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Thirteen students participated in Oshki-Pimache-O-Win's first graduation ceremonies on Friday, September 7. Three different programs had successful graduates completing all the program requirements. The programs included General Educational Development (GED), First Nations Business Administration and Aboriginal Community Services Worker.

The entire graduation ceremony was webcast and is now archived. Click here to view video archived graduation ceremony.

National Chief Phil Fontaine appeals to everyone to send a message to the Canadian government to change their position opposing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples that will be voted on this week. Below is the National Chiefs' public appeal as well a global petition organized by the Grand Council of the Crees and Amnesty International Canada in support of the Declaration. Please consider signing the petition ...

Assembly of First Nations
To: All First Nations Chiefs of Canada

Ontario Power Authority press release ...

Remote Ontario First Nation Communities get first Energy Conservation Kits
7/9/07

INAC press release ... 

Canada's government supports Northern Ontario Aboriginal tourism centre

     CONSTANCE LAKE FIRST NATION, ON, Sept. 6 /CNW Telbec/ - The Honourable Chuck Strahl, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians, and the Honourable Tony Clement, Minister of Health and Minister for FedNor congratulate the Constance Lake First Nation on the opening of its $12 million Eagle's Earth Cree and Ojibway Historical Centre.

Request for Proposals

HOSTING OF THE 5TH ANNUAL YOUTH SYMPOSIUM ENVIRONMENT

The Ontario First Nations Young Peoples Council (OFNYPC) is mandated to host an annual youth symposium and is an excellent opportunity for youth to network and learn from one another regarding issues they face.  The theme for the 2007 Youth Symposium will focus on the Environment. 

Interested First Nations youth groups in Nishnawbe Aski Nation are encouraged to submit a written proposal to bid for hosting the 5th Annual Youth Symposium.  In an effort to assist with bid submissions, the attached background information on OFNYPC and its past symposiums is attached for further review.  

Request for Proposal (RFP)

A written proposal should include the following information:

Host Information

1. Statement of Interest; please include why your youth group is interested in hosting the symposium, and what assets and strengths your youth group and host community will contribute to the annual symposium (please limit statement of interest to 250 words).
2. Name, description and location of the youth group and community bidding to host the conference. 
3. Letter of support and/or resolution from Chief and Band Council approving the youth group to make the bid.
4. Name and key contact information of the youth group.  To assist with the communication process, the lead contact and group must have access to telephone, fax, email including MSN or AOL Instant Messages.  The proposal must clearly demonstrate that the youth leader and group must have suitable qualifications as well as a strong commitment to devote time and effort to help plan for the annual symposium.
5. Names and contact numbers of the Host Community Planning Committee.
6. Name and contact of key finance persons responsible to manage the contract agreement i.e. financial arrangements for the symposium.
7. The conference must be held by the end of March 31st, 2008.  The date of the symposium is suggested for the last week of February 2008. Alternative dates may be considered to accommodate the host community.
8. A description of the conference planning details including a proposed agenda, suggested workshops and environment related events. 
9. Description of host group ability to contribute financially and in kind to the symposium. Will the host group set aside funds or fundraise to contribute to the symposium?
10. Description of a plan for Elders’ support for the duration of the symposium.
11. Conference planning must consider the diversity of all First Nations in Ontario.
12. All conference details are subject to OFNYPC approval.

Site Information

Description of the conference site requirements must include:

• Capacity for 300 youth delegates and at least 10 presenters;
• Multiple meeting rooms for plenary and breakout sessions;
• Good lighting, heating and access to electrical outlets at facilities;
• A list of accommodations available, public and private;
• Room rates and conference rate discounts if available;
• Description of accommodations and bathroom facilities;
• Description of kitchen, dining, cafeteria, and banquet facilities and/or other areas for meals;
• Shuttle and ground transportation services;
• List of youth volunteers and community supporters;
• Distance from accommodations to conference site;
• Logistics, map, and history of the community; 
• List of security and protection services;
• A good sound system with microphones;
• Proposed budget: please prepare a budget that includes accommodation, meals, meeting rooms, equipment, security, cleaning and setting up costs, ground transportation, and any other costs included with hosting the symposium

Local Resources Available

1. A description of area resources that can be tapped into for the environment related events;
2. A description of cultural and traditional activities, inclusive and mindful of the diversity of First Nations cultures, traditions and languages in Ontario; please include a listing of 5 workshops you think should be essential in the conference agenda. OFNYPC will approve final agenda.
3. Community catering services to provide healthy and wholesome meals snacks including traditional foods, a meal plan must be submitted and OFNYPC must approve final bid;
4. A clean ground site to host a sacred fire and or sacred rituals or customary practices;
5. Emergency and medical services;
6. Description of 3-5 local attractions to be used as possible entertainment sites-must be drug and alcohol free;
7. Traditional and cultural activities and other healthy recreational sporting events;
8. Interpreters and translations service a definite asset;
9. Local traditional knowledge practitioners knowledgeable on environment issues.

