Media.Knet.Ca

It seems that more than the lawyers are now trying to contact residential school survivors to try and get their compensation payments before they are even available.

From http://www.portagedailygraphic.com/Top%20Stories/268750.html

Keeping compensation cheques out of scam artists’ hands - Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, Man. Security Commission and RCMP create plan of attack - By Leighton Klassen - The Daily Graphic - Thursday November 16, 2006

Indian residential school survivors are being warned money-hungry scam artists are on the prowl for their federal compensation.

Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, Manitoba Secur-ities Commission and RCMP detachments across the province are teaming up to keep federal cash in the pockets of its recipients.

“Our concern is that this is public knowledge and there’s a lot of money (distributed to survivors) and that’s when investment scam artists have their ears up,” said Ainsley Cunningham, education officer for Manitoba Securities Commission.

Jennifer Wood, residential schools policy analyst for AMC, said survivors are vulnerable.

“It’s important that the elders are not taken advantage of,” Wood said yesterday. “They’re very vulnerable people and naive .… They don’t know much about fraudulent measures.”

The fear stems from the amount of money Ottawa is distributing as compensation for the suffering experienced at residential schools.

On May 10, the federal Conservative government approved a proposal on a settlement of $10,000 per student, plus an additional $3,000 for each year spent in school. Currently, survivors 65 years old and over as of May 30, 2005, are receiving $8,000 as a first payment, and the remaining $2,000 as a second.

That includes Marina James, 69, who attended Portage Residential School from 1942-51. She said she’s not worried about being scammed because she has close family who watches over her, but she does fear for other survivors.

“It’s terrible that some people don’t realize that there is people like that who try and sell you different things and see how much money you have,” she said from her home on Dakota Tipi First Nation.

She is also aware of how the elderly are often taken advantage of.

“I know this one guy who had a car and he asked a couple of kids to get him stuff from the store,” she explained, adding the man lived alone. “They took off with his money and car.”

The chief of Dakota Plains First Nation, a reserve about 30 kilometres southwest of Portage, is also a residential school survivor. Orville Smoke attended Portage Residential School in 1962. He said he’s well-educated about scams, but fears for the six elderly survivors living on the reserve.

“I’m going to be making an effort to make sure to look out for the elders,” he said yesterday.

Wood said AMC and the securities commission will collaboratively develop information packages that will be distributed to all First Nations.

The brochures, which will likely be ready by the end of the month, will include information on the characteristics of scam artists’ tactics such as the absence of documents or paperwork or an offering of low rates at a high return.

“It will be basic protection messages,” Cunningham said.
And time is of the essence. Wood expects the federal government will approve payments for all ages of residential school survivors, through the common experience payment, later this month. That means a lot of people will be receiving a lot of money.

“It’s for everyone and that’s why this is important,” she said. “There’s 80,000 survivors across Canada.”

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From http://www.cbc.ca/canada/manitoba/story/2006/11/15/school-scam.html?ref=rss

Residential schools' ex-students get help against scams - November 15, 2006

Winnipeg RCMP and the Manitoba Securities Commission are joining native leaders to help prevent former residential school students from getting scammed out of thousands of dollars in federal compensation.

The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs said Tuesday it welcomes the expertise of both groups as students of residential schools wait to receive payments ranging from $25,000 to more than $250,000.

"Then we have a collective effort, and that's what we want," said Jennifer Wood, the assembly's residential school compensation co-ordinator.

"We want to show it's a concern on every level because it is out to very fragile individuals, the elders."

"History in the past has shown that scam artists, they don't take very long figuring out who's getting money," said Cpl. Sue Downs of the RCMP's commercial crimes unit in Winnipeg.

"Hurricane Katrina, the flood of '97 here in Manitoba … it seems that scam artists target communities they know that are getting large sums of money."

Downs said she hopes to arrange antifraud workshops on reserves. As well, the assembly will include material from the RCMP and the commission in any information packages it sends out.

