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Aboriginal and Inuit Non-Mining Issues

Trudeau’s embrace of First Nations laudable, but throwing money at their problems isn’t the answer – by John Ivison (National Post – December 9, 2015)

http://news.nationalpost.com/

“The right thing to do.” Justin Trudeau is using that line from last week’s throne speech to justify a raft of measures he hopes will improve the lives of indigenous people.

But there are few signs the policy and spending implications of the commitments the prime minister made Tuesday to chiefs of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) have been thought through. In a speech, he promised he would be their “partner.”

The chiefs — foremost among them the clearly delighted National Chief, Perry Bellegarde, already quite cozy with Trudeau — gave him repeated standing ovations. And no wonder: the new prime minister has already agreed to give them pretty much everything they want.

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BATTLE FOR THE BOREAL – by Peter Kuitenbrouwer (National Post – December 4, 2015)

http://news.nationalpost.com/

The workday is over at the Hotel Matagami. Guests in steel-toe boots eat club sandwiches with poutine, drink five-dollar bottles of Labatt 50 and cheer the TV as the Montreal Canadiens thrash the New York Rangers.

At one table, Nicolas Mainville, 37, a biologist with Greenpeace, opens a ThinkPad with a sticker on its lid. It reads: “May the forest be with you.”

The screen glows with 33,000 kilometres of red tentacles: these are the logging roads on Crown land in the boreal forest, the same forest that doubles as hunting grounds for the Cree Nation of Waswanipi.

Those two activities are clashing, with the Cree and the loggers both blaming the other for unfairly damaging their way of life.

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Bottled water returning to Marten Falls, but MP says problems remain unsolved – by Jon Thompson (tbnewswatch.com – November 16, 2015)

http://www.tbnewswatch.com/

MARTEN FALLS FIRST NATION – Pallets of bottled water have resumed their flow to Marten Falls First Nation but its MP says the conditions that caused the remote community to run dry throughout October persist.

Marten Falls has been under a boil-water advisory since Health Canada deemed its water treatment plant obsolete in 2005.

For the last decade, the band has been paying for bottled water to be flown in and then reimbursed by Indigenous and Northern Affairs.

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Bad water: Innovative solution for remote northern Ontario First Nations – by Tiar Wilson (CBC News Aboriginal – October 26, 2015)

http://www.cbc.ca/news/aboriginal/

‘We can make a huge difference’ if we invest in training people, says Safe Water Project’s Barry Strachan

Three northern Ontario First Nations have managed to stop boil water advisories in their communities since May because of access to a new real-time water quality monitoring system. Deer Lake, Fort Severn, and Poplar Hill First Nations have all spent close to 1,000 days on a boil water advisory in the past decade.

“Historically, what’s happened, is there’s a time delay. When you take a [water] sample, analyse it and get the results to those that can do things about it, it can often mean people are at high risks for a [longer] period of time,” said Barry Strachan, the lead on the Safe Water Project.

Strachan says that outdated process often lead to boil water advisories and do not consume orders. The Safe Water project provides the technology and support to respond immediately to potential problems.

“We get alerts of adverse water quality events immediately as they happen and it allows us to [advise] or actually attend the situation and fix it in short order,” said Strachan.

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Record 10 indigenous MPs elected to the House of Commons – by Tim Fontaine (CBC News Aboriginal – October 20, 2015)

http://www.cbc.ca/news/aboriginal/

8 Liberal and 2 NDP MPs of indigenous heritage will take a seat in Parliament

There will be a record number of indigenous people in the House of Commons following Monday’s federal election, which saw 10 indigenous MPs elected.

That’s an increase of three from the 2011 election, when seven indigenous people won seats. But there was a significant shift towards Liberal representation, away from Conservative and NDP.

Of the 18 indigenous candidates the Liberals ran, eight won seats. Only one, Yvonne Jones from Labrador, was an incumbent.

Notable new Liberal MPs include Jody Wilson-Raybould, a regional chief of the Assembly of First Nations who took the newly created riding of Vancouver-Granville with just over 40 per cent of the vote.

In the inner-city riding of Winnipeg Centre, former mayoral candidate Robert-Falcon Ouellette unseated longtime NDP MP Pat Martin, capturing 56 per cent of the vote.

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GLOBE EDITORIAL: Providing safe drinking water on reserves is simple. Just do it (Globe and Mail – October 14, 2015)

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

Last January, there were 1,669 Canadian towns under drinking water advisories. By far the most common were advisories to boil tap water for a minute before consuming it.

Thankfully, these advisories are usually lifted quickly, because municipalities are governed by provincial regulations that define clear lines of responsibility and lay out rules on how to respond to problems. It’s rare for DWAs to last more than a few weeks.

On native reserves, however, they can go on for decades. It’s easy to see why.

Drinking water on reserves is a federal jurisdiction. Ottawa provides 80 per cent of the funding; the local councils build and maintain the systems and are responsible for training the operators and doing regular testing.

