Media.Knet.Ca

Gospel Services at KC Hall on Friday August 24, Saturday August 25 and Sunday August 26.2007. Each night starting at 7PM.

The Speaker is Joe Campbell from Winnipeg.

For more info call 737-7323.(Roy)

OCAD press release ...

The Ontario College of Art & Design (OCAD) appoints The Honourable James K. Bartleman as new Chancellor

    TORONTO, Aug. 20 /CNW/ - The Ontario College of Art & Design (OCAD) is pleased to announce the appointment of The Honourable James K. Bartleman, as the university's new Chancellor. His Honour will complete his term as Lieutenant Governor of Ontario on September 5.

    Mr. Bartleman is OCAD's second Chancellor, succeeding Rosalie Sharp. "James Bartleman's outstanding record of public achievement is very much in keeping with OCAD's commitments to excellence, equity and service to the community at large," said OCAD Board of Governors Chair J. Anthony Caldwell. "We are deeply honoured that he has accepted this appointment and know that we will benefit greatly from his wisdom and experience in the coming years." OCAD President, Sara Diamond, commented, "In our new Chancellor we gain an articulate, accomplished and passionate leader in all forms of literacy; an internationalist and an individual who has made a significant difference in bettering the lives of aboriginal people. I look forward to working with The Honourable James K. Bartleman to further OCAD's efforts on these fronts as well as others."

    As the titular head of the university the Chancellor presides at convocation and confers degrees, and is an honorary member of the Board of Governors and of the President's Advisory Council. The Chancellor acts as an ambassador on behalf of the institution and works closely with the President in developing resource capacity and outreach activity.

    "OCAD has always been at the forefront of art and design education in Canada," said Mr. Bartleman. "As the next Chancellor, I am happy to be associated with Canada's largest and most exciting university of art and design. It is truly a privilege to encourage a new generation of talented artists and designers."

    Biography

    The Honourable James Karl Bartleman was sworn in as the 27th Lieutenant Governor of Ontario on March 7, 2002. He is the province's 41st vice-regal representative since John Graves Simcoe arrived in Upper Canada in 1792.

    His Honour identified three key priorities for his mandate: to eliminate the stigma of mental illness, to fight racism and discrimination, and to encourage aboriginal young people. In 2004 he launched the first Lieutenant Governor's Book Drive, which collected 1.2 million good used books for First Nations schools and Native Friendship Centres throughout Ontario. To further encourage literacy and bridge building, in 2005 His Honour launched a Twinning Program for Native and non-Native schools in Ontario and Nunavut, and established literacy summer camps in five northern First Nations communities as a pilot project. In 2006 he extended his literacy summer camps program to 28 fly-in communities and secured funding for five years, and he also launched Club Amick, a reading club for Native children in Ontario's North. In the winter of 2007, he completed a second Book Drive, collecting 900,000 books for aboriginal children in Ontario, northern Quebec and Nunavut.

    Upon his installation as Lieutenant Governor, Mr. Bartleman became Chancellor and a member of the Order of Ontario. He was promoted to Knight of Justice in the Order of St John in 2002 and received a National Aboriginal Achievement Award for public service in 1999. His Honour received the Dr. Hugh Lefave Award (2003) and the Courage to Come Back Award (2004) for his efforts to reduce the stigma of mental illness. In 2004 he also received the Phi Delta Kappa Educator of the Year Award and the DAREarts Cultural Award in recognition of the Lieutenant Governor's Book Program and was named a Paul Harris Fellow by Rotary International District 7090. Mr. Bartleman serves as Visitor to the University of Western Ontario and has received honorary doctorates from the University of Western Ontario, York University, Laurentian University, Queen's University, the University of Windsor, Ryerson University, McGill University, Nipissing University and Sir Wilfrid Laurier University. He is Honorary Patron of about 80 organizations.

    Mr. Bartleman has published four books, his most recent entitled Raisin Wine: A Boyhood in a Different Muskoka was published by McClelland & Stewart in March of this year.

