Media.Knet.Ca

UN Press Release ...

International Day of World's Indigenous People on 9 August to Recognize Contribution to Environmental Protection, Combating Climate Change

7 August 2007
HR/4930  - OBV/642

As the International Day of the World’s Indigenous People is celebrated around the world on 9 August, indigenous peoples’ contribution to environmental protection is being recognized.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in his message to mark the Day, said: “Recently, the international community has grown increasingly aware of the need to support indigenous people -- by establishing and promoting international standards; vigilantly upholding respect for their human rights; integrating the international development agenda, including the Millennium Development Goals, in policies, programmes and country-level projects; and reinforcing indigenous peoples’ special stewardship on issues related to the environment and climate change.” (See Press Release SG/SM/11115.)

In addressing these issues and recalling the theme of the Second International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People (2005-2015), “Partnership for action and dignity”, the Secretary-General said, “let us be guided by the fundamental principle of indigenous peoples’ full and effective participation”.

Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Sha Zukang, in his official message for the International Day, noted that indigenous people live in many of the world’s most biologically diverse areas and have accumulated a great deal of knowledge about these environments.

“With their wealth of knowledge about their environment, indigenous people can and should play a crucial role in the global effort to respond to climate change. We should listen to them,” said Mr. Zukang.

For example, indigenous peoples use their traditional knowledge to lessen the impact of natural disasters. An Oxford University symposium in April this year heard how indigenous people “use strips of mangrove forest to absorb the force of tidal surges and tsunamis, others apply genetic diversity in crops to avoid total crop failure and some communities migrate among habitats as disaster strikes”.

The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, adopted by the Human Rights Council in June 2006 and currently being considered for adoption by the General Assembly, also recognizes that respect for indigenous knowledge, cultures and traditional practices contributes to sustainable development, including proper management of the environment.

“The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples represents the minimum standards for the survival, dignity and well-being of indigenous peoples. Many still live under the most oppressive and marginalized conditions and yet they are also the ones who are providing solutions to serious world problems such as climate change and the erosion of bio-cultural diversity,” stated Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, Chairperson of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

In recognition of indigenous peoples’ particular vulnerability to climate change and their important role in responding to it, the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in its 2008 session will focus on “Climate change, bio-cultural diversity and livelihoods: the stewardship role of indigenous peoples and new challenges”.

Vulnerability in the Face of Climate Change

Many indigenous communities are already needing to adapt their way of life due to the changing environment -- from Sami reindeer-herding communities in Sweden whose reindeer are unable to find food beneath the thick ice due to heavier than normal snowfalls, to indigenous communities in the Andes where extreme weather events are creating serious food security problems.

In the words of Sheila Watt-Cloutier, an Inuit activist who was recently awarded the Mahbub ul Haq Award for Excellence in Human Development by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon,: “We are all connected. The Arctic is geographically isolated from the rest of the world, yet the Inuk hunter who falls through the thinning sea ice is connected to melting glaciers in the Andes and the Himalayas, and to the flooding of low-lying and small island States.”

According to a recent report from the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, several indigenous communities in Alaska are actively looking into relocation options for entire communities due to land and coastal erosion caused by the thawing of the permafrost and large storm-driven waves.

“More than 80 per cent of Alaskan communities, comprised mostly of indigenous peoples, are identified as vulnerable to either coastal or river erosion,” says the report.

Relocation is also an issue in small island States, such as Vanuatu and Samoa, where rising sea levels and flooding from extreme weather events are a problem. According to the same report, one community in Vanuatu has been forced to abandon their homes and move half a kilometre inland, as their original settlement is now being flooded up to five times a year.

High-altitude areas are not only seeing melting glaciers and ice peaks, but according to the report, some are also seeing negative impacts on their agriculture as a result of climate change and drought. In the Cordillera in the Philippines, 2000-year-old rice terraces are under attack from giant two-foot earthworms that have been thriving due to dwindling water supplies, causing soil and terrace walls to dry up even further.

About the Day

The International Day of the World’s Indigenous People is commemorated each year on 9 August in recognition of the first meeting of the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Populations in Geneva in 1982. This year’s observance at the United Nations is being organized by the Secretariat of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, Department of Economic and Social Affairs; and the NGO Committee on the Decade of the World’s Indigenous Peoples.

For more information of the Day and events at United Nations Headquarters, please visit http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii

For media enquiries, please contact Renata Sivacolundhu, Department of Public Information, tel: 212 963 2932, e-mail: sivacolundhu@un.org

For Secretariat of the Permanent Forum, please contact Mirian Masaquiza, Secretariat of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, tel: 917 367 6006, e-mail: IndigenousPermanentForum@un.org

From the Globe and Mail ...

