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Aboriginal and Inuit Non-Mining Issues

Aboriginal students graduating from post-secondary schools in record numbers – by Michael V’Inkin Lee and Christopher Reynolds (Vancouver Sun – July 15, 2012)

The Vancouver Sun, a broadsheet daily paper first published in 1912, has the largest circulation in the province of British Columbia.

First nations students are attending — and graduating from — post-secondary schools and professional programs like law and medicine in record numbers

Mary Brearly had no idea as a little girl that she would grow up to be an underground miner. “I didn’t know that I could do that, I guess. Nobody had told me,” said the first nations Thompson Rivers University graduate, who earned her processing operations qualifications through the B.C. Aboriginal Mine Training Association in Kamloops last year.
 
Brearly, 27, is part of what the B.C. Ministry of Advanced Education says has been a 25-per-cent surge in post-secondary enrolment among aboriginal youth over the last four years. Statistics from some colleges and universities in B.C. also show that more aboriginal students are completing certificate and degree programs in a broader range of fields.
 
“Ensuring that aboriginal learners have access to post-secondary education and training is essential to fulfilling our labour needs,” said Naomi Yamamoto, the minister of advanced education.

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Support for Ring of Fire Moratorium – AFN Annual General Assembly – Draft Resolution #16/2012

(L to R: Angus Toulouse, former AFN Regional Chief for Ontario; Sonny Gagnon, Chief of Aroland First Nation; Peter Moonias, Chief of Neskantaga First Nation (Lansdowne House); Shawn Atleo, Chief of the Assembly of First Nations (November 2011/Photo supplied by Matawa First Nations Tribal Council)

AFN Annual General Assembly, July 17 – 19, 2012, Toronto, Ontario/ Draft Resolution #16/2012

TITLE: Support for Ring of Fire Moratorium

SUBJECT: Free, Prior and Informed Consent; Treaty

MOVED BY: Chief Peter Moonias, Neskantaga First Nation, ON

SECONDED BY: Chief Sonny Gagnon Aroland First Nation, ON

WHEREAS:

A. Article 32 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples states that “1. Indigenous peoples have the right to determine and develop priorities and strategies for the development or use of their lands or territories and other resources; 2. States shall consult and cooperate in good faith with the indigenous peoples concerned through their own representative institutions in order to obtain their free and informed consent prior to the approval of any project affecting their lands or territories and other resources, particularly in connection with the development, utilization or exploitation of mineral, water or other resources; 3. States shall provide effective mechanisms for just and fair redress for any such activities, and appropriate measures shall be taken to mitigate adverse environmental, economic, social, cultural or spiritual impact”.

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Atleo to press private sector on respect for aboriginal treaty rights – by Tamara Baluja (Globe and Mail – July 20, 2012)

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.

 Following the lead of many chiefs who demanded the AFN take a more assertive role,
the AFN passed a resolution calling for the eviction of mining companies in Northern
Ontario’s Ring of Fire.”We’re being bullied by a giant mining company and a
desperate province,” Chris Moonias, a band councillor from the Neskantaga First
Nation, told the assembled chiefs.

With natives feeling ignored on key treaty rights, Shawn Atleo, the newly re-elected Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, says the advocacy organization will take the conversation directly to businesses on resource development. At the same time, he didn’t rule out delaying key projects like the Northern Gateway pipeline.

“The chiefs are standing together and saying if you do not deal with the recognition of our title rights, it will not result in more efficient development,” he said the day after he was re-elected to a three-year term as national chief of Canada’s largest aboriginal organization.

With billions of dollars at stake in projects like the Northern Gateway pipeline and mines in Northern Ontario, Canadian business leaders have urged politicians to give aboriginal communities a larger role in the development of Canada’s energy industry.

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Atleo must use mandate [resource development] – Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal Editorial (July 20, 2012)

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

IT turns out that claims of a close race putting Shawn Atleo in danger of defeat were off the mark. But while the incumbent is back in charge of the Assembly of First Nations with a comfortable majority and a renewed mandate, his challenge is greater than ever. Challenges, really, for there are two.

