Media.Knet.Ca

Sioux Mountain Public School students are fundraising this school year to raise money for their annual Toronto trip to be held in June 2007.

A spaghetti dinner organized by the Grade 7/8 students of Sioux Mountain Public School will be held on Friday, November 24th at the KC Hall.  Two sittings at 5 pm and 6 pm will be served by students and parents.  Menu includes spaghetti, salad, roll, refreshments and dessert.  Cost is $8.00 for adults, youth and children $6.00 and kids eat free. 

The draw for the Weekend Getaway in Thunder Bay will be drawn that night as well as a silent auction and light entertainment. 

This is the start of many fundraising ventures for the school to raise their goal of $50,000. 

Community support is greatly appreciated.  For more information please contact Debbie Michaud at 737-0045 or Rhonda Konrad

KiHS Secretary Job Opportunity

Starting Date: Dec 4, 2006

Job Description and List of Duties - 2006/2007

The role of the KiHS Secretary is to help manage the day to day activities that occur in the KiHS program. The secretary will manage the communication that goes on within the KiHS program and make sure that those who need to be informed of what is happening are.

He/she will manage the data entry of the program and make sure that such is collected and organized timely to make the program run as per schedule. The secretary will ensure that the report cards are ready and printed at the middle and end of each term.

The secretary will also keep the office organized with respect to mail and supplies and help create and maintain a professional and confidential work environment.

The main duties of the KiHS Secretary are:

• Manage Maplewood and Moodle and keep updated
• Accept and process student applications in conjunction with the guidance counsellor and other admin staff if required
• Keep in regular contact with each classroom teacher and/or classroom assistant to ensure they have what they need
• Monitor and order supplies for office and classrooms
• Work with KiHS office and program staff to ensure a smooth flow of information and efficiency
• Make sure data entry is up to date and accurate
• Monitor attendance
• Receive, send , and sort mail
• Make travel and professional development arrangements for staff and manage expense claims
• Manage and print report card periods each term
• Make sure information reports are sent to appropriate organizations
• Organize data collection and such for student awards
• Collect and organize KiHS staff timesheets
• Take minutes at any KiHS meeting when needed
• Answer phone and co-ordinate office and program communication
• Other duties as assigned by principal

Please email or fax resumes and cover letter to:

Attention: Darrin Potter (KiHS Principal)

Email: darrinpotter@knet.ca

Fax: 807 735 3392

From Make Poverty History (http://www.makepovertyhistory.ca/e): A message from the AFN National Chief Phil Fontaine ...

The First Nations Plan for Creating Opportunity

Dear Make Poverty History supporter:

In Canada, the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) recently launched Make Poverty History: The First Nations Plan for Creating Opportunity. We are asking all members of the public to sign our on-line petition to ensure that the Government of Canada sees that First Nations poverty is a truly shared issue for all Canadians.

First Nations poverty is the single greatest social justice issue in Canada.

There are more than 750,000 First Nations people living in Canada, on reserves, in urban areas and in Northern Territories. Compared to Canadians:

• one in four First Nations children live in poverty versus one in six;
• life expectancy is 7.4 years less for First Nations men and 5.2 years less for First Nations women;
• overcrowding in First Nations homes is almost double;
  mold contaminates almost half of homes;
• socioeconomic conditions has been compared to developing countries with health status well below the national average. First Nations people simply cannot afford the means to good health.

November 21, 2006 marks the 10-year anniversary of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples' (RCAP) final report. Our report card on RCAP implementation shows that Canada has failed to act on most of the recommendations.

One year ago, First Ministers of all federal, provincial and territorial governments, and leaders of First Nations and other Aboriginal organizations unanimously agreed to adopt the Kelowna Accord. Unfortunately, the commitments made in the 10-year Plan for closing the gap in poverty between First Nations and other Canadians have not yet been honored by the new federal government, although the Conservative party platform agreed with the targets to be achieved.

Yet, it costs more to keep First Nations in poverty than creating opportunity.

You can help to create pressure for long overdue action on First Nations poverty by signing the on-line petition at http://www.afn.ca/webcast/petition/wcr.htm. More information is also provided on the website.