A judicial magic key opens land use talks - Judge plays referee to a junior miner and first nations group at loggerheads over mineral exploration
JACQUIE MCNISH - August 8, 2007

When a crew of mining drillers drove down an icy stretch of road in a northern corner of Ontario last February, hopes were running high that they might prove a major platinum discovery for their employer, Platinex Inc.

Instead, the crew never made it to their small base camp.

Blocking their way was an angry group of the Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) First Nation who ordered the workers off land near their reservation at Big Trout Lake. Outnumbered, the crew retreated. Their base camp and airstrip were destroyed and a volley of lawsuits was unleashed, including a $10-billion claim for damages from Platinex.

At first it looked as if Platinex was destined for the kind of legal purgatory that has paralyzed for years the progress of pipelines, mining and oil and gas explorations that venture into regions protected by first nation treaties. Even though junior companies such as Platinex carry government-issued mineral claims entitling them to explore treaty lands, they typically face years of legal skirmishes and negotiations to settle on terms for exploring, developing and sharing any profits with first nations groups.

Adding to the tensions are frayed relations between governments and first nations groups who argue that their rights and claims are often ignored and overlooked by provinces and the federal government when they grant businesses rights to their lands.

Platinex and the KI, however, were able to fast-track their complaints thanks to what can only be called a legal miracle. Waving the magic wand was Mr. Justice George Smith of the northwest region of the Superior Court of Ontario.

In May, Judge Smith handed down an order that essentially gave the court a unique role as a kind of referee overseeing a consultation protocol that set conditions for Platinex, the KI and even the Ontario government to allow limited exploration to proceed almost immediately.

"This is a unique and creative order," said Neal Smitheman, an aboriginal law specialist at Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP, which represents Platinex. "The court magically found a way to deal with what could have been a lengthy standoff."

Sandra Gogal, an aboriginal law expert with Miller Thomson LLP, said the Platinex order helps clarify the rights of companies and first nations in land use disputes. Land use clashes are on the rise, she said, because demand for resources is pushing companies into more remote regions at a time when recent Supreme Court decisions are reinforcing the rights of first nations to be consulted about the terms and scope of exploration.

"Businesses have to change their attitudes. The courts are telling us that first nations have a right to be consulted and businesses and governments have to recognize that these rights have to be resolved up front," Ms. Gogol said.

As Platinex executives tell it, the company struggled in vain to negotiate exploration terms with the estimated 2,000 KI residents that live near Big Trout Lake. According to court documents, Platinex offered to hire an archaeologist to assure no burial or other historic sites were damaged by drills. It also offered to respect trap lines, hire community workers and share the drilling results and a percentage of future revenue from the project.

The offers, however, were rejected by the KI, its lawyer Kate Kempton said, because of an "atmosphere of frustration and mistrust" that overshadowed the talks. "The KI came to the table very wary of Platinex's intentions."

Fuelling KI's frustration was what she described as the Ontario government's unwillingness or indifference to fulfill their treaty obligation to consult with the aboriginals about development on their land.

Arguing that the KI lacks the experience, expertise and financial resources to properly assess the impact of mining exploration, the aboriginals asked the court to order Ontario to give it $600,000 to fund studies and assessments of the drilling impact. The province, however, told the court it would only fund $150,000 of the costs.

Underlining the tensions was the harsh reality that neither the junior mining company nor the small aboriginal group could afford a prolonged legal battle.

Like a parent wading into a sibling fight, Judge Smith ordered the two sides in early May to attempt reconciliation and reserved for the court the right to supervise or direct the talks. The order, Judge Smith said in his decision, "was to encourage the parties to continue a dialogue, with the hope that this would enhance mutual understanding."

His strategy worked. By May 18 the two sides were close enough for the judge to order that Platinex could proceed with the first phase of its drilling. The company could drill, he ordered, provided it honoured the terms of a protocol and memorandum of understanding that called for it to consult with the KI about its activities and commit to such terms as the hiring of an archeologist.

By giving Platinex the green light, Judge Smith eliminated an effective veto right first nations have held over exploration projects until all their demands are met.

In place of a veto, Judge Smith set a timetable to resolve a number of remaining issues such as the amount of money Ontario should be ordered to pay the KI for assessments and who should be on the hook for legal expenses.

