Media.Knet.Ca

Press Release ...

Northern First Nation Prepares to Stop Operations in Kenogami Forest

Thunder Bay, ON: Chief Sam Kashkeesh announced today that his community of Aroland First Nation is ready to bring a stop to all operations in the Kenogami Forest if the Ministry of Natural Resources and industry continue to shut the First Nation out of discussions regarding the Kenogami Sustainable Forest License (SFL) transfer to Buchanen (Terrace Bay Pulp Inc.) and on going developments within the territory.

Despite continued lobbying and requests from the First Nation since the spring to be included in any forestry planning negotiations affecting the Kenogami territory, the people of Aroland First Nation have been excluded.

“I want to make the position for Aroland First Nation very clear to the public,” says Chief Kashkeesh. “Our First Nation does not want to be disruptive or put increased pressure on the forestry industry within our region. We do not oppose the sale of the Neenah Mill to Buchanan – our families also depend on the forestry industry for their employment and livelihood like other regional municipalities.”

“All we are asking is that we should have been included and consulted with in the awarding process of the Kenogami Forest license. We want to be consulted by the Ministry of Natural Resources. Our people also care about their future job security like all others and while we are being ignored, there are people from out of province now harvesting just one kilometer outside our community. This is not just a matter of respect, mutual prosperity and regional collaboration, but also an issue of legal duty and equality for Aboriginal people in forestry management. The non-cooperation from the government and industry is insulting and in very, very bad taste.”

“We do not want to resort to drastic measures to get the attention and communication we deserve, and we should not have to, continues Chief Kashkeesh. “The level of frustration amongst my people is increasing on a daily basis and as Chief; I am saddened that this government is willing to let these situations get to the boiling point.”

As of today, Aroland First Nation will prepare to take appropriate action within the Kenogami Forest until a process for consultation is forthcoming from the Ministry of Natural Resources.

Aroland First Nation is road accessible and located 482 kilometers Northwest of Thunder Bay, Ontario, north of Geraldton, Ontario. The current population of Aroland First Nation is 507 members. Approximately 352 people live on reserve.

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Notes to Editor: Please see attached petition to cease and desist cutting in the Kenogami Forest.

For more information contact: Stephanie AshFiredog Communications: Tel: (807) 767-4443 or email: stephanie@firedogpr.com  

NAN press release ...

NAN urges safe drinking water implementation process

     THUNDER BAY, ON, Dec. 11 /CNW/ - Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) Grand Chief Stan Beardy says without an implementation process, recommendations outlined in the federal safe drinking water report released Friday don't solve the complex problem of water emergencies across NAN territory - an area covering two-thirds of Ontario and home to 49 First Nation communities.

     "We knew going into the process of developing this report that the Government of Canada's objectives were only to produce recommendations, however with increasing water emergencies throughout NAN territory what we need now more than ever is an implementation process for clean drinking water on the short and long term," said NAN Grand Chief Stan Beardy. "I look forward to working directly with NAN leadership and Minister Prentice on a priority basis to implement the best options outlined in the report in a way that ensures proper health standards are being met in each community."

     Beardy's comments come after Friday's release of a final report from the safe drinking water expert panel which hosted public hearings across the country this past summer.

     A representative from NAN presented to this panel in Thunder Bay August 2006. The panel did not visit any First Nation communities in NAN territory.

     Currently between 19 and 20 NAN communities are under boil water advisory, including Pikangikum, Attawapiskat, and Marten Falls in the past three months for reasons regarding lack of capacity of water treatment plants, filtration and turbidity levels, contaminated intakes, and traces of carcinogens.

     "When nearly half of NAN's communities are on boil water advisories there's something really wrong here," said Beardy. "We need immediate solutions, not 77 pages of text."

     Some of the short term solutions include repairs to existing water and sewage treatment plants and proper staffing, training, and certification for community operators.

     "Without appropriate staffing resources, including skills training, our communities have to rely on testing and treatments from external operators which can tend to be sporadic," said Beardy.

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/For further information: please contact: Jenna Young, Director of Communications - Nishnawbe Aski Nation, (807) 625-4952, or (807) 628-3953 (mobile)/

See the Industry Canada press release after this CBC news story ...