    Mr. Bartleman had a distinguished career of more than 35 years in the Canadian foreign service. He was Canada's Ambassador to the European Union from 2000 to 2002 and served as High Commissioner to Australia in 1999-2000 and to South Africa in 1998-1999. From 1994 to 1998, Mr. Bartleman was Foreign Policy Advisor to the Prime Minister and Assistant Secretary to Foreign and Defence Policy, Privy Council Office. He was Ambassador to the North Atlantic Council of NATO from 1990 to 1994, Ambassador to Israel and High Commissioner to Cyprus from 1986 to 1990, and Ambassador to Cuba from 1981 to 1983. Mr. Bartleman opened Canada's first diplomatic mission in the newly independent People's Republic of Bangladesh in 1972 and served in senior positions in the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade from 1967.

    Born on 24 December 1939 in Orillia, Ontario, James Bartleman grew up in the Muskoka town of Port Carling and is a member of the Mnjikaning First Nation. Mr. Bartleman earned a BA (Hons) in History from University of Western Ontario in 1963. On a posting to Brussels, he met his wife Marie-Jeanne Rosillon. Together, they have three children.

    Ontario College of Art & Design

    The Ontario College of Art & Design (OCAD) is Canada's "university of the imagination." OCAD is dedicated to art and design education, practice and research and to knowledge and invention across a wide range of disciplines. The university is building on its traditional, studio-based strengths, adding new approaches to learning that champion cross-disciplinarity, collaboration and the integration of emerging technologies. In the Age of Imagination, OCAD community members will be uniquely qualified to act as catalysts for the next advances in culture, technology and quality of life for all Canadians.

For further information: To speak with His Honour, please contact Nanda Casucci-Byrne, Director, Office of the Lieutenant Governor, Province of Ontario, at (416) 325-7781. For more information contact Susan Lilholt, Acting Director, Marketing & Communications, Ontario College of Art & Design at (416) 977-6000 Ext. 486, or slilholt@ocad.ca

AHF press release ...

The Aboriginal Healing Foundation’s Latest Study Looks at the Potential Health and Social Impacts of Indian Residential School Lump Sum Payments

August 20, 2007

OTTAWA – The Aboriginal Healing Foundation’s latest research study, released today, has been prepared in anticipation of the imminent arrival of the $1.9 billion Common Experience Payments, a central component of Canada’s Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement.

Lump Sum Compensation Payments Research Project: The Circle Rechecks Itself assesses the impact of past compensation payments to Aboriginal people. The research consisted of two phases, a first-phase literature review and a second-phase key informant survey. The second phase involved 117 field interviews conducted across western and northwestern Canada.

Between 1892 and 1969, the Indian Residential School System operated across Canada through a partnership of the Federal Government and various church entities. Under federal law, “Indian,” Métis, and Inuit children were institutionalized in hostels, industrial schools, and residential schools for the purposes of Christianization and assimilation.

According to Aboriginal Healing Foundation Executive Director, Mike DeGagné, “this document presents the experiences and concerns of Indian residential school survivors, families, and community members in their own words. The goals and recommendations are grounded in community efforts to support healing, health, safety, and security.”

Today, Aboriginal communities are beginning to heal themselves from the historical legacy of physical and sexual abuse in residential school institutions, as well as the broader policies of removal of children, cultural engineering, and forcible assimilation.

“It’s not our business to tell people how to spend their compensation payments,” Mr. DeGagné added. “We have published this research because responses to crises, challenges, and opportunities developed by and for Aboriginal people are desperately needed. This study supports those recipients who will seek out practical and emotional support, whether it is trauma counseling, crisis management, investment advice, or entrepreneurship.”

The Aboriginal Healing Foundation is a not-for-profit, Aboriginal managed national funding agency which encourages and supports community-based healing efforts addressing the intergenerational legacy of physical and sexual abuse in Canada’s Indian Residential School System.

- 30 -

For more information: please contact Wayne Spear, Director of Communications: (613) 324-3278, (613) 237-4441 extension 237, or toll-free 1-888-725-8886.

AHF's Lump Sum Compensation Payments Study (Pdf)

From Empowering Our Little Sisters web site at http://www.empoweringsisters.com

Overview:

This volunteer based program focuses on urban Aboriginal girls ages 7 to 15 living in Winnipeg.

Delivered in partnership by Big Brothers, Big Sisters Winnipeg and various other community assets, our activities are focused on providing meaningful learning and cultural opportunities through positive activities, mentorship, friendship and relationship building to empower young girls to dream and achieve their goals.

Our mentorship program is focused on building meaningful relationships and learning opportunities for Aboriginal girls.