Operations already popping up: former student
Former student Ray Mason said he has already heard of one new company based in Edmonton that offers to lend money, with interest, to former students who are expecting large compensation payments.

Mason, chairman of Spirit Wind, a Manitoba-based organization of residential school survivors, said he expects such a company to charge large amounts of interest as students wait months for their cheques.

"That person could lose a good chunk of their compensation claim," Mason said.

As well, he fears the number of similar operators will only grow.

Wood said the large settlements many elderly former students will receive can make them prime targets for scam artists.

"You know, they're not street smart, they're not out here in Winnipeg [or] living in an urban centre. They're living in a community, and they have probably been for most of their lives. The elders are a very vulnerable targeted group of people," she said.

Earlier this fall, former students gave their input on the proposed $1.9-billion federal compensation package in hearings held across Canada, including one in Winnipeg.

If approved, the proposed package would compensate up to 80,000 former students for abuse suffered in the schools and for their loss of language and culture.

Under the proposed settlement package, which was approved by the Conservative government in May, any former student is offered a lump sum of $10,000, plus $3,000 for each year spent in the schools. Former students can seek more compensation if they can prove sexual or physical abuse.

The recently published Coming Home: The Story of Child and Family Services is earning high praise from First Nations leaders and child welfare specialists.

The 276-page book, published by Tikinagan Child and Family Services in mid-September can now be purchased from the book's recently launched website, www.ComingHomeTikinagan.com .

"Coming Home ... not only helps bring to light the challenges our Frist Nation poeple have endured in the past, and continue to endure," said Chief Donny Morris, KI. "It also illuminates the resilience of our people in continuing to strive for a better life in the face of such hardship."

“It is a chance for all of us to learn from Tikinagan’s experience and to celebrate the resilience and strength of First Nations families and communities,“ said Cindy Blackstock, Executive Director, First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada.

“It is rare that I read a child and family welfare book with information and insights that I’ve not encountered before. Coming Home is such a book,” said Gary Cameron, Professor and Lyle S. Hallman Chair in Child and Family Welfare, Faculty of Social Work, at Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, ON.

“In telling the story of the devastating exposure of the people of Tikinagan to residential schools and to child protection services, Coming Home tells a story relevant to First Nation history across North America and abroad. It does so in an easily accessible manner with compassion and power,” said Cameron.

Kathy Poling and Phil Vinet are the new mayors for Sioux Lookout and Red Lake respectively as a result of the municipal elections held yesterday.

From http://www.ckdr.net/news/index.php

Municipal Election Unofficial Results
Posted by Mike Ebbeling on November 13, 2006

Atikokan

Mayor - Dennis Brown

• Council
  • William Bell
  • Mike Shusterman
  • Bud Dickson
  • Sherwin Durand
  • Charlie Viddal
  • Marj Lamkin

Dryden

Mayor - Anne Krassiliowski

• Council
  • Gwen Keefe
  • Brian Collins
  • Mike Wood
  • Dennis Wintle
  • Gary Case
  • Mel Fisher
• Public School Board - Ed Arnold

Ear Falls

Mayor - Ron Bergman

• Council
  • Kim Thain
  • Robert Doyle
  • Stan Leschuk
  • David Wilson

Ignace

Mayor - Lionel Cloutier

• Council
  • Kimberley Crossley
  • Dianne Loubier
  • Sherrill Musclow
  • John Taddeo

Machin

Mayor - Garry Parkes

• Council
  • Stannis Montgomery
  • Laurie Huffman
  • Linda Anderson
  • Paul Kelly
• Public School Board - Barbara Gauthier

Sioux Lookout

Mayor - Kathy Poling

• Council
  • Ward 1 - Donald Fenelon
  • Ward 2 - Susan Williams
  • At Large
    • Ben Hancharuk
    • Joyce Timpson
    • James Brohm
    • David Gordon
• Public School Board - Bob O'Donohue
• Northwest District School Board - Cathy Bowen

Red Lake

Mayor - Phil Vinet

• Council
  • Anne Billard
  • Ken Forsythe
  • Donna Malloy
  • Brian Larson
  • Paul Parsons
  • Debra Shushack

THIS POWERFUL PLACE airs Thursday, November 16th at 9.pm. on the CBC radio program Ideas. It's the story of a clash of world views over a piece of land that Aboriginal and corporate cultures consider valuable.... for different reasons.

