; murder, five times higher.

Here's the kicker: The reserves themselves are incubators of misery. According to Statscan, in 2004, the rate of violent crime reported by aboriginals living off-reserve was 953 per 100,000 people. On-reserve, the rate was 7,108 per 100,000 people - more than seven times greater.

We've all read the stories of squalor and destitution and degradation on remote northern reserves. Places like Pikangikum, 300 km north of Winnipeg. Many residents in Pikangikum have no running water and use outhouses that freeze and overflow in winter, the Canadian Press reported in April. Electricity comes from a diesel generator. The town's 700 kids are schooled in a building built for 350. The community is beset with water-related sickness, including skin ailments, lice and ear infections.
Pikangikum has one of the highest suicide rates in the world.

Granted, the town recently received $40-million emergency federal funding. That, too, is typical. Horror stories emerge about a specific reserve, and big money is quickly allotted. That makes the embarrassing international headlines go away - until the next crisis, on the next reserve.

The widespread squalor and desperation are driving people off reserves into the cities. Fully 51 per cent of Canadian status Indians now live off-reserve, according to the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, which champions the interests of off-reserve Indians.

Nevertheless, the lion's share of federal funding for aboriginals - $9-billion a year, according to Ottawa - goes to reserves. For every dollar spent on programs for off-reserve Indians, $8 is spent on a reserve, according to the Congress. There are numerous government-sponsored incentives for aboriginals to stay on reserves - communal housing and income-tax relief, to name two.

Think of that for a moment: The federal government, on all Canadians' behalf, pays aboriginal people to stay in separate enclaves where living standards are, relative to those in the rest of the country, abominable. Why would we allow that?

We allow it, it seems to me, for two reasons. The first is apathy and lack of political will among the broader Canadian population for any kind of difficult reform that would see land claims fairly settled and aboriginals integrated into the Canadian mainstream.

Second, there has been active resistance from successive generations of aboriginal politicians - the 600-odd band councils and chiefs - to any change that would erode their power to disburse federal money, and favours, on reserves.

Most reserves (the exceptions are communities that have negotiated self-government) still operate under the rule of the Indian Act, first authored in 1876 and "updated" several times since then.

This document is explicitly racist. It reduces aboriginal people to the status of powerless, landless tenants. It deprives them of property rights and inheritance rights, as any other Canadian would understand those terms. It gives Ottawa the power to seize Indian property virtually at will. It allows for reserve lands to be forcibly expropriated. It places limitations on who Indians on reserves can do business with. It contains clauses that lay out, in excruciating detail, how the government may seize the property of Indians deemed "mentally incompetent." It is a horror show.

The rotten core of the Indian Act, it seems to me, is this single line, clause 20, section 1). "No Indian is lawfully in possession of land in a reserve unless, with the approval of the Minister, possession of the land has been allotted to him by the council of the band."

If you live on a reserve, you don't really own your home, or the land on which it sits. You borrow it - sort of. Perhaps you pass it on to your children, or perhaps you don't. It's not your right to do so. The land and home are not yours to give away, or - God forbid - to sell. They belong to the collective.

Communal ownership of property is one of the sacred cows of the aboriginal system in Canada. It's often presented as a morally good thing - a reflection of traditional aboriginal culture, which holds that the earth is a living being, which no human can or should 'own.'

In practice, it seems to me, communal ownership bars aboriginals on reserves from participating in the single greatest driver of middle-class wealth - the real estate market. Private property is how most of us acquire wealth, and wealth is what gives most of us our excellent standard of living. How is it that this is denied to aboriginal people on reserves?

"Ah, but it's a very different culture," some will say. Really? So is China's. So is India's. And yet, no one denies that private property and private initiative have helped pull both those emerging economic giants out of poverty.

In 1969, Indian Affairs Minister Jean Chretien proposed abolishing the Indian Act and ending every form of special status based on race in Canada. You can still read that document, the White Paper, on the Internet. It was couched in the idealistic language of Pierre Trudeau's Just Society. It died because of opposition from the chiefs. In 2003, Indian Affairs Minister Bob Nault tabled the First Nations Governance Act, which would have set new standards for governance and transparency on reserves, and brought reserves under the aegis of the Human Rights Act. That died, because of opposition from the chiefs.

