Media.Knet.Ca

From the Toronto Star ...

When words are part of the healing
Comment by Anna Morgan - Jul 08, 2007

Phil Fontaine, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, says he takes no issue with the $10.5 million compensation given to Maher Arar, the Canadian wrongfully deported and tortured in Syria. It is the apology Arar received that frustrates him.

So far, the Canadian government has refused to apologize to the First Nations peoples for their treatment during the residential school era. Not that the aboriginal leadership doesn't want the financial compensation they deserve, but you have to wonder what makes the leader of an economically beleaguered community focus on words instead of money.

Many may question whether this seemingly noble position is genuine. I have no doubt that it is.

A year and a half ago, I had the privilege of touring Israel with 16 leaders of the Assembly of First Nations in a visit organized by the Canadian Jewish Congress. The trip was arranged to build bridges between two communities that don't know each other well.

On a grey afternoon in January 2006, the group of us walked slowly through Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem. The visit to the world-famous site, with its pictorial history of the destruction of European Jewry, its tree-lined commemoration of "righteous Gentiles" who assisted their Jewish neighbours, its monuments to the death camps where millions perished because of their ethnic identity and faith, was to be the centrepiece of the trip.

I have been to the Holocaust Museum in Washington, and visited Auschwitz during the 2005 commemoration of the camp's liberation, but the serene atmosphere at Yad Vashem provides one of the world's most moving experiences. The memorial grounds are a meditative island in the heart of the Jewish state's bustling capital, and it was impossible for the First Nations leadership, like all thoughtful visitors, not to feel the weight of Holocaust history. This time, however, there was a new dimension to the place.

Yad Vashem wasn't crowded that day and our group had some of the more intense spots to ourselves. I expected the children's memorial, and its unforgettable hall of mirrors where the names of more than a million child Holocaust victims are endlessly read aloud in candle-filled darkness, to have a powerful impact. But as we exited the dark hall, something else happened. We experienced an outpouring of stories about children lost right here in Canada. We then formed a circle and heard traditional aboriginal prayers that gave me an intimate glimpse at the tragic legacy of Canada's residential schools.

As one of the elders explained, there is no point comparing tragedies, and the plights of European Jewish children and indigenous Canadian children each stand on their own without any need to rank them in their severity. But there is something about the way the Jewish world has commemorated the Holocaust and honoured the memory of its victims that has allowed the survivors and their offspring to move on. In fact, it is for this reason that Holocaust denial is seen today as one of the most anti-Semitic of acts.

But for Canada's First Nations, the acknowledgment and commemoration of their own historic tragedy has not yet really begun.

It is not any experience I've had in Canada, but rather the experience I had at Yad Vashem, that has made me understand what national chief Phil Fontaine is talking about. Financial compensation for wrongs done to a person or community is, of course, helpful and necessary. But words and symbols go a long way. An apology on behalf of the nation for the residential schools travesty is really the least we can do.

See the Winnipeg Free Press story that follows the NAN press release ...

NAN responds to Rowe sentencing

     THUNDER BAY, ON, July 6 /CNW/ - Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) Deputy Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler, together with members of the Ralph Rowe Survivor Network, feels a sense of relief that former Boy Scout master Ralph Rowe has been designated a sexual offender, but says it's just the beginning of a healing process not only for direct victims, but whole communities affected by Rowe's abuse.

     "It's my hope the sentencing and sexual offender designation of Ralph Rowe will contribute to the healing process not only for the direct victims, but for all NAN members affected by his abuse," said NAN Deputy Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler, who represents 49 First Nation communities across Ontario. "It's time now to focus on healing and rebuilding our communities to ensure any victim of any type of abuse is comfortable to come forward and confident they'll be supported in doing so to avoid further long-standing impacts like those caused by Ralph Rowe."

     Fiddler's comments come after today's court decision following a week of testimonies from survivors in a Kenora court May 2007. The testimonies were from survivors of physical and sexual abuse which took place throughout NAN territory between 1971 and 1986.