Jody Porter, CBC Radio reporter in Thunder Bay and former Wawatay News editor, produced this special one hour documentary. In her own words she describes the show as follows ...

This Powerful Place is about a dispute over High Falls near Beardmore Ontario, back in the early 1990s.

First Nations people in the area (mostly Poplar Point Ojibway Nation) protested when they learned a hydro dam was going to be built at the falls.

But the development went ahead.

In the process, the remains of a 400 year old medicine man were unearthed. The project halted for a brief time so the archeology could be done. The white people thought if they just re-buried the bones somewhere else it would solve the 'problem' of the land being sacred to the Ojibway people.

It didn't.

From http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20061111.RMACKENZIE11/TPStory/?query=%22first+nation%22

Court makes 'huge' ruling on pipeline - Says Ottawa failed to consult Dene Tha

DAVID EBNER AND SHAWN MCCARTHY - Posted on 11/11/06 - The Globe and Mail

CALGARY, OTTAWA -- The beleaguered Mackenzie Valley natural gas pipeline was hit with yet another setback yesterday when the Federal Court ruled that Ottawa failed to consult with the Dene Tha First Nation.

The Dene Tha's home is in northern Alberta, at the terminus of the proposed 1,200-kilometre pipeline that would connect natural gas in the Mackenzie Delta with Canadian points to the south.

"The court's conclusion is that the [federal] ministers breached their duty to consult the Dene Tha in . . . the creation of the regulatory and environmental review process," Mr. Justice Michael Phelan of the Federal Court wrote in his decision.

The decision was called "huge" by the Sierra Club of Canada, but it is not immediately known what implications it has for the $7.5-billion Mackenzie project.

The court ruled that the joint review panel, which is assessing the project's social and environmental impacts, cannot file its final report until the court has another hearing to decide on remedies for the Dene Tha.

The remedies hearing is an unusual step and will be the forum for all sides to discuss what should be done. The court said it is a late stage to begin consultations, but added that a "chief consulting officer" could be appointed to work with the Dene Tha.

The court also ruled that the joint review panel couldn't consider any issues related to the Dene Tha until the case is concluded.

The court further suggested that the joint review panel process, which has been running since February, could be restarted, if necessary.

The Dene Tha had argued they were excluded from the creation of the joint review panel. Several Ottawa ministries were respondents in the case, including Indian and Northern Affairs.

The joint review panel is working until next April and had been expected to file a report several months thereafter to the National Energy Board.

Bob Freedman, counsel to the Dene Tha, said the ruling gives his clients "breathing room" to prepare for consultations with Ottawa.

"Our clients are thrilled with the decision and very much hope this will finally press the [federal] government to sit down and work with us, which is what we've been pushing for all along," said Mr. Freedman, a lawyer at Cook Roberts LLP in Victoria. "The court sent a very strong message."

Mr. Freedman said he expects a remedies hearing to occur fairly soon.

Imperial Oil Ltd., the project's main proponent, is also behind schedule, saying this week it won't have a revised cost estimate and plan for the pipeline until some time next year, rather than by the end of this year.

Imperial said it is assessing the ruling.

"We have to understand what the decision means and what the rationale was and what implications it could have for the regulatory process," said Pius Rolheiser, an Imperial spokesman.

A spokesman for Indian and Northern Affairs Minister Jim Prentice said yesterday the minister had not had an opportunity to review the ruling and would not comment.

Nicholas Girard, a spokesman for the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, said the government must review the ruling before commenting.

Ottawa could appeal and ask for a stay pending the appeal, but the cabinet has not yet determined a course of action.