Now, Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice is doggedly attempting reforms of his own. He wants to repeal a section of the Human Rights Act that shields band councils and chiefs from human rights complaints by their constituents. And in this year's budget, $300-million was set aside to encourage private home ownership on reserves. Many chiefs, sensing yet another attempt to sideline them, are furious. It's no coincidence that we face a nationwide day of protest on June 29, and the prospect of more blockades.

Is aboriginal anger justified? Certainly. Every Canadian should be furious at how this country's First Peoples have been and are being treated. Will illegal blockades focus public and political attention on the problem? Maybe. More likely though, they will stoke resentment, misunderstanding, anger and, yes, racism, in mainstream Canada. It's difficult to see how an illegal blockade generates political impetus towards any kind of solution.

What would that solution look like?

First, Canadians and Canadian politicians need to stop looking the other way. We need to face up to this problem. We should come to the table with our checkbook in hand. The Senate Indian Affairs committee, chaired by Metis Senator Gerry St. Germain, has estimated that settling all existing specific land claims - there's a backlog of 900 - would cost up to $6-billion. The Department of Indian Affairs reportedly estimates that its total liability for all claims is $15-billion.

The government of Canada should establish an independent land-claims agency, one with resources and teeth. It should place a stick between its teeth, bite hard, and take the $15-billion hit. Settle the claims, as quickly and fairly as possible. That would be step one.

Step two: Abolish the Indian Act. Create a process, perhaps grandfathered over a period of 20 or even 50 years, that will end all legalized special status for aboriginals in Canada, and end the reserve system as we know it. Create a system that gives reserve land to the people who live on it - as individuals. Give them the right, which all other Canadians have, to sell their property, should they choose to do so.

(Michael Den Tandt is editor of the Sun Times in Owen Sound, and a former political correspondent based in Ottawa. Contact him at: mdentandt@thesuntimes.ca)

Questions and Answers Regarding Indian Residential School Records

June 6, 2007

Q. Will I be able to apply for a Common Experience Payment (CEP) if I do not have a copy of my school records?

A. Former students do not need copies of their school records to apply for a Common Experience Payment. All that is required is for you to fill out and return an application form, and the Government will use the school records it has to validate your application. If the Government needs more information to validate your CEP application, you will be contacted.

Q. What if the Government does not have my records?

A. The Government is aware that, in some cases, school records are incomplete. Three new elements will be implemented by the Government for validating applications under the Common Experience Payment:

1. A computer-assisted search system to help validate applications more efficiently and thoroughly;
    
2. A new policy and process for requesting additional information if records cannot be found through the computer or manual search. In these cases, the Government may request additional documents and will assist you in providing these documents. These may include sworn statements from you, or from other students who resided at a residential school at the same time; and,
    
3. An advisory review panel, including Aboriginal and former student representatives, which will provide expert advice on the Common Experience Payment validation process.

If you are not satisfied with the response you receive, the Settlement Agreement gives you the right to appeal the decision. The appeal process includes all parties to the Settlement Agreement, including representatives of former students.

It is important to note, once again, that throughout this process the Government's primary principle will be to assist you to confirm that you resided at an eligible residential school, not to try to prove that you didn't.

Q. What steps are being taken to increase the Government's collection of records?

A. The Government is committed to minimizing the impact of incomplete records. In some cases, the churches and other organizations may still have records in their possession. The Government is working with these organizations to ensure that all existing residential school records are included in its database. In addition, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to be established by the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement will create as complete a historical record as possible of the Indian Residential School system and its legacy.

Industry Canada Press Release ...

Government Ensures Support for the Community Access Program

Date: 2007-06-06

OTTAWA, June 6, 2007 --The Honourable Maxime Bernier, Minister of Industry, today announced that Canada's New Government will extend its support of the Community Access Program (CAP) by providing funding for 2007-08.

"Canada's New Government has pledged to work to improve opportunities for all Canadians," said Minister Bernier. "We are proud to contribute to a community-driven program such as CAP that has so many positive benefits across the country." 

A Government of Canada initiative, administered by Industry Canada, CAP provides Canadians with affordable public access to the Internet and the skills they need to use it effectively. It operates through the combined efforts of the federal, provincial and territorial governments, community groups, social agencies, libraries, schools, volunteer groups and the business community.

Under CAP, public locations such as schools, libraries and community centres act as "on-ramps" to the Internet for people who might not have computers or Internet access in their homes or workplaces. CAP also provides affordable access to skills training, job searching and government online services. The program supports the goals of Advantage Canada, the Government of Canada's plan to help all Canadians improve their quality of life, reach their full potential, and create strong communities.