First, he must quell those voices among First Nations who claim Atleo is too tight with Ottawa. Healthy consultation will achieve more than still more confrontation which now wearies many Canadians.

Atleo’s second obstacle is cobbling together something resembling a united front among an assembly of traditionally but notoriously independent members in order to convince them and the other levels of government to build a model of success around a new natural resources boom.

For the first time ever there exists a path for First Nations to lift themselves out of the poverty and dependence that for most is the norm. The exceptions have been those whose leaders used opportunity to their advantage. Whether it was building a local economy around business or the proximity of forests, oil, gas or minerals, there are a relative few First Nations who got out of the old traps and built a new life for their people.

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Native people on cusp of change, AFN chief Atleo says [resource revenue sharing] – CBC News (July 19, 2012)


 

 http://www.cbc.ca/news/

Shawn Atleo, the newly re-elected national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, called on all Canadians to unite with his people in making a new future for native people, saying they “are on the cusp of major transformative change.”
 
“It is about time we pull back the veil on misunderstanding and we engage all Canadians to walk with us and give effect to the notion… we are all treaty people,” said Atleo at his Toronto news conference Thursday. He also paid tribute to the young people in native communities.
 
“You can’t helped but be moved by stories of resilience of what young people are achieving irrespective of seven generations of residential schools.” Atleo reiterated what he considered key issues: resource development, economic sustainability and called for a national inquiry into the hundreds of dead or missing native women across the country.
 
Atleo said he would stand up to any attempts to sweep away native rights to their resources or control over their lands:”We will act on our rights, our treaty rights, our inherent rights, our title rights.”

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Co-operation wins over confrontation as AFN re-elects Shawn Atleo – by John Ivison (National Post – July 19, 2012)

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

TORONTO — Compromise is for losers, read the T-shirt worn by one delegate to the Assembly of First Nations leadership convention. As it turns out….not so much.
 
Shawn Atleo, who boasts proudly of his background as a mediator and facilitator, beat seven other candidates to retain the AFN leadership, winning on the third ballot.
 
A number of them, including his closest rival, Pam Palmater, had called for the AFN to start wielding a big stick in its dealings with Ottawa. Ms. Palmater openly accused Mr. Atleo of selling the AFN’s soul to the devil. Mr. Atleo countered by talking tough about the prospect for unilateral action. “We will never compromise,” he told delegates Tuesday.

But, in reality, the National Chief knows he needs a willing partner in Ottawa if he wants to achieve his goals of reforming land claims policy and ushering in resource revenue sharing.

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Native leaders ponder the path of most resistance – by John Ibbitson (Globe and Mail – July 18, 2012)

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.

The Assembly of First Nations, in conclave, inhabits a world not easily recognized by those outside the native community: one of occupation, sovereign rights and resistance. Native leaders passionately embrace that world, which informs the campaigns of the seven challengers seeking to unseat Shawn Atleo as national chief.
 
But the odds appear to favour Mr. Atleo nonetheless, for the reason expressed by one chief from a Prairie province who was listening at the back of the room. “We have to live with what we’ve got,” he said.

Chiefs speaking candidly in exchange for not being on the record criticized Mr. Atleo for acting as though the AFN were a government and he its first minister, able to speak on behalf of the first nations in negotiations with Ottawa.

He has too often co-operated with the Harper government, they said, when the national chief should be asserting the treaty rights of first nations and their rightful claim to a share of any natural resource wealth.

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Shawn Atleo will defend post as national chief – by Tanya Talaga (Toronto Star – July 17, 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.

At any given moment, there are nearly 500 government lawyers challenging aboriginal treaty rights in Canada. There are 100 First Nations communities just like Attawapiskat — places of abject poverty with no adequate housing or hydro and almost as many reserves are without clean drinking water.
 