The Dene Tha represent about 2,500 people in northern Alberta. They filed their suit in May, 2005, and Federal Court agreed to hear the case last December. The case was heard earlier this year.

From http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&call_pageid=971358637177&c=Article&cid=1163247918568

Buffy's full life, blacklist sorrow
The lady doth protest too much, decided LBJ minions. `It broke my heart.' By Greg Quill - Nov. 12, 2006

Regrets? Not really ... I don't do things I don't like doing, and I have a very full life."

But the glint in Buffy Sainte-Marie's eye suggests otherwise, and her answer to the final question about making the documentary Buffy Sainte-Marie: A Multimedia Life — airing Tuesday on Bravo! at 8 p.m. — rings hollow.

The documentary by Toronto filmmaker Joan Prowse fully examines, within the limits of an hour, the life of the 65-year-old Saskatchewan-born, U.S.-raised Native American singer, artist, teacher, social activist and inductee to both the Canadian Music and Canadian Songwriters Halls of Fame.

It's an affectionate portrait from her birth in the Piapot Cree reserve in the Qu'Appelle valley, through her string of popular protest songs in the 1960s and '70s ("The Universal Solder," "Up Where We Belong," "Now That The Buffalo's Gone" and more, recorded by Elvis, Barbra Streisand, Cher, Janis Joplin and Joe Cocker among others) and her years on TV's Sesame Street.

The film visits the Pacific island ranch where Sainte-Marie has lived for four decades, creating music and computer-generated digital art, painting and nurturing her Cradleboard Teaching Project, an Internet-based educational system that imparts alternative versions of "official" history, geography, social studies and spirituality to American Indian children.

What's missing? What's to regret?

"I only wish I could have been more effective in the U.S.," says Sainte-Marie in the Toronto office of her Canadian agent Gilles Paquin. "It would have been nice to succeed as a musician at the level of someone like Sting, or to get taken on by some big-time manager, like Dylan and Joan Baez were."

Instead, for the sin of speaking her mind in topical songs and speeches about the Vietnam war and native rights, Sainte-Marie found herself shut out of the mainstream just as she was peaking, her concerts and TV spots cancelled and her recordings mysteriously absent from record stores.

"I was blacklisted," she says. "And so were Eartha Kitt and Taj Mahal, and quite a few others who were speaking out against the war and civil rights abuses, and didn't have a high enough profile or skilled management."

She has seen the FBI files — censored with "the fattest black marker you've ever seen" — that chronicle the Lyndon B. Johnson administration's deliberate campaign in the late 1960s and early '70s to dampen U.S. radio play and distribution of her recordings.

She was in the dark "till 10 or 12 years later, when I was professionally dead. At first I was flattered, in a way, to learn so much effort had gone into crushing this ... mosquito. Seeing those files also helped me make sense of a lot of mysteries. I thought I was just a victim of a natural decline in popularity.

"It broke my heart to know that someone had worked so hard to make sure my medicine didn't get to where it was needed. Ever since, my career has been on the periphery of show business. I've never had a proper tour.

"In the long run, it didn't make me less effective (except) in America. When I was young, hanging out in New York clubs, I never thought my career would last more than six months anyway."

A trained educator with a second major in Oriental Studies, Sainte-Marie is presented in A Multimedia Life as a restless creative soul who has never observed traditional artistic boundaries.

"I knew about Buffy's work in music and in promoting aboriginal traditions, but I had no idea when I started working on this film about her pioneering work in computer technology, art and formal teaching," said the director Prowse.

"It impressed me that she always seems to be in on the beginning of important cultural shifts — the songwriter movement, the application of computers in art and music, education via the Internet. She was sending music files to her record producer in London in the mid-1980s via modems.

"Her computer-generated art, which no one took seriously 20 years ago, is now in some of the world's major galleries. And she spends most of her spare time writing curriculum for Cradleboard, and setting up guidelines for teachers. She never stops, except to feed the livestock on her farm. Nothing's an obstacle to her. Creativity is problem solving."