From http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2006/12/11/phones.html

Ottawa accelerates deregulation of local phone service
December 11, 2006 - CBC News

Canada's established phone companies have won their longstanding fight for less regulation of their local phone business — a move the telcos say will benefit consumers.

On Monday, Industry Minister Maxime Bernier gave BCE (Bell Canada), Telus and the country's other incumbent telcos the power to set their own prices, as long as there is sufficient competition in the local area.

Current policy has prevented the big telcos from charging what they want for local phone service.

In a directive released last April, the CRTC declared that deregulation of the local phone business would not be allowed as long as the established phone companies held at least 75 per cent of the market in a particular region. As of 2005, they had 92 per cent of the market nationally.

The broadcast regulator was worried that without a minimum foothold in the marketplace, "new entrant" competitors could be driven out of business by price-cutting incumbents.

But the former phone monopolies have been lobbying for more deregulation for years. They say they've lost hundreds of thousands of customers to rival providers of local phone service — especially the cable companies — who can charge what they want for phone service.

Monday's move throws out the old CRTC threshold policy and further reinforces Bernier's reputation as a minister who favours free-market solutions to telecom issues.

The new proposal "replaces the CRTC's market-share test with one that emphasizes the presence of competitive infrastructure in a given geographical area," a release from Industry Canada said.

60 per cent of Canadians will benefit: Bernier

At a news conference, Bernier estimated that 60 per cent of Canadians, mainly in urban markets, would benefit from the change in policy. In rural areas where there is little competition, it would be "status quo" for now, he said. 

"Where consumers have access to telephone service from a traditional telephone service company, a cable company offering telephone service, and at least one unaffiliated wireless provider, deregulation will occur," Bernier said.

Last week, amendments were introduced to the Competition Act designed to "deter anti-competitive behaviour" in deregulated markets. 

Telus welcomed the policy change, calling it a "positive development" for consumers and the industry.

"By giving the market more freedom to determine outcomes, we can begin to unleash the full benefits of competition for our customers, and foster enhanced innovation and investment in the Canadian economy," said Darren Entwistle, Telus president and CEO, in a release.

Bell Canada also praised Bernier's announcement, saying it "catches up to market reality."

"He is trying to give consumers more choice and Canada a telecom framework that is internationally competitive — and that is a most welcome development both in terms of the Canadian economy and in terms of Canada's productivity and competitiveness," Michael Sabia, president and CEO of BCE and Bell Canada, said in a release.

In June, Bernier told the CRTC to rely more on market forces and less on regulatory fiat when drafting policy for the phone industry. That followed the March release of a major federal panel report that "Canada should rely primarily on market forces" and a drastic deregulation of the rules that govern the country's phone, cable TV and internet services.

Last month, Bernier also overruled the CRTC on the regulation of internet phone service (VoIP), saying there is no reason to regulate some telephone services offered through broadband internet connections.

+++++++++

Industry Canada press release ...

Canada's New Government Proposes to Accelerate Deregulation of Local Telephone Service in the Interests of Canadian Consumers

OTTAWA, December 11, 2006 -- The Honourable Maxime Bernier, Minister of Industry, today announced a government proposal to change a decision by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) that would put in place a revised framework to determine when to deregulate retail telephone prices of the former monopoly telephone companies.

"Canada's new government has an ambitious policy agenda for the telecommunications sector, the essence of which is a new regulatory framework that is more modern, flexible and efficient," said Minister Bernier. "The government's proposal is intended to stimulate competition and innovation among local telephone service providers so that Canadian consumers and businesses will benefit from even more choice, improved products and services, and lower prices."

In June of this year, Minister Bernier tabled a proposed policy direction to the CRTC, signalling the government's intention to direct the CRTC to rely on market forces to the maximum extent feasible under the Telecommunications Act and regulate only when necessary.

Earlier this year, the CRTC issued Telecom Decision CRTC 2006-15 (Forbearance from the regulation of retail local exchange services), which laid out a framework for price deregulation of local telephone service provided by traditional telephone companies. Minister Bernier consulted and reviewed this decision, and will now propose to replace the CRTC's market-share test with one that emphasizes the presence of competitive infrastructure in a given geographical area.