On some days, Shawn A-in-chut Atleo, the 45-year-old national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, admits it is like he is knocking his head against the wall in trying to make real progress for indigenous people. But he is running for re-election Wednesday because he feels the “moment of reckoning” is now.

Canada is moving to develop precious resources in Alberta’s oilsands and Ontario’s Ring of Fire — where one of the world’s largest chromite finds in the James Bay lowlands is said to exceed $30 billion — but they have to deal with the First Nations living adjacent to these riches in order to do so.
 
“Canada will not be whole until it addresses its relationship with First Nations through a rights-based viewpoint,” says Atleo, emphatically. “We are not just stakeholders.”

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Assembly of First Nations National Chief Shawn A-in-chut Atleo Speech – THE ECONOMICS OF RECONCILIATION – April 23, 2012

This speech was given at the Canadian Club of Toronto on April 23, 2012

Check Against Delivery

THE ECONOMICS OF RECONCILIATION

I am honoured to be with you here again. I remember well being here last year speaking about the enduring relationship between First Nations and the rest of Canada.

I spoke of the proud heritage of indigenous nations and the Treaties made between our nations and the newcomers. The relationships set in Treaty are important to Canada and represent the way forward. As we discussed, the stark and tragic inequities First Nations face today reveal that this relationship has been denied too long. We shared views of the possibility of a new story – a story of hope and opportunity for First Nations.

Today, I want to continue this conversation but turn our focus sharply to the economic side of the story. Reconciliation is a complex concept but we can all agree it compels action – right now.

I will suggest that reconciliation can be best approached as the building of a re-newed foundation with four cornerstones: rights recognition, healing and education, capacity and a fourth which will be my principal focus today – seizing economic potential.

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CEOs urge governments to promote native input in natural resource projects – by Heather Scoffield (Globe and Mail/The Canadian Press – July 15, 2012)

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.

OTTAWA — The Canadian Press – Canada’s aboriginal communities have found a powerful ally in their bid to be treated as equal partners in the discussion about tapping the country’s natural-resource wealth.

Big business wants them at the negotiating table, and is urging the federal and provincial governments to lend a helping hand.

A new report due Monday from the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, prepared for Canada’s premiers in advance of their meeting later this month, urges governments to make aboriginal communities full partners in developing energy and mining projects.

Governments should help train a growing aboriginal workforce and develop new ways to support aboriginal communities so that they can participate vigorously in business initiatives and negotiations to share the wealth, says the report, a copy of which was obtained by The Canadian Press.

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The fight for the soul of the AFN [First Nations resource issues] – by John Ivison (National Post – July 14, 2012)

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

Only in native politics could securing the Prime Minister’s undivided attention for a day, and hooking hundreds of millions of dollars in new funding at a time of austerity, be considered a sellout. Shawn Atleo, the AFN’s National Chief, persuaded Stephen Harper to attend a Crown-First Nations gathering earlier this year, aimed at making progress toward a goal both men covet — self-sufficient, self-governing native communities.
 
For his troubles, Mr. Atleo, who is facing a tough re-election fight next week, has been accused of “selling our souls to the devil” by one of his rivals, Pam Palmater.

“There is a sense that if you’re not intransigent and fighting the federal government, then you’re not doing it right,” said Joseph Quesnel, an analyst with the Frontier Centre for Public Policy. “After the gathering, the whole ‘Atleo sell-out’ narrative started to take shape, which in my view was bizarre and unfortunate.”
 
Ms. Palmater, an aboriginal lawyer and academic, is one seven candidates running against Mr. Atleo to become National Chief – a line-up that includes an unprecedented four women.

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Natural resources to define first nations leader’s next term – by Gloria Galloway and Nathan Vanderklippe (Globe and Mail – July 14, 2012)

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.