Our Mission:

Empower and aid in the self-development of Aboriginal girls through mentorship, relationship building, friendship, education and awareness on key life issues such as  bullying, healthy  lifestyles, cultural pride, self-esteem, and the importance of education.

Rationale:

Women and girls of Aboriginal descent represent a unique population with special needs. Aboriginal women are disproportionately represented among those adversely affected by poverty, teen pregnancy, school dropout, depression, stress, and single parenting.

As such, Empowering Our Little Sisters addresses the health, cultural, and social concerns of girls of Aboriginal descent for life enhancement.

Background:

Created by Aboriginal women, for our little sisters, all programs are delivered by volunteers and are free of charge. Anyone can participate in any Little Sister activities at any time.

Empowerment Principles:

•        Self-Knowledge
•        Self-Development
•        Self-Esteem

Mentorship opportunities include:

• Big Bunch group mentoring
• Community Matching
• Child Safety & Empowerment

Each month, girls and their mentors also gather for friendship and learning activities which include:

• Sharing Circles
• Crafts, Baking
• Story Telling
• Movies
• Workshops
• Guest Speakers
• Elder Teachings

Click here to watch the "Empowering Our Little Sisters" video featuring Susan Aglukark! (requires Quicktime)

From Thunder Bay Chronicle Journal ....

Leaders predict more tragic deaths unless governments fix aboriginal poverty
By STEVE LAMBERT - August 19, 2007

WINNIPEG (CP) - There will be more deaths like the recent drowning of a boy on a Manitoba reserve by three youngsters unless something is done about the social ills rampant on many native reserves, the head of an aboriginal child welfare agency warns.

"We allow kids to grow up in extreme poverty," says Elsie Flett, head of the First Nations of Southern Manitoba Child and Family Services Authority. "Why are we then surprised when these kids become violent? Society has really been very violent towards them."

The agency is one of four authorities in Manitoba assigned to protect children at risk of abuse or neglect. It covers a large area including the Pauingassi First Nation, 300 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg, where Adam Keeper, 6, died on Aug. 7.

"Who is interviewing Stephen Harper and his government?" Flett asked in an interview. "Who is saying, ’What are you doing about Pauingassi’?"

RCMP have said Keeper, who could not swim, was bullied into taking off his clothes and pushed into a lake by three boys, who are 7, 8 and 9 years old. His body was found hours later.

Aboriginal leaders have pointed to Pauingassi’s high rate of alcoholism, broken families, poor housing and grinding poverty as the root of violence in the community. Flett is prevented by law from revealing details about the drowning, which her agency is investigating, but news reports have suggested one of the boys involved suffers from fetal alcohol syndrome and another has been raised by his grandparents while his siblings have been in foster care.

Flett points to the 1996 report from the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, which warned that high rates of crime, suicide, addiction and violence will plague native communities until governments address native poverty.

"We have kids that go hungry. Up in Pauingassi ... food is just not affordable. Do we care about that? Do we do anything about that?"

Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl, who took over the portfolio as part of last week’s federal cabinet shuffle, was unavailable to comment. His predecessor, Jim Prentice, had promised that Ottawa would take concrete steps to improve living conditions on reserves.

The numbers of children coming through Flett’s agency and other native-run bodies is startling. Aboriginals make up 15 per cent of Manitoba’s population, yet account for 70 per cent of the province’s 7,000 children in the child-welfare system.

What remains unclear about Keeper’s death is how long the four boys, all under 10, were left to wander around without adult supervision.

Keeper is believed to have drowned sometime in the late afternoon. His father found his body after a community search was organized in the evening.

It’s not unusual for young children to be left to their own devices, said Pauingassi Chief Harold Crow.

"Kids are kids. Kids have the freedom to move around," he said.

"The community is a remote area and we have all kinds of surrounding bush and the lake, and I guess (Keeper and the other boys) were far out into the covered area."

Children have died or been injured while on their own on other reserves. Last January, a five-year-old boy from the Cumberland House First Nation in northeastern Saskatchewan was killed by a pack of dogs near his home. His body was found lying on the road sometime later.

Last November, a five-year-old boy died in a similar dog attack on the North Tallcree reserve in northern Alberta. His body was also found on the road.

Last September, an 11-year-old girl from the Chemawawin Cree Nation in central Manitoba was severely burned when she and some other kids were engaged in a dangerous game involving bug spray and a lighter.