Please join us in the struggle to Make Poverty History for First Nations and Create Opportunity for First Nations.

Thank you.

Phil Fontaine
National Chief

Constance Lake and Nipissing First Nations as well as Seven Generations benefit from funding for women's training initiatives from the Ontario gov't ...

Ontario government press release ...

McGuinty Government Helps Abused And At-Risk Women Get Jobs - Project to Include Nipissing and Constance Lake First Nations

New Skills Training Program Lays Foundation For Economic Independence

TORONTO, Nov. 20 - Minister Responsible for Women's Issues Sandra Pupatello today announced a new $4 million training program that will help vulnerable women develop new skills, find employment, and achieve economic independence.

"Women who have made the difficult decision to leave an abusive situation have told me that one of their biggest concerns - after their personal safety and the safety of their children - is being able to provide for themselves and their families," said Minister Pupatello. "That's why our government is introducing a program that will give vulnerable women the opportunity to develop new skills so that they can get well-paying jobs."

Ten organizations across the province will receive funding over the next two years through the Employment Training Pilot Program to administer and deliver programs offering skills training, education, support and counselling. Each program consists of a three-way partnership between a violence against women group, a training organization and an employer.

George Brown College of Applied Arts and Technology in Toronto is delivering one of the programs, a residential air conditioning systems mechanic training program being offered in partnership with Direct Energy Essential Home Services and Nellie's Shelter.

"A good education is an essential factor in helping women become economically independent, and the Residential Air Conditioning Systems Mechanic program is an ideal fit because the skilled trades offer well-paying jobs and flexible employment prospects," said Anne Sado, President of George Brown College Applied Arts and Technology. "Women in this program also will benefit from a learning environment sensitive to their needs as they recover from abuse."

Lee Rose, Direct Energy's Senior Vice-President, Home Services Canada, said, "Direct Energy has a tremendous need for qualified trades people to support our heating, ventilation and air conditioning technician base, which is the largest in Ontario. We're proud to partner with George Brown College and local women's and community organizations to help women build better lives by acquiring a skilled trade."

The pilot training program is part of the government's comprehensive, $68-million Domestic Violence Action Plan, introduced in December 2004.

Other government initiatives to promote women's economic independence and prevent domestic violence include:

<<
- Investing $2.7 million over two years to provide information technology training for low-income women;
- Investing $1.5 million to provide pre-apprenticeship training in the skilled trades for low-income women who are unemployed or underemployed;
- Investing $58 million over four years to provide community services to victims, including counseling and shelter;
- Investing $5.9 million to train professionals to recognize the signs of abuse earlier and give women the support they need; and
- Investing $4.9 million for a public education campaign targeting children and youth and the adults who influence them, to change attitudes and mobilize communities to stop violence before it happens.

"The Domestic Violence Employment Training Pilot Program gives women the opportunity to find sustainable employment and achieve economic security which are important steps for their future and the future of their families," said Pupatello.

Disponible en français
www.ontariowomensdirectorate.gov.on.ca

Backgrounder
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GOVERNMENT FUNDS 10 EMPLOYMENT TRAINING PILOT PROGRAMS FOR AT-RISK WOMEN

The Ontario government is investing more than $4 million over two years in a new Employment Training Pilot Projects Program for more than 450 women who have experienced domestic violence, or are at risk. The program will help women gain confidence, new skills and, ultimately, employment and economic independence.

The Ontario government is committed to helping these women change their circumstance through public awareness and programs to prevent domestic violence. The Employment Training Pilot Project Program is part of a four-year, $68 million Domestic Violence Action Plan.

The Employment Training Pilot Projects Program will benefit women in the following communities:

- Calstock (West of Hearst)
The province is investing $469,996 in the Constance Lake First Nation to train 20 Aboriginal women in Aboriginal crafts/trades, customer service skills and employment. Partners include: Jane Mattinas Health Centre; Northern College; and Eagle's Earth Cree and Ojibway Historical Centre tourism site.