OTTAWA and VANCOUVER – Two months ago, 23-year-old Brendon Grant left his northern British Columbia hometown for San Diego, where he now lives a 10-minute jog from La Jolla beach. He moved south to start work as a junior analyst with RA Capital Advisors LLC, a private investment bank that has worked on more than $60-billion in financial transactions. Next month, he intends to start training toward becoming an investment banker.

Mr. Grant is Haisla, and his is not a traditional career path for a young person whose grandfather taught him to fish salmon and halibut.

But there is a seismic change shaking the economic foundations of the Haisla – and indeed, first nations across Canada. It’s a change that will have ripple effects all over the country and profound implications on whether the large-scale resource projects that provinces are looking at as an economic panacea move ahead.

For the Haisla, it is natural gas, and a rush to build tens of billions of dollars in new export terminals near Kitimat, B.C., to connect western gas fields with Asian consumers.

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Ontario Regional Chief Beardy – His way is quiet, but solid steady and forward – by James Murray (Netnewsledger.com – June 27, 2012)

http://netnewsledger.com/

THUNDER BAY – His way is quiet, but solid steady and forward. Once again, Stan Beardy has likely surprised many with his election to the position of Ontario Chief for the Assembly of First Nations. Likely many people thought that the (now) former Grand Chief at the Nishnawbe-Aski Nation (NAN) would have a tough time being selected as the Ontario Chief. Likely many of those were also the people who thought that Stan Beardy would not win a fourth term as Grand Chief of NAN.

However, Chief Beardy has steel behind his sometimes quiet ways. However his goal is bringing a louder voice from the North to Queen’s Park and Ottawa. In seeking to run for Ontario Chief, Beardy stated that “As a leader, I have been shaped by the direction of the Chiefs, the advice of the Elders, conversations with women and youth in our communities; and by the wisdom of leaders of First nations and indigenous people, in Ontario, across Canada and as far away as New Zealand”.

“As Regional Chief, I will fight for each First Nation and for all First Nations while respecting their autonomy and assisting them to build the protocols that will make their joint streghth greater”.

Chief Beardy was born and raised on a trap line at Bearskin Lake First Nation. He attended high school and college in Thunder Bay where he also worked as a welder-fitter for several years.

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Enbridge AGM: Pipeline protest drums pits pipelines against land, water – by VAnessa Lu (Toronto Star – May 10, 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.

The proposed Northern Gateway pipeline appears locked on a collision course, as First Nations chiefs put Enbridge officials on notice again that they won’t budge from their opposition.

“We are a very patient people,” warned Chief Na’moks of the Wet-suwet’en nation, near Smithers, B.C., at Enbridge’s annual general meeting in Toronto on Wednesday.

“We don’t base the wellbeing of life on money,” said April Churchill, vice-president of the Haida Nation. “Money will not change our minds. “There is no compensation that is acceptable that will kill off cultures and kill off people.”

First Nations leaders have repeatedly sent their message to Enbridge officials, and they travelled thousands of kilometres from British Columbia by train, to make their point again in Toronto.

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‘Corporate Canada’ should embrace First Nations as full partners in resource development: Chief Shawn Atleo – by Adrian Humphreys (National Post – April 23, 2012)

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

“We are not opposed to development, but we must be involved at the outset.
First Nation rights and responsibilities demand that we are full partners
in discussions about exploration, ownership, participation in production,
and long-term sustainability of our environment, our communities and our
futures.” (Shawn Atleo, National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations)

TORONTO — The National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations brought a metaphorical carrot and stick to deliver his message of reconciliation to corporate Canada, saying the country faces “an aboriginal tsunami” and mending its relationship with the “newcomers” can only be achieved if they “smashed the status quo.”
 
But if any of the evocative language by Shawn Atleo caused concern among the audience of what he called “the suits of Toronto,” it seemed to be mollified by the entreaty he offered in return.

Co-operation with First Nations will avoid intractable disputes over hugely valuable resource development projects across the country, he said.
 
“Currently, First Nations are often the last to know about major resource development. This relegates our communities to few options, usually resulting in confrontation.

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