While Judge Smith's creative solution found a shortcut around the legal roadblock, it is still unclear whether it was achieved in time for Platinex. The company had plans in February to raise money for drilling in Big Trout Lake through a private placement. The stock sale, however, was shelved after the KI roadblock and its lawyer Mr. Smitheman said the company is actively looking to raise money to pay for drilling that the court has allowed.

"It's a vicious circle," Mr. Smitheman said. "Platinex couldn't raise funds to drill until it resolved the aboriginal dispute and now that it is resolved it's looking for money to start the drilling."

jmcnish@globeandmail.com

From News1130 ...

First-time filmmaker searches for family history in residential schools doc
LISA ABEL - August 5, 2007

TORONTO (CP) - Growing up in Sioux Lookout, Ont., Nadia McLaren sensed there was something missing from her family history, a feeling she calls "a restlessness of an ancient sadness."

As a child, her grandmother Theresa McCraw, originally from the Ojibwa community of Heron Bay Pic River, Ont., attended St. Joseph's, an Indian residential school in Thunder Bay, yet rarely spoke about her experiences there.

"I just got bits and pieces of her story," McLaren says. "I took this knowledge and her bits and pieces that she did tell me for granted, because I thought that I could ask my aunts and uncles about Granny's experiences - which I did - and none of them knew."

The native residential schools began operating in the late 1800s and it wasn't until the late 1970s that all the schools were shut down.

While some had positive experiences in the government-run institutions, many of the 150,000 students, removed from their families and their traditional lands, and forced to abandon their native languages and spiritual practices, were physically and sexually abused in the process.

McLaren sensed that McCraw's time at St. Joseph's hadn't been positive. After her grandmother's passing in 2003, McLaren knew that a vital piece of their family history had been taken to the grave.

The graduate of the Ontario College of Art and Design began to create a commemorative art exhibit where she would videotape native elders telling their stories, and show them alongside her paintings.

But by the third interview, McLaren realized that a full-length feature film would be the most effective way to get the elder's stories "out into the world."

"I figured the elders stories deserved that kind of attention."

The result is Muffins For Granny, an 88-minute documentary that weaves together home movie footage of her grandmother, interviews with six elders, including animated recreations of their stories, archival photos from residential schools, traditional songs, and scenes of the natural beauty of Ontario's north.

"For a lot of the elders it was the first time they actually spoke about it, so it was really powerful. It was pretty hard on the crew and myself, but definitely felt honoured that they were sharing these stories with us," McLaren says.

Earlier this year, the federal government approved an agreement that would give roughly 80,000 aboriginal students who were abused in residential schools $10,000 for the first year of attendance and $3,000 for every subsequent year.

The deadline for former students and their families to decide whether to stay in the settlement or remove themselves is August 20.

Harvey Trudeau, the eastern Canada liaison for the National Residential Schools Survivors' Society, says that since he has been involved with the society, he has "yet to help anybody fill out an opt-out form."

"As far as we know, the opt-out numbers are not very high," Trudeau says.

Trudeau, who attended a residential school in Spanish, Ont., says the payments might "make the experience easier to bear" for the survivors, though the money will "never help them forget what they've been through."

Karen Isaacs, a peer support worker with a residential schools program for survivors and their families at the Council Fire Native Cultural Centre in Toronto, doesn't know of anyone who has opted out, either.

"I think the compensation package is forcing them to open up their pasts, which will open the door to their healing, but they want to get it done with as little said as possible," Isaacs says.

"I find a lot of people don't want to talk about it. There's the pain; they don't want to feel that pain again. Some of them had such harsh treatment in residential school and they don't want to repeat it," she says.

Wayne Spear, director of communications Aboriginal Healing Foundation, one of the funders of the film, says supporting the making of Muffins for Granny fit well with the healing and public awareness components of the foundation's mandate.

"When people who have suffered trauma, particularly residential schools, realize there are other people who have actually overcome the fear and isolation of having been physically or sexually abused and kept it sort of a shameful secret, it has a healing effect," Spears says, "because people realize they're not alone and other people have gone through this as well and they've been able to cope with it."

Spears says the film "could be an enormous resource for education of the general public," since residential schools are often "softened or dealt with euphemistically" in the Canadian schools.

McLaren is looking for a distributor, applying to screen at more film festivals and trying to get the film into movie theatres. She's also had interest from organizations looking to use it as a tool for cultural sensitivity training.

Muffins for Granny recently ended an engagement in July at Camera, an independent screening room and art gallery in Toronto. Earlier versions of the film were shown at several native film festivals last year in Toronto and Winnipeg, where it won best documentary.

Perhaps what happened at a showing at a film festival in Moose Factory, Ont., was more meaningful to McLaren than the award.