Child protection laws vary from province to province. Manitoba requires adult supervision for any child under 12.

Flett is quick to point out that poor parenting is not exclusive to reserves, but adds that life in a disadvantage, remote community can be a strain for the best of parents.

"If you’re a single parent ... and you’re living in a community like Pauingassi where there is no bus, there is no taxi, doing your laundry and getting groceries becomes a major, major issue," she said.

"How do you then say to that mom, ’You should know where every single one of your kids is all the time’?"

Couchiching First Nation Chief Chuck McPherson speaks about the Fort Frances Chiefs Secretariat Education Jurisdiction Transfer Initiative that includes 8 participating First Nations in the following video presentation.

In his presentation Chief McPherson highlights the fact that for far too long First Nations have been purchasing educational services and now they will be able to own and manage these services for themselves.

Click here to watch the video presentation ...

In December 2006, the Information and Information Technology Strategy Group in the Ontario Ministry of Government Services issued a “Call for Working Papers” to provide a state-of-the-art look at supporting the utilization of broadband for social and economic development in the Ontario context.  The papers are to be an integral part of a process of “open dialogue where interested community, academic, government and private sector partners can share perspectives, raise questions, discuss strategies for growth, and consider the challenges for public policy, government service delivery and economic and community development.”

The resulting papers are now online under the title "Toward a Broadband Research Agenda for Ontario". They include:

Cultivating Innovation in Farm Families and Rural Communities: Capacity Development for Broadband Use in Southern Ontario [abstract] [paper]

• Helen Hambly, Ph.D., Associate Professor, School of Environmental Design and Rural Development, University of Guelph
• Laxmi Pant, Ph.D. Candidate, School of Environmental Design and Rural Development, University of Guelph
• Peter Sykanda, M.Sc.
• John Fitzsimons, Ph.D., Associate Professor, School of Environmental Design and Rural Development, University of Guelph  

Broadband as a Commons [abstract] [paper]

• Ricardo Ramirez, Ph.D., Communication Consultant and Adjunct Professor, School of Environmental Design and Rural Development, University of Guelph
• Garth Graham, Independent Consultant, Telecommunities Canada, Victoria, BC
• Fred G. Bigham, Independent Consultant; Former CRTC staff member, Ottawa
• Dan Pellerin, Principal Consultant, Innovative Community Technologies. Sioux Lookout, ON

The K-Net Deployment Model: How a Community-Based Network Integrates Public, Private and Not-for-Profit Sectors to Support Remote and Under-Served Communities in Ontario [abstract] [paper]

• Adam Fiser, Ph.D. Candidate, Faculty of Information Studies, University of Toronto
• Andrew Clement, Ph.D., Professor, Faculty of Information Studies, University of Toronto  

Broadband Technology and Urban Sustainability: An Interpretive Review [abstract] [paper]

• Ron N. Buliung, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, University of Toronto at Mississauga  

Learning from the Leaders: Understanding the Benefits of Broadband [abstract] [paper]

• Catherine A. Middleton, Ph.D., Associate Professor, School of Information Technology Management, Faculty of Business, Ryerson University  

Social Network Transactional Geomatics Services for Participatory Democracy and Sustainable Development: Opportunities, Issues and Design Implications [abstract] [paper]

• Tom Brenner, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, School of Social Work, Renison College, University of Waterloo
• Donald D. Cowan, Ph.D., Director, The Computer Systems Group, School of Computer Science, University of Waterloo
• Brian Harvey, Ph.D., Chair, School of Business, Conestoga College Institute of Technology & Advanced Learning
• Fred McGarry, CEO, The Centre for Community Mapping, Cambridge, Ontario
• Dan D. P. McCarthy Ph.D., Environment and Resource Studies, University of Waterloo
• Stephen D. Murphy, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Environment and Resource Studies, University of Waterloo  

Broadband Infrastructure: Identity Management Strategies for Appropriate Access [abstract]

• Todd W. Sands, B.Sc., Ph.D., Executive Director & Technology Strategist, Centre for Smart Community Innovation, University of Windsor
• Jorgen S. Moller, B.Sc. (Electronics & Telecommunications), President, Advanced Network Technology Corporation
• Darren W. Durocher, BCS, Network & Systems Specialist, Centre for Smart Community Innovation, University of Windsor  