Program start date: November 2006

Contact Information:
Ms. Terry John-George
Executive Director,
Constance Lake First Nation
3 Shan-Way-Shoo
Calstock, ON P0L 1B0
Tel: 705-463-4511
Fax: 705-463-2222
Email: jbterry@clfn.on.ca.

- District of Nipissing
The province is investing $500,000 in the Nipissing First Nations to deliver individualized employment readiness training, academic upgrading and trades training to 60 Aboriginal women, including women with disabilities and women from rural and isolated communities.
Partners include: Canadore College; YES Employment Services Inc.; Disability Employment Opportunities Committee; Ojibway Family Resource Centre; People for Equal Partnership in Mental Health; and Ontario Northland Transportation Commission.

Program start date: December 2006

Contact Information:
Ms. Brenda Restoule
Employment Manager,
Nipissing First Nations
36 Semo Rd.
Garden Village, ON P2B 3K2
Tel: 705-753-2050
Fax: 705-753-0207
Email: brendar@nfn.ca.

- Fort Frances
The province is investing $246,225 in the Seven Generations Education Institute to deliver academic upgrading, communications, mathematics, computers, life skills, hospitality and business skills leading to employment for 20 rural Aboriginal women. Partners include: Super 8 Motel; Hotel La Place Rendez Vous; Emo Inn; Anishinaabeg Community Counselling Services; and Shooniyaa Wa-Biitong.

Program start date: October 2006

Contact Information:
Ms. Lisa Mik-onini
Project Coordinator,
Seven Generations Education Institute
1455 Idylwild Drive, P.O. Box 297
Fort Frances, ON P9A 3M6
Tel: 807-274-2796
Fax: 807-274-8761
Email: lisam@7generations.org.

- Lambton County
The province is investing $289,600 in the Women's Interval Home of Sarnia & Lambton Inc. to provide employment-readiness training and academic upgrading program to help 100 women find work placements and employment. Partners include: Lambton College; Lambton County; Lambton County Social Services - Ontario Works; and The Body Shop.

Program start date: January 2007

Contact Information:
Ms. Karen Hunter
Executive Director,
Women's Interval Home of Sarnia & Lambton Inc.
681 Oxford St. Sarnia, ON N7T 6Z7
Tel: (519) 336-5200, ext.30
Fax: (519) 336-7897
Email: karen@sarniawih.pointclark.net.

- Niagara
The province is investing $305,000 in the Niagara Women's Enterprise Centre to provide 50 women with training and work placements in food, hospitality and retail services. Partners include: Niagara College and the Tourism Industry Development Centre; Women's Place St. Catharines & North Niagara; Women's Place South Niagara Inc.; YWCA; Women's Resource Centre (Beamsville); Bethlehem Projects of Niagara; Employment Help Centre of Welland & St. Catharines; Convergys; Opportunities Niagara; Absolute Hospitality; Folk Arts Council of St. Catharines; Immigrant Women's Network of Niagara; The 21st Group; Niagara Regional Housing; and Niagara Presents.

Program start date: February 2007

Contact Information:
Ms. Betty Ann Baker
Executive Director,
Niagara Women's Enterprise Centre
178 King St. 3rd Fl.
Welland, ON L3B 3J5
Tel: 905-788-0166 ext. 205
Email: babaker@nphcr.ca.

- Ottawa
The province is investing $205,609 in La Cité des affaires de La Cité collégiale to train 10 francophone women as office clerks, accounting assistants or administrative assistants, and provide work placement and job search support. Partners include: Eastern Ottawa Resource Centre, Diffusart International, and Montfort Renaissance.

Program start date: November 2006

Contact Information:
Mme. Lyne Michaud
directrice executive,
La Cité des affaires de La Cité collégiale
801 promenade de L'Aviation
Ottawa, ON J8M 2B8
Tel: 613-742-2475
Email: lmicha@lacitec.on.ca.

- Toronto
The province is investing $309,157 in COSTI Immigrant Services to train 40 immigrant women as certified computerized accounting clerks through an online program. Partners include: Humber College Institute of Technology & Advanced Learning; Woman Abuse Council of Toronto; and Manpower Inc.