"That was a really powerful screening, because afterwards one of the elders stood up, turned to his people and he said, 'It's time we started talking about this."'

"After I saw that happening, I realized this documentary would find its way," McLaren says. "It was a really powerful experience."

An online survey is collecting information about the people who are using MyKnet.org for their homepages. We are hoping that EVERYONE will take a few moments to complete this short survey.

CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE MYKNET.ORG ONLINE SURVEY

Welcome to the online survey on MyKnet.org! 

This survey is set up and maintained by Philipp Budka, a PhD student of the University of Vienna, Austria. Philipp is working with K-Net over the past two years.

He is particularly interested in

• how MyKnet.org homepages are used to share stories, pictures, and music with families, friends, and communities;
• how people use their homepages to connect with family members, friends, and like-minded people.

To learn about as many MyKnet stories as possible, Philipp created this short online survey that he is asking all MyKnet.org users to complete.

It would be great if you could promote this online survey among your friends, relatives and co-workers by sending everyone the link of the survey or simply by referring to the MyKnet.org main page.

All information gathered within this survey is kept confidential and for scientific use only. Send your feedback and questions to ph.budka@philbu.net

Thank you very much for supporting the survey,

Philipp Budka

For more information about Philipp's work, visit his web site at http://philbu.net

2nd Annual Benefit Concert for
Ohski-Aa-yaa'aag Bimaadiziiwin Foundation
(Good Life for Young People)

BIGGER AND BETTER THAN EVER!!

Thursday, August 9th, 2007
Assabaska Heritage Park
On Beautiful Lake of the Woods
Morson, Ontario, Canada

Featuring: Keith Secola and Wild Band of Indians

With Special Guests:

Shane Yellowbird, George Leach, Cheri Maracle, Percy Tuesday, Ryan Black, Courney Jourdain, Carissa Copenace

A tent meeting will be held in Cat Lake on Aug. 29 - Sept 1, you can contact Councilor Alex Bighead at work 347-2100 or at home 347-2081 for further info.

INTERNATIONAL YOUTH DAY
12 AUGUST 2007

The theme for the 2007 commemoration of International Youth Day is:

BE SEEN, BE HEARD: YOUTH PARTICIPATION FOR DEVELOPMENT

International Youth Day gives the world an opportunity to recognize the potential of youth, to celebrate their achievements, and plan for ways to better engage young people to successfully take action for development. It presents a unique opportunity for all stakeholders to rally together to ensure that young people are included in global, national and local affairs and decision-making.

www.un.org/youth

OFNYPC calls for all Ontario First Nations youth to organize and participate in community events to honor the youth of all Nations.

For more information, please contact Laura Calm Wind at 1-807-626-9339 laura@coo.org or Nick Mainville Jr. OFNYPC Communications at  807-274-7538

www.chiefs-of-ontario.org/youth

The deadline of August 31 is for presenters on Aboriginal Education to get their proposals into the conference organizers. For more information visit http://www.theconferenceplanner.ca/ABForum

David Gordon, who is currently a Councillor for the Municipality of the Town of Sioux Lookout, and is a former Chief of the Lac Seul First Nation, will seek the nomination to represent the provincial liberal party in the Kenora Rainy River Riding.

David promises to change the underpriviliged representation of our riding by promoting the citizens priorities and working with the provincial government to ensure our voice is heard at Queen's Park.  David lives in the riding and understands the peoples issues and priorities.

To help, David asks for your support by  purchasing a liberal party membership by August 08, 2007 at 3 p.m, or through www.ontarioliberal.com website by 4 p.m.  You will need to use a credit card for purchase on the website.  To buy the membership, it will cost $10.00.

Voting day is August 18, 2007.  Remember you will need to be a liberal member to vote for David.

In Sioux Lookout, for further information, to purchase a membership, or have someone visit you , please call Linda Nothing-Chaplin at 737 3091, or 737 9071.

David Gordon's phone number is 737 2535.

From the Toronto Star ...

Touring through a troubled past
Sheila Dabu - Living Reporter - Aug 06, 2007

Star Video: Geronimo Henry's struggle to survive ... Click here to watch the video

Geronimo Henry now guides visitors through his former residential school. But the pain and memories linger still

BRANTFORD–He could be mistaken for Elvis, with his jet-black pompadour and sideburns, were it not for the number 48 tattooed on his right hand.

Children in residential schools were assigned numbers to keep track of them. Getting a tattoo of his number was Geronimo Henry's own idea.