'Network Neutrality' vs 'Network Diversity': Survey of the Debate and Implications for Broadband as an Essential Service for Ontarians [abstract] [paper]

• Graham Longford, Ph.D., Canadian Research Alliance for Community Innovation and Networking (CRACIN), Community Wireless Infrastructure Research Project (CWIRP), Faculty of Information Studies, University of Toronto  

Broadband for the Growth Research Agenda [abstract] [paper]

• Charles H. Davis, Ph.D., E.S., Rogers Sr. Research Chair, Faculty of Communication and Rogers Communications Centre, Ryerson University
• Florin Vladica, MBA, Doctoral Student, Joint Program, Rogers Communications Centre, Ryerson University

Gospel Services at KC Hall, Sioux Lookout, ON. August 18 &19, 2007. 7PM nightly. 10AM Sunday. Speaker: Lott Thunder. Call 737-7323 Roy Anderson for info.

This particular editorial, as well as the CBC story below, is very timely as we sadly report the untimely and probably preventable deaths of two more friends and residents of Health Canada's "Sioux Lookout Health Zone". Cameron Sainnawap of Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug passed away earlier this week. Last night, Julie Kejick of Lac Seul First Nation also passed away. 

Editorial from Canadian Medical Association Journal ...
CMAJ • August 14, 2007; 177 (4). doi:10.1503/cmaj.070950.

Jordan's Principle, governments' paralysis
Noni MacDonald, MD MSc* and Amir Attaran, LLB PhD

Section Editor, Public Health, CMAJ* Canada Research Chair in Law, Population Health and Global Development Policy University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ont. For the Editorial-Writing Team (Paul C. Hébert, Matthew Stanbrook, Barbara Sibbald and Ken Flegel)

Children are vulnerable members of our society. They are voiceless in decision-making, subject to the judgments and actions of others. First Nations people are also vulnerable — victims of ill-will and broken promises and suffering from the worst social, economic and health conditions in Canada.

So imagine the unenviable situation to be a First Nations child, very sick and living on a reserve where there are minimal children's services.

"Jordan" was a child with a rare neuromuscular disorder born in 1999 on the Norway House Cree Nation reserve in northern Manitoba.1 His complex medical needs could not be managed there, so he was referred for treatment to Winnipeg. As his illness progressed, he became wheelchair-bound, ventilator dependent and unable to speak.

By 2001, Jordan's hospital caregivers decided to discharge him to specialized foster home care near to his home reserve. Both his physicians and family agreed that this decision was best for Jordan. Then, the bureaucrats ruined it. The federal and Manitoba governments could not agree on who was financially responsible for Jordan's care. Bickering erupted: over foster care, transportation to clinic — even over tiny items, like a showerhead. For over 2 years, warring bureaucrats left no stone unthrown.

This intergovernmental dispute only stopped when — you guessed it — Jordan died from his underlying disease in a Winnipeg hospital, far from his family and community. No one has been held accountable for blocking Jordan's care closer to home.

Canada is a party to the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, a treaty that states: "In all actions concerning children, whether undertaken by public or private social welfare institutions, courts of law, administrative authorities or legislative bodies, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration."2

Jordan's interests fell a distant second; intergovernmental squabbling over the duty to pay came first. Canada contravened this treaty.

Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms forbids discrimination. Many of the services Jordan needed would be paid for without question for a white Manitoban, or off-reserve Aboriginal resident. It was Jordan's living on-reserve that caused the bureaucracy to choke. That is discrimination pure and simple.

Canada's constitution recognizes and affirms Aboriginal and treaty rights. The Supreme Court in 1984 declared "the Government has the responsibility to act in a fiduciary capacity with respect to aboriginal peoples," in a relationship that "is trust-like, rather than adversarial." One wonders how this obligation was met by the bureaucrats who allowed Jordan to live and then die in the Winnipeg hospital far from his loved ones, while the adversarial turf war raged.

Other First Nations children with complex medical needs are frequently caught in this bureaucratic nightmare. Last March, the families of 37 profoundly disabled Norway House Cree Nation children were told that funds for further health professional and support services in their community would cease.3 Families wanting health care for their children were forced to send them away — likely forever.

