Media.Knet.Ca

From Aboriginal Healing Foundation announcements

Storytelling Gathering for Survivors of Residential School November 17, 18 & 19, 2006, Brantford, Ontario

(OTTAWA, Ontario, October 3, 2006) – The Legacy of Hope Foundation (http://www.wherearethechildren.ca/en/lhf.html) will be recording stories from Residential School Survivors across Canada. This Storytelling Gathering will occur from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on November 17, 18 & 19, 2006 at the Best Western Brant Park Inn, 19 Holiday Drive, Brantford, Ontario. These audio/video recordings will be the basis for a national book project, entitled “ Our Stories…Our Strength”, a commemoration to Residential School Survivors. There is no cost to attend, although participants must cover their own travel costs to the event, as well as the cost of accommodations. The Legacy of Hope Foundation will provide refreshments and a lunch at no cost.

Students who attended Residential School will have a unique opportunity to record their experience. The Legacy of Hope Foundation has embarked on a landmark project to collect and compile the stories of first generation Survivors into a book, a DVD and other educational resources. The project, Our Stories … Our Strength, will use storytelling as a method to build a history of this neglected part of Canada’s past. This project is a response to an often-heard request for a book to commemorate the legacy of the residential school experience. The aim of the project is to honour and commemorate Survivors and to promote greater understanding and reconciliation between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people.

For more information or to register contact Laura Milonas at the Legacy of Hope Foundation: (613) 237-4441, ext. 331 or toll-free 1-877-553-7177.

- 30 -

From http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/subscriber/local/story/3711844p-4291037c.html

Manitoba native leaders heading to Bolivia

Wed Oct 4 2006
By Carol Sanders (carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca)
 
Manitoba chiefs looking for strength in numbers are travelling to Bolivia this weekend for the Continental Gathering of Indigenous Peoples.

Dennis Meeches of Long Plain First Nation, Terry Nelson of Roseau River Anishinabe First Nation, traditional dancers and drummers from Long Plain and the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs' political adviser, Don Clarke, leave Sunday for the five-day conference in La Paz, Bolivia.

The Continental Gathering is also a celebration of Bolivia electing its first indigenous leader, President Evo Morales. His leadership is a beacon for aboriginal people around the world who've been colonized and disenfranchised, said Clarke. It's a symbol of hope and also expected to give indigenous companies and First Nations an inside track on trade with that country, he said.

"It's creating some huge opportunities for some of our expertise to be shared," Clarke said.

Bolivia and other South American countries are mineral rich, and First Nations in Canada have experience working with industry to develop resources.

"We as First Nations have lots of experience in mining, forestry and oil and gas -- these are experiences we want to share with the Bolivian government," said Clarke. "We're interested in enhancing Canadian trade in Bolivia, which is about $50 million Canadian."
 
And countries like Bolivia can teach First Nations here a thing or two, he said.

"We're learning from their being colonized and disenfranchised -- what models can we apply here for cultural retention and preserving their languages? They're working through what the dominant society has thrust on them," said Clarke. "They're strengthening their (indigenous) languages. What low-cost, effective strategies do they have to help us maintain our culture and identity?"

Next week's conference in Bolivia draws indigenous people from throughout the Americas to join forces socially and culturally, as well as economically. The trip is being funded by the AMC, tribal organizations, First Nations and businesses, said Clarke.

At the conference in Bolivia, Nelson will be showing a video entitled Not So Gentle Neighbour (watch the video online at http://www.streamreel.com/archives/aim/aim_gentle.htm) that illustrates the strained relationship between the Canadian government and aboriginal people. His message is that indigenous people can become independent of their governments through international trade and investment.

The Manitoba chiefs have been working toward forging closer ties with Latin America.

Last month, the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs announced it was opening an office in Santiago, Chile to create a permanent presence in Latin America.

In January, the Manitoba chiefs voted to set up an international relations department with a trade and investment adviser on the ground in Chile and Ecuador, said Clarke.