On a personal level, Sainte-Marie looks half her age, and shares an active life on her secret island with a shaggy blond, muscular local in his 30s.

"I work out, I don't drink ... I'm almost a complete vegetarian," she confided. "Just don't ask me about psychedelics ... "

From http://thechronicleherald.ca/Business/540310.html

First Nations making their mark - KAREN BLOTNICKY

IN THE MIDST of Canada’s multicultural mosaic is a largely untapped market of aboriginal consumers. Often overlooked, this market has many characteristics that should lead more businesses to look to the First Nations as viable consumers of a variety of goods and services.

In Canada’s rush to serve our immigrant population, Canadian media were quick to delve into a variety of ethnic markets. Publications of various types, in various languages, began to account for a larger percentage of advertisers’ budgets. In the midst of this flurry only one key medium, APTN, the Aboriginal People’s Television Network, was born to cater to our own indigenous peoples.

Canada’s aboriginal community is diverse. It consists not only of North American Indians, many of whom come from diverse tribes, but also of Metis and Inuit people. Often overlooked as an economically depressed group with little to attract marketers, the aboriginal community has remained in splendid isolation. However, that is beginning to change.

There are many reasons why the aboriginal market deserves serious consideration. For one thing, aboriginals are much younger than the rest of the Canadian population, which has been long overshadowed by an aging trend. The median age for Canadians as a group was 37.3, according to the 2001 census. However, the median age for North American Indians was 24, for the Metis it was 27 and for the Inuit it was 21.

The aboriginal population is not only younger, but also growing at a much faster rate. The aboriginal population of about one million is expected to double over the next decade or so. This is in stark contrast to the general Canadian population, which is declining as well as aging. Canada is long been relying on immigration to maintain population growth to fuel the future of businesses.

Most marketers do not realize that aboriginal people maintain many of their core cultural values while working and living off the reserve. Sixty per cent of aboriginals live off-reserve in major cities and towns across Canada. They consume the same products and services as others in their communities.

Aboriginal people have also worked hard to establish a small-business backbone to support and grow their local economies. One of the most successful business ventures is in the Membertou Mi’kmaq community on Cape Breton Island.

Only a decade ago the town was feeling the pinch of the loss of coal and steel, as was the rest of Cape Breton. Unemployment topped out at 95 per cent. The Membertou First Nation employed only 20 people with an operating budget of $4.5 million annually and had a serious deficit.

In an impressive display of entrepreneurialism and creativity, the community grew its local business base by developing partnerships with other firms to sell goods and services. Today it employs 250 people, the operating budget has skyrocketed and the community enjoys a surplus. The unemployment rate has fallen to 10 per cent.

The new goal of the Membertou community is not only to make a profit and create jobs, but also to become self-reliant, weaning itself from federal transfer payments.

These success stories are not unusual. Metis and Inuit communities are proving to be creative and successful entrepreneurs. With this newfound wealth comes an even greater opportunity to contribute economically, with enhanced opportunities for individuals to earn a living and to enjoy the fruits of their labours.

Add to this the $7 billion that individual bands receive in federal funds and an estimated $15 billion expected in land claims over the next decade, and the aboriginal market begins to look much more attractive for a variety of goods and services. In 2003 the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business launched the PAR program, an acronym for Progressive Aboriginal Relations. PAR allows non-aboriginal entrepreneurs to partner with aboriginal firms to market goods and services.

In return for doing good business with such firms, non-aboriginal firms will be able to display the PAR symbol, which provides the equivalent of a seal of approval. The PAR seal is regarded as a rating scheme that shows all aboriginal consumers that one’s business meets certain criteria that are considered important by aboriginal shoppers. The project also helps to integrate aboriginal and non-aboriginal business relationships in a mutually advantageous way.

Too often Canada’s small businesses are focused on the new and the different, trying to find ways to appeal to the growing diversity of the general population. Sometimes the secret to success is much closer to home. For more information on the PAR program, visit www.aboriginalbiz.com

For a new marketing opportunity for your firm, consider the aboriginal markets in your own community.

