Aboriginal and Inuit Non-Mining Issues – Page 17

Idle No More protests beyond control of chiefs – by James Bradshaw and Shawn McCarthy (Globe and Mail – January 2, 2013)

January 2, 2013

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.

TORONTO and OTTAWA – The Idle No More movement is broadening into a call to shake off apathy, absorbing a range of issues from aboriginal rights and environmental safeguards to the democratic process. And as it swells, organizers are warning first nations leaders that the movement will not be corralled by aboriginal politicians even as the country’s chiefs look to use the protests’ momentum to press Ottawa on treaty rights and improved living standards.

Hundreds of people gathered Tuesday afternoon in Toronto’s Yonge-Dundas Square, many of aboriginal heritage but nearly as many not, joining hands in round dances and lighting candles to honour Chief Theresa Spence, who was on day 22 of her hunger strike demanding Prime Minister Stephen Harper meet with aboriginal leaders.

The gathering attracted aboriginal peoples calling for greater consultation on changes to reservation land management and the Indian Act, but also environmentalists and government critics charging that the federal omnibus budget bill is bypassing vital public debate.

Started by four Saskatchewan women, the grassroots Idle No More movement has gone viral, with supporters across Canada and internationally holding protests, blocking rail lines and launching hunger strikes. While national chiefs support the effort, organizers are resisting any effort to hand over leadership to their elected representatives.

Attawapiskat: Why don’t they just leave? – by Raveena Aulakh (Toronto Star – December 30, 2012)

December 31, 2012

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.

ATTAWAPISKAT, ONT.—If she had a magic wand, Rosie Koostachin would change many things in her community. There would be better housing, health care and education. There would be more jobs and there would be no drug and alcohol abuse. Oh, and the reserve would be better run.

But there is no magic wand. Neither is one on its way. Koostachin, the wise 42-year-old mother of four and grandmother of one, knows that.

“Attawapiskat hasn’t changed in decades … I don’t think it ever will. It can’t. I was born here, I was raised here and I have raised all my kids here. The problems I saw four decades ago … they are problems we still face.”

Health care and education will always be a challenge. The dropout rate at the local high school will stay at more than 50 per cent. So will poverty. There will be no employment opportunities. Entertainment will at best be non-existent except around Christmas. The local cost of living will always be expensive (a single red pepper costs $3.99 and half dozen bananas $2.89).

It is the truth. Koostachin is not the only one who says so. She may be brave enough to talk openly about it but others say the same thing privately: Attawapiskat, home to about 1,900 people, can likely never be fixed. In the long run it is unsustainable.

Attawapiskat: No end in sight to problems of inadequate housing, unemployment, drug addiction – by Raveena Aulakh (Toronto Star – December 29, 2012)

December 29, 2012

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.

ATTAWAPISKAT, ONT. — Many years ago, Helen Kataquapit lived in a house. A real house that was warm, had a bedroom, a kitchen with a stove and a washroom with running water. That memory is fast fading.

The 52-year-old grandmother — who lives in a room not much larger than a walk-in closet in two trailers shared by dozens of others in one forlorn corner of Attawapiskat — knows she may never live in a house again.

“I submitted my name years ago and they kept saying there will be a house, but I am single and at the bottom of their list,” Kataquapit says with a sigh. “This place has gotten worse over the years, don’t know if anything will change it. It makes me sad, what’s happening here.”

A year ago, few could place this remote Cree reserve on Canada’s map. Then, in the middle of a desolate winter, came the news of the housing crisis and the community became the poster child of native neglect. Waves of journalists arrived on the reserve with its deplorable housing, wrote heartbreaking stories and left. So yes, this is an anniversary of sorts.

But an anniversary means nothing here. It is a place where time stands still. Nothing has changed in the past year, except for 22 new trailer-homes that some lucky families moved into. Everything else is the same: poverty and dependence, unemployment, drug and alcohol abuse, substandard education and health care, inadequate housing and questionable governance.

Northern Ontario chromite mining has first nation worried for water safety- Heather Socffield (The Canadian Press/Globe and Mail – December 27, 2012)

December 29, 2012

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.

