Cultural Foundation Native Expressions

Charest boosts protected areas in northern Quebec


Quebec Premier Jean Charest speaks of tourism for the Plan Nord, a northern Quebec development plan, Wednesday, November 23, 2011 in Quebec City. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot

The Canadian Press

Date: Sunday Feb. 5, 2012 1:48 PM ET

MONTREAL — Quebec Premier Jean Charest has promised to boost the number of protected areas in the province's north.

Charest says 20 per cent of the land included in the government's northern development plan will be protected from any development by 2020.

That's up from the 12 per cent announced earlier.

The Plan Nord was originally announced last May and aims for a variety of mining, forestry, hydroelectric and tourism projects spread over a huge stretch of Quebec's north.

In all, Charest says the goal is for half the area to be protected from major industrial development.

Charest has taken heat from some environmental and First Nations group over the scope of the project.

http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Canada/2012 ... ted-120205/#ixzz1lXPmNXb3
CTV News

FSIN says province failed to consult


The StarPhoenix February 4, 2012

The commission representing Saskatchewan First Nations has declared its opposition to the province's new environmental code after the government failed to consult before the changes were made.

The Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations' lands and resources commission passed a motion Thursday saying that it does not support or approve Saskatchewan's new environmental code and that there has been no consultation with First Nations on this matter, said an FSIN news release.

On Jan. 11, Environment Minister Dustin Duncan announced a new "environmental code" that will regulate the natural resource development industry in Saskatchewan. The 19 chapters of the code cover a wide variety of topics regarding air, water, land, natural resources and industrial waste.

Despite repeated demands by the FSIN, the Ministry of Environment refused to engage in such consultations, the release said.

Rather than enter into a meaningful consultation process, the provincial government set aside three afternoons this week for "First Nation and Metis code information sessions." Those in attendance had one hour for questions and discussion, said the release.

The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that "standard public notices and open houses (are) not sufficient and that the (First Nations) are entitled to a distinct consultation process."
© Copyright (c) The StarPhoenix

http://www.thestarphoenix.com/FSIN+sa ... /story.html#ixzz1lXLe3mTE
The StarPhoenix

Muskowekwan to vote on Encanto deal this month


By Kerry Benjoe, Leader-Post February 3, 2012

REGINA -- Before the month is over, members of the Muskowekwan First Nation will decide whether they will move ahead with a historic deal with the Encanto Potash Corp.

Read more: http://www.leaderpost.com/business/Mu ... /story.html#ixzz1lXGsRI6s
Leader-Post

13 Year Old Philanthropist to Raise $500,000 To Aid Attawapiskat Housing Crisis

Written by: NNL Staff on February 5, 2012.

THUNDER BAY – The youth are starting to take leadership roles in spreading the message that help is needed. Six youth delegates from First Nations across Canada are in Europe, headed to Geneva and a United Nations Conference to share their stories.

Back home in Canada, Wes Prankard, a 13 year old philanthropist has announced a goal for his third annual March-break campout. Upon hearing the news that Attawapiskat Ontario, a remote First Nations reserve on James Bay, declared a state of emergency over their housing crisis, Wes knew he needed to do something.

First word of government aid announced $500,000 in funds to assist the community. The amount got Wes thinking. His past two March campouts raised over $5,000 each, so logically, if he could recruit 100 others to camp and each raise $5000, they would match the governments commitment to aid. And so, the #Campout2012 campaign was born.

This latest project involves recruiting 100 other kids (and adults) to camp for 50 hours March 14-16, either in their hometown or alongside him in the Falls. The goal is to have each child get 100 sponsors, each donating $1.00 per hour for a total of $5,000 per child – $500,000 total.....

netnewsledger
http://netnewsledger.com/2012/02/05/1 ... awapiskat-housing-crisis/

INDIGENOUS NATIONHOOD




Dr. Pamela D. Palmater is a Mi'kmaw lawyer and member of the Eel River Bar First Nation in New Brunswick. She teaches Indigenous law, politics and governance at Ryerson University and heads their Centre for Indigenous Governance.

War and Peace: Illusions of partnership at Conservative-First Nations gathering

By Pamela Palmater
February 5, 2012

War and Peace -- those were the two symbols that kept popping into my mind as I watched the Canada-First Nations Gathering in Ottawa on January 24, 2012. My father always told me to pay careful attention to my surroundings and that even the smallest of signs could be an indication of the real threat behind someone's words or actions. He was always curious about people, how their minds worked and how their actions often betrayed their real intentions. He felt it was important for me to always keep that in the back of my mind.

So, when I watched what was called the "Crown-First Nation Gathering" but was really a meeting between Harper, a few Conservative Cabinet Ministers, and too many bureaucrats on one side, and a very limited number of First Nation Chiefs on the other -- I knew my father was right. Liberal and NDP MPs were not allowed to attend, but instead had to sit in the media room where I was watching the events. Thus, unless someone has anointed Prime Minister Harper King of Canada, this was far from a "Crown" First Nation gathering -- but instead was a Conservative meeting with the AFN and selected Chiefs.