Those who defend the status quo say that Canada's geography makes health care delivery for complex chronic illness difficult and costly. The same critics usually omit to mention that Canada's geography — its petroleum, timber, minerals and waterways, much of it within First Nations' traditional territory — also makes it wealthy. Geography is no excuse for the pusillanimous, inequitable distribution of wealth, such that advanced care exists only in the south and First Nations children, parents and communities endure psychological and cultural stress to access it. The point isn't what portion of the cost the federal, territorial and provincial governments each pay but, rather, that the wrangling stop so that the right care, at the right place, at the right times can be provided for people on First Nations' reserves.

Today the CMAJ endorses what is called "Jordan's Principle" (www.fncfcs.com/more/jordansPrinciple.php). Consistent with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, we endorse putting the medical needs of First Nations' children first. We also make this recommendation: that if the provincial, territorial and federal governments ignore Jordan's Principle and entangle themselves in financial or jurisdictional battles first, then governments deserve to be sued, in the most winnable test case that First Nations' advocates can manage. Let the courts decide, if the bureaucrats and politicians continue to refuse to find a timely resolution.

Footnotes

Acknowledgements: We acknowledge the contributions to this editorial of Cindy Blackstock MM, Executive Director, First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada, Ottawa; Bradford W. Morse LLM, Professor of Law, University of Ottawa; and Jeff Reading PhD PHS, Scientific Director, CIHR Institute for Aboriginal Peoples' Health, University of Victoria, Victoria.

REFERENCES

• Lavallee TL. Honouring Jordan: Putting First Nations children first and funding fights second. J Paediatr Child Health 2005;10:527-9.
• United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Available: www.ohchr.org/english/law/pdf/crc.pdf (accessed 2007 Jul 9).
• Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs. Disabled children lose services because governments won't pay. Available: www.manitobachiefs.com/press/norway-house.pdf (accessed 2007 June 18).

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From CBC News online ...

Sue for fair medical treatment, CMA editorial tells First Nations
August 16, 2007

First Nation governments should sue to receive fair medical treatment, said an editorial published Tuesday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

"The bleeding sore on Canada and its human rights record is how very little consideration First Nations get for basic needs," said editorial co-author and University of Ottawa law professor Amir Attaran.

In the editorial titled "Jordon's Principle, governments' paralysis," Attan and co-writer Dr. Noni MacDonald urged the federal, provincial and territorial governments to pay medical treatment bills for First Nations children, then argue over who foots the tab once treatment is given.

This concept is called "Jordan's Principle" after a Manitoba child who had a rare neuromuscular disorder and died in a Winnipeg hospital at the age of four while the federal and Manitoban governments argued over who would pay his medical bills.

Attaran said it's a shame that governments argue over who should pay for complex medical expenses while aboriginal children die and their families suffer.

He cited the case of McKenzie Olsen, a 12-year-old boy from the Nacho Nyak Dun First Nation in Mayo, Yukon.

Olsen has Hurler-Scheie Syndrome, a disease causing toxins to build up in cells, leading to progressive damage to bones, joints, the heart and respiratory and central nervous systems. His treatments cost up to $17,000 a week, and the province of Alberta, where Olsen now lives, will only pay 40 per cent of the costs, claiming that his medical bills are a federal responsibility.

Attaran said that First Nation families like the Olsens need to take the issue to court in order to prevent the deaths of aboriginal children from a lack of medical treatment while governments squabble over the bills. 

"[MacKenzie] and his family are hostages to the indifference and inefficiencies of bureaucratic processes, and I expect they're only going to get a final decision on McKenzie's treatment if they go all the way to a trial and judgment," he said.

If the governments are unsure of their responsibility, Attaran said, they merely need to look at the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms, which guarantees equal treatment for all Canadians, and let common sense prevail.

In an interview with CBC Radio he issued a warning to government officials about treating First Nation children differently.

Attaran said, "Anyone listening to the broadcast who works for the territorial government, the provincial one, the federal one, mark these words well, it's the advice of the leading medical journal in Canada that you'll be sued if you do not provide the treatment that First Nation children require."

From Thunder Bay Chroncile Journal ...

Aboriginal physician travels world to study shamans, healers for new TV series
By LISA ARROWSMITH - August 14, 2007

EDMONTON (CP) - Sick with the flu, Dr. Daniele Behn Smith felt a ripple of fear as she stood on the outskirts of a tribal trance dance in Namibia and waited for a whirling, zombie-like medicine man to touch her chest.