From http://www.timminspress.com/webapp/sitepages/content.asp?contentid=214225&catname=Local News&classif=

Cochrane holds global conference

Michael Peeling - Monday, October 02, 2006

A place that's home to a boreal forest will play host to a conference on the subject.

The first annual Boreal Conference began Sunday night at Cochrane's new Tim Horton Event Centre, with opening ceremonies to welcome 250 delegates from around the world and talk about the boreal forests of North America.

The three-day conference, hosted by Lake Abitibi Model Forest and the Canadian Institute of Forestry focuses on the science behind the forest as experts on the subject speak about their "real-life experiences in planning, operations and policy-making from across the North American boreal forest," according to the event's agenda. "There are a lot of dynamics in our forests; factors affecting our forests such as climate change, globalization in the marketplace and competitiveness" said Wayne Young, general manager of Lake Abitibi Model Forest.

"We see a lot of dynamic change in the boreal forest. We thought it was a great opportunity to hold a conference here in the actual boreal forest to discuss the issues around the boreal forest."

Young said conferences like this are usually held in Toronto and Montreal. The most recent he attended was the 10th annual National Forest Congress in Gatineau, Que.

Two years ago, Young sat down with an advisory panel of about nine people to develop topic ideas and discuss possible venues.

The panel grew into an organizing committee of 12, which includes Peggy Smith of the faculty of forestry at Lakehead University, Rob Galloway, regional director of the Ministry of Natural Resources in South Porcupine, and George Bruemmer, formerly of Tembec, executive director of Natural Resources Canada's Canadian Forest Service-sponsored Fibre Centre.

As one of the hosts of the event, the Canadian Institute of Forestry decided to hold its annual general meeting at Cedar Meadows to coincide with the first Boreal Conference.

Young said the conference will focus on four main themes, the first being climate change, which will be the first topic of discussion this morning with talks by experts including professor David Pearson of Laurentian University and associate professor Debra Davidson of University of Alberta.

"We see climate change as one of the biggest challenges facing the boreal forest," Young said. "Not only the forests themselves, but the communities associated with the forest."

The second set of sessions, held this afternoon, will explore globalization and community sustainability in the boreal forest with the guidance of the likes of Professor Luc Bouthillier of Laval University and Chief Tammy Cook-Searson of Lac La Ronge Indian Band in Saskatchewan.

"With a changing marketplace, we're seeing mill closures ... so how do we deal with globalization in the marketplace and the (affected) communities like Smooth Rock Falls," Young said.

Tuesday's themes will be natural disturbance-based management - meaning how should forestry experts deal with factors such as fire, wind, diseases and insects that affect the boreal forest - and balancing protection and use, which looks at whether or not we are protecting enough of the forest and if we have enough forest to produce enough commercial fibre for the mills.

"I think we're unique in this conference in that we've scheduled 45 minutes for group discussions from the floor," Young said.

"What we're hoping to do is generate some dialogue within the forest community from across Canada, not only about what the issues are, but to find out what we can do about them."

The 250 delegates attending the conference include foresters, forest managers, forest researchers from all 10 provinces, industrial forest managers from Abitibi-Consolidated and Tembec, First Nations leaders, community leaders such as Cochrane mayor Lawrence Martin and 50 forestry students from University of Toronto and Lakehead University.

"We've got a good youth contingency coming to the conference ... young people that will ultimately make the decisions in the future," Young said. "Hopefully they'll have an opportunity to learn and put that to good use in the future."

On Wednesday all of the delegates will be treated to a ride on the Polar Bear Express train from Cochrane to Moose Factory so that they "can experience a traditional First Nation community and (eat) a meal of moose and goose.

"We'll have speakers who can talk about what the delegates see out the windows of the train as it travels through a good chunk of the boreal forest."

Details about the Boreal Conference 2006 can be found at www.borealconference2006.ca

From http://www.timminspress.com/webapp/sitepages/content.asp?contentid=215666&catname=Local%20News&classif=

Foster-care concerns a poignant reminder of residential schools; Speaker draws the parallel at child-abuse prevention event - Scott Paradis - Tuesday, October 03, 2006

The strain residential schools put on Aboriginal communities in the past is echoed today in foster care services, a representative for an Aboriginal child and family group said Monday. Cindy Blackstock, executive director of the First Nations Child & Family Caring Society of Canada, was the keynote speaker at the Timmins Native Friendship Centre Monday, for this year's purple ribbon campaign.