     Rowe, who currently lives in Surrey, BC, worked in at least 18 NAN First Nation communities between 1971 and 1986. He served four and a half years of a six year sentence in 1994 for indecent and sexual assaults involving boys aged 6 to 16.

     He pleaded not guilty to all counts.

     The Ralph Rowe Survivor Network, together with NAN, is calling on the Church to enter a dialogue to continue to participate in supporting survivors, their families, and whole communities.

     "It's so important that the devastating effects of Ralph Rowe be acknowledged not only on behalf of the direct victims of his abuse, but the lasting effects on spouses and children and the social implications evident across NAN territory," said Fiddler, adding high rates of suicide and jail time are connected to Rowe's years of abuse.

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/For further information: Jenna Young, NAN Director of Communications, (807) 625-4952 or (807) 628-3953 (mobile)/

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From Winnipeg Free Press ...

Former minister gets 3 years for abusing First Nations boys
By Shelley Bujold - July 7, 2007

KENORA, Ont. (CP) -- After a day long hearing in Superior Court in this northwestern Ontario city, a former Anglican minister was found guilty Friday of sexually abusing boys and sentenced to three years in prison.

Ralph Rowe, 67, of Surrey B.C., was sentenced on counts of sexual abuse and sexual indecency involving three boys from northern Ontario First Nations during the 1970s and 1980s.

Justice Erwin Stach found Rowe guilty of charges involving three of five alleged victims.

Stach found Rowe guilty of forced anal rape and attempted anal rape on two of the victims on multiple occasions over several years.

The incidents took place in the remote First Nation communities of Weagamow Lake, Wunnumin Lake, Bearskin Lake and Big Trout Lake where Rowe served as an Anglican minister, a Boy Scout master and a pilot.

In the third case, Rowe was found guilty of indecent assault.

"He is likely one of the most prolific pedophiles this country has ever seen," Crown attorney Peter Keen said in calling for a prison sentence for Rowe. "Every community he's spent time in, he made offences."

Rowe was brutal to many of his victims over a long period of time, Keen noted.

Defence lawyer Robert Sinding sought a conditional sentence of two years to be spent under strict house arrest in B.C.

Stach delivered his sentence over several hours, thoroughly going over the facts before an emotional group of Rowe's victims.

Stach sentenced Rowe to three years for rape on one victim and three years concurrently for similar acts with the same victim.

In the case of the second victim, where Rowe attempted rape, he was sentenced to two one year sentences, concurrent with the sentence for the first victim.

The assault conviction for the third victim fell within a plea agreement Rowe made in 1994.

At that time, Rowe was granted a plea bargain which enabled him not to serve additional time for similar incidents where the assault included sexual fondling. During this trial, Rowe pleaded guilty to 20 other counts which also fell under the plea bargain.

Rowe will likely have to serve two-thirds of his sentence, though Stach did not place a minimum time before he is eligible for parole.

"Sexual abuse is an act of violence, on children (very) psychological. Sexual abuse has haunted them into adulthood," said Stach.

Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) Deputy Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler said Rowe's sentencing is just the beginning of a healing process for his victims and the communities affected by his abuse.

"It's my hope the sentencing and sexual offender designation of Ralph Rowe will contribute to the healing process not only for the direct victims, but for all NAN members affected by his abuse," Fiddler said.

"It's time now to focus on healing and rebuilding our communities to ensure any victim of any type of abuse is comfortable to come forward and confident they'll be supported in doing so," he said.

The Ralph Rowe Survivor Network, together with NAN, called on the Anglican church Friday to enter a dialogue to continue to participate in supporting survivors, their families, and whole communities.

Rowe's abuse has had "devastating" social implications across NAN territory, Fiddler said, linking high suicide and crime rates to Rowe's years of abuse.

From the National Post ...