MARTEN FALLS, ONT. — The Canadian Press – Water has consumed the daily routine of Chief Eli Moonias, and it’s making him visibly agitated. His small, fly-in reserve in Northern Ontario has had a boil-water advisory for seven long years, and there is no end in sight.

Now he feels the long-term quality of the water that surrounds his reserve may well be at risk, too. Mining companies have flooded into the James Bay lowlands, into the area now dubbed the Ring of Fire. They’ve found an enormous expanse of chromite, enough nickel for a mine and other metals that may hold potential in future years.

The mining holds the promise of thousands of jobs over the next decade, if not longer – as long as the proposals can pass environmental muster and garner the support of the region’s first nations. But chromite also poses significant challenges to the environment that can be difficult to manage.

“We know we’re going to get some benefits once they start development. We know that in some ways, we’ll be involved as well. The issue is the environment,” says Mr. Moonias.

He looks at development in the oil sands and hears about the inedible fish and the poisoned Athabaska River. He vows never to let anything like that happen to the Albany and Ogoki rivers that flow through the muskeg and meet at Marten Falls.

[Ring of Fire] Resource development could help peel away ‘layers and layers of trauma’ – by Heather Scoffield (The Canadian Press/Thunder Bay Chronicle Journal – December 27, 2012)

December 27, 2012

The Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario.

The people at Cliffs Natural Resources have been around, and know the challenges of mining in difficult conditions.
But this is a first: the multinational has had to extend deadlines on its environmental assessment process in Northern Ontario’s Ring of Fire because of a suicide crisis.

Another young man took his life a couple of weeks ago, prompting a spiral of despair in Neskantaga First Nation. Twenty young people in the small community of about 300 were put on suicide watch. The chief and council went to ground.
And the chances of them completing their feedback on time for Cliff’s environmental assessment terms of reference faded to zero.

“Neskantaga asked for some extra time on that, and given the circumstances, we figured that was right to do,” Bill Boor, Cliffs’ senior vice-president of global ferroalloys, said in a telephone interview. “We’ve been clear with people that we’re going to be the operator of this project long-term, assuming it goes forward. We plan to be there for a long, long time.”

“We kind of balance our interest in holding to a schedule with a very high level of interest in making sure we’re doing it right. And it’s not to our benefit to be solely schedule driven.”

It’s a small delay, but it comes at a time when Prime Minister Stephen Harper has made it a priority to ramp up the pace of mining and energy extraction.

The challenge of our time [First Nations Poverty] – Thunder Bay Chronicle Editorial (December 23, 2012)

December 27, 2012

The Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario.

ANOTHER protest by First Nations has led to another round of accusations and counter-accusations. Chiefs and band members say government is ignoring treaty obligations and violating traditional lands. The federal government insists it is acting on a number of fronts to improve the lot of First Nations. Canadians from all walks of life share a variety of opinions, some of them valid while others repeat old misconceptions.

The Idle No More movement follows other native protests rooted in similar claims and counter-claims. Some of these protests have led to violent confrontations; others have simmered for years.

In general, the efforts of reasonable First Nation leaders has led reasonable Canadian and provincial government leaders to act on legitimate grievances and legislate improvements. And yet, conditions on many First Nations remain impoverished and relations with most governments remain strained.

This situation has endured for decades and is both a stain on Canada’s name and a sign that something isn’t working. In this modern country with a solid Charter of Rights and Freedoms, how can there not have been a solution to this by now? Either the First Nations are right and governments are failing them badly, or governments are doing their best but cannot have the conversation that First Nations want to hear.

How the Idle No More movement started and where it might go from here – by Tristin Hopper (National Post – December 27, 2012)

December 27, 2012

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

In this occasional feature, the National Post tells you everything you need to know about a complicated issue. Today, Tristin Hopper gets to the bottom of the Aboriginal protest movement Idle No More.

What exactly is Idle No More?