The proposed variance is linked to proposed amendments to the Competition Act that would establish financial penalties to deter anti-competitive behaviour in deregulated telecommunications markets, which were introduced by the Minister in Parliament on December 7, 2006.

"This initiative reflects our agreement with the advice we've received from the Telecom Policy Review Panel to rely on market forces to the maximum extent feasible," said Minister Bernier. "This is another step towards our goal of reshaping telecommunications policy so that it supports an internationally competitive and robust telecommunications industry here in Canada."

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

Wawakapewin Press Release

We announce with great sadness of the sudden passing of one of our community members. Sheila Childforever age 54 passed away on December 7, 2006 at the Sioux Lookout Menoyawin Health Centre at the 7^th Avenue site.

Sheila was a former Chief for Wawakapewin First Nation from February 1998 - March 2005. She leaves behind her partner, Roger Cook, children, Anne Marie (Beardy), Cherilyn (Beardy), Troy, Shawn, Melissa and Vanessa Childforever, and numerous grandchildren.

Viewing and Memorial Services will be at the Sioux Lookout Funeral Home, 128 Front Street on Wednesday December, 13, 2006 at 10:30 - 12:00 p.m. Funeral will be in her home community of Wawakapewin on Thursday December 14, 2006 at 1:00 p.m. at the St. John the Devine Anglican church with Rev. Stewart Nanokeesic officiating. Internment will follow after the services at the Wawakapewin Cemetary.

For information, please contact the following:

Noreen Meekis (Sioux Lookout)
Tel: (807) 737-2662, ext. 268
Cell: (807) 737-0980
Fax: (807) 737-4226

Barry Frogg (Wawakapewin)
Tel: (807) 442-2567
Fax: (807) 442-1162

NAAF press release ...

Recipients Announced for 2007 National Aboriginal Achievement Awards 
 
TORONTO-- (Dec. 10, 2006) - Fourteen outstanding achievers have been named as recipients of the 2007 Aboriginal Achievement Awards. They include the CEO of Canada's winning 2010 Olympic bid, the producer of one of Canada's longest-running TV series, a world-class diver and 11 other First Nations, Métis, and Inuit role models who converted their potential into success.

"The 2007 award winners are an amazing celebration of achievement," said Roberta Jamieson, CEO of the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation. "We invite all Canadians to join us in recognizing these outstanding persons who have contributed so much to Canada and the world. The awards will be presented at a gala event in Edmonton next March and will be televised on both Global and APTN."

The Foundation is delighted that Adam Beach, most recently seen in Flags of Our Fathers, will host the awards while Jennifer Podemski - prominent producer, actor and writer is the Creative Producer.

Juno award winners, Gemini-nominated actors, and a slate of talent that reads like the who's who of Aboriginal Canadian entertainers will honour the recipients with performances at the 14th Annual National Aboriginal Achievement Awards on March 16, 2007 in Edmonton at the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium.

The recipients and their categories for the 14th annual National Aboriginal Achievement Awards are:

Joanne Cardinal Schubert - Arts
…. a writer, curator, lecturer, poet and Aboriginal arts activist, Cardinal-Schubert inspires and enables Native artists across the continent to challenge and reclaim their creative identities.

Jack Poole - Business and Commerce
…. is credited with bringing the 2010 Olympics to Canada and it's little surprise Poole's been called a cautious optimist, a visionary and a modest overachiever, it's what helped shape him into becoming one of the most successful real estate developers and community builders in North America.

Andre Alestine - Cultural, Heritage and Spirituality
…. a Heritage Researcher for her community she successfully combines her gifts of Gwich'in traditional knowledge with that of Western Science.

Joe Michel - Education
…. one of the most outspoken advocates and leaders on Aboriginal education in the country. Michel has gone on to develop curriculum for linguistic courses in universities and played a major role in reviving the near extinct Secwepemc language back into the schools.

Chief David Walkem - Environment
…. builds communication bridges with developers and forestry companies that allow Aboriginal people to benefit from the business of forestry but also allow the land to regenerate and renew.