"Federal funding for CAP will allow the CAP networks across the country to continue their valuable work in helping Canadians take advantage of emerging opportunities in the global knowledge-based economy," said Minister Bernier.

CAP is also complemented by the Community Access Program Youth Initiative (CAPYI), which provides employment opportunities each year to more than 1500 young Canadians between the ages of 15 to 30 at various CAP sites across the country.

For more information, please contact:

Isabelle Fontaine
Office of the Honourable Maxime Bernier
Minister of Industry
613-995-9001

Media Relations
Industry Canada
613-943-2502

____________________________

Backgrounder - Community Access Program

The Community Access Program, (CAP) an Industry Canada initiative, provides residents of rural, remote and urban communities across Canada with affordable access to the Internet and the opportunities to develop the skills to use it effectively. Established in 1994, CAP provides Canadians with new ways to communicate, learn and do business in today's knowledge-based economy, with the broader aim of improving the economic, social and cultural well-being of communities across the nation.

CAP objectives include the following:

promoting public awareness of the benefits and opportunities of using information technology and services;

supporting online delivery of government programs and services;

helping citizens become better informed through the exchange of ideas and information;

providing training for individuals in the use of information technologies; and

conducting online learning and research.

The primary services provided are Internet access, access to email, and employment and job-related activities, followed by access to software applications, government information, administrative support/services, and education.

Although CAP serves all Canadians, its main focus is on those most affected by the digital divide. Statistics Canada's General Social Survey (2000) identified low-income Canadians, residents of rural areas, older Canadians, minority language communities, and Canadians with limited education as being less likely to use the Internet than the general population.

In 2005-06, an estimated 15 million visitors made use of CAP sites, with eight million repeat users.

CAP is managed by Industry Canada's national headquarters with delivery assistance from regional offices across the country. CAP is delivered through 88 networks, which also include six provincial and territorial partners that match federal funds.

CAP networks have become early adopters of technology and experts in the application of technology in a manner that meets broad-based community goals. The program has a significant impact at the grassroots level and has become an important community economic and social development tool. 

CAP sites contribute to community economic development by providing information and communications technologies (ICT) infrastructure, developing ICT skills among community members, improving social capital through the many partnerships needed to keep the sites functioning, and helping small businesses to use the Internet. CAP sites are also used for e-literacy training and to access formal and informal education over the Internet.

Justin Beaver, a grade 9 student at Nibnamik Education Centre is the recipient of the Ontario Medal for Young Volunteers award from the Ministry of Citizenship & Culture.

Each year the Ministry acknowledges and honors youth in the province of Ontario for their contribution in their respective communities. 

Justin will be receiving one of  Ontario's  five offical medals on Saturday, June 9, 2007 at Queen's Park, Ontario.  The Honurable James K. Bartleman, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario along with the Honorable Mike Colle, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration will be presiding over the ceremony.

Justin was nominated & elected as Junior Chief by the student body of Nibinamik Education Centre.

From Wawatay News Online ...

Kakegamic now a doctor
Wawatay News - May 31, 2007

Artist, educator, political leader and activist are all words that describe Goyce Kakegamic.

Now, doctor can also be added to that list.

The recently retired former Nishnawbe Aski Nation Deputy Grand Chief was awarded an honourary doctorate from Lakehead University May 25.

“I would like to begin by telling you how humbled and honoured I am by the recognition you have bestowed on me today,” Kakegamic said, in offering the convocation address. “I would like to thank all of those who played a part in the nomination and conferring of this award.”

Lakehead president Frederick Gilbert introduced Kakegamic, before helping him into his graduation robes on stage.

“(Kakegamic) is a multi-talented individual who has made important contributions in … art, education and political leadership,” Gilbert said. “Goyce is an accomplished artist whose work can be found in private collections around the world.

“Goyce has been a leader in promoting excellence in First Nations education.”

Kakegamic also spent three terms as deputy grand chief from 1997 to 2006.

“With quiet determination, he has worked at forging mutually beneficial partnerships between First Nation government and their municipal, provincial and federal counterparts.”

Kakegamic said it’s been a long journey to present day from where he was born and grew up in Keewaywin.

“I was brought up on the land with my extended family,” he said. “My parent’s generation was the last to have lived their lives in our traditional territory. My parents and grandparents were caring and loving and their lessons and values have carried me throughout my lifetime.”