The ribbon campaign marks the 14th annual Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention and Awareness Month, held each year in October.

"In 1949, at the height of the government's use of residential schools, there were 9,000 children taken from their homes," Blackstock said.

"Our best estimate is there are now between 23,000 and 28,000 children away from their homes and in foster care."

Of that number, about 9,000 Aboriginal children in foster care are from First Nation communities, she said.

Blackstock has done the math and said in 2004, children "from the reserve spent collectively two million nights away from home."

There are four main reasons for children, both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal, being taken from their families and placed into foster care, she said.

They are: Physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse and neglect. Non-Aboriginal children are usually taken from their homes because of the three abuses, However, Aboriginal children are commonly taken away because of neglect, she said.

"When people think neglect, they think the parents don't have the right parenting skills," she said.

However, Blackstock said, studies her group is involved with show that parenting skills have little to do with the so-called neglect problem.

"It has more to do with poverty and a lack of access to social programs," she said.

Blackstock said she could teach parenting skills to almost any parent - but without money, they likely couldn't benefit from them. "You can give them the recipe, but they can't make anything without the groceries," she said.

Blackstock said she doesn't live in a "utopian world," and understands that some children are better off away from home.

That fact doesn't excuse the excessive numbers of children being taken away from their families, she said.

The First Nations Child & Family Caring Society of Canada developed a method for average Canadians to help improve Aboriginal child care, and Blackstock said it takes less than 15 minutes.

Details of the 15-minute program are available on the group's website, www.fncaringsociety.com

This year's purple ribbon campaign is the first time Child and Family Services Timmins and District has partnered with the Timmins Native Friendship Center.

Richard Lambert-Belanger, executive director of Child and Family Services Timmins and District, said he has high hopes for the partnership and hopes to see it continue in future campaigns.

Groups have just begun handing out the purple ribbons, and on one blitz alone auxiliary members of the OPP and Timmins Police Service handed out 3,000 of them.

"It wasn't a fundraiser," Lambert-Belanger said. "But people donated anyway and we raised more than $1,000."

As for the purple ribbon itself, he calls it "a symbolic beacon," and hopes people wear it throughout the entire month of October, not just the day they receive it.

From http://www.wetaskiwintimes.com/News/257887.html

United Nations to visit Hobbema - Nick Puhjera - Monday October 02, 2006

Times Staff  —  Delegates from around the world will converge on Hobbema, spotlighting the plight of aboriginal people.

The event marks the first time the United Nations is holding a meeting on First Nations territory and comes as good news to former Wetaskiwin MP Willie Littlechild, a member of the UN permanent forum on indigenous issues.

“Canada should be leading the way (in terms of treaties). We’re going to put our heads together,” he said.

The theme of the meeting is best practices -- practical strategies and practices for the implementation of treaties, agreements and other constructive arrangements between states and indigenous peoples.

Originally scheduled for September, the meeting has been postponed until November.

Questions which will be asked include: What is the indigenous understanding of treaties and what would be the Cree understanding of treaties?

The high-security meeting will feature a delegation of 40 to 50 experts, with approximately 200 attendees in all.
In the public eye, treaties are seen as a problem, Littlechild agreed.

“Treaties are a partnership (which) sadly (have) been overlooked. Treaties are seen as a problem. We have existing modern treaties, pre-Confederation treaties.”

He noted the Canadian Constitution is the document which calls the Canadian people to respect treaties.

Littlechild agreed the recent water crisis at the Kashechewan Cree First Nations community in Northern Ontario is just one example of a so-called emergency issue.

Whether in Northern Ontario or Hobbema, the problems affecting First Nations are ultimately linked with treaties.

“I’m (at Hobbema) quite a lot. Whether it’s health, housing or education, every emerging issue which has (surfaced) as an emergency issue is treaty-related.”