Proposals must be submitted by September 30th, 2007

The proposals will be reviewed and approved by October 7th 2007 and notification will be made shortly thereafter in order that the successful youth group can proceed with conference planning with the OFNYPC Coordinator. Upon preliminary selection, a site visit may be arranged. 

To be considered as conference site host, please submit proposal to:
 
Laura Calm-Wind
Chiefs of Ontario – Youth Coordinator

Chiefs of Ontario (Thunder Bay Office)
RR#4, Suite 101 Anemki Dr.
Fort William First Nations Office Complex
Thunder Bay, Ontario P7J 1A5
Tel: (807) 626-9339    Fax: (807) 626-9404
laura@coo.org

Website: www.chiefs-of-ontario.org

Click here for all the background information about previous gatherings

Press release ...

CBC Radio Focuses on Native Issues this Tuesday as Aboriginal Author Takes Straight Aim at Native Issues

Listeners of CBC radio will want to tune in tomorrow morning to find out more about some new radical approaches to deal with long-time Aboriginal issues.

CBC National Radio will broadcast their popular morning show, Our Native Land, at 10:00 am tomorrow morning, Tuesday, September 4, 10:30 am in Newfoundland. The show will feature an exceptional special guest or two, and is the first in a series focusing on Canadian issues.

The CBC Roundtable will focus on Calvin Helin, the author of Dances with Dependency. He is considered one of the emerging stars on the Aboriginal front who is not afraid to say exactly what he thinks when it comes to Native affairs.

A Vancouver lawyer and businessman, Helin is adamant that economic independence should be at the forefront of Aboriginal thought.

He, along with leaders, such as Chief Clarence Louis of the Osoyoss First Nation in B.C. and Patrick Brazeau, the national Chief of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, all share the view that it is time for the federal Indian Act to be scrapped and First Nations to take control of their own economic future.

Helin and Louis both made their positions known in an article that appeared in the national news magazine, MacLeans, in late August. According to the article, Helin, for one, calls for an Aboriginal ‘glasnost’ after the policy of openness and freer information initiated by Mikhail Gorbachev in late-Soviet Russia.

To Helin, a Tsimshian raised in the coastal village of Lax Kw’alaams and educated in Victoria and the Lower Mainland, nothing should be off-bounds.

Aboriginal self-governance? “Meaningless,” he says, so long as it is federally funded.

Helin sees a crisis on the horizon.

The Aboriginal population is growing seven times as fast as the mainstream population, according to the article. Meanwhile, the Metis are winning court challenges that establish the same rights and benefits as status Indians.

“Canada can’t sustain the current level of funding to the growing Aboriginal population at a time when a third of the Canadian population is set to retire; there has to be another way.”

And for those who want to know more, Helin’s book, Dances with Dependency, is available. In it, he blasts the so-called Indian industry, the lawyers, consultants and governments who prosper from Aboriginal misery. But his real venom is reserved for Native chiefs. He alleges a great many of them are not interested in anything but keeping the federal gravy train rolling along.

“Right now, all the chiefs ask is: who are we going to blame for this? That’s not a solution. At this stage of the game the useful question is: what are you going to do about it?”

He will bring these views and what he sees as possible solutions to the roundtable. Other guests include Dan Christmas from the Membertou First Nation and Ellen Gabriel, a Quebec activist.

++++++

From Macleans.ca ...

An aboriginal 'glasnost' - On the Osoyoos reserve in the Okanagan, "real warriors hold a bjob!" is the motto
NANCY MACDONALD - September 3, 2007

There is no housing shortage on the 13,000-hectare Osoyoos reserve, tucked deep in B.C.'s bone-dry interior. Nor are there any apparent signs of poverty. In fact, some of the fanciest facilities in this corner of the Okanagan Valley are on band land. The Osoyoos Indian Band's school and health centre are more architecturally advanced than anything in neighbouring Oliver or Osoyoos -- a tourist town that swells from 5,000 to 20,000 during summer. And the adobe-style Spirit Ridge resort, perched high above Lake Osoyoos, offers the best views, by far, of desert and turquoise waters. They've even got the best public art: massive metal sculptures by U.S. artist Virgil "Smoker" Marchand. Truly, the 440-member band puts the surrounding towns to shame -- a cheerful inversion of the Canadian standard.