Kakegamic is a residential school survivor. He doesn’t speak at length about the abuses he suffered, nor does he dwell on the past. Instead he rose above,  earning bachelor of arts and bachelor of education degrees from Lakehead in 1986.

Kakegamic said more work is necessary to create cultural understanding between First Nation people, urban society and vice versa.

“The challenges faced by all residents of northwestern Ontario cannot be effectively addressed by a continuation of Native and non-Native solitudes,” he said. “I firmly belief reaching accommodations and understanding between cultures in northwestern Ontario will be one of the most significant challenges as we begin this new millennium. I also believe very strongly multiculturalism requires that each of us gain an understanding and knowledge of other cultures to bridge the gap.”

James Thom — jamest@wawatay.on.ca

For more information about the NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION - June 29 - visit the Assembly of First Nations web site at http://afn.ca/nda.htm to find out how you can get involved.

From Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs ...

SOLIDARITY FOR ABORIGINAL JUSTICE
MARCH AND RALLY
June 29, 2007

The March will start at
12:00 Noon
from
Vancouver Art Gallery
to Library Square (300 West Georgia Street )

The NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION is a time for First Nations and Canadians to stand together in the spirit of unity to demand the Federal Government to deal honourably with First Nations Title and Rights and to call for an end to First Nations poverty.

(604) 684-0231
NDOA@ubcic.bc.ca

+++++++++++

From Toronto Star ...

Indian Summer
 
Jun 02, 2007 - Sandro Contenta - Staff Reporter

By Terry Nelson's calculations, Canada's security forces don't stand a chance if the summer turns hot and nasty.

The native leader figures that in Winnipeg, the car theft capital of Canada, there's no shortage of abandoned vehicles to set alight across train tracks that haul resources to the United States.

"There's 30,000 miles of railway lines in this country and more than 50,000 miles of (oil and gas) pipelines," says Nelson, chief of the Anishinabe First Nation, south of Winnipeg.

"The reality is that there's no army that can actually protect all of that. Not the United States army, not the Canadian army, not any."

That kind of talk would get the attention of intelligence agencies in most countries and Nelson says he's already had talks with Canadian Security and Intelligence Service officials. But nothing they've said has made him back off his threats.

Nelson, 53, has been at the forefront of calls for militant action on June 29, when First Nations across the country will protest decades of poverty and neglected land claims.

He's a controversial figure, denounced by some in his own community for racially charged attacks against the "white man" and the "Jewish-controlled media." But he's also been re-elected chief three times and his tough talk commands a strong following.

This week's report on the inquiry into the shooting of Dudley George by an OPP officer in 1995 in Ipperwash warns of the continuing schism between Canada and its aboriginal peoples.

No one knows how many of Canada's 630 First Nation communities will opt for barricades rather than peaceful marches on June 29. A minority of elected band council chiefs are calling for militant action, but young men are increasingly prepared to take matters into their own hands.

"There's a growing number of young people who feel they don't have any hope," says Maurice Switzer, spokesperson for the Union of Ontario Indians. "And whether that happens in downtown Winnipeg or the Gaza Strip, young angry men are not a good thing to have."

Ontario seems especially susceptible, with recent occupations that stopped housing developments in Caledonia and Hagersville, and a barricade near Kingston in April that blocked Via Rail service to Toronto for 30 hours.

Much depends on federal Native Affairs Minister, Jim Prentice. He has promised to announce an overhaul of the land claims process, which resolves disputes at a snail's pace, before the First Nations' national day of protest.

Even Nelson says he'll call off his blockade if Prentice's plan allows his community to quickly negotiate an expansion of its reserve by almost 6,000 acres, a dispute that has dragged on for 125 years.

Nelson vows his band members will block the railway line that cuts through their reserve. He calls the trains stacked with lumber and minerals "the getaway car." The resources come from traditional native lands, he insists, and Indians are owed a share of the wealth.

With anger and desperation running high, Nelson warns that the one-day protest could spiral out of control and jeopardize Canada's revved up economy.

He says native people have been left with little choice. Years of appealing for justice have led nowhere.

"If I talked about native poverty, nobody would give a damn," he says.

Given the desperate state of affairs on many reserves, where unemployment can reach 80 per cent, native people have largely shown remarkable patience. Switzer, a former publisher of the Winnipeg Free Press, partly attributes the current media focus on potential unrest to the Hollywood image of rampaging Indians.