Joe Couture - Health
…. as the first Aboriginal person to receive a PhD in psychology, Dr. Joe as he is affectionately known, has not only built bridges of understanding between two cultures but has systematically affected generations of educators and students with his straightforward and profound traditional healing methods

Hugh Braker - Law and Justice
.... the first Nu Cha Nulth lawyer in the country, has been the Director of Self Government for the Assembly of First Nations, and is renowned for his work on Aboriginal child welfare law and protecting Aboriginal children.

Bertha Clark Jones - Lifetime Achievement
…. always spoke out for the underdog and moved women's rights groups forward by strides when she founded the Alberta Native Women's Voices in the late 1960s. That organization blossomed to become the Native Women's Association of Canada, a powerful voice for Native women in the country.

Lisa Meeches - Media and Communications
.... helped lead Aboriginal media into the mainstream by exposing the 'truth', Meeches buries old prejudices and opens minds with her meaningful and traditional-based approach to television production.

Freddie Carmichael - Politics
… currently a second-term President of the Gwich'in Tribal Council piloting the direction for a successful cultural and socio-economic future which includes building a foundation for self-government.

Lewis Cardinal - Public Service
…. is designing education systems that integrate traditional knowledge, and is involved on an international level in a global forum where the world's Indigenous peoples meet to share, discuss and participate in building a more sustainable future for everyone.

Wegadesk Gorup-Paul
…. a champion diver who began a diving career at age 12, Gorup-Paul is stirring up the waters in world competitive diving. He's traveled the globe competing against the sports' top divers in the Pan Am Games, the Commonwealth Games and even the South African National Championships.

Monica Peters - Technology and Trades
…. Indigenous languages are at risk. … By combining modern technology with ancient words she built an instrument that not only gave her identity but has the potential to save threatened languages of the world.

James Makokis - Youth
… his love for his community and his desire to learn the wisdom of his ancestors that drives his passion. …It's his unique ability to share what he's learned through nationally syndicated columns, programming university research projects and combining his family's wisdom with that of his ongoing quest to further his knowledge.

The recipients are selected by a national jury comprised of past award recipients and individuals representing First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples from diverse geographic regions of Canada and areas of the economy.

The awards are produced by the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation, Canada's leading Aboriginal charity dedicated to providing financial assistance to Aboriginal students for post-secondary education. Since 1985, the Foundation has awarded more than $22 million in scholarships to deserving students across the country for all disciplines, including law, medicine, education, psychology, fine arts, business, and computer sciences.

The National Aboriginal Achievement Awards are generously supported by:

Private Sector:
Lead Sponsor - CIBC
Air Canada, Alliance Pipeline, BP Canada Energy Company, Casino Rama, CN, Diavik Diamond Mines, Enbridge, Encana, First Air, IBM Canada, Investors Group, Nexen Inc., Petro -Canada, RBC Foundation, Scotiabank, Shell Canada Ltd., Suncor Energy Foundation, Syncrude Canada Ltd., Talisman Energy

Public Sector:
The Government of Canada - Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Canadian Forces, Canadian Heritage, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, Canadian Museum of Civilization, Elections Canada, Environment Canada, Industry Canada - Aboriginal Business Canada, Health Canada, Service Canada, Transport Canada

For more information please contact
Kim Ziervogel at K'Image Communications at 780.490.6762 or 780.231.1873
Or Scott Cavan, Dir. Communications, NAAF at 416.926.0775 ext. 237 or 416.903.4331 (cell), Toll-Free: 800-329-9780, E-mail: scavan@naaf.ca

From http://www.kenoradailyminerandnews.com/News/273958.html
 
Treaty 3 separates from Chiefs of Ontario
By Mike Aiken - Miner and News - Friday December 08, 2006

Grand Council Treaty 3 announced Thursday their decision to withdraw from the Chiefs of Ontario.

A spokesman for the council, Adolphus Cameron, said he was pleased with the council’s decision.

“I’m proud of it. They’ve taken a firm stand on their direction,” he said.

“Some communities may suffer, but ultimately it’s the right choice,” he added.