Spirit of enterprise - Tourism on 'the rez' is helping native bands wean themselves from welfare and preserve their culture
Karen Mazurkewich - July 07, 2007

Anti-logging protests were a normal part of life for Gisele Martin. As a kid growing up in Clayoquot Sound, she watched her father, a leader from the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations tribe, participate in blockades with his handmade cedar dugout canoe.

Predictably, the protests attracted journalists from far and wide. But unexpectedly, all that media coverage attracted tourists, too.

"After the 1993 blockades, people started coming and asking to see the big trees," says Ms. Martin. Her father, who skippered a whale-watching boat, recruited his young daughter as an interpretive guide. Now 29, Ms. Martin has taken that experience and turned it into an eco-tourism operation of her own, using her father's handmade dugout boats for excursions to old-growth forests. "I don't want to sell my culture, but I want to share it," she says.

Having helped save the land, the Martin family is now making a living off it. Ms. Martin is one of the new breed of aboriginal business leaders who view tourism as both a viable enterprise and a way of preserving a unique lifestyle. According to the National Study on Aboriginal Tourism released in 2003, there are more than 1,500 First Nation businesses catering to tourists.

Traditionally relying on government subsidies and casino revenues, there is "enough expertise and business entities to take it to the next level," says Daniel-Paul Bork, CEO, Aboriginal Tourism Canada, the organization that commissioned the 2003 study. As more aboriginal students graduate university with degrees in commerce and marketing, "more First Nations communities are stepping up to the plate," he says. "They realize that they no longer need to lease out their resources -- they can run the operations themselves."

While tourism will not solve all the social and political problems facing aboriginal bands across Canada -- as highlighted in the wave of First Nations protests Canada Day long weekend -- it has become a successful strategy for some leaders across the country.

Chief Sophie Pierre of the Ktunaxa Kinbasket Tribal Council in B.C.'s Kootenay region is a trailblazer. Chief Pierre had the moxie to turn a hated symbol, a residential school -- the St. Eugene Mission School --and its accompanying buildings into a golf course, resort, casino and conference centre. The mission school sat empty --like a scab -- for 20 years. Some argued for its conversion to a health or social welfare centre, but that meant turning to the federal government for money, says Chief Pierre.

"I wanted something revenue-generating," she says. A playground for Calgary's weekend warriors since its launch in 2003, the residential school-turned-resort brings in an estimated $13.6-million in annual revenue for the Ktunaxa Kinbasket band. The tribe is still in treaty negotiations with the government, but tourism has helped the band move forward, away from its cycle of government dependency. "Everyone's realized we need interim solutions," she says.

Self-reliance is a theme that permeates many of these First Nations start-ups. Chief Clarence Louie, leader of Osoyoos band in the Okanagan, is weaning his formerly bankrupt band off welfare subsidies with various tourism-related projects that bring in an estimated $13-million annually. A maverick leader in the First Nations community, Chief Louie weathered opposition on "the rez," and turned the band's wilting vineyard operation into the award-winning Nk'Mip winery through a partnership with Vincor International. The band also built the Nk'Mip Desert and First Nations Heritage Centre, and has just completed the Spirit Ridge Vineyard Resort and Spa, a four-star property on reserve territory, with Calgary-based partner Bellstar Hotels & Resorts.

The 47-year-old chief has no time for talk about broken treaty promises -- "I don't have any faith in the Queen" -- and dismisses concerns that a winery might encourage drinking. For Chief Louie the winery is simply good business and good business practices alleviate poverty, the root of social problems like alcoholism. He's a pragmatic man: "We are in a wine-growing region. Your region dictates to a large extent what you do economically -- whether you are white or native."

While Chief Louie says his band embarked in the tourism sector for the same reasons white people do -- to create jobs and make money -- he says the band's business model is not only about the bottom line.