True to my father's advice, I decided that I would pay attention to all aspects of this "gathering". The first thing is how the meeting came about. The promise of this meeting had been made several times by the Harper Conservatives as part of their election campaigns. This promised meeting was not born of any interest in building partnerships between the Crown and First Nations, but was born instead of political aspirations, self-interest and self-promotion. Even once Harper was elected, many years went by and no meeting. It was not until the horrific conditions in Attawapiskat were highlighted by the media and Harper could not easily deflect the attention that the Conservatives were shamed into finally setting a date for his "election promise" meeting.

shared by: Jennifer Rice

Prince Rupert "No Oil Tankers!" Rally

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hCPbWkllsw

Uploaded by FrankCommunication on Feb 4, 2012

Footage from the the "No Oil Tankers" rally in Prince George, Saturday, February 4, 2012, hosted by the Gitga'at First Nation.
Category:

News & Politics

Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

'Reserves are surrounded by money. But most receive little.'

By: Niigaanwewidam James Sinclair

Posted: 02/4/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 2 (including replies) | Last Modified: 02/4/2012 8:29 PM | Updates



Niigaanwewidam James Sinclair

Whenever the Winnipeg Free Press publishes stories about First Nations — whether it’s flooded-out reserves or remote bands with no running water — readers ask the same three or four questions. Sometimes those questions are posed in good faith, other times in contempt. We’ve asked an expert to answer.



Q: I pay for my house, my water and sewer hookup, my kid’s university tuition. I work for what I have. Why should First Nations get everything for free without paying taxes?



First Nations, like all Canadians, get nothing for free. They’ve agreed to participate in mutually beneficial partnerships called treaties. As set out in these agreements, Canadians were to get access to some of the richest resources in the world while Aboriginal communities continued their lives in bountiful and independent ways.

Also, treaties haven’t ended. In fact, they’re happening right now. They are dynamic, changing and legally binding documents with members who carry responsibilities to ensure that both sides grow and benefit "for as long as the grass grows."

To be more direct: Without treaties, there’d be no houses, no water or sewer hookups, no universities and no Canada. Everything around us is due to them.

Told they are ineligible

Posted 14 hours ago

RYAN PAULSEN

rpaulsen@thedailyobserver.ca



RYAN PAULSEN rpaulsen@thedailyobserver.ca Eldon Yantha, left, Diana Walker and Tony Jeffrey are making it clear that they don't appreciate being cut off from their official status as Algonquin, and are pulling out of any further discussions regarding the ongoing land claim investigations.

A group of families formerly affiliated with various Algonquins of Ontario (A of O) groups are saying they’ve had enough, and are officially pulling out of any future dealings with the ongoing, and increasingly controversial, Algonquin Land Claim currently being negotiated between the A of O and the Ontario government.

Eldon Yantha and Tony Jeffrey used to belong to the Bonnechere Algonquin First Nation, while Diana Walker was a member of the Algonquins of Greater Golden Lake, until recently when they claim a decision made at the upper levels of the treaty negotiations made them ineligible for inclusion in any settlement resulting from the claim, and voided the hunting and fishing rights they had previously been enjoying after their acceptance as non-status Algonquins back in 2003.

At that time, they say, their applications for enrolment as recognized Algonquins was accepted, and the 90-day appeal window passed without anyone raising any concerns as to the legitimacy of their claim.

Now, however, they say they have been unfairly excluded from their own heritage, after a common ancestor, one Hannah Mannell, was removed from the official list of ancestors that can be the basis for genealogical claims to Algonquin identity.

The matter came to a head when Jeffrey, who had been given a tag to hunt moose last season, was informed shortly before heading out on a hunt that he was no longer eligible to hunt as an Algonquin because his entire family line, the Thomas-Foy line, was no longer considered officially Algonquin.

Chiefs want to electrify their communities

By: Northern Ontario Business staff

The Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) said it's time for their northern communities to be connected to Ontario's power grid.

In a Feb. 2 statement, NAN chiefs said their communities' continued reliance on diesel generation and inadequate transmission is “neither acceptable nor sustainable” for their people.

First Nation leaders from the NAN territory huddled in Thunder Bay in early February to map out an energy strategy for the Far North.

Chiefs are frustrated by what has become an annual crisis in supplying diesel fuel to many of the 49 communities in the Far North.

“We have serious issues regarding sustainable and affordable electrical energy in our communities,” said NAN Grand Chief Stan Beardy in a release. “While we are making strides in planning for the future of generation and transmission, we must deal on a daily basis with our current needs and challenges.”

NAN said the communities use about 8 million litres of diesel fuel annually at a cost of $9 million, a price that's costly for many communities prohibitive to power homes and schools. Poor winter roads make the cost of flying fuel in only worse.