Cameron noted Grand Council Arnold Gardner has wanted to move in a direction that protects treaty and aboriginal rights, while building relationships that will help rebuild the Ojibway nation.

He said the Chiefs of Ontario had gone too far in becoming an administrative body for the purposes of program funding.

The decision comes as Grassy Narrows First Nation, in the northern part of Treaty 3, celebrates the fourth anniversary of its roadblock at the entry to the Whiskey Jack Forest. Protesters are against clearcutting and the destruction of traditional lands by logging companies, such as Abitibi.

While the Slant Lake site has been peaceful, a total of 21 demonstrators were charged last summer -- mainly with mischief -- in connection with the two blockades. The first halted traffic on the Kenora bypass along the Trans-Canada, while the other stopped logging trucks along the English River Road.

Treaty 3 represents about 17,000 people on 28 First Nation communities in Northwestern Ontario and eastern Manitoba.

The Chiefs of Ontario movement began in 1975, and it became a co-ordinating body for 134 communities within the province.

The Grand Council’s decision had been rumoured for several days, and it was announced the same day as a Special Chiefs Assembly in Ottawa.

In the capital, federal Health Minister Tony Clement and National Chief Phil Fontaine, of the Assembly of First Nations, signed a joint workplan that aims to improve the First Nations health system over the short and long-terms.

NAN Press Release ...

NAN First Nations Recognized During Monumental Speech

Lieutenant Governor of Ontario James K. Bartleman recognized NAN Grand Chief Stan Beardy and the many NAN youth who participated in his Aboriginal Literacy initiative during an unprecedented address to the Ontario Legislature Thursday December 7, 2006.

The Lieutenant Governor's Aboriginal Literacy Initiative was implmented in 2004 to address lower than average literacy rates among First Nation students in Ontario.

There were three phases to this initiative, including book drive, school twinning, and summer camps in communities across NAN.

By engaging a strong partnership network, His Honour James K. Bartleman was able to collect 850,000 useable books to establish and fill libraries in schools throughout NAN territory. He then developed a pen-pal system where NAN schools were twinned with schools in the Greater Toronto Area. Students were able to share resources and cultures, breaking down barriers between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal youth. The third phase was introducing summer literacy camps in many of NAN's 49 communities. These very successful camps included traditional educational components as well as cultural practices.

Mr. Bartleman is the first Lieutenant Governor to be asked to speak to the Ontario Legislature.

For more information on the Lieutenant Governor's Aboriginal Literacy Initiative please visit the following web site:

http://www.lt.gov.on.ca/sections_english/welcome/literacy_main.html

Posted by: Communications and Media jyoung@nan.on.ca.
12/9/2006

From http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2006/12/08/nonprofit-activity.html

Non-profit sector accounts for billions in economy: study
Friday, December 8, 2006 - CBC News

Non-profit organizations in Canada generate billions in economic activity every year, a study by Statistics Canada concluded on Friday.

"Non-profit organizations not only play an important role in the well-being of Canadians, they also constitute an economic force," the agency said.

In an account of non-profit institutions and volunteering, Statistics Canada found that in 2003 the gross domestic product of the non-profit sector amounted to 7.1 per cent of the total economy or $80.3 billion.

The study, which looked at data collected over a seven-year period, found that economic activity by the non-profit sector as measured by GDP outstripped the pace of the overall economy from 1997 to 2003.

It said that GDP for the non-profit sector grew at an average rate of 6.4 per cent every year over the seven years, faster than the average rate of 5.6 per cent for the total economy during that time period.

In 2003 alone, GDP for the overall non-profit sector grew 6.3 per cent, a rate of growth greater than that for the total economy, which rose 5.6 per cent in 2003.

Statistics Canada divided the sector into two groups to analyze the data. The first group includes hospitals, universities and colleges, while the second group, described as the core of the sector, consists of mostly smaller organizations.

The agency said revenue for the core non-profit sector came from a variety of sources, including sales of goods and services, government transfers, membership fees and individual donations.

For hospitals, universities and colleges, however, the main source of revenue was government transfers and sales of goods and services.