"We have our social and environmental responsibilities, cultural responsibilities and we put a lot of our profits back into the community," he says. He's confident the sector has future potential because the Aboriginal brand is unique in Canada: "If you want to learn about Scottish culture you go to Scotland. If you want to learn about French culture you go to France. But if you want to learn about Mohawk culture, you have to go to Mohawk territory."

Chief Louie's tourism model, while criticized by some native leaders who consider it a sell-out, has become the template for many bands across the country. At least four new interpretive centres will open in 2007-2008, including Metepenagiag Heritage Park in New Brunswick, the Blackfoot Crossing Historical Park in Alberta, the Haida Heritage Centre at Qay'llnagaay in Haida Gwaii along the coast of British Columbia and the Squamish Lil'wat Cultural Centre in Whistler, B.C. Other new ventures include the Wei Wai Kum Cruise Ship terminal, which was officially opened in June by the Campbell River Indian band in B. C., and the new Wendake museum and hotel complex on the Hurons-Wedat reserve along the Okiawenrakh River to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Quebec City.

These are adding to established tourist-related native businesses, such as First Air, the airline that was purchased by Makivik Corp. of Kuujjuaq. The corporation was created on behalf of the Inuit of northern Quebec.

While many of the new ventures are developed by band councils, an increasing number of aboriginal entrepreneurs have struck out on their own, bypassing band politics. Doug Green runs Cariboo Chitcotin Jetboat Adventures near William's Lake in the Interior of B.C. The only aboriginal-run jet boat tour company in the province, and operating in a remote part of the province, he promises such idyllic experiences as watching the salmon spawn and grizzlies feast. Mr. Green didn't grow up on a reservation, but he received valuable life lessons from his father, who once made him crawl into a den to touch a sleeping bear.

Mr. Green, who is of Tsilhqot'in and Cree heritage, chose not to go to his band for financial support. Instead, the former tree feller relied on his own credit rating, plus blood, sweat and tears to launch his operation. He travelled to see how other aboriginal groups marketed tourism, and checked out his competition in the province. Bookings are growing but, "it's a struggle," he admits. Despite the financial uncertainty, he's convinced tourism will be "front and centre" of the B.C. economy as the forestry industry declines. "The province should be promoting aboriginal people, not non-native companies hiring token Indians as guides," he says. Tourists, he says, want an authentic experience.

One of the biggest challenges for small operators like Mr. Green, is tapping into the network of international tour groups. The greatest interest in aboriginal cultural packages is from outside Canada, particularly Europe, according to Audry Lochrie who runs Talking Totem Tours, a company that organizes native cultural and eco-tourism packages throughout British Columbia. She knits together tours by entrepreneurs like Willie Charlie, who created Sasquatch Tours three years ago. As a former cultural worker hired by the Chehalis First Nations band, Mr. Charlie found himself frequently "wining and dining" visitors interested in learning more about native people. "There was so much interest, I thought this could be a living," he says. Leveraging talent as storytellers, drummers and bark weavers, his family opened its longhouse to visitors and began running boat trips along the Harrison River and Harrison Lake in the southern mountain region of B.C., to view ancient pictographs painted on the rocks. Mr. Charlie has a story at every bend in the river. He believes that he and others like him are helping fuel a revival of traditional ways.

It wasn't long ago when the government banned potlatches, says Mr. Charlie. "So our elders stayed quiet about our songs and dances and then didn't teach their children because they were afraid that they'd be punished," he says. "Now the elders say it's OK to pass it on now -- it's time to share these stories again." Better still, it's providing employment for the youth.

Tourism has kept Mr. Charlie's sons -- in their 20s -- on the land, for now. It also afforded Ms. Martin the opportunity to quit her dead-end waitress job and reconnect with her native roots. Tourists are always throwing Ms. Martin curveballs, asking her such tough questions as: What is the traditional use of jellyfish? "It makes me think about my culture every single day," she says.

From the Anglican Church Journal ...