Program start date: December 2006

Contact Information:
Mr. Robert Cazzola
Director, Education and Information Technology
COSTI Immigrant Services
1710 Dufferin Street
Toronto, ON M6E 3P2
Tel: 416-534-7400
Email: cazzola@costi.org.

- Toronto
The province is investing $388,440 in George Brown College of Applied Arts and Technology to train 22 women as residential air conditioning systems mechanics. Partners include: Direct Energy Essential Home Services; Toronto Rape Crisis Centre/Multicultural Women Against Rape; Nellie's; and Parkdale Project Read.

Program start date: January 2007

Contact Information:
Mr. Rolf Priesnitz, Chair Apprenticeship Programs
Tel: 416-415-5000 ext. 4371
Email: rpriesni@gbrownc.on.ca.
And
Ms. Mandy Bonisteel, Coordinator, Assaulted Women's and Children's Counsellor/Advocate Program
Tel: 416-415-5000 ext. 2121
Email: mboniste@gbrownc.on.ca.
George Brown College of Applied Arts and Technology
St. James Campus
200 King Street East
Toronto, ON M5A 3W8

- Toronto
The province is investing $500,000 in Woodgreen Community Services to deliver employment-readiness and life skills training, academic upgrading, information technology training or internship to earn a college diploma to 32 women. Partners include: Seneca College; International Computer Drivers Licence; Homeward Bound Industry Council; TD Bank Financial Group; and The Redwood Shelter.

Program start date: September 2006

Contact Information:
Ms. Anne Babcock
Vice President Planning and Operations
WoodGreen Community Services
835 Queen Street East
Toronto, ON M4N 1H9
Tel: 416-469-5211
Email: ababcock@woodgreen.org.

- Toronto
The province is investing $855,946 in the YWCA of Greater Toronto to deliver an eight-week employment-readiness training program and an 18-week additional individualized training program with work placements and job maintenance support to 100 women. Partners include: Springtide Resources; York University; A Commitment to Training and Employment for Women; PPG Canada; and D. Gary Gibson and Associates.

Program start date: November 2006

Contact Information:
Ms. Marilda Tselepis
Director, Employment and Skills Development
YWCA of Greater Toronto
80 Woodlawn Ave. East
Toronto, ON M4T 1C1
Tel: 416-961-8100
Email: mtselepis@ywcatoronto.org

The Sexual Health and Wellness Sharing Circle is now up and running!  This circle is for education and the sharing of information related to sexual health, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), relationships, condom use and birth control, and HIV/AIDS.  This site is also for asking questions and having discussions on topics related to sexual health and wellness.  The information is presented in an interesting format to help visitors and participants have a enjoyable learning experience about these important topics!

Please feel free to enroll or subscribe at any point, or just visit as a guest.  Don't forget to check out the workshop materials, as well as the Aboriginal specific information related to HIV/AIDS. 

Also, there are four quizzes to help challenge your knowledge on topics such as STIs and HIV/AIDS.  Each quiz has 15 questions, made up of a variety of multiple choice and true/false questions!

Everyone is welcome to visit the site, share their stories, learn from each other and ask respectful questions!  There will be some tweaking of the page now and then, with new announcements posted, and hopefully the discussion board will be busy with your submissions and questions!

The site address is http://meeting.knet.ca/moodle/course/view.php?id=77.  It can also be found through the K-Net Meeting place website by clicking on the "Health" department and then finding "Sexual Health and Wellness" under the "Meeting Areas" heading.

Ian Wilson (aphextwin@shaw.ca), a youth volunteer scholar from British Columbia, is visiting the Sioux Lookout area for a four or five month period in the hope of sharing some of his knowledge and information with others. He is volunteering and working with Nishnawbe Aski Nation, Wahsa Distance Education Centre, Queen Elizabeth District High School and with the K-Net team. His online sharing circle provides a great opportunity for everyone to learn about healthy sexual behaviours and wellness. Please take the time to welcome Ian and share your stories and information about this important topic.

An impressive online multi-media presentation called "The Four Directions Teachings", found at http://www.fourdirectionsteachings.com, provides a rich resource for everyone to learn more about Aboriginal people, their understanding of their place on this earth and their relationship to all things.