"Some people really do think that we will scalp them," he says.

But warnings are also coming from moderate and independent voices.

On Thursday, an Ontario inquiry into the 1995 police shooting death of an unarmed native protester in Ipperwash concluded that the "flashpoints" that led to the confrontation are as intense as ever.

The biggest source of distrust and anger is the failure of governments to deal quickly and fairly with breaches of treaties and land claims, said Justice Sidney Linden, who headed the inquiry.

Ipperwash is a particularly stark example. The federal government took the land from the Kettle and Stoney Point people in 1942 to set up a military base. Native people occupied the provincial park in September 1995 to demand its return. Linden said racism played a role in the Ontario Provincial Police raid that killed protester Dudley George.

"The immediate cost of conducting relations with aboriginal people through confrontations and over the barricades is very high," Linden said. "All Ontarians risk even more if we leave long-simmering disputes unsettled until they boil over."

An estimated 900 specific land claims – those involving alleged breaches of treaties – currently remain unresolved. At the present rate, it's expected to take 100 years to settle them all.

In this slow-motion universe, barricades are increasingly being seen as the only way to get results.

The occupation 15 months ago of a Caledonia construction site by members of the Six Nations community stopped the housing development and brought the federal and provincial governments to the negotiating table.

On Wednesday, federal negotiators offered $125 million to settle the 20-year-old land claim. It was rejected by some Mohawk leaders, but few would dispute that barricades fast-tracked the claims process.

But progress has come at a price. The barricades split the community and highlighted the kind of local infighting that complicates attempts at speedy land claims solutions.

Poverty and hopelessness has fueled a spiritual revival in many native communities. At Six Nations, some have turned to a traditional, consensus-based form of government that in the 1920s was suppressed by police, which imposed a federally sanctioned and locally elected band council.

Hazel Hill, a representative of the once-outlawed Haudenosaunee government, said attempts by Ottawa to restrict native representation to elected band councils in a reformed land claims process is doomed to failure.

But the elected Six Nations chief, David General, says people are "sick and tired" of renegades holding land claims negotiations, and the whole community, hostage.

General calls for peaceful protests on June 29, insisting that blockades and barricades make Canadians less sympathetic to the cause of First Nations.

"We're not going to get anywhere by continuing to be angry," he says.

But he admits that his own elected council is split on what action to take June 29. Some want to shut down Brantford casino and Highway 6, which runs through their community south of Hamilton.

Phil Fontaine, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, feels similar pressures.

He's made diplomacy and negotiations a hallmark of his leadership. He notes that the majority of chiefs at an assembly meeting last month saw education and peaceful demonstrations as the best way to inform Canadians of the plight of First Nation peoples later this month.

Yet the assembly passed a resolution that "acknowledged the plans of Roseau River Anishinabe First Nation to block railway lines on June 29." And it called on CN and CP rail to shut down parts of their operations that day – a move the companies have rejected.

CN spokesperson Mark Hallman says the company has pressed the federal government to speed up land claims. But it will take legal action against natives who disrupt its transports.

Fontaine says CN should inform Canadians that its rails run through expropriated native land.

"I don't think there's anyone that can calm down chief Nelson or anyone else that wants to engage in barricades," he says.

"The anger is building and people are getting more frustrated. And they question the approach that we've been advocating for a long time. Sometimes we (also) question whether that is the right way," he adds.

Fontaine says his preference for negotiation took a serious hit when the minority Conservative government scrapped an accord that former Prime Minister Paul Martin and the 10 premiers agreed to in 2005. Known as the Kelowna accord, it targeted $5.1 billion toward improving education and housing on reserves, and reducing youth suicides and infant mortality rates.

First Nation chiefs want an apology for a federal policy that tried to assimilate generations of native children by placing them in church-run residential schools until the 1970s. Many suffered physical and sexual abuse.

Fontaine also calls for a land claims system that is fast and independent. Currently, the federal government acts as ultimate judge and jury of claims that it has violated its treaties and legal obligations.

Native chiefs see land control as the basis for raising reserves out of poverty. They want compensation for past resources extracted from their traditional lands, and profit sharing agreements for future exploitation.

Land is the basis for getting natives out of a patronizing federal relationship where half of the estimated $10 billion funding for aboriginal affairs goes to pay the salaries of federal bureaucrats, Fontaine says.