Conceived in November by four Saskatchewan women frustrated with the Tories’ latest omnibus budget bill, Idle No More is a First Nations protest movement looking to obtain renewed government guarantees for treaty agreements and halt what organizers see as a legislative erosion of First Nations rights. The movement’s most visible spokeswoman is Theresa Spence, chief of the Attawapiskat First Nation, the Northern Ontario reserve struck by an emergency housing crisis last year.

Since Dec. 11, Ms. Spence has been on a hunger strike while camped on an Ottawa River island only a few hundred metres from Parliament Hill, vowing not to eat until she has secured a meeting with Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Since early December, protests spurred by Idle No More have included a 1,000-person demonstration on Parliament Hill last week, a blockade of a CN rail spur near Sarnia that continued for a sixth day on Wednesday and a variety of brief demonstrations and blockades across Canada and parts of the United States.

Although Idle No More trended on social media over the holidays, has there been much non-virtual movement of late?

Read more

As protests swell, Attawapiskat chief stands firm on hunger strike – by Gloria Galloway (Globe and Mail – December 27, 2012)

December 27, 2012

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.

OTTAWA — The aboriginal interpretive centre on an island in the middle of the Ottawa River where Theresa Spence is living out her hunger strike is not an unhappy place. There are fires and drumming and even the occasional round of song.

Native leaders have come from disparate parts of Canada to meet with the Attawapiskat chief who has said she will fast until the federal government gives in to her demand for a meeting among first nations, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and a representative of the Crown.

Ms. Spence wants to discuss the treaty that was signed in the first decade of the last century that covered a broad swath of Northern Ontario, including her own impoverished reserve. It promised money, education and health care in exchange for sharing the land.

Ms. Spence, like the descendants of the signatories of similar treaties across the country, says Canada is no longer living up to its part of the bargain.

So, two weeks ago, after listening to other chiefs at a national gathering complain about the problems affecting their people, the 49-year-old mother of five girls embarked on a hunger strike, consuming only water, fish broth and medicinal tea.

First Nations force their way onto Stephen Harper’s 2013 agenda – by Tim Harper (Toronto Star – December 19, 2012)

December 20, 2012

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.

OTTAWA—The movement is known as Idle No More. In the next couple of days we will learn whether this is the latest venting of aboriginal frustration in this country or whether it grows to become a sleeper issue in 2013.

Aboriginal discontent could muscle its way onto Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s agenda very early in the new year.

The protests have been surprisingly robust, although Idle No More, born of opposition to the government’s omnibus budget bill, is only days old.

It has moved beyond the angry flare sparked by the bill and has grown, fuelled by young aboriginals deftly using social media, to represent the latest iteration of the festering conflict that has marked the Harper government — its determination to economically exploit resources over the objections of environmentalists and aboriginals who believe this regime is running roughshod over its ancestral lands.

But there is more, something even more fundamental, because movement leaders count 14 pieces of legislation — dealing with everything from education to water quality to financial accountability — that they believe are the laws of an adversary.

The politics of a painkiller – Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal Editorial (December 14, 2012)

December 17, 2012

The Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario.

Leona Aglukkaq has got politics down pat. The federal Health Minister recently approved generic versions of the highly-addictive opioid painkiller OxyContin for sale in Canada. The patent for OxyContin — which is the market name for time-released oxycodone tablets — expired and, in the interest of private-sector initiative, the government opened the door for other companies to step in with their own, no-name versions.

That’s great for the companies; oxycodone painkillers are huge sellers. It’s also good for people in need of those drugs, as well as health care budgets. The generics are much cheaper than the name brand versions and their painkilling abilities are effective.

The issue, though, is one that affects everyone else. Oxycodone is a fiercely addictive painkiller and the introduction of generic versions will cost society far too much to go ahead.

The problem is, those struggling with an oxy addiction — and there are many — pass their struggle on to others. Drug stores are being held up to the point where many pharmacy owners are refusing to stock generic oxy. Convenience stores, homes and vehicles are robbed and whatever taken is quickly flipped to pay for the next pill.

Leaders plan trades school for NAN students – by Rick Garrick (Wawatay News – November 21, 2012)

November 22, 2012

Northern Ontario’s First Nations Voice: http://wawataynews.ca/

A First Nations trade school is on the horizon after Deputy Grand Chief Goyce Kakegamic met with international aid agencies, mining companies and education officials on Nov. 16.