From the Introduction ...

Four Directions Teachings celebrates Indigenous oral traditions by honoring the process of listening with intent as each elder or traditional teacher shares a teaching from their perspective on the richness and value of cultural traditions from their nation.

In honor of the timelessness of Indigenous oral traditions, audio narration is provided throughout the site, complimented by beautifully animated visuals. In addition, the site provides free curriculum packages for grades 1 to 12 to further explore the vast richness of knowledge and cultural philosophy that is introduced within each teaching. The curriculum is provided in downloadable PDF and can also be read online through the Teacher’s Resources link.

The elders and traditional teachers who have shared a teaching on this site were approached through a National Advisory Committee of Indigenous people concerned with the protection and promotion of Indigenous knowledge. This committee was formed directly for the purposes of this website to ensure a community based approach that was respectful and accountable.

Four DirectionsTeachings.com was made possible through the Canadian Culture Online Program of the Department of Canadian Heritage.

Be sure to check out http://www.fourdirectionsteachings.com/resources.html

The Toronto Star's Atkinson series provides another essay by Marie Wadden on an important issue facing our society where alcohol consumption (like smoking cirgarettes) seems to be an honoured right for young people (or so the corporations tell us in their ads) ... Fetal Alcohol Sprectrum Disorder or FASD.

From http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1163976614517&call_pageid=1096063291893&col=1096063291594

Troubled before they were born - Mothers' alcohol abuse leaves scars

Aboriginal kids face consequences - Nov. 20, 2006 - MARIE WADDEN - ATKINSON FELLOW

An impish Innu boy named J.B. Rich from an impoverished Labrador community might not appear to have much in common with the son of a former Canadian prime minister.

What Rich and Michel Chrétien share is the tragedy that befell them before they were born, ultimately leading to the destruction of one and the survival of the other.

Both came into the world — Michel in 1968 and Rich in 1989 — with a preventable brain disorder that has left a swath of destruction in its wake, particularly in the Aboriginal community. It occurred when alcohol their mothers drank seeped into the placenta and was absorbed by their developing brains, causing them to develop fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, or FASD.

The Canadian Pediatric Society says individuals with FASD have poor organizational skills, make poor choices and are unable to foresee the consequences of their actions. They are also impulsive, show inappropriate behaviour because they can't read social cues, are excessively friendly and lack inhibition. This makes them very difficult to parent.

Rich's brain damage caused him to repeatedly get in trouble with the law until he ended his own life. Michel Chrétien also got into a lot of trouble, but he sobered up, thanks to considerable financial and emotional support from his parents.

People with FASD have precarious lives that could turn from bad to worse on a dime. It's estimated that nine in 1,000 babies in Canada have FASD; it is believed to be much higher in many Aboriginal areas.

The extent of the problem has prompted some experts to fear for the cultural survival of some Aboriginal communities.

"If we don't act now we will end up with a lot of very dysfunctional individuals making decisions for their community, and because they are the majority, then things will really become very bleak for the community itself," says Dr. Ted Rosales, a pediatric geneticist who was one of the first Canadian specialists to take on the FASD challenge.

He first saw FASD in a non-Aboriginal community in Newfoundland 27 years ago. "I went into a delivery room in Grand Falls," he recalls, "and the smell of alcohol was so powerful you'd think it was a brewery. The baby had been soaking in alcohol throughout the pregnancy."

By the time that child and several of his brothers were teenagers they wound up in jail. Rosales learned a lot more about the condition, but his message of alcohol abstinence during pregnancy was rarely taken seriously.

Not very much was known about FASD in 1971 when Aline and Jean Chrétien adopted their son Michel from an orphanage in the Northwest Territories.

In fact, the term "fetal alcohol syndrome" was only coined two years later by researchers in Seattle who wrote up their findings in the medical journal, Lancet.

The antics of a 20-month-old-boy, playing in an Inuvik orphanage crib, caught the attention of Aline and her husband, who was then minister of Indian and northern affairs. They adopted the lively toddler who grew up beside their daughter France and son Hubert.