"Discussions with Prentice give me cause for optimism," he says. "There's a glimmer of hope that something significant will happen in the next while that will give people I represent reason to celebrate."

Switzer warns this optimism had better bear fruit.

"If nothing happens after the Ipperwash inquiry from either the provincial or federal levels, I think it's going to be a hot summer," he says.

Flash Points
Hagersville: Six Nations upset because retirement complex is being built on what's known as the Haldimand tract while talks on contested land are continuing.

CALEDONIA: Six Nations force construction to a halt on Feb. 28, 2006, claiming 200-year-old treaty proves land is theirs. Since then, protests continue.

DESERONTO: Mohawks in the Bay of Quinte paralyze freight and passenger rail traffic with a blockade on a busy Toronto-Montreal line near Deseronto in April.

How blockade hurt one developer (http://www.thestar.com/Article/220688) - No one has to tell developer Dan Valentini that aboriginal blockades can have a direct impact on the economy.With a national day of protest slated for June 29, native groups across Canada are weighing the merits of action over negotiation

++++++++++++++++++++++

From Cornwall Standard Freeholder ...

Mohawks plan June protest

May 31, 2007

CORNWALL — Akwesasne Mohawks will be organizing a large protest at the base of the Seaway International Bridge in June to raise awareness about First Nations issues.

The protest, scheduled for June 29, is part of a national "day of action" sponsored by the Assembly of First Nations (AFN).

While the event is still in its planning stages, Chief Larry King of the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne (MCA) was firm that there were no plans for a blockade of the bridge.

"The agenda is not to be ... militant, for lack of a better term," said King. "This is all about awareness."

The AFN has outlined a number of issues that the Canadian government has been dragging its heels on, including settling land claims and ensuring First Nations communities have access to clean drinking water.

King said he hoped the City of Cornwall would take an active role in the protest.

Mayor Bob Kilger said he would be waiting to see the MCA's official plans for the protest before making a commitment.

From CBC News Online ...

Video game lets users rewrite Canadian history
May 31, 2007

A video game simulation based on Canadian history is launching Thursday with high hopes the youth-friendly technology will make the country's past come alive for students.

HistoriCanada, developed by Toronto media firm Bitcasters, runs on the platform of the well-established Civilization III strategy game. Thomas Axworthy, HistoriCanada co-creator, said he hopes the game will engage Canadian youth in their own history.

"Canadian history is sometimes portrayed as dull as dishwater, and there's a perception that history is only interesting if there are a lot of battles," said Axworthy, the chair of the Queen’s University Centre for the Study of Democracy.

"But one of the things about civilization is that it's not just a war game, and that there's a complex interaction of economic, religious, social and military choices."

By putting those choices in the gamers' hands, Axworthy said, the new game will allow players to reshape Canadian history in a more interactive "what if?" approach.

"One of the most appealing elements of the game is anyone can win. If you are a skilful player playing as the Mi'kmaq, Atlantic Canada can be yours. And that's an important thing, because too often we tend to look at history as inevitable. But if you looked at a map in 1640 it sure didn't appear that way," he said.

Gamers can play as either the English, French, Ojibwe, Huron, Mohawk, Algonquin, Montagnais, Mi'kmaq or Abenaki. The first episode focuses on the years between 1525 and 1763. Two more episodes are expected to be released in the coming months, taking players to the year 1896, through Confederation and the expansion to the West.

While players will have the option to rewrite history and take the country in a new direction, the game developers say that understanding the real history will enable players to be more successful. Historical resources including the Canadian Encyclopedia are built into the software.

After players complete each episode, the HistoriCanada website can rate their performance and provide background into what actually happened in Canada's history.

The game can currently be downloaded for free from the website, provided users already have Civilization III and the popular game's Conquests expansion pack on their computers. But the full game, including Civilization III, will be available early next week.

Bitcasters CEO Nathan Gunn said he expects the game to be a success, in large part because it is fun to play. And he also thinks educators are increasingly starting to realize the value of injecting fun into teaching methods.

"Games that teach are becoming more accepted now," he told CBC News online. "I think the worm has turned and we've gone beyond the idea of video games as Duke Nukem first-person shooters."

There are plans in the works to distribute 100,000 free copies of the game bundled with the Civilization III software.

The million-dollar project has been 10 years in the making, with active development for the past two years. Funding has been provided by Telefilm Canada and supported by Historica and Canada’s National History Society.