Aboriginal and Inuit Non-Mining Issues – Page 19

First Nations children send distressing letter to addicted parents – by Heather Scoffield (Toronto Star – April 16, 2012)

April 16, 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 Canadian Press

CAT LAKE, ONT.—Item 9 in the letter to members of the Cat Lake reserve from the children in Grade 6 is as blunt as it is painful.

“It hurts us and shoomis and kokum (grandpa and grandma) when you’re doing drugs and you’re not at home.” Cat Lake is the epicentre of prescription drug addiction in Canada. Community leaders believe between 70 and 80 per cent of the adults are hooked on oxycodone-based pain killers like OxyContin or Percocets.

Governments and local health authorities are slowly gearing up to deal with the runaway addiction that has slammed communities across the country, but especially First Nations. But the help can’t come quickly enough for the children of Cat Lake.

“We feel that we don’t know what to do to help you stop doing Drug,” the children wrote as “Point Number Five.” “We want you to stop because it hurts our family and we don’t like it when we’re angry,” according to their fourth item.

The children in this corner of northwestern Ontario, 400 kilometres north of Thunder Bay, put together the list over a few days in a workshop with the help of a local band member.

Canada, home to the suicide capital of the world [Pikangikum FN] – by Martin Patriquin (Maclean’s Magazine – March 30, 2012)

March 31, 2012

Maclean’s is the largest circulation weekly news magazine in Canada, reporting on Canadian issues such as politics, pop culture, and current events.

In Pikangikum, gas sniffing is rampant and young people are taking their own lives at a shocking rate.

Randy Keeper is sick of building coffins. A wiry fellow who looks younger than his 49 years, Keeper is proud of his job as a carpenter and crew leader, saying he’s built 25 houses from scratch over 17 years in Pikangikum, the reserve in northwestern Ontario where he has lived his whole life. But when it comes to the wooden boxes he builds for Pikangikum’s dead, he draws a blank. “I don’t count them,” he says from his daughter’s dining room table. He remembers the last ones, though. They were in December. “I had to make two in one day, one for an elder and one for a younger person.”

The dreams started a couple of weeks after that. In one, he’s lying face up in a freshly dug grave, watching as a cofﬁn is slowly lowered toward him. He doesn’t know if there’s anyone inside, but he recognizes his handiwork: 100 lb. of plywood, treated pine and nails, a simple enough thing that takes him no more than 90 minutes to build. In the dream he’s alive but can’t move as it comes down on his chest, smothering him. Then he wakes up. “The elders told me to stop making them,” he says, “but I have no choice because I work for the band. I get nervous, shaky. Once the dreams happened I’d say yes out of respect for chief and council, but sometimes I don’t show up.”

Andrée Cazabon: A street kid turned filmmaker on a mission [Third World Canada – KI First Nation] – by Sarah Hampson (Globe and Mail – December 9, 2010)

April 5, 2015March 30, 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— “It’s annoying,” Andrée Cazabon says as she screws up her pretty face. “It happened almost 25 years ago. Isn’t someone allowed to move on?”

Her new, heart-wrenching film, Third World Canada, tells the story of eight children who are orphaned when three parents commit suicide in the fly-in native community of Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug, or K.I. for short, in Northern Ontario. Such is the disturbing portrayal of the social and psychological fabric in the community that all the Canadian broadcasters Ms. Cazabon has approached have turned it down. One of the boys in the film regularly acts out his father’s hanging because he was locked in the room with him when he committed suicide. But she refuses to consider changing it.

Despite her fierce commitment to bringing awareness to the plight of aboriginal children – the film was screened at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa last week as a fundraising event that coincided with a meeting of the Assembly of First Nations – her own story as a former street kid is the one she is often asked about.

[Northern Ontario] English River logging suspended during court battle – by Tanya Talaga (Toronto Star – March 23, 2012)

March 23, 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 Ontario government has agreed to suspend logging north of the English River in a territory five times the size of Toronto as an 11-year legal fight winds its way through the courts.

Last August, the Ontario Superior Court ruled the province does not have the power to take away treaty rights negotiated over 150 years ago by allowing industrial activity without the consent of Grassy Narrows First Nation. The decision is being appealed and is expected to be heard this fall.

But while all commercial logging cannot occur in the Grassy Narrows traditional area north of the river without the community’s consent, it can south of the river, said David Sone, a spokesperson for the environmental organization Earthroots.

“The people of Grassy Narrows and First Nations across the province have suffered for decades for decisions imposed on them and their land without their agreement,” Sone said.

Manitoba starts $3-billion permanent road network (Canadian Consulting Engineer – February 27, 2012)

February 28, 2012

http://www.canadianconsultingengineer.com/

First Nations communities along the east side of Lake Winnipeg in Manitoba are being connected by permanent roads to the provincial road system for the first time.

The Government of Manitoba’s East Side Road Authority has started construction of roads and bridges along the all-season network, which altogether is estimated to cost approximately $3 billion and once completed will cover 1,028 kilometres. The overall project will take up to 30 years to complete.