Blame it on the chief. When Clarence Louie was first elected in 1984, at age 24, the Osoyoos were bankrupt. Like most native bands, they were marooned on marginal land, and crippled by welfare dependency and sky-high unemployment. Health problems as well as social pathologies -- corruption, violence -- were rampant. Two decades on, the tiny band is a regional powerhouse, pumping an annual $40 million into the B.C. economy. It owns nine businesses, including an award-winning winery, and is the biggest employer in the south Okanagan. And its tough-talking chief and CEO is fast becoming a national icon. "We're no longer the ghetto next door," says Louie, 47, nodding toward two non-native women sweeping the Nk'Mip winery's brick patio.

"Across the country, Aboriginal leaders know: if you want to start a development project, you go pay Chief Louie a visit," says Liberal-era Indian affairs minister Bob Nault, who is still firmly plugged into the Aboriginal community. "He probably gets more phone calls than any native leader in the country."

Louie spends one week of every month on the road, preaching the business gospel to mixed audiences. On this day, there are 50 speaking invites piled on the desk of his wood-panelled office in the band's modest corporate headquarters, near Oliver. "I don't give the usual Indian speech: that we fly with the eagles, run with the buffalo, swim with the salmon and beat with one heartbeat," he says. "I want to talk about creating jobs and making money." Blaming government? That time is over, he tells cross-country audiences. Join the real world. Get off welfare. Quit your sniffling. If your life sucks it's because you suck. Our ancestors worked for a living; so should you. To the irritation of some band members, diluted versions of these mantras -- such as "Real Warriors Hold A Job!" -- are posted on burgundy-and-white signs across the reserve. Louie is a provocateur; he lives to offend.

But there is a broader verse here. Louie is part of an emerging group of distinguished Aboriginals and native leaders who are advocating a complete native mind shift. Echoing the critic and wit H.L. Mencken, these dissenters, who include Patrick Brazeau, national chief of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, and Vancouver lawyer and businessperson Calvin Helin, argue that economic independence is the only freedom worth a damn. They call for an end to the system of federal dependency that has crippled Aboriginal peoples, and advocate progress through integration into the mainstream economy.

Helin, for one, calls for an Aboriginal "glasnost," after the policy of openness and freer information initiated by Mikhail Gorbachev in late-Soviet Russia. To Helin, a Tsimshian raised in the coastal village of Lax Kw'alaams and educated in Victoria and the Lower Mainland, nothing should be off-bounds. Aboriginal self-governance? "Meaningless," he says, so long as it is federally funded. The timing is right: Helin sees a crisis on the horizon. The Aboriginal population is growing seven times as fast as the mainstream population. Meanwhile, the Métis are winning court challenges that establish the same rights and benefits as status Indians. He says Canada can't sustain the current level of funding to the growing Aboriginal population at a time when a third of the Canadian population is set to retire; there has to be another way.

The Osoyoos present a shining alternative. From the start, Louie's kept eyes trained on the bottom line. His first major success came early, when he turned around the band's small but heavily indebted vineyard. For a year, Louie let the operation bleed while he quietly analyzed it. He pinpointed its structural flaws, fired its ineffectual manager, and in 1986, the winery announced its first profit. In 1987, as the vineyard doled out its first round of employee benefits, Louie launched a construction company. Ten years later, the Osoyoos were rolling out the big-ticket businesses: a $30-million hillside resort; a $9-million cultural centre, which offers rattlesnake interpretive sessions and hiking trails through the hills; a $3-million destination winery overlooking Osoyoos Lake; a golf course and a ready-mix concrete plant. (The band has also partnered in the Mount Baldy ski development, and its 400-hectare vineyards supply grapes to vintners such as Jackson-Triggs and Mission Hill.) "It would have been easier to do what a lot of bands do, and just chase federal government grant programs," says Louie. "It's tougher running businesses. But we're going from welfare to work."