Henry, a 70-year-old retired Elvis impersonator from the Six Nations reserve near Brantford, says without the King of Rock'n'Roll's music, he couldn't have survived jail time, divorce and addiction after struggling with undiagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) all his life.

"Elvis showed kids what people can do," he says. "You can be somebody if you try."

On a steamy afternoon , Henry is standing in front of the "Mush Hole," the name students gave the Mohawk Institute because of the oatmeal they ate for breakfast.

"If you got that mush and threw it against the wall, it would stick on there," he says with a laugh.

The three-storey, 19th-century residential school closed in 1970 and today forms part of the Woodland Cultural Centre, a museum showcasing aboriginal art.

Now an occasional tour guide at the Mohawk Institute, Henry has stopped going to counselling but says he has many of the symptoms of "complex PTSD."

It's identified by the Aboriginal Healing Foundation as specific to aboriginal people resulting from years of historical trauma – including residential schools – which was passed down from generation to generation.

Henry married a former classmate but they never spoke of what happened there. He also used alcohol to numb the pain. Eventually, Henry says, his dysfunction contributed to the collapse of his marriage and damaged their six children.

Henry entered the school at age 5 1/2 and left at 16. He says he "didn't know any different."

"That's quite a few years, 25, 30 years being a drunk. End up in jail. Fighting. Getting beat up. Trying to take other women," he admits.

Henry leads the way inside the former school. At the headmaster's office, he pauses.

"If these walls could talk . . .

If indeed they could, they might well tell the now-familiar stories of humiliation, abuse and stolen childhoods.

"They'd deny us our schooling," he says, telling of how the boys got up at 6 a.m. to do chores at the chicken coop and the pigpen, feed the horses and cattle, and milk the cows. Then there were the 60 tonnes of coal that arrived by rail each fall. The boys took turns and spent half the day unloading the shipment within a week. Meanwhile, the girls had to cook and clean.

Some academics and aboriginal advocacy groups have classified this as a form of child labour.

Henry turns left into the main hallway and stops in what used to be the infirmary.

"When I was here, all you got was a pair of shoes and a pair of pants and a shirt," he says. "No undershorts."

Henry makes his way to the third-floor dormitory for boys and recounts a puzzling incident.

"One time, I don't know what happened, I lost my mind," he says.

"I guess there used to be a door here or a cubby hole. And in the morning, I was in there. I wouldn't come out for some reason. I don't know what's happened. I went crazy," he continues.

"Or maybe I got sexually abused. I don't know. Why did I go in there during the night and then in the morning, I wouldn't come out?"

Years later, another classmate told him of being sexually abused in that same room. Curious to know if there were more suffering like him, Henry started a group for survivors called the Lost Generation in 1997. He found 800 of them.

On the way to the basement, Henry stops.

"When my program was running, this person came up to me and she says, 'You remember where that vegetable room was? That's where I got sexually abused in there.'

In the dark, damp corridors, near the storage rooms and the playroom, Henry says he heard this was where the school master "was getting after some girl, trying to feel her up or somethin' and she was just fighting until her sister came out and started kicking him."

The tour over, Henry crosses the parking lot and heads toward the back of the school. He examines the red brick wall and runs his fingers over the carved initials of former students. R.B., ALBERT, G.M., but no G.H. Henry didn't carve his initials here.

"We'd even start crying around here," he says, running his fingers over the faded letters. "There's all memories along the wall."

Now, Henry and tens of thousands of survivors await compensation after a recent court-approved $1.9 billion settlement.

Henry helped kick-start the lawsuit for the Six Nations. And although he has accepted the settlement, Henry says no amount of money can erase what happened to him or any of the other survivors.

"I don't think you forget those years . . . It's like scars on your heart," he says, "Once those scars are there, they can't ever be healed up completely. They'll always leave a mark there."

---------------------------------------------------------------
For more information, contact the Aboriginal Healing Foundation 1-888-725-8886, online at http://ahf.ca, and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 416-535-8501, http://camh.net

+++++++++++

Facts about post-traumatic stress disorder

Most Canadians associate post-traumatic stress disorder, also known as PTSD, with the trauma of war.

Yet it is estimated 2.5 million Canadians, not all of whom have not been engaged in military combat, will suffer from PTSD in their lifetime.

Although there is no known cure for PTSD, antidepressants and cognitive therapy are used to treat the symptoms, which include anxiety, anger, flashbacks and depression.

If left untreated, severe cases of PTSD can lead to suicide.

This is the second installment in a three-part series in which the Star's Sheila Dabu looks at the journey of three PTSD survivors and how they're coping with an illness some label a "silent killer."