"Michel was beautiful," Aline Chrétien recalled as she spoke to me at an Ottawa reception in April. "We fell in love with him."

Michel Chrétien's birth mother, a Tetlit Gwich'in woman from Fort MacPherson, grew up in extreme poverty with 12 siblings. She was unaware of the consequences of drinking alcohol during pregnancy.

A recent study of Aboriginal health in Quebec suggests the awareness level is still low for young Aboriginal women. Aboriginal girls in that province, between the ages of 15-17, drink significantly more than boys of the same age and 62 per cent are sexually active.

There is little or no information in many Aboriginal high schools on birth control and FASD. Posters about the problem are usually in English, the second language of many First Nations and Inuit people.

Rosales saw first-hand the extent of the FASD problem in Aboriginal communities in 2001.

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`Aline and I have suffered when our son has suffered'

Jean Chrétien, former prime minister

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That's when 40 Labrador Innu children were evacuated to St. John's, Nfld., for routinely inhaling gas fumes from plastic bags. Rosales was asked to examine them. They were closely supervised for four months in Grace Hospital, which became a laboratory for one of the most heart-rending experiments in Canadian history.

"We did the best ever in terms of laboratory evaluation. We did all kinds of blood works, chromosome studies and cranial ultrasound, even MRI on some of them," Rosales says. "We concluded that 29 of these 40 children have FASD."

The children called the kindly doctor, who is a native of the Philippines, "Dr. Miyagi" (after a character in the Karate Kid movies) as he made his daily rounds in the locked-down facility. The situation was chaotic because, Rosales says, it's not a good idea to confine so many children with FASD in a single space.

Rosales says the ringleader of widespread mischief at the hospital was J.B. Rich, then 12 years old.

"He was the first one brave enough to call me Dr. Miyagi to my face," Rosales remembers with a smile. "You know, whatever came to his mind, he'd say. And if he thought of doing something, he went ahead and did it. He was always in the middle of trouble."

Michel Chrétien got into a lot of trouble too. He was convicted of impaired driving in Banff, Alta., in 1988 when he was 19.

"Poor Michel," his mother says. "He has an uncle who died from the disease of alcoholism. It's a real problem for him."

Two years later, he was charged with sexually assaulting a young woman in Montreal. His biological mother attended the trial with the Chrétiens.

Michel Chrétien spent two years in a maximum-security prison in Quebec and one year at a minimum-security prison in the Northwest Territories. When he was released, he rented a room in his birth mother's apartment in Yellowknife. After three years, that situation deteriorated and his birth mother accused the Chrétiens of being too indulgent with their adopted son.

Michel lived for a time in Regina where he was put on probation for throwing something at a child who upset him.

Bonnie Buxton, author of Damaged Angels: A Mother Discovers the Terrible Cost of Alcohol in Pregnancy, says addiction affects a majority of individuals with FASD. Nearly 60 per cent have trouble with the law; 80 per cent have trouble finding work and living independently while 95 per cent suffer a mental-health disorder.

In 2002, Michel Chrétien was exonerated on another sexual assault charge, but acknowledged his problems with drugs and alcohol in court. His father made a public statement.

"Aline and I have suffered when our son has suffered and have been deeply concerned by any harm that may have come to others as a result of his conduct. We are deeply discouraged by his apparent relapse. We have offered all of our care and support to him in good times and bad, and we will continue to stand with him."

In April, when I spoke to Aline Chrétien, Michel was living in a supportive Aboriginal community in Minnesota where he seems to have found the stability he needs to cope with his life-long disability.

"Jean, he loves that boy and says if we hadn't adopted him he'd probably be dead by now," his mother says. "Michel has been sober for six months and we are just hoping it will last."

J.B. Rich had not been as lucky.

After examining the Innu children, Rosales wrote a report recommending continuing care for those affected by FASD. Instead, he says, they were sent home after some counselling and solvent-abuse therapy.

Rosales next saw J.B. Rich four years later in a courtroom in Goose Bay, Labrador. The doctor sat there and listened to the litany of petty crimes the boy committed throughout his teens. He learned that Rich was in and out of the Goose Bay Correctional Centre, that his life was going nowhere. When it came time to take the witness stand in Rich's defence, Rosales lashed out at the officials who let this happen.