Not all bands are located on tourist tracks like Napa North. Still, a quarter of First Nations should be pursuing his strategy, says Louie. "Some oil-money bands bring in tens of millions in royalties. But their people are sitting at Great Depression unemployment rates, year after year." Instead of doling out billions in "negative spending" -- on jails, alcohol treatment centres, healing lodges -- we have to get the economic wheel turning, he says.

Two years ago, Louie made it to an Assembly of First Nations meeting, his first in 20 years as chief. "I only went because it was the first time the grand chief was hosting a conference on economic development. Every year, $9 billion is spent on Aboriginals. Two per cent of that goes toward economic development. The rest goes to social spending. That's been the formula for 100 years. Where has that gotten us? Absolute poverty."

Helin would agree. In Dances with Dependency, a book he published last year, he blasts the so-called Indian industry, the lawyers, consultants and government bureaucrats who prosper from Aboriginal misery. But his real venom is reserved for native chiefs. He alleges a great many aren't interested in anything but keeping the federal gravy train rolling. "Right now, all the chiefs ask is: who are we going to blame for this? That's not a solution. At this stage of the game the useful question is: what are you going to do about it?"

To Patrick Brazeau, it is a problem of "too many" chiefs. He argues that Canada's 633 native communities should be slashed to 60. The Indian Act? Scrapped, and the $9 billion in annual Aboriginal spending redirected. Right now, the lion's share is funnelled to on-reserve natives; meanwhile, 51 per cent of status Indians live off-reserve. Brazeau backs the Tories -- remarkable for a native leader. Since becoming national chief of CAP in 2006, the 32-year-old has been stepping on some toes. "In Ottawa there's only one Aboriginal organization that means anything," says Nault. "Patrick Brazeau is changing that."

He is a thorn in the side of Phil Fontaine, grand chief of the Assembly of First Nations. The two organizations have been at loggerheads since 2001, when CAP supported the controversial First Nations governance bill, which would have required bands to adopt minimum standards of accountability, such as holding regular elections and publishing financial records. The split deepened in 2005, when CAP opposed the failed Kelowna accord because accountability structures weren't built into the $5-billion deal.

"We need that governance act reintroduced," Don Sandberg, Aboriginal policy fellow for the Frontier Centre for Public Policy, says from remote Saskatchewan. He is partway through a two-year Aboriginal governance survey for the Winnipeg-based think tank. A Canadian first, it's not winning him friends. In July, he was ordered off the St. Theresa Point First Nation, a 3,000-member northern Manitoba community. Sandberg says its chief, who functions as band mayor, police chief, judge and jury, didn't like his line of inquiry. This is not the first time Sandberg has felt the strong arm of a chief. Ten years ago he was thrown off his home reserve, the Norway House Cree Nation, for speaking out against the dysfunction and corruption he witnessed. He has no rights in Norway House; he cannot access social services, or vote.

For a long time, he was just a voice in the wilderness. No more. "The mavericks are coming at this from different angles, but they're all saying the same thing: the status quo isn't going to get them anywhere," says Nault. "And they're right."

This blockade has the support of local non-native residents in the region.

From the Kingston Whig-Standard ...

Mine protesters spurn injunction
Steve Serviss - September 01, 2007

More than 200 native and nonnative people shouted down a sheriff who was delivering a court order that called for the immediate removal of a blockade at a proposed uranium mine north of Sharbot Lake.

Superior Court Justice Gordon Thomson had issued the written order Monday.

Yesterday, two sheriffs, escorted by Ontario Provincial Police, were met on the road outside the mine by Ardoch and Shabot Obaadjiwan First Nations warriors who would not allow the court officers on the property. The mine is located off Highway 509 about 12 kilometres north of Sharbot Lake.

The court order was delivered verbally by a sheriff standing on the road in front of the crowd, most of whom were blocking the mine entrance. As the sheriff issued the order, the crowd drummed, chanted and yelled.

Shabot Obaadjiwan war chief Earl Badour, who oversees the security of the protesters at the site, said he met the officers with a group of about 24 warriors.

"I said to them we were not speaking," said Badour.

Badour then signalled for the native flag to be turned upside down as a symbolic gesture that "all natives are in distress. And the government has put them all in distress," he said.

After the order was delivered, the sheriffs left, with the police escort. Because of the blockade, they did not attempt to post the order on the fence.

The group of protesters, both native and non-native, numbered about 200. Native leaders have said they want a peaceful resolution through negotiations and not through court injunctions.