( kblotnicky@herald.ca)

Karen Blotnicky is president of TMC The Marketing Clinic and a professor at Mount Saint Vincent University.

Workshop & TELE-LEARNING SESSIONS ON
BUSINESS BASICS!

One of the best ways to actualize your goals is to “visualize accomplishing your goal” and “know that you can do it”.

PARO on Wheels is coming your way through Workshops and Tele-learning! PARO on Wheels is partnering with the Superior North CFDC to bring you our Business Basics workshop through tele-learning across Northwestern Ontario or by attending the workshop at Superior North CFDC in Terrace Bay.

To register for the in-person workshop or the Tele-Learning session, contact PARO Centre for details and access code: 1-800-584-0252.

Date: November 14th, 2006
Time: Noon to 2pm

PARO on Wheels is moving forward, bringing ideas, resources and knowledgeable, caring people to your community with proven successful programming and a “hands on, let’s get going” approach. We can help you find your hidden skills, and act as your Mentor for self-employment, job searches and training. We can also help you find information on social and government help available.

From  http://www.tbsource.com/Localnews/index.asp?cid=88953

PARO gets rural economic funding - Tb News Source - 11/10/2006

The provincial government announced a move Friday to help women in rural Northwestern Ontario improve their economic independence.

Over $230,000 will flow through the PARO Center for Women's Enterprise and Thunder Bay Ventures improving access to resources for the region's female entrepreneurs. PARO will now be able to begin travelling the region, offering on-line and teleconference classes to their clients.

The funding for the investment comes from the Rural Economic Development Program. It's hoped that this new program will encourage new business to begin and existing businesses to prosper.

From the PARO web site at http://www.paro.ca

The word 'paro' is Latin for "I am ready". PARO Centre for Women's Enterprise is a not-for-profit charitable organization - a unique grassroots, community economic development organization with members involved in decision-making at every level. It provides programs and services designed to increase the economic independence and self-sufficiency of women and their families.  PARO headquarters are located in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. The organization was founded in January 1995.

From http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20061110/remembranceday_2006_061111/20061111?hub=TopStories

Ceremonies held across Canada, and online
Sat. Nov. 11 2006 8:59 AM ET - CTV.ca News Staff

Those who can't attend a ceremony and are observing a moment of silence at home or at the office can take advantage of several virtual options online, by:

• Taking a virtual tour of the Canadian Royal Legion's Memorial Chamber and watching the online ceremony video;
• Spending a few minutes reading through an abundance of online material supplied by the Canadian War Museum which has posted a Remembrance Day Toolkit to provide access to the Museum's archives "to promote public understanding of Canada's military history in its personal, national and international dimensions";
• Reading the Canadian War Museum's selection of suggested Remembrance Day activities that include such things as exploring wartime diaries and researching Canadian war artists;
• Watching the Department of National Defence Vignette video; or
• Exploring the Canadian Virtual War Memorial for names of more than 116,000 Canadians who gave their lives for Canada.

Canadians will be gathering at legislatures, cenotaphs, city halls and community centres across Canada Saturday to observe a moment of silence in memory of Canadians who gave their lives protecting our country.

CTV Newsnet will be carrying live coverage of events on Parliament Hill and from Afghanistan throughout the day.

A wreath laying and Ceremony of Remembrance is scheduled for 11 a.m. at the National War Memorial in Ottawa.

Royal Canadian Legion branches across Canada have scheduled events to mark the day, as have local groups and municipalities.

Canadians who haven't already chosen an event can browse the activities listed below:

Veterans Affairs of Canada has posted an extensive list of Remembrance Day events on its website, ranging from ceremonies at the Red Deer Arena in Red Deer Alta., to a parade and dinner that starts at the Pine Beach Park Cenotaph in Dorval, Que.

The City of Toronto has posted a list of locations for city-organized ceremonies at city hall and community centres, along with a list of other ceremonies at such locations as Royal Canadian Legions, Historic Fort York, and the Toronto Zoo.