So far, so good.

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Canada’s Liberals Vow to End Rampant Boil Water Advisories on Reserves – by Hilary Beaumont Vice News – October 6, 2015)

https://news.vice.com/

“We’re seeing a debate nationally about whether a person should wear a piece
of clothing, yet our First Nations communities are dying because of the poor
water conditions in their communities,” Chief Isadore Day said at a press
conference Monday in Toronto.

“So to be clear, you are committing then within five years there will be
clean water on all, for all First Nations?” VICE News Canada managing editor
Natalie Alcoba asked Trudeau at the town hall.”In all those 93 communities,
yes,” Trudeau replied.

If he’s elected prime minister on Oct. 19, Canada’s Liberal leader would end the rampant, widespread issue of boil water advisories on First Nation reserves.

Justin Trudeau made the promise Monday night during a town hall hosted by VICE Canada following announcements earlier that day by two First Nations that have each endured boil water advisories for nearly 20 years.

“We have 93 different communities under 133 different boil water advisories across the country,” Trudeau said when asked about the water issue.

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The natives’ tools – by Lawrence Solomon (National Post – October 2, 2015)

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

In a predictable display of stakeholder democracy and sustainable development, native leaders, environmentalists, governments and industry all participated in a historic breakthrough this week – an agreement to build a pipeline carrying tar sands oil from Alberta through the Rockies and the British Columbia interior to the Pacific Ocean, from where tankers will deliver the oil to China and beyond. In this $15-billion pipeline play, the parties to the agreement committed to the creation of an energy corridor that would also transport natural gas to an LNG terminal on the coast.

All the stakeholders played their prescribed part in this megaproject. The natives and the corporate leaders spent years in hard-bargaining, eliminating roadblocks through patient negotiations that obtained buy-ins from the many native bands along the route. The government provided the financial concessions needed to secure the development and jobs it invariably touts. And the environmentalists played the role of fools.

This 1.1 million-barrel-a-day oil pipeline and LNG complex – proposed by native-run Eagle Spirit Energy – could morph into an even bigger industrial development. The company is also contemplating multi-billion investments in an upgrader or refinery, in a power transmission line and in marine terminal port development to leverage the opportunities in its energy corridor.

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First Nations spar over pipelines – by Claudia Cattaneo (National Post – October 1, 2015)

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

A new dynamic is emerging in oil pipeline politics – First Nations clashing with First Nations.

On Wednesday, the same day the aboriginal-led Eagle Spirit pipeline proposal announced it secured support – after three years of trying — of every First Nation chief along its route in British Columbia, other First Nations chiefs were meeting in Vancouver to discuss forming a national alliance to fight oil sands pipelines.

Chiefs from Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec appeared before the annual assembly of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs and won unanimous backing for a resolution “to develop shared positions and coordinated strategies for addressing climate change and other environmental and cultural impacts of tar sands development.”

The visiting chiefs said they were inspired by their Western Canadian counterparts’ battles against Enbridge Inc.’s Northern Gateway and now want to “extend that wall of opposition out East to stop the TransCanada (Corp.) Energy East tar sands pipeline,” Grand Chief Serge Simon of the Mohawk Council of Kanesatake, a Quebec band, said in a statement.

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CANADA’S WATERLESS COMMUNITIES (Vice.com – September 2015)

http://www.vice.com/en_ca

This is a “must watch” series by Vice News, a current affairs media company that produces news documentaries that are not thoroughly covered by mainstream global news gathering organizations. The issue of non-potable drinking water in many of Canada’s First Nations communities is a national scandal that continues to be largely ignored by the very influential Toronto media. – Stan Sudol (RepublicOfMining.com)

CANADA’S WATERLESS COMMUNITIES, PART 2 (Vice.com – September 15, 2015)

Shoal Lake 40 has been cut off from the mainland for over 100 years. The First Nation community is fighting for an access road to the west so that it can build a water treatment plant. The community has been on a boil water advisory for 17 years. But so far, the federal government has failed to commit its portion of the funding. In Part 2 of this feature, Hilary Beaumont sees the community’s reaction to the latest government announcement.

Click here: http://en.daily.vice.com/videos/canadas-waterless-communities-part-2

CANADA’S WATERLESS COMMUNITIES, PART 3 (Vice.com – September 16, 2015)

The residents of Shoal Lake 40 rely on an aging barge to get food and water from the mainland. In the winter, they drive across the ice. But in the spring and fall, the crossing becomes treacherous. In today’s feature, Hilary Beaumont talks to a resident whose mother died while trying to cross the lake.

Click here: http://en.daily.vice.com/videos/canadas-waterless-communities-part-3

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Candidates discuss bridging gap btw industry, FNs – by Alan S. Hale (Timmins Daily Press – September 15, 2015)

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

TIMMINS – First Nations within Canada have become a major factor in the county’s efforts to exploit its natural resources.