Commission will probe school deaths - Church applauds expanded mandate
Marites N. Sison - staff writer - Jul 3, 2007

The Anglican Church of Canada has welcomed the call by Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice for a yet-to-be formed Truth and Reconciliation Commission to probe the deaths and disappearances of former students of Indian residential schools.

“We had anticipated that this would become a mandate of the (commission). We’ve heard the concerns about former students, about how many died and how families were not informed about it,” said Ellie Johnson, who represented the Anglican church in the revised Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement. (The commission will be established once the opt-out period for the multi-billion dollar settlement ends this August. The opt-out period states that if 5,000 of an estimated 80,000 former students opt out of the agreement it could be declared null and void.)

Meanwhile, General Synod members were informed that it is not just former residential schools students but their family members also who need to decide whether to opt out of the revised agreement.

“If they don’t take any action this will determine their future to litigate,” said Ms. Johnson. “They must consider carefully whether to stay...and lose the right to sue government, or take action to opt out and retian the right to future litigation.”

Ms. Johnson said that an investigation is important because “it’s about recapturing family and community histories and being honest and open about the extent and illnesses in the schools; tuberculosis was widespread then.”

Mr. Prentice issued the statement following a report published in April that about half of aboriginal children who attended the early years of residential schools died of tuberculosis. The report cited documents that showed that the federal government ignored warnings in 1907 “that overcrowding, poor sanitation and a lack of medical care were creating a toxic breeding ground for the rapid spread of the disease.”

The Friends and Relatives of the Disappeared Residential School Children, a group of former students, have urged the government to acknowledge the deaths and disappearances of one-time students.

Ms. Johnson said the archives department of General Synod, the Anglican Church of Canada’s governing body, is developing a process for responding to requests regarding burial records of former residential schools students. “The burial records are not in the General Synod archives, they would be held by diocesan archives. We’re assuming that when a child died (while in a residential school), that local clergy would be involved,” said Ms. Johnson. “If they weren’t involved, the death record would have been filed by someone else. But dioceses require parishes to submit records to the archives.”

Nancy Hurn, General Synod archivist, said she and diocesan archivists are working out how burial records might be made accessible. Some diocesan archives are on deposit at public archives.

Meanwhile, in late April the House of Commons apologized unanimously to former students of native schools but Mr. Prentice said the federal government would wait until the commission ends its five-year mandate before issuing its own apology.

Mr. Prentice stressed the importance of awaiting the outcome of the commission investigation saying all the facts and stories about the legacy of Indian residential schools are not yet complete. “I would be very surprised if (the commission’s) recommendations at that time did not deal, as the South African Commission did, with the context and concept of an apology,” he said.

Meanwhile, the National Residential School Survivors Society has published an open letter to Queen Elizabeth II, expressing its “deep disappointment and regret” for the refusal of the federal government to issue an apology to former students. Nonetheless, the group said, “as we wish to progress the well-being of our families and communities we have relinquished the need for an apology.”

Some related links from the Anglican Journal web site:

• All Death Records? Find any death record in 1Min! using the database of government. Visit http://www.government-records.com
• Genealogy - search over 350 million names to discover your Canadian roots at http://www.ancestry.ca

Sandy Lake First Nation Board & Committee Elections 2007

A general election for the 2007-2009 term will be held for the following Board and Committees:

• Sandy Lake Board of Education
• Sandy Lake Health Authority
• Sandy Lake Housing Authority
• Sandy Lake Community Development Corporation Services Inc.

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NOMINATION MEETINGS
Thursday, September 6, 2007
6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

One nomination meeting for each of the five geographical areas of the community as designated:

1. Old Sawmill/Ghost Point - Corporation Board Room
2. River - High School Gymnasium
3. Centre - Elementary School Gymnasium
4. Airport/Big Rock - Band Office Council Room
5. R.C. - TNN Hall

ADVANCE POLLING

Tuesday, September 11, 2007
10:00 a.m. to 12 noon
Robert Fiddler Administration Building (Band Office)

ELECTION DAY

Thursday, September, 2007
9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Robert Fiddler Administration Building (Band Office)

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The Board and Committee Election Working Group have been appointed as the Electoral Officers for the 2007 Board and Committee Election: Martin Beardy; Lisa Meekis; Lorraine Kakegamic; Willow Fiddler; Ennis Fiddler.