The Canadian response is often “reactive instead of proactive. A lot of these issues can be prevented before they become an emergency.”

The use of the meeting will also be educational. Littlechild cited the admirable treaty education program in Saskatchewan as one Alberta could emulate.

“In Saskatchewan they have a very good treaty education component. Not just indigenous peoples, but all children (must learn it).

People must not be discouraged that progress regarding First Nations may come slowly. The convention on the rights of the child took 27 years to agree upon, he said.

“It is possible for people to come together. We can respect both individual and collective rights.”

Maskwacis Cree political analyst and UN working group co-ordinator Marlene Buffalo also commented on the significance of the meeting.

“For the Muskwacis Cree, it’s the culmination of their 30 years of work on treaties. It’s really an opportunity to have their concerns addressed,” she said.

But the history goes much farther than just three decades. “It’s a follow-up on the recommendations that were made on the treaty report by special rapporteur Miguel Alfonso Martinez. He was instrumental in preparing the final work in the treaty study.”

Buffalo said the seminar will be educational as well.

“I agree it’s an opportunity to become aware of the intricacies of the work that has transpired from the treaty study to now. Our work involving human rights has been 30 years but Treaty 6 was (signed) in the 19th century. The Indian people are not going away.”

There are more than 370 million indigenous people worldwide.

Nishnawbe Aski Nation press release ...

NAN Chief demands action before another Kashechewan

     THUNDER BAY, ON, Oct. 3 /CNW/ - Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) Grand Chief Stan Beardy supports Marten Falls First Nation Chief Eli Moonias as he demands immediate rectification of a water and sewer emergency declared by he and council after a July sewage spill in the remote, fly-in community approximately 500 km northeast of Thunder Bay.

     "Our concern is the danger of the continuing spillage of effluent into the pristine Albany River threatening to contaminate our water intake which is downstream from the spill," said Eli Moonias, Chief of Marten Falls First Nation also known as Ogoki Post and one of 49 First Nation communities part of NAN.

     "Myself and the council realized the danger back in July and reported it immediately to the provincial spill agency which in turn advised INAC, Health Canada, and the federal department of the Environment," he added. "Despite recommendations from an Environmental Health Officer, federal government agencies didn't act with the urgency required in matters of health and instead are using regular bureaucratic processes causing delays in repairs and long-term upgrades."

     Moonias' comments come after a July 17th sewage spill occurred upstream of the water intake in his community of approximately 300 people - similar to the situation that led to the presence of e-coli in the drinking water in Kashechewan First Nation and subsequent evacuation of 1,700 people last October.

     The July 2006 sewage spill was a result of a lightning strike to the lift station of the water treatment plant destroying its automatic function. As a temporary fix, the community operator ran the lift station manually, however shut-downs caused by over-heating resulted in sewage overflows, a subsequent spill into the Albany River September 8th, and continued raw sewage overflow still occurring today.

     In addition to this year's sewage overflow and spills, turbidity, slow filtration rates, and the lack of capacity of the current water treatment plant not only resulted in a boil water advisory one year prior, but continues to deteriorate water quality in Marten Falls today.

     The lacking capacity of the current water treatment plant forces the community to shut it down overnight in order for it to fill enough to circulate properly. Limited to no water is available during this time, increasing the community's vulnerability to fire.

     "The federal government wants to fix this problem with a business-as-usual attitude and since Marten Falls isn't on the INAC priority list of communities with most-urgent need of repairs for water and sewer, it could be years before an upgrade is done to satisfy and rectify the whole situation," said Moonias, adding water plant upgrades typically take three years to complete once on the list.

     "If this isn't going to be recognized as an emergency situation by the feds, we really have no other choice but to go about having it fixed ourselves because the longer we wait the more chance there is for contamination to occur, especially due to the limited filtration capacity. The danger of something like the crisis of Kashechewan happening in Marten Falls is growing daily."

     In a September 25th letter Health Canada advised boiling drinking water must continue in Marten Falls and recommended bottled water be made available to all members of the community until necessary repairs are made to the water treatment plant.