Many Aboriginal communities have parlayed their treaty rights and the government’s constitutional obligation to consult them and reasonably accommodate their concerns into a great deal of power over the resource industry as a whole.

First Nations now often hold the keys when it comes to deciding if a major mining or forestry project will go ahead or not. Enbridge’s Northern Gateway Pipeline to carry Alberta bitumen to Northern B.C. has withered on the vine in the face of Aboriginal opposition, and progress on the Ring of Fire chromite development here in Northeastern Ontario has ground to a halt due in large part to local First Nations’ concerns.

Because gaining First Nation support for projects has become so important to the future of Timmins area’s economy, The Daily Press asked the candidates of Timmins-James Bay how they would build the relationship with First Nations required to allow the resource industry to continue to grow.

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How First Nations resurgence could help or hinder pipeline projects (Business Vancouver – september 8, 2015)

https://www.biv.com/

There’s something significant going on in the aboriginal world, which needs to be viewed with a historical frame of reference. From demonstrations of indigenous identity …

The Canadian oilpatch was dumbstruck by incoming Alberta Premier Rachel Notley’s pre-election announcement that her government would withdraw support for Enbridge’s (TSX:ENB) Northern Gateway pipeline.

“It’s not worth it,” Notley said, suggesting that she considered First Nations opposition intractable and noting the “intense” environmental sensitivities in British Columbia.

Shortly after the NDP’s orange crush started giving Calgary energy executives the blues, B.C.’s Lax Kw’alaams Band unanimously rejected the $1.1 billion offer from Petronas-led Pacific NorthWest LNG to site its liquefaction terminal on Lelu Island near Prince Rupert.

As Canada’s oil and gas export industry starts shifting from the shrinking U.S. market to the expanding Asian markets, getting aboriginal buy-in for the requisite infrastructure has proved extremely difficult.

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Conservatives response to First Nations water problems ‘a crime’, Howard Hampton says – by Jody Porter (CBC News Thunder Bay – August 28, 2015)

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/

NDP, Liberals say Grassy Narrows state of emergency highlights Conservative neglect

The state of emergency over water quality concerns at Grassy Narrows First Nation is a “shameful” situation created by Conservative neglect, according to the NDP.

The First Nation, located about 100 kilometres north of Kenora, Ont., declared the emergency this week over potentially cancer-causing chemicals found in its local tap water.

The water treatment plant in Grassy Narrows First Nation is missing basic parts and has not functioned properly since it was built about a decade ago, according to Deputy Chief Randy Fobister.

“It’s a crime that the Department of Aboriginal Affairs Canada sent back almost a billion dollars of funding that could have been used to address these safe, clean drinking water problems,” said Howard Hampton, the NDP candidate in the Kenora riding. “But the Harper Conservatives decided it’s not a priority.”

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IN DEPTH: Nunavut hunters want feds to stay out of uranium mine decision – by Sima Sahar Zerehi (CBC News North – August 11, 2015)

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/

‘This would be a political disaster for Nunavut, and for Canada,’ Kivalliq Wildlife Board

Hunters in Nunavut say if the federal government overrides a recent uranium mining decision from the Nunavut Impact Review Board if will seriously erode the confidence of the Inuit in the regulatory system.

“This would be a political disaster for Nunavut, and for Canada,” states the Kivalliq Wildlife Board in a letter they sent to the minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development yesterday.

“Residents and institutions of Nunavut have spent considerable time and resources participating in the NIRB screening and review of Areva’s proposal,” states the letter, “If you reject the NIRB report and recommendation, residents of Nunavut will question what the point of their participation in this process was.”

This spring, the Nunavut Impact Review Board issued its final report on a proposed uranium mine near Baker Lake. The report rejected Areva’s proposed Kiggavik mine on the grounds that it lacks a definite start date and a development schedule. The review board concluded that without this information it was impossible to assess the environmental and social impacts of the uranium mine.

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We should face up to history and make sure Canada Day is for all: Editorial (Toronto Star – July 1, 2015)

The Toronto Star has the largest circulation in Canada. The paper has an enormous impact on federal and Ontario politics as well as shaping public opinion.

Two years before Canada’s marks a century and a half as a united nation, we need a deep reflection on the place of the country’s First Nations.

Canada Day – even one that falls awkwardly in the middle of the working week – is a great time for waving flags. And for very good reason. We have so much to celebrate: we’re among the freest, healthiest and wealthiest people in the world.

We also have a rising generation of young people who will ensure that Canada’s best days lie ahead. On the opposite page, Carol Goar introduces us to three of the most impressive.

Yet Canada’s 148th birthday should also be a time for reflection on how we can do better. As Ken Dryden writes on our opinion page, Canada Day should be not just a commemoration of what we are, but “an expression of what we can be.”

And this year, two years before we mark a century and a half as a united nation, that should mean first and foremost a deep reflection on the place of the country’s First Nations. In the wake of the report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, it’s finally time to face up to that broken relationship.

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