"If they had done what I had suggested, if he'd been given the community resources I said he'd need, this wouldn't have happened. I spelled it out. My recommendation was that all these children need ongoing lifelong resources and support. But my report never got any attention from the provincial, federal governments and local community. It (the treatment and testing) cost $6.5 million to do this and it was shelved."

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`My recommendation was that all these children need ongoing lifelong resources and support'

Dr. Ted Rosales, a pediatric geneticist

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It's not the waste of money that concerns Rosales. It's the waste of lives.

After testifying that day, Rosales spent some time with Rich.

"I asked how he was and whether he had a girlfriend and so forth," Rosales remembers. "He wasn't the same, not talkative at all. He was so changed. And I was really puzzled by that. Looking back, I think that it was dawning on him. Everything that was going wrong, and why."

The judge sentenced Rich to 40 days of community service. Several weeks after the trial, J.B. hanged himself. He was 17.

"A few weeks later his brother Charlie did the same," Rosales says. "Charlie also had FASD. I should have done more."

Both young men are buried now beside one another at the graveyard in Natuashish with identical wooden crosses decorated with plastic flowers, rosary beads and their baseball caps.

"I almost gave up doing diagnosis for the courts," the doctor says. "What's the point of having people like J.B. hear they have FASD if they are not going to get services to help them? But I have to keep diagnosing and talking about it because I want the children with FASD helped and I want mothers helped so they will stop drinking."

He thinks the best way to halt the spread of this condition is to raise the standard of living in Aboriginal communities and launch a public health campaign promoting alcohol abstinence on the scale of tobacco cessation programs in the south.

"From a public health point of view, that's the only program I know that will work," Rosales says. "Unless things are changed now, I think their very existence as a culture, as a very unique group of individuals, is really at stake."

Rosales spends some of his free time poring over portraits of Aboriginal people in museums and history books, looking for evidence of FASD in their past. He can't find it.

He looks closely at the space between the eyes; the upper lip and nose. People brain-damaged by intrauterine exposure to alcohol have characteristic facial conditions that Rosales can't find in the pictures he has examined.

He has concluded that prior to the 1950s the condition, if it existed, was indiscernible in Aboriginal societies.

"I've never seen an FASD face in the old pictures," he says of his informal historical research. "I'm certain it wasn't a problem for Aboriginal people in the past."

Rosales fears the very survival of Aboriginal cultures is threatened if the condition is not prevented. "If alcohol use during pregnancy is not stopped, the next generation will not have the brain capacity to appreciate their own culture as something they should be proud of," he says.

What's needed for those with FASD now, Rosales says, are individuals who can act as "second brains," helping loved ones and friends make better decisions.

In Sheshatshiu, an Innu nurse named Mary Pia Benuen does that for children affected with the condition. She keeps track of their progress in school, advocates for services and runs prevention programs. There isn't enough money in Aboriginal health budgets to ensure the same services are available everywhere they're needed.

Aline Chrétien is one of her son's "second brains."

"I bought Michel a computer recently," she says, "because he needed one. But I won't give him money in case he doesn't use it wisely. Jean and I talk to him a lot on the telephone. We love him very much."

Rosales has been so deeply affected by his work in Labrador he has postponed his retirement. In one community, he estimates as many as 35 per cent of the people have FASD — close to what he sees as a tipping point for cultural destruction in another generation or two. Michael Miltenberger, the minister of health for the Northwest Territories, says he believes FASD is just as widespread in Aboriginal communities there as well.

"You see how they have existed for a thousand and some years and then in a short period of time, 50 to 60 years, their whole culture and unique ways of life might go down the drain if this is not stopped," warns Rosales.

At last week's Chiefs of Ontario assembly, resolutions supporting the development and delivery of telehealth services and the necessary broadband connections to support telehealth applications were passed. These resolutions moved forward by two chiefs from Keewaytinook Okimakanak and supported by the chiefs in assembly.