The chiefs are forming a task force with the expectation of connecting all NAN communities to the provincial grid by 2015.

They want planning, construction and future ownership to be in the hands of the First Nations, along with development of renewable power generation.

http://www.northernontariobusiness.co ... fy-their-communities.aspx
Northern Ontario Business

February 2, 2012 1:00 PM

Assembly of First Nations National Chief Supports International Call for Equitable and Sustainable Funding for First Nations in Canada



http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/91515 ... ada#.TyrT2Na-QpA.facebook
CNW

Exploring the University of Vermont’s 2 campus museums

Museums’ foundations spring from geology, art

By Dirk Van Susteren
| Globe correspondent

February 05, 2012



(Dirk Van Susteren for the Boston Globe

Tony Hunt’s contemporary carved raven mask in the Native American Culture Gallery at the Fleming Museum of Art. Hunt is from a group of Canadian First Nations people in the Pacific Northwest.


BURLINGTON - On an August day in 1849, a crew of Irish laborers, digging a railroad bed in Charlotte, Vt., just south of Burlington, unearthed a skull and a batch of bones that they no doubt first thought were remains of a horse or ox or some other large familiar creature.

It was, indeed, a large creature, but, of all things, it was a whale, and it was found, incongruously, in 8 feet of clay a mile from the shore of freshwater Lake Champlain. Someone wisely had the sense to turn the bones over to Zadock Thompson, the preeminent Vermont natural scientist, who with help from Harvard University, identified the skeleton as a 14-foot, 11,000-year-old beluga whale, a wonderful discovery that was confirming evidence that ocean waters had once lapped the area....

http://bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/trav ... B49vicnuiIBiOK/story.html
The Boston Globe

NORTHWEST NOTES




Northwest Notes focuses on Indigenous-Canadian relations in northern British Columbia, particularly around the controversial proposed Enbridge oil pipeline. It is written by Tyler McCreary, a graduate student at York University.

Visiting when arrows were flying: Dakelh people protest Enbridge pipeline

By Tyler McCreary
February 4, 2012

At the terminus of Highway 27, far into the northern interior of British Columbia, Fort St. James seems to belong to a remote Canadian hinterland. But this town, mostly remembered for its history as an old fur-trading post, on February 2 found itself at the centre of political negotiations about the future of Canada.

Located on the southeastern shore of Stuart Lake, Fort St. James rests in the heart of the territory inhabited by Dakelh (or Carrier) people. The Dakelh have never signed treaty nor ceded their claim to their traditional territories. Nonetheless, the company Enbridge is proposing to build a pipeline through the heart of Dakelh territory to carry bitumen from the Alberta tar sands to port.

As the federally appointed panel reviewing the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway tar sands pipeline convened in Fort St. James, the Dakelh people joined with supporters to rally in opposition to the proposed project. Leading the protest were the people of Nak'azdli.

Adjacent to Fort St. James, the very name of the Dakelh community of Nak'azdli attests to the long history of the Dakelh people defending their lands. Nak'azdli translates to "when arrows were flying," a reference to a historic battle at the mouth of the river that flows out Stuart Lake. This lineage of fierce defence of Dakelh lands remained in evidence in the streets of Fort St James.....

http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/tyler ... g-when-arrows-were-flying
rabble.ca

Government replies to mould study


By Judith Lavoie, Times Colonist February 5, 2012

The federal government is putting about $355 million a year into First Nations reserve housing, much of it earmarked for mould remediation, but it is up to chiefs and councils to administer those funds, an Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada spokeswoman says.

A University of Victoria study, published last month in the U.Sbased Journal of Environmental Health, found almost half the homes on reserves are mouldy and high levels of toxins are making people sick.

Read more: http://www.timescolonist.com/life/Gov ... /story.html#ixzz1lX1WgmRx
Times Colonists

Crowds pack Prince Rupert's streets to protest Northern Gateway pipeline (with video)


By Mike Hager, Vancouver Sun February 4, 2012



Demonstrators rallied in Prince Rupert, B.C. Saturday, voicing their opposition to Enbridge's proposed Northern Gateway pipeline from Alberta's oilsands to Kitimat.
Photograph by: Screengrab, YouTube.com

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/Crowds+pa ... /story.html#ixzz1lWFPLU6z
Vancouver Sun

N.S. First Nations business creation faces barriers

February 5, 2012 - 4:34am By RACHEL BRIGHTON Just Business



RACHEL BRIGHTON

By tracking how much money they spend and where it goes, First Nations communities in Cape Breton have created a "buy local" business model for other communities to follow.

But they will face challenges putting their blueprint to work, because the legal system remains stacked against band members who want to start a business on a reserve....

http://thechronicleherald.ca/business ... s-creation-faces-barriers
The Chronicle Herald