The Electoral Officers are responsible for ensuring the Board and Committee Election Policy is implemented during the election process. Copies of the Board and Committee Election Policy are available at the Band Office. Please contact any member of the Working Group if you have any questions regarding the Board and Committee Election Policy.

Two employees who will working with KO over the summer months have joined the KO Research Institute (KORI) in Thunder Bay.

Under the HRSDC Summer Student Placement Program, Katherine Kakegamic and Sharon Brethour will be supporting online workshops, meeting areas and projects that KORI is working on during the summer months.

Katherine Kakegamic (Deer Lake FN band member) will be supporting the online workshops and web pages for projects including: Breast Cancer Awareness, Safer Communities and Economic Development. Katherine will be returning to Confederation College in the fall to continue her studies in mental health. 

Sharon Brethour (Fort Severn FN band member) will be coordinating and scheduling online activities and assisting with the KOTM Change Management project. Sharon will be attending Lakehead University in the fall to being the teaching program.

We are excited to have both post-secondary students share their knowledge and develop specific skills as they contribute to these projects this summer.

For updates and photos visit the KORI website.

From CBC News ...

Western premiers to tackle aboriginal 'third solitude' - Must close gaps between aboriginal Canadians and rest of country, leaders say
July 5, 2007

Leaders attending the western premiers conference in Iqaluit on Thursday and Friday say they plan to focus on ways to improve the lives of Canada's aboriginal people.

Canada, which has long focused on the "two solitudes" between its English and French populations, must now address a "third solitude" between aboriginal Canadians and the rest of the country, British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell said.

"There are enormous gaps in health care and education and economic opportunity and in social opportunities for aboriginal Canadians, whether they're Inuit, First Nations or Métis people," Campbell said as the premiers gathered on Wednesday.

The conference, which runs through Friday, has brought premiers from western provinces and the three northern territories together — for the first time, in Nunavut — to talk over a variety of issues before all premiers meet in Moncton, N.B., in August for the Council of the Federation's summer meeting.

Manitoba Premier Gary Doer said many of the western premiers have stayed committed to the principles behind the Kelowna Accord, an agreement that then-prime minister Paul Martin's Liberal government worked out with aboriginal leaders in 2005.

It would have dedicated $5 billion over five years to improve areas such as education and housing.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper backed away from the Kelowna agreement after being elected in early 2006, instead committing $450 million for aboriginals in that year's budget.

Doer said Canada must still develop a firm commitment to closing the gap in living standards between aboriginal people and other Canadians.

"The issues of treaty land entitlements and resolving outstanding treaty issues are important to all of us," Doer said.

"We've all been very committed in the past to the objectives, especially in the Kelowna Accord, and how do we move forward on that issue."

Doer said premiers attending this week's gathering want to develop concrete ideas on the issue, then bring them to their meeting with the other premiers next month.

From Calgary Sun ... http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/National/2007/07/05/4314396-sun.html

New approach to Native development urged
DAVE DORMER, SUN MEDIA - July 5, 2007

Osoyoos Indian Band Chief Clarence Louie wants to help his people help themselves.

Louie, the newly appointed National Aboriginal Economic Development Board (NAEDB) chairman, met for the first time with Indian Affairs and Northern Development Minister Jim Prentice in Calgary yesterday, where he encouraged the federal government to focus more on creating economic development for Native people rather than having them rely on existing social programs.

Doing that, he explained, could reverse the troubling trend of poverty and despair he sees plaguing many First Nations, Inuit and Metis communities across Canada and provide them with a positive outlook on the future.