“Canada is opening immigration due to a shortage of skilled workers and the mining sector is bringing skilled workers from all over the country — two weeks in, two weeks out,” Kakegamic said after the meeting with about 30 international aid, mining sector and education representatives at Dennis Franklin Cromarty High School in Thunder Bay. “We have a lot of able bodies walking around in our territory. No one is going to do it for us; we are the ones that have to provide that avenue to (ensure) our students have the aspiration to go that route.”

Kakegamic said the trade school would provide an option for high school students who are interested in a career in trades.

“If they have a reachable goal (in trades), that would motivate them to attendance, that would motivate them to apply more in literacy and numeracy,” Kakegamic said. “That will give them the motivation to excel, and they can excel if you give them an opportunity.”

Kakegamic said the trade school would be focused on a variety of trades, such as carpentry, mechanical and other skilled trades, in addition to mining-specific trades.

Treaty settlement the only way to end pipeline deadlock – by Daniel Veniez (Globe and Mail – October 17, 2012)

October 24, 2012

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.

The broken treaty process is a conspicuous illustration of a major impediment to the expansion of British Columbia’s economy. The Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline debacle is its latest casualty.

In 1992, the federal and provincial governments created the BC Treaty Commission (BCTC) to facilitate the negotiation and settlement of treaties in British Columbia. Twenty years and an estimated $900-million later, a grand total of three treaties have been signed. Sophie Pierre, the Chief Commissioner, told me that the commission could be around for another 20 years.

Unsettled land claims are a quagmire, and the perpetual uncertainty over ownership and control of the land has stopped resource development. This should be a wake-up call to policy makers.

Aboriginal rights and title are protected by the Constitution, and confirmed as a concept in common law. The courts have repeatedly encouraged governments to deal with these claims. Politically at least, Ottawa and Victoria have not shown an interest in resolving these issues. Governments don’t appear to appreciate the economic damage their procrastination has inflicted. Some politicians are skeptical of treaties and prefer to pretend there’s no need for them.

Time to give the [Ontario] Far North its own federal voice – by Wayne Snider (Timmins Daily Press – October 3, 2012)

October 3, 2012

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

The landscape of federal politics is about to change, but the Boundary Commission is missing the boat when it comes to making real change to bring better representation to all Canadians.

Ontario is to get 15 new federal seats, as part of the once-a-decade adjustments made based on census data. Quebec will get three more seats, while Alberta and B.C. add six each. It’s not the numbers that are troublesome but the way they are distributed.

The growth of Ontario’s population, from 11,410,046 in 2001 to 12,856,821 in 2011 means the province’s number of ridings will increase to 121 from the 106 seats. That accounts for half the total expansion of the House, which is to go to 338 from 308.

Most new seats will go to the urban centres in southern Ontario, while in the North, the proposed new riding of Timmins-Cochrane-James Bay will grow even larger in area and population.

This means NDP MP Charlie Angus, will have an even larger territory to manage. As Angus said, the riding of Timmins-James Bay is already larger than Great Britain.

Northlander train closure could lead to rising shipping costs – by Lenny Carpenter (Wawatay News – September 19, 2012)

September 20, 2012

Northern Ontario’s First Nations Voice: http://wawataynews.ca/

The closure of the Northlander train and divestment of the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission (ONTC) could lead to higher transportation costs for the north, said the mayor of Moosonee.

Mayor Victor Mitchell said he is concerned that the sale of the ONTC and its subsidiaries could have long-term economic effects for the northern communities.

Earlier this year, the provincial government announced that the Northlander train, which runs from Toronto to Cochrane, will cease to operate due to escalating operation costs. The Northlander will have its final ride on Sept. 28. Mitchell is concerned that the costs of shipping goods and supplies to the north will rise after the Northlander makes its final run.

“In terms of freight and fuel, it comes by the regulation style oil tankers,” Mitchell said. “And it comes directly from whichever fuel depot it comes from and ships north. If the freight is stopping before Cochrane, how is that fuel going to be hauled?”