SNC-Lavalin established the routes in a two-year long study, known as the Large Area Transportation Network Study, which was officially released in June 2011. Now, AECOM is the prime consulting engineering firm implementing the project, and Dillon Consulting is the contract administrator. Both companies are working on the road and bridge works.

Last week, Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger visited Manto Sipi Cree Nation near Gods River to see first-hand how work is progressing. A series of new permanent and some temporary bridges is under way and Chief Michael Yellowback said the communities are already benefiting, since warming temperatures had put the current winter roads in jeopardy.

Private ownership helps First Nation fix housing problems – by Shawn Bell (Wawatay News – February 6, 2012)

February 7, 2012

This article came from Wawatay News: http://www.wawataynews.ca/

Chief Franklin Paibomgai of Whitefish River First Nation is happy to talk housing. Despite the prevalence of housing woes all across northern Ontario First Nations, the days of housing concerns in Whitefish River – just north of Manitoulin Island – are a thing of the past.

Paibomgai laughs when asked about the last time housing has come up at a band meeting. Housing has not been on the agenda for years, he says. It used to be a constant thing – someone wanting a new home, or needing renovations on a current house. But now, thanks to a dramatic shift in how the community looks at housing, there are subdivisions going up and a community-owned construction company doing the work.

In 2003 Whitefish River’s housing situation was similar to many First Nations across northern Ontario. Existing houses were in poor condition. There was a long list of people wanting new homes. And the housing money provided by the federal government was barely enough to complete upkeep on existing houses, never mind build anything new.

The James Bay Winter Road links Attawapiskat and Moosonee in Northern Ontario – by Jim Coyle (Toronto Star – February 5, 2012)

February 6, 2012February 5, 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.

ON THE JAMES BAY WINTER ROAD—David Kataquapit and his cousin Eric Kataquapit are manhandling a large, gas-powered augur across the frozen Kapiskau River south of Attawapiskat.

They’re swaddled head to toe to dough-boy plumpness, wearing construction helmets and reflector vests, heavy gloves and ice cleats on their big boots, their breath puffs of white against the crystalline blue sky.

It was -35C when their shift started at 7 a.m. The temperature rose to about -20C by noon. It will be down in the -30s again by quitting time at 7 p.m.

“We’re used to it,” David laughs. “Sometimes it gets cold. It’s not that cold now. No wind.” He nods to the east toward James Bay and says Eric was “born on this river.” Born in the bush, in fact, a few kilometres up the southern bank. The traditional way of life is as recent to the Kataquapits, as it is for many James Bay Cree, as their childhood.

MPP [Gilles Bisson] says swap with feds would help First Nations – by Ron Grech (Timmins Daily Press – February 3, 2012)

February 3, 2012

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

Growing dissatisfaction with Ottawa’s management of schools on First Nations has spurred growing support for the province taking over the responsibility, says MPP Gilles Bisson (NDP — Timmins-James Bay).

“When it comes to education (on reserves), the current federal education system is a complete failure,” said Bisson, a long-time advocate for the idea. “Kids who finish Grade 12 (on First Nations) are at a level that is three to four years behind their counterparts outside of the reserve system.

“When I first started raising this issue, most people on reserve would have disagreed with me. Now, I would say there is a majority of people who are saying this is not a bad idea.”

Bisson said he has been sharing his thoughts on the issues with chiefs, band council members and First Nation education authorities throughout the region.

Alberta Cree official admits dilemma over Gateway as Edmonton hearings begin – by Trish Audette (National Post – January 30, 2012)

January 30, 2012

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

Edmonton — The lead community-industry liaison for the Enoch Cree First Nation finds herself in a “bind” when it comes to the controversial Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline proposal.

“We were known as the caretakers of the land . . . if you’re going to take something from the land, give something back,” Leigh Ann Ward said Tuesday at hearings of National the Energy Board-Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency panel in Edmonton. “There is a need for (the pipeline), but what are the environmental impacts?”

At the same time, Ward is interested in the economic benefits of the proposed pipeline, which would carry Alberta bitumen to port in Kitimat, B.C., where it would be loaded aboard Asia-bound tankers.

“We want it to go ahead because this will ensure employment for our band members,” she said, noting as many as 24 members are already trained to work on pipeline construction. “The benefits are really, really high.”

Scrutinizing Canada’s pipeline to Beijing – by Terry Glavin (National Post – January 30, 2012)

January 30, 2012

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

Canada is at the brink of a radical shift in energy and foreign policy. But there has been no debate of any consequence about it — not in the House of Commons, not in the Senate, not in the proceedings of a Royal Commission. Certainly not in the news media.

Here’s what you’ve been missing.

Ostensibly, it’s about the Enbridge project, a plan to pump condensate eastward from the coast to Alberta so that Alberta bitumen can be made fluid enough to be pumped back to the coast at Kitimat — then put into oil tankers to be sent down Douglas Channel and out into the roaring North Pacific, eventually landing in California and Asia.