"Hospitals, universities and colleges accounted for nearly two-thirds of economic activity in the overall non-profit sector between 1997 and 2003. The generally smaller organizations in the core sector accounted for the remaining third," it said.

Economic activity in the second group or core non-profit sector increased 7.6 per cent between 1997 and 2003, a rate faster than the 5.8 per cent growth for hospitals, universities and colleges. The core's share of the GDP in the sector overall rose 34 per cent in 1997 to 36 per cent in 2003.

The GDP of the core non-profit sector reached $29.1 billion in 2003, representing 2.6 per cent of the total economy. The entire non-profit share rose to 7.1 per cent when the GDP of hospitals, universities and colleges was included in the total.

Non-profits are big business
Statistics Canada reported that the overall non-profit sector generated economic activity greater than that of the mining, oil and gas extraction, and retail industries.

Even the smaller core sector was about twice the size of the agricultural industry and larger than the accommodation and food services industry in Canada.

The analysis also looked at volunteering, concluding that the value of volunteer work was more important than individual donations to the non-profit sector over the seven-year period and that volunteering mainly occurred in the three main fields of culture and recreation, social services and religion.

Of the three main fields, culture and recreation relied more heavily on volunteers than on paid workers, the analysis found.

Related External Links

StatsCan: Account of non-profits and volunteering - http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/061208/d061208a.htm

See the CBC News story after Deputy Chief Alvin Fiddler's document ...

Canada's Blood Diamonds? What DeBeers and the Canadian Governments Are Doing To Aboriginal Communities and the Environment in Canada’s Boreal Forest.

This holiday season, when more diamonds are sold in America than any other time of year, the Hollywood movie “Blood Diamond” is causing many people to reevaluate purchasing ‘conflict diamonds’. They will be looking to buy diamonds from other places in the world where responsible companies are treating local people and the environment fairly and responsibly. And mining companies will be trying to sell them diamonds from Canada.

Unfortunately, many Canadian diamonds are anything but conflict-free; ongoing aboriginal rights and environmental concerns should make consumers think twice before purchasing a Canadian diamond, too.

Nishnawbe Aski Nation, which means the people and the land, represents some 45,000 Cree and Ojibway people scattered over 49 communities in Canada's Boreal Forest—the world’s largest intact ecosystem and Earth’s last line of defense against global warming. At 1.4 billion acres, the Canadian Boreal Forest is one of the largest unspoiled forest ecosystems remaining on Earth, a mosaic of interconnected forest and wetland ecosystems, teeming with birds, fish, plants and animal life. Canada’s Boreal Forest is also a potential treasure chest of timber, oil and gas, and minerals, including diamonds and is under heavy development pressure.

At present, less than ten percent of the Boreal is protected from industrial development. Unless something changes, corporations will carve it up without regard to the impacts to the people or the environment.

While few American’s have ever heard of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation or the Boreal Forest, scientists will tell them what the peoples that live there already know: it’s critical to the earth in so many ways, and must be protected.

The Nishnawbe Aski Nation, along with many other First Nation communities throughout the great Boreal Forest have been in the grip of a diamond exploration boom led by companies like DeBeers.

That and other intensive resource development is causing environmental devastation.

A complicit Canadian government seems to be turning a blind eye.

We need and welcome responsible resource development, but with an emphasis on the word responsible.

The Nishnawbe Aski Nation communities are among the poorest in the world, ranked 69th in the U.N.'s Human Development Index, with the lowest life expectancy in Canada, the highest youth suicide rates in the world, and an unemployment rate of more than 60 percent.

With diamonds on our lands our communities should be wealthy.

Instead the hunt for theses rare gems from the heart of the earth has meant only conflict and strife for us.

De Beers plans to develop massive open pit diamond mining projects in our traditional territory but it is not honoring our treaty rights or working with us to win our consent for the projects.

Their army of airplanes, helicopters and claim stakers have been trespassing on the traditional lands of many of our communities, despite our calls for moratoriums on diamond exploration.

The link between diamond exploration and aboriginal and treaty rights violations fits the pattern of diamond conflicts in Africa. In these former European colonies, the scramble for control of diamond mining territory has helped to fuel a cycle of conflict. Will the cycle be repeated in our lands too?