They also say they are not leaving. Residents and Algonquins oppose the mining site because of environmental concerns such as potential contamination of the water table.

The Algonquins also say the provincial government was wrong to have allowed the mining company, Frontenac Ventures, to prospect for uranium on the site because the land belongs to the aboriginals.

Frontenac Ventures is suing the Algonquins for $77 million and is seeking a court injunction to have the protesters removed from the land. The interim injunction order issued this week stands until a full hearing Sept. 20.

The OPP said they have no plans to move in on the protesters this weekend. They visited the site yesterday to assist the sheriff's office, said OPP Const. Paige Whiting.

The OPP will continue to keep officers posted on Highway 509. If they intend on taking any action, including negotiations, Whiting said, police will contact native leaders.

"The OPP will keep open lines of communication and consult all parties involved," said Whiting. "There will be no hasty action at this time."

The blockade began June 29. Police have since brought in a command post, a large OPP trailer, which is located at the Sharbot Lake detachment.

Whiting said the OPP has also supplemented its local roster with officers from neighbouring counties because monitoring the blockade requires additional staff.

"Fortunately, it's been peaceful," she said.

The OPP will continue to consult with lawyers to determine its future plans.

Algonquin war chief Badour said his group will continue a "non-confrontational" approach and welcome more talks with police and the government, but on its terms and outside of court.

The Algonquins' attempts to bring the premier and the province into direct negotiations over the uranium site have been unsuccessful.

The protests have also caught the attention of an organization that works to conserve peace. Members of the Christian Peacemakers Team International visited the site yesterday. Co-director Doug Pritchard said his group will discuss whether to become involved.

"Our mission is violence reduction and to achieve peace," said Pritchard.

The group is already assisting aboriginal groups in Kenora who are embroiled in a logging dispute.

As the peacemaker group decides if it will become involved, more area residents are supporting the blockade even in the wake of the injunction order.

Perth resident John Miller opposes the uranium mine and visits the blockade three to four times a week .

"I have been here since the beginning of the altercation to give the First Nations support for their action," said Miller.

He worries about the environmental impacts of a uranium mine and plans to continue to support the First Nations groups going forward. Area resident Linda Harvey, a retired family physician, also adamantly supports the First Nations' blockade because of the environmental impact of the proposed mine. If required, she is willing to make a statement by joining the fight on the front line. "I am absolutely behind the blockade," she said. "If the [First Nations] are taken out, then we'll come in."

The relationship between the natives and non-natives over this issue is clearly strengthening.

Badour has been at the site for 61 days, leads the warriors, and says he can call on other native groups for support. Though he is the war chief, Badour said his role is one of protector, a role that also extends to the local residents, also referred to as settlers.

"My role is to protect my chief, my people and the settlers," said Badour.

Local support by residents is having an affect. At the mine site, about 80 vehicles lined the roads for the protest yesterday. Many non-natives wore bright yellow T-shirts with a slogan "no uranium mine, there is a better solution."

In the hours that passed after the officers had left, the crowd seemed jubilant and relaxed. Several rings of people gathered outside the mine gates recounting the sheriff's visit.

People snapped photos of each other arm in arm, some shared cigarettes, others took a video they admitted they would share with friends. They even rushed over to listen to a radio report that recounted the action.

All the while, people and vehicles flowed in and out of the mine site, each time defying the court order.

Inside the gates, there are several outbuildings of the decommissioned Robertson mine. The Algonquins occupy a small construction trailer and several tents, and depending on the time of day, there are anywhere from 10 to 50 people inside.

Outside the gates, there are five tents for sleeping, two porta-potties and a larger tent used for meetings where native leaders remained in discussions following the departure of police.

Most of the talk late in the afternoon centred on the Ardoch Algonquins' weekend powwow. People were heading over to set up at that site, about six kilometres away. Police planned to have their auxiliary run security for the event, as for any other local event. sserviss@thewhig.com

25th Annual Native Art Contest

Peace Hills Trust takes pride in encouraging Native artists to develop, preserve and express their culture through their art contest.

Prizes include:

Adult Categories

• 1st $2,500
• 2nd $1,500
• 3rd $1,000

Youth Categories

• 1st $150
• 2nd $100
• 3rd $75

Information ...

The entry deadline is Friday, September 7th, 2007.

For more information, please call (780) 421-1606 or 1-800-661-6549.

Visit www.peacehills.com/upload/docs/pad.pdf to download an entry form.

From Toronto Star ...