The aboriginal doctor, 27 years old when she joined the healing ceremony of the African San people in September 2006, was a long way from the northeastern British Columbia community of Fort Nelson where she was born.

That’s where she’d started her eight-month journey to document the world’s indigenous healers, shamans and medicine people. The project explored how their knowledge could relate to modern medicine for a new television series called Medicine Woman, to be broadcast this fall in Canada on Vision TV.

The previous day, Behn Smith had attended a ceremony where the medicine man had tried to heal a sick baby. He went into what she thought was a frightening trance as members of the tiny community clapped and chanted to help him commune with the spirit world.

Battling stomach cramps and diarrhea, Behn Smith had been ducking out every few minutes to relieve herself as the camera crew filmed the latest ceremony. Now the healer was going around the circle, from person to person, and Behn Smith grew afraid as her turn approached.

"He came up to me and did his singing and dancing around me and put his hand on my chest," she said in an interview from her home in Dawson City, Yukon, where she now has a family practice.

"From that moment forward, my stomach was fine. Everything was fine. My body was completely healed."

It was just one of several life-changing experiences for Behn Smith, a member of the Eh-Cho Dene, as she travelled to 10 countries and several continents - from the fringe of the Arctic Circle to the jungles of Asia and the grasslands of Africa - to learn about traditional healing.

Filming began last August in Behn Smith’s hometown of Fort Nelson, B.C., and wrapped up in February in Saskatchewan.

The doctor, who grew up in Winnipeg, saw many things. The power of herbs from Celtic herbalist and Druid arch-priestess Gina McGarry in Ireland. The healing energy of Ruben Orellana Neira, a Peruvian archeologist, who discovered new digs at Machu Picchu, and established the Kamaquen Healing Center in Peru’s Urubamba Valley.

But the same thread ran through every mystical or healing experience.

"I knew that there was this fundamental connection and understanding among indigenous people about what true health is, and that there is this connection with an energy greater than ourselves that needs to be acknowledged," Behn Smith said.

There were also the not-so-mystical experiences such as going head-to-head with a five-centimetre-long cockroach that invaded her hotel bathroom in Sri Lanka.

She didn’t feel very spiritual as she tried to batter the giant bug with a pink slipper, finally summoning the courage to crunch it with a heavy hiking boot.

"I had to summon all of my strength to go back in and hit this cockroach over the head, which I did, and killed it. That took all my energy so I couldn’t even bring myself to scoop it up."

She didn’t shower for five days, fearing retribution by giant members of the bug’s cockroach clan.

"They fly!" she exclaimed. "If I’d known that, I would have slept in our van."

Her healing experiences have changed her in subtle ways that her patients in Dawson City may not detect, Behn Smith said.

"I don’t go in trying to heal people or affect change. I go in praying to the Creator that the Creator will use me that day to try and honour someone else’s experience."

But filming the series has also forced her to take a more holistic approach. She now says she recognizes that some health problems - and the state of the planet - may be related to a lack of spiritual and social well-being or a failure to recognize that all living things are connected.

Shirley Cheechoo, an award-winning Ontario-based Cree director, actor and playwright, was recruited to direct the series at a pitch session in Cannes a couple of years ago. Australian co-producer Norm Wilkinson of Visionquest Entertainment had been kicking around the idea for a few years and approached her.

Cheechoo well remembers meeting the Peruvian healer.

"He came up to me and said, ’You better go home and take care of your liver.’ I came home ... and discovered that I had problems with my liver," said Cheechoo in an interview from Manitoulin Island, Ont.

"It struck me, how did he know that just by looking at me?"

Gerry Sperling, executive producer for Regina-based 4 Square Productions, raised the $1.5-million cost of the Australian co-production and set off on a quest to narrow the field of 20 potential aboriginal show hosts.

"They had to be female, beautiful, young and they had to be an M.D.," Sperling said. "I think the aboriginal community should be proud that they had so many aboriginal female doctors out there."

With U.S. and international distribution deals either inked or in the works, Sperling said the show should have universal appeal. "People are looking for alternative ways to treat themselves, and ancient ways to treat themselves, and this is what happens in the series."

The series will also be broadcast on APTN and SCN in Canada.