As recently as last fall, John Bruk, the founding president of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada and as fervent a booster of trade with China as you’ll meet, was cheering Stephen Harper and wishing him all the best with his trade engagements in the Forbidden City.

For people of Attawapiskat, hope endures – by Jim Coyle (Toronto Star – January 27, 2012)

November 5, 2015January 28, 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.—For more than 20 years, Gilles Bisson has been visiting Attawapiskat, often flying his own small plane up to this remote Cree reserve. As much as any outsider can, he knows all the people, all the issues. Being a smart guy, he also knows how much he doesn’t know.

“Sometimes,” sighs the veteran New Democrat MPP for Timmins-James Bay. “I wonder if I really understand the community any better now than when I started.”

Attawapiskat is basically built on swamp, about 300 kilometres north of Moosonee on the James Bay coast. And the imagery fits. Lately, as the reserve became the new Canadian shorthand for native need, dysfunction and failure, its problems have seemed just as boggy and intractable.

The community is, to be sure, everything it has been portrayed as and more — a world of chronic poverty and dependence, of babies having far too many babies, of cascading generations piling up in shanties, of disheartening self-sabotage, of nepotism and decidedly imperfect governance.

The [resource] race to China – by Claudia Cattaneo (National Post – January 28, 2012)

January 28, 2012

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

KITIMAT, B.C. — In a climate of growing hostility toward energy industry development across North America, Timothy Wall, president of the Canadian unit of Houston-based Apache Corp., took the road less travelled to the heart of Kitimat.

He flew multiple times to the 9,000-resident town on the northern British Columbia coast to ensure support for his liquefied natural gas plans. He unleashed a team to explain the challenges and the benefits.

He won over the local aboriginals, the Haisla Nation, by meeting with them, acknowledging their rights, making them his landlords. “We had a big push … trying to make this a win-win for everybody,” Mr. Wall, who is originally from Houston, said in an interview.

“We told the stakeholders in the Kitimat area that there would be challenges, but that we would work through them. That with everybody pulling in the right way, we would get there.”

The two-year effort paid off with widespread community support for Apache’s plan to pipe natural gas from fields at the other end of the Rockies, build a terminal down the canal in Bish Cove to liquefy it, and transport it by tanker to Asia.

Modular home builder eyes First Nation partnerships – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – January 25, 2012)

January 25, 2012

Established in 1980, Northern Ontario Business provides Canadians and international investors with relevant, current and insightful editorial content and business news information about Ontario’s vibrant and resource-rich North. Ian Ross is the editor of Northern Ontario Business ianross@nob.on.ca.

Break out of the wood box

A First Nation-declared housing emergency in the Far North community of Attawapiskat may be a watershed event in rethinking social housing on reserves.

Steve Marshall, vice-president of the Sudbury-based Morris Group of Companies, watched last month’s flurry of media reports of deplorable housing conditions in the James Bay coast community and the federal government’s frantic efforts to find shelter for its residents.

“We’re certainly following it very closely because it’s not something unique to just Attawapiskat…it’s not all that different across most First Nation communities.”

In early December, he was meeting with representatives from seven First Nation communities in Ottawa, all interested in partnering up on modular home products that his company produces.

Pragmatic PM looks ahead as Chiefs air old grievances – by John Ivison (National Post – January 25, 2012)

January 25, 2012

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

The Crown-First Nations gathering in Ottawa was a classic example of a failure to communicate.

Both Prime Minister Stephen Harper and National Chief Shawn Atleo recognized the history of Canada’s relations with its First Nations as a register of crimes and misfortunes. Both paid lip-service to the idea of unlocking the potential of aboriginal Canadians.

But they talked past each other when it came to moving forward. The Prime Minister said he has learned from the past but wants to focus on the future. Mr. Atleo spent most of his speech re-fighting old battles by pointing out how Canada has failed to live up to its treaty obligations.

Mr. Harper is likely the most pragmatic leader this country has seen since Sir John A. Macdonald, and his interest is in practical solutions that can have impact on the ground.

Focus first nations dialogue on self-sufficiency – by Jeffrey Simpson (Globe and Mail – January 25, 2012)

January 25, 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.

History does repeat itself, it would appear.

Pierre Trudeau had his constitutional conferences that involved aboriginal leaders. Brian Mulroney had his too, plus a big session in British Columbia to launch the B.C. Treaty Commission process, which has been a discouraging flop.

Jean Chrétien often went on about how splendidly he got along with the chiefs, having been Indian Affairs minister early in his career. Paul Martin had his Kelowna Accord. Stephen Harper had his reconciliation/apology statement over residential schools and, Tuesday, a day-long session with the chiefs.

Along the way, the national leadership of the Assembly of First Nations has obviously changed, as have the local chiefs. But the dialogue seldom changes, on either side of the table. Sonorous clichés mix with history lessons about “settlers” and their perfidy, lessons are repeated about the “honour of the Crown” and treaties that are/were not respected.