     It's expected Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) will follow up to Health Canada's recommendation. INAC was aware of a boil water advisory in the community one year prior to the July 2006 spill.

     "It's almost one year since the evacuations of Kashechewan and we said then it was just the tip of the iceberg in terms of faulty water treatment plants and design flaws across NAN territory," said NAN Grand Chief Stan Beardy who represents NAN communities within James Bay Treaty 9, including Kashechewan and Marten Falls. "It seems like every solution is simply a band-aid on top of another band-aid which clearly isn't working and costing governments more in the long-run."

     Beardy's comments come about one month after the Safe Drinking Water Panel concluded its public hearings across Canada. The panel did not visit any NAN First Nation communities directly.

-30-

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

From http://www.anglicanjournal.com/issues/2006/132/oct/08/article/former-students-urge-fairness-in-settlement/

Former students urge fairness in settlement

Marites N. Sison, Staff Writer, Oct 1, 2006

Ten former students of Indian residential schools, among them former Keewatin bishop Gordon Beardy, took the podium on the last day of the Ontario hearing for the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement and raised objections to parts of the deal struck this year between the federal government, churches and some native groups.

Bishop Beardy, who is Oji-Cree, said the agreement’s provision limiting the Common Experience Payment (CEP) to all residential schools students who were alive as of May 30, 2005 was “unacceptable.”

“To those of us with family members who died before May 30, 2005, this is not acceptable for us,” he said. Bishop Beardy had three siblings who attended residential schools: Tommy Albert, who died in 1987, Martha Lavina Kakepetum, who died in 2002 and Maurice, who disappeared 40 years ago. Tommy returned from residential schools “a very angry man,” said Bishop Beardy; Maurice was “stabbed and sexually abused and came back home for awhile and then left and disappeared,” and Martha went to the Pelican Falls residential school at a “very young age” and stayed there for six or seven years, he said.

Bishop Beardy, who was the first to approach the podium of the courtroom packed with former students who had suffered abuse while in residential schools, also took issue with the list of schools covered by the agreement, saying it was incomplete.

He also told Ontario Superior Court Justice Warren Winkler, who presided over the three-day hearing, that the government must address the “serious concern” about missing records of former students. He said that there are students, some in their 80s, who have been told by government employees that there is no record of their attendance in residential schools. (Anglican church negotiators had also earlier raised this concern.)

“Some of them were those who fled and escaped because of the abuse and stayed for a year and they don’t speak English,” he told Justice Winkler, “Our people are poor and struggling, I ask you to seriously consider our concerns.”

Rev. Andrew Wesley, a Cree priest who runs the urban native ministry of Toronto’s Church of the Redeemer, also raised the issue of missing records, citing his own experience.

“I myself requested my records and received a letter saying I never did attend the residential schools,” said Mr. Wesley. “But I did my time for 10 years.” Mr. Wesley attended the Anglican-run Bishop Horden Hall residential school in Moose Fort, Moose Factory, and the Roman Catholic-run St. Anne residential school in Fort Albany, both in northern Ontario. Mr. Wesley, who said he suffered abuse in residential schools, said he at least has a copy of a school report card, which had been kept by his parents. There are many others who have nothing, he said.

Two other objectors raised the issue of missing students who never returned from the schools and whose parents wonder, to this day, what became of them. The issue of missing students is not mentioned in the agreement.

“Nobody has mentioned the children that passed away or weren’t sent home. Some weren’t even registered,” a teary-eyed Shirley Roach said. “There should be a recognition of them because they were there and their parents never saw them again.”

Other objections focused on the amount of the CEP (the agreement provides a payment of $10,000 plus $3,000 for each additional year spent in residential school), which some referred to as “unjust” and “not enough to compensate for the pain” that they went through. There were an additional 100 written objections submitted to the Ontario court.

In response, government lawyers said that the amount was “the best we could get” and was a “step in the right direction.”