The two resolutions are:

• CHIEFS OF ONTARIO SUPPORT FOR TELEHEALTH SERVICES
  • MOVED BY: Chief Royal Meekis, Deer Lake First Nation
  • SECONDED BY: Chief Tom Bressette, Kettle & Stoney Point First Nation
     
• CHIEFS OF ONTARIO SUPPORT FOR THE KUHKENAH NETWORK PARTNERSHIP WITH SMART SYSTEMS FOR HEALTH AGENCY
  • MOVED BY: Chief Joe Meekis, Keewaywin First Nation
  • SECONDED BY: Chief Arthur Moore, Constance Lake First Nation

Click here for copies of these two resolutions (PDF document) as they were presented to the chiefs for their consideration.

From http://66.244.236.251/article_9668.php

Ontario delaying mining legal battle: First Nation
By Angela Pacienza, The Canadian Press - Nov 18, 2006
 
TORONTO — Ontario’s refusal to sign off on an agreement that would kick-start negotiations between aboriginals and a mining company is hampering any resolution of the contentious dispute, a native spokesman says.

The Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug First Nation claims the provincial government is refusing to sign a basic consultation agreement would allow them to begin court-ordered talks with Toronto-based Platinex Inc.

The junior exploration company wants to drill in the Big Trout Lake area, some 600 kilometres north of Thunder Bay. While the proposed site is not on reserve land, it is within the aboriginal band’s traditional territory.

Northern Development and Mines Minister Rick Bartolucci’s signature would prove the government is sincere about wanting to resolve whether Platinex can drill on the remote, fly-in-only property, said band spokesman John Cutfeet.

“It is absolutely essential to demonstrate good faith and that they are actually trying to meet the standards by the decision of the judge,” he said.

While some preliminary talks have been held, the aboriginal band says meaningful negotiation can’t begin until the agreement is signed.

Bartolucci maintains that the document is still being written and that’s why he won’t sign.

“I am ensuring that our ministry is involving themselves in a very proactive way with ensuring that the protocol is in place,” said Bartolucci.

He added that the ministry has offered up a “considerable amount of money to help with those consultations.”

The case could have wider implications for exploration in the province’s mineral-rich north because the band is also challenging the Ontario Mining Act on constitutional grounds.

The band wants the act to mandate consultation with aboriginal people even before explorers go in search of gold, diamond and nickel deposits so that the mostly impoverished communities can reap some economic benefit from mining.

The dispute escalated earlier this year when protesters blocked an access road and landing strip, arguing the government had no right to grant Platinex a mining permit for their land.

Platinex filed a $10-billion suit and asked for a court order to remove the protesters. The band filed a countersuit and successfully obtained an temporary injunction prohibiting exploration on the land.

Superior Court Justice Patrick Smith gave the band, company and province five months to talk.

They’re all due back in court on Jan. 5.

Given the looming deadline, the government’s explanation that the agreement isn’t ready amounts to nothing more than a stalling tactic, said Cutfeet.

He said other provincial governments have had no qualms about signing similar documents as part of the normal protocol before beginning talks.

He pointed to the Blueberry River First Nations in British Columbia who inked a consultation agreement regarding the oil and gas sector last year.

NDP Leader Howard Hampton said the government needs to start working with First Nations people or all sides will lose out on potentially billions of dollars worth of mineral deposits on native property.

“The far north probably has some of the best mineral resources and mineral reserves in the world,” said Hampton, who represents the Northwestern Ontario riding of Kenora-Rainy River.

“But the First Nations correctly have said they are not prepared to allow any kind of mining development activity to happen unless and until there are real honest and actual consultation with the Ontario government.”

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Aboriginals say Ontario stalling on mining legal battle
 
TORONTO (Nov 18, 2006)

Ontario's refusal to sign off on an agreement that would kick-start negotiations between aboriginals and a mining company is hampering any resolution of the contentious dispute, a native spokesperson says.

The Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug First Nation claims the provincial government is refusing to sign a basic consultation agreement would allow them to begin court-ordered talks with Toronto-based Platinex Inc.

The junior exploration company wants to drill in the Big Trout Lake area, some 600 kilometres north of Thunder Bay. The proposed site is within the aboriginal band's traditional territory.