"When it comes to reducing Aboriginal poverty, it's not going to happen in a year or two, but you will see the direction," Louie said during a news conference to announce the new strategy.

"You'll be able to see the programs and the effect they are having."

Mandated by the federal cabinet, the 13 NAEDB members were chosen from First Nation, Inuit and Metis populations from across the country, not so much based on their race, but rather their individual expertise, explained Prentice.

"From everything I hear across the country there's a strong consensus amongst Aboriginal people that the time has come for a whole level of economic development and a whole new approach to economic development on a larger scale than we've seen in the past and in a way that is focused and leveraged," he said.

The NAEDB will serve as an non-political body, advising the federal government on how best to deal with various Aboriginal issues.

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INAC press release ...

National Aboriginal Economic Development Board to Play Strengthened Role in Advising Canada's new Government

CALGARY, AB, July 4 - Today, the Honourable Jim Prentice, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians met for the first time with the National Aboriginal Economic Development Board (NAEDB) executive members to discuss how the board can play a stronger role in the Government of Canada's new approach to Aboriginal economic development.

Minister Prentice named the new members and chairperson of the National Aboriginal Economic Development Board on April 26, 2007.

"Canada's New Government is working to create a more coherent and practical approach to increasing Aboriginal participation in the economy, capitalizing on a range of economic opportunities," said Minister Prentice. "As an arms-length, private-sector body representing the economic development interests of all Aboriginal people, the NAEDB is well positioned to play a key role as this work unfolds."

Chief Clarence Louie, the board's newly appointed Chairperson, welcomed the commitment made by Minister Prentice. Chief Louie is President and CEO of the Osoyoos Indian Band Development Corporation in British Columbia.

"No other body in Canada has the mandate we have to concentrate exclusively on Aboriginal economic development," said Chief Louie. "This is a critical priority if we want to solve a host of other issues for our people. Economic development is the cornerstone.

While the scope of the new approach is still in development, the board will provide advice on areas such as investment strategies, business creation, access to business capital, Aboriginal involvement in major projects, Aboriginal/non-Aboriginal partnerships, as well as policy development.

Other participants in the meeting were Nellie Cournoyea, former Premier of the Northwest Territories and Dawn Madahbee, Northern Ontario Aboriginal business leader involved in Aboriginal business financing and the tourism sector. Along with Chief Louie and Chief Jim Boucher, Chairman of the Board of the Fort McKay Group of Companies in Alberta, these nationally and internationally recognized individuals now serve as the Executive Committee of the NAEDB.

The National Aboriginal Economic Development Board is mandated by the federal Cabinet and members are appointed by Order-in-Council. The Board acts as a vital link between policy makers, legislators, government departments, and Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal business and community leaders, providing counsel on all matters pertaining to Aboriginal economic development.

For further information: media may contact: Minister's Office: Deirdra McCracken, Press Secretary, Office of the Honourable Jim Prentice, (819) 997-0002; Media Relations: Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, (819) 953-1160; This release is also available on the Internet at www.inac.gc.ca; For more information about the NAEDB, visit www.naedb-cndea.ca

July 5, 2007

Chiefs of Ontario Community Support Services is pleased to announce a Northern First Nations Training session on Palliative Care

July 24 – 26, 2007 at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario.

Objectives of the program:

1. To familiarize the learner with traditional healing approaches to spirituality and end of life care
2. To expand knowledge about the dying process, pain and symptom management, psychosocial issues, ethical decision making at end of life
3. To understand and learn practical approaches to grief and bereavement care
4. To enhance communication skills for working with dying persons and their families and care providers
5. To provide a forum for community support services personnel from various First Nations communities in Ontario to learn together and share ideas.

For further information, please contact:

Donna Loft at (613) 396-1140 lofi@kos.net. OR
Carol Antone at 1-877-517-6527 health@coo.org