During the hearing, Justice Winkler clarified a concern raised by some former students who said that lawyers had informed them that aging claimants who received the advance CEP of $8,000 are to repay the money in the event that the agreement is not finalized. The agreement must be approved by nine provincial courts to become final (Ontario’s was the first court to examine the deal).

“No one is required to pay the $8,000 back. It’s a demonstration of good will,” said the government lawyers, in response to a query made by Justice Winkler.

At the hearing, one of the government’s lawyers, Paul Vickery, presented Justice Winkler with an affidavit that set out the government’s plan for achieving the agreement’s goal of having 2,500 hearings each year for cases involving physical and sexual abuse that will undergo the Independent Assessment Process. Earlier,  Justice Winkler had questioned how “realistic” the goal was.

The affidavit specified the government’s “current planning assumptions,” which include the hiring of 445 people to implement the process.

In an interview, Ellie Johnson, who represented the Anglican Church of Canada in negotiations for the revised agreement, said the affidavit did not address the issue of missing student records. Ms. Johnson, the church’s former acting general secretary, called the situation “very unfair” and said that while CEP claimants may appeal a national administration committee, those who have filed for advance payment have no such recourse.

“One of our jobs is to be ready with our (church) records if the attendance records are not found. There might be photographs that can help. People will need alternatives,” she said in an interview.

Justice Winkler said he was not certain whether to issue his ruling on the agreement before or after the eight other courts are done with their own hearings. The last hearing is scheduled Oct. 17 at the Supreme Court of the Yukon.

From http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20060926.RTELCO26/TPStory/Business

POSTED ON 26/09/06

Groups can appeal CRTC phone overpayment decision - SIMON TUCK

OTTAWA -- Consumers scored a legal win yesterday when the Federal Court of Appeal granted permission to appeal a CRTC decision to not return $652.7-million in overpayments to telephone customers.

The federal telecommunications regulator ruled in February that the telephone companies would be allowed to use the money for specific projects, such as new high-speed Internet services in rural and remote communities, that are deemed to be in the public's interest.

But just a few weeks after the ruling, consumer groups such as the National Anti-Poverty Organization and the Consumers Association of Canada sought leave to appeal the CRTC decision. With their win today, the consumer groups will now file the appeal documents with the Federal Court of Appeal. A hearing and decision are expected next year.

"We are pleased to have a chance to convince the court the money should be returned to consumers," said Michael Janigan, general counsel for the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, which represented the consumer groups in the proceeding.

The overpayments, which amount to about $50 per telephone customer, are the result of a 2002 effort by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to encourage competition in the local phone services market by making rates high enough to attract new entrants. In effect, a cushion was built into the rates and the companies were told to put some of the money into so-called deferral accounts.

Despite that effort, however, the incumbents continue to dominate local service.

The expansion of high-speed Internet services has been a federal government priority for at least five years, although Ottawa has yet to allocate enough money to provide access in most rural and remote communities. As of last year, Canada had fallen to sixth among the 30 countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development in the provision of broadband access, down from second place just a few years earlier.

Most urban residents have a choice of broadband providers, with most high-speed customers choosing a telephone or cable company. Most remote communities, however, do not yet have access to the service, which many analysts and government officials argue is quickly becoming essential.

Some consumer groups say that does not change their view that overcharged customers should get a refund. They argued that none of the money belongs to the phone companies -- or the regulator -- and that most subscribers will not benefit from the expansion of services they already get.

From http://ogov.newswire.ca/ontario/GPOE/2006/09/27/c2421.html?lmatch=&lang=_e.html

More Ontarians To Benefit From Faster, Easier Access To Services

TORONTO, Sept. 27 /CNW/ - More Ontario families are benefiting from better access to government services now that they can go online to use an all-in-one application to register their child's birth, apply for a birth certificate and a Social Insurance Number, or request a marriage or death certificate, announced Premier Dalton McGuinty.

Also,

Premier McGuinty was at Women's College Hospital today to unveil the government's plan to put more services online. As of today, people can go to www.serviceontario.ca to apply for marriage and death certificates. These new online services will soon come with a money-back guarantee.

Visit http://www.serviceontario.ca for more information

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