Before they can claim to have done the right thing in Canada, DeBeers and other Canadian diamond mining companies must demonstrate a different attitude and pattern of behavior. They must allow us to determine where, when and how diamond mining will take place, if at all.

They must also work with us and the Canadian governments to protect the great Boreal Forest ecosystem and make sure it continues to provide clean air, clean water and abundant wildlife for our communities and for the world.

The battle over diamonds will be largely fought in the US, where annual sales of diamond jewelry represent almost half of the $55 billion sold world wide.

The time is now for U.S. consumers to connect the dots and weigh in. Tell De Beers, other diamond miners and Canada that unless things change, Canadian diamonds are no better than conflict diamonds from Africa.

Alvin Fiddler
Deputy Grand Chief Nishnawbe Aski Nation
www.nan.on.ca  

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

From http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2006/12/08/conflict-diamond.html

First Nations leader slams Canadian diamonds
Friday, December 8, 2006 - CBC News

A First Nations group in Ontario is trying to dissuade Americans from buying Canadian diamonds this holiday season, saying the jewels are mined at the expense of its people.

Alvin Fiddler, deputy grand chief of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation, said De Beers Canada in particular is causing environmental devastation and disrupting his community of 45,000 Cree and Ojibwa in northern Ontario.

"They're not clean diamonds; they're not conflict-free diamonds," Fiddler told CBC News. "People are paying a price for these diamonds and it's our people in the Nishnawbe Aski Nation. Our people, our children, are languishing in poverty while these resources are being extracted from their territory."

Fiddler this week had an editorial published in the diamond industry trade publication Rapaport News, in which he outlined his concerns about Canadian diamond exploration and mining. He says several communities have called for a moratorium on mineral exploration on land where the legal title is under dispute.

"The battle over diamonds will be largely fought in the United States, where annual sales of diamond jewelry represent almost half of the $55 billion sold worldwide. The time is now for consumers in the United States to connect the dots and weigh in," Fiddler wrote in his editorial.

"Tell De Beers, other diamond miners and Canada that unless things change, Canadian diamonds are no better than conflict diamonds from Africa."

Linda Dorrington, a spokeswoman for De Beers said the company is making an effort to negotiate with First Nations in Canada but said land rights need to be decided by government. The company has one project underway along with exploration work within Nishnawbe Aski territory.

"We encourage the government and these groups to continue to work together to get these matters settled," she said.

Fiddler said the diamond company should stop work until the government settles the land claims.

The trade in diamonds originating in conflict zones, sometimes called "blood diamonds," has helped pay for wars in Africa that have killed millions in Angola, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Congo.

Under heavy criticism from human rights activists, governments, non-governmental organizations and industry enacted the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme in 2002, which tracks diamonds from the mine to the store.

Jewelers are bracing for more consumer scrutiny this season with the opening of the new film Blood Diamond set amid the brutal civil war in Sierra Leone in the late 1990s. Industry officials have launched a high-profile campaign, saying the Kimberley Process has curbed the "blood diamond" trade.

Related Links

• 'Blood diamonds' film sparks debate about illegal diamond trade - http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2006/12/06/conflict-diamonds.html
• Canada's diamond rush - http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/diamonds/
• International agreement reached on trade in 'blood diamonds' - http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2002/03/20/diamonds020320.html
• UN bans sale of Sierra Leone diamonds - http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2000/07/05/diamonds000705.html
• Criticism mounts against 'blood' diamond dealers - http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2000/06/14/diamonds_debeers000614.html
• The Kimberley Process - http://www.kimberleyprocess.com:8080/

A senior policy advisor for Health Minister Tony Clement is impressed with the work of KO Telehealth.

Donna Williams, KO Telehealth Manager, briefed Jo Kennelly, a senior advisor for Health Minister Tony Clement about the telehealth applications successfully being delivered in remote First Nations across northwestern Ontario.

Kennelly told the KO team that the government is hosting a health success stories across Canada conference in February and will recommend that KO Telehealth be invited to participate as a presenter.

To see photos of this meeting, click here...