Hydro plan generates controversy
Ian Urquhart - Aug 31, 2007

In the current debate over Ontario's future choices for electricity, coal and nuclear are often demonized while hydroelectric power is portrayed as saintly.

After all, hydro is clean and green, with zero greenhouse gas emissions and a relatively low cost.

Not surprisingly then, the government's electricity planning agency – the Ontario Power Authority – included significant additions to the province's hydro capacity as part of its latest plan to keep the lights on in the province over the next 20 years.

The plan, released this week, is the third attempt by the power authority to provide a road map for the province to wean itself off coal without increasing reliance on nuclear power. The two previous plans were found wanting by the government, especially in the areas of conservation and "renewable" energy (primarily hydro and wind).

So in an effort to be more environmentally sound, the power authority's new plan includes almost 3,000 more megawatts from hydroelectric power, which is about the equivalent of a nuclear plant.

But environmental soundness is in the eye of the beholder. Back in the 1970s, for instance, major hydroelectric initiatives like the James Bay projects in Quebec were vehemently opposed by environmentalists on the grounds that the dams would flood vast plots of land and disrupt flora and fauna.

In 1972, the Sierra Club produced a book on the Quebec projects called The Plot to Drown the North Woods describing them as "a brutal assault on nature." Flash forward to today, when the Ontario Power Authority envisions new hydro dams on several northeastern Ontario rivers, including the Albany.

Located north of the 51st parallel, the Albany runs 980 kilometres through Precambrian shield in a series of falls and rapids from Lake St. Joseph to James Bay. The flooding that would result from a dam on the river would be even worse than on the Quebec side of James Bay as the vertical drop is not nearly as big.

Nevertheless, wouldn't environmentalists support such projects today, given that more hydroelectricity would enable the province to close the coal-fired power plants or opt for fewer nuclear reactors?

No, according to Keith Stewart of World Wildlife Fund Canada. He said the environmental groups have discussed this trade-off among themselves and decided they still have to oppose major new hydroelectric dams.

There is another problem with hydroelectric projects in northeastern Ontario: the land belongs to aboriginal peoples.

The Albany, for example, runs through the Eabametoong First Nation at Fort Hope and the Marten Falls First Nation at Ogoki.

I contacted Chief Sol Atlookan of the Eabametoong First Nation yesterday. He said it was the first he had heard of a proposal for a hydro dam on the Albany and expressed concern that it would show up in a government plan without prior consultation.

Brian Hay of the power authority said he had spoken to other representatives of First Nations in the Albany River area but conceded: "There's still a lot of consultation to be done."

Hay also described the Albany project as more of "a high-level concept" than a concrete proposal.

In other words, it has a lot of hurdles left to clear.

Energy Minister Dwight Duncan acknowledged this in an interview. "But we have to look at every available opportunity," he added.

Fair enough, but these new hydroelectric projects may prove to be more in the category of pipe dreams than opportunities.

From CBC News ...

NDP Leader Jack Layton says Ottawa needs to deal with social issues in North
Canadian Press - August 31, 2007

YELLOWKNIFE (CP) - Prime Minister Stephen Harper needs to take more steps to deal with economic, social and environmental concerns in Canada's north, says NDP Leader Jack Layton.

Wrapping up a tour that included stops in Iqaluit, Pangnirtung and Cambridge Bay, Layton said Friday the Harper government is taking the wrong approach to Arctic sovereignty.

"Let's not put so much emphasis on the military approach to sovereignty in the North, let's put emphasis on the people of the North," Layton said in a telephone interview from Yellowknife.

Layton said Canada's best claim to sovereignty is the fact that Inuit communities have been established across the North for thousands of years.

During his tour, Layton met with Nunavut Premier Paul Okalik, as well as community leaders and social agencies in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories. He said he is supporting a vision created by the three northern premiers in May to tackle climate change and deal with the social ills of the North.

Layton said he will also be pushing for a resource-revenue sharing agreement with the territories once Parliament reconvenes in September.
 
"There's vast dollars flowing into the coffers in Ottawa, and yet the people of the North are living with living costs and circumstances that really require some of that revenue to be diverted back."

He said more scientific studies of the Arctic are needed so that Canada will meet a 2013 deadline to make submissions to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, which could allow the country to extend its economic claims farther than 320 kilometres from its shore.

Layton added that the government needs to make living in the North more affordable by increasing the northern tax credit, and to consult with communities on new military and commercial developments.