Entry to the Canadian War Museum at 1 Vimy Place in Ottawa will be free, and the museum has posted a list of scheduled events that begin with a Remembrance Ceremony in the Memorial Hall at 10:45 a.m. Get there early to attend the ceremony, as the doors will be closed for it between 10:30 a.m. and 11:15 a.m.

From http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20061110.RESERVES10/TPStory/?query=aboriginal

Critics fear for future of remote reserves - Call to move Kashechewan community has 'profound' implications, MP says

BILL CURRY - POSTED ON 10/11/06

OTTAWA -- A federal report calling for Kashechewan's natives to move south, calls into question the future of Canada's remote northern reserves, native leaders and opposition MPs say.

Former Ontario Progressive Conservative MPP Alan Pope argued yesterday that Kashechewan's 1,550 residents should be moved to Timmins, Ont., because the opportunities for better education, health care and jobs that come with life near an urban centre would be better than living in isolation with high unemployment.

But he conceded yesterday that his report could have wider implications when it comes to federal policies for natives.

"I acknowledge to you that that's a political debate that might be started out of this report," he said, when asked if his argument could apply to many other communities.

Print Edition - Section Front
  Enlarge Image

 The fact that Mr. Pope was appointed by Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice had some questioning whether the Conservative government is signalling a major shift in federal aboriginal policy.

"The implication of what is being suggested is profound," said NDP MP Charlie Angus, whose riding includes both Timmins and Kashechewan. "What about every other isolated community that's in poverty? Is that what we're going to do?"

Liberal MP Anita Neville expressed similar concerns.

"Do we start moving other communities to Kenora or to Thunder Bay or to Winnipeg or to Brandon because they're not sustainable? It's a complete abdication of the whole issue of collective rights and the aboriginal peoples' connection with the land," she said.

The report, combined with other measures such as the government's opposition to a United Nations Declaration on Indigenous Rights, had some wondering yesterday whether the government is following the controversial advice of veteran Conservative strategist and University of Alberta professor Tom Flanagan.

In numerous policy papers, columns and a 2000 book, First Nations: Second Thoughts, Prof. Flanagan has argued that Ottawa should stop funding aboriginal communities that are solely dependent on federal tax dollars. Mr. Flanagan argues that the current reserve system benefits only political elites, while most in the community suffer. Instead, natives should be encouraged to integrate with the mainstream economy, he wrote.

"Call it assimilation, call it integration, call it adaptation, call it whatever you want: it has to happen," Mr. Flanagan concludes in his book.

Patrick Brazeau, the national chief of the off-reserve native group the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, has called for an end to the reserve system and hopes Mr. Pope's report will further that debate.

"There is an obligation on the federal government to ensure that aboriginal Canadians receive opportunities on an equal basis as mainstream Canadians," he said. "Hopefully, this government will draw a line in the sand because we can't continue this practice of always expecting handouts from the federal government."

Phil Fontaine, the National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, takes a far more negative view of the Conservative government's actions to date.

He said the next few years will see millions of dollars in development in Canada's North that could benefit native communities should they have clear land-claim agreements confirming their rights to those northern resources.

Mr. Fontaine suggested the government wants to dilute native land rights so that they do not interfere with private development of those northern resources.

"One could argue that first nations, because of their location, are in the way of development," Mr. Fontaine said. "People have earned a right to be where they are. This is their homeland. Much of what they originally possessed has been lost."

Mr. Fontaine said Mr. Pope's argument could once have been made about Attawapiskat, another James Bay Cree community.

"It was an isolated community and people would ask the question, 'What is it doing there?' Then all of a sudden they discovered diamonds and overnight it becomes a viable community in the eyes of people in the south."

While the local chiefs of the Kashechewan region did not rule out moving to Timmins, they said it would be an "overwhelming" change from their land-based lives.

Grand Chief Stan Louttit said it raises questions as to how their way of life would fit inside a municipal setting, such as hunting rights.

"There's a whole number of questions that come about," he said.