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BCAFN Daily News

02/21/2012

• A. First Nations Stories Dominating the News
• B. Other First Nation Stories of Interest
• C. Stories Dominating the News

 

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A. First Nations Stories Dominating the News

1- Bill C-10, Omnibus Crime Bill: Natives Unfairly Punished, Says National Chief Shawn Atleo

CP, Feb 20 - OTTAWA - The Assembly of First Nations accused the government of undercutting its own plans to improve conditions on reserves with the Conservatives' tough new crime bill. National chief Shawn Atleo said that Bill C-10, dubbed the ‘Safe Streets and Communities Act,’ will have the opposite effect on aboriginal communities. Atleo told the Senate’s legal and constitutional affairs committee the bill will make it even harder to break the cycle of crime that many aboriginal youth find themselves in. That will make it harder to end the poverty and lack of education on reserves the Conservatives have promised to address, he said. “The direction that this is heading in does not support the notion of First Nations creating safe and secure communities,” said Atleo, appearing by video link from his home in British Columbia. “Because the young people we are talking about right now, they are more likely to end up in jail than end up in school.” The bill would impose tougher sentences for a wide range of convictions including youth repeat offenders, and will impose mandatory minimum sentences for offences such as sexual assault and drug trafficking. Statistics Canada has reported that most violent crime is declining but the Conservatives tough-on-crime approach has proven popular with voters who overwhelmingly support harsher sentences for criminals according to polls. Any changes that trigger an increase in the prison population is bound to have a significant impact on First Nations. Aboriginals make up just 3.75 per cent of the general population but 18 per cent of federal prisoners come from aboriginal communities. Atleo testified that putting more people in jail is the wrong approach. He said aboriginals involved in drug offenses are often users themselves and treatment is preferable to incarceration. “As someone who’s worked in the addictions treatment field right here in my own home territory, it’s really intervention, it’s support, it’s rehabilitation,” he said. The notion that aboriginal people’s history of colonization, residential schools, and inter-generational poverty should be taken into account in sentencing became part of Canadian law after a 1999 Supreme Court decision. That ruling allowed judges to hand out less severe sentences based on an aboriginal defendant’s personal history, and allow them to enter rehabilitation programs based in aboriginal culture. Roger Jones, a senior strategist with the Assembly of First Nations who also testified, said mandatory minimums will take that option off the table. “After this bill becomes law those tools will no longer be there in some of those cases and those individuals will go to jail,” said Jones. The Conservatives have championed mandatory minimums as a way of ensuring the punishment fits the crime. Conservative senator Daniel Lang said when it came to crimes like sexual assault the victim's right to justice trumped the defendant's personal history. "It would seem to me from the victim's point of view that maybe it might give, in this case her, some comfort, to know there was a consequence to that action," he said. But Jones maintained sentencing should account for a person's background.. "I don't think you can ever avoid looking at the circumstances of an individual when determining what is the best thing to do in terms of addressing harms that have been inflicted," he said. "I think you still have to look at the circumstances." With aboriginals already over-represented in the justice system, Jones predicted C-10 will hit First Nations harder than the general population. Atleo said the only way to solve these problems is for the government to take the same approach to justice that it announced on education and economic development last month at its summit with First Nations leaders: devolving powers to First Nations themselves. “Modifications to the present justice system cannot address the problems that exist,” he said. “The First Nations governments and jurisdictions must be supported so we can do better by our young people.”

2- Aboriginals worried about effects of Tory crime bill

Jordan Press, Postmedia News, February 20 - OTTAWA — The government's omnibus crime bill could put more aboriginals behind bars rather than addressing the source of high crime and incarceration rates among native Canadians, says the Assembly of First Nations. The AFN told senators reviewing Bill C-10, known as the Safe Streets and Communities Act, that it could override rules allowing courts to consider alternatives to incarceration for aboriginal offenders, rules the Supreme Court outlined in its 1999 Gladue ruling. Those rules have tried to deal with what the AFN argued were unique issues facing aboriginals that cannot always be addressed by the corrections system. The crime bill, the AFN argued, could remove more First Nations offenders from aboriginal rehabilitation programs. AFN National Chief Shawn Atleo said First Nations want to keep more of their offenders in aboriginal-run institutions where they can receive help from community elders and targeted rehabilitation plans. "It's a comparable approach at the federal level," Atleo said via video conference from his home community of Ahousat, B.C. The crime bill, he said, would reverse all that work. "I am very concerned with the direction this bill is taking us in," Atleo said. Research over the past 14 years has found that aboriginals make up a greater proportion of the inmate population in Canada, greater than the percentage of aboriginals in the general Canadian population. A 2009 study from Correctional Service Canada found aboriginals made up about 20 per cent of the prison population, despite representing about four per cent of the Canadian population. The same study cited myriad factors affecting the incarceration rates of aboriginals, including low levels of educational attainment and higher rates of unemployment. Corrections research has also found that aboriginals are more likely to be repeat offenders and involved in violent crime. AFN senior strategist Roger Jones told the committee that more aboriginals are becoming part of gangs involved in drug crimes and the reach of those gangs is widening in urban centres and aboriginal communities. The crime bill, Jones argued, could put more aboriginals behind bars because the crime bill targets repeat offenders and drug traffickers. "You can't predict exactly how legislation is going to impact people, but you can do a good job," Jones said. Jones said the AFN doesn't dispute the need to curb violent crime to make communities safer, but questioned whether investing in prevention rather than prisons might better serve aboriginals. "One of our messages is you either increase your costs by putting more of our people into the prison system, or you can invest in programs . . . that keep our people out of the prison system," Jones said. The Senate legal affairs committee will be reviewing the crime bill for the remainder of the week. On Friday afternoon, the committee is scheduled to dissect and debate each clause of the omnibus bill.

3- The Spiritual Backstory of the Crown-First Nations Gathering

ICTMN, February 20 - As aboriginals wait to see what actions or changes, if any, will come out of the Crown–First Nations Gathering that took place on January 24, their leaders have upped the pressure to let the federal government know that they are not going away. The root of this sentiment is the unshakeable knowledge that underlies their insistence: The matter, for First Nations, is as much spiritual as political. At the meeting itself, First Nations leaders and the head of the Canadian government discussed face-to-face the issues dragging down the country’s aboriginal peoples, and by extension, Canada. Politics aside, the underlying theme, at least for the First Nations, was the notion of maintaining their cultural integrity and making it part of the national landscape. The gathering started out on a spiritual note that set the tone for the cooperation and communication to follow. An honor song and ceremony launched the proceedings and were later explained by Anishnabe Elder Dave Courchene, winner of the 2012 National Aboriginal Achievement Award for spirituality and the founder of Turtle Lodge, a center for learning that envisions all the races coming together in the lighting of the eighth fire foretold by the elders. The honor song and ceremony symbolized the establishment of a new relationship, he said, an attempt to find a new way forward for First Nations peoples and the Canadian government, as well as all Canadians. (Photos and other follow-up information about the Gathering is on the Turtle Lodge’s Facebook page.) “It is said by our elders—the wisdom keepers and the visionaries of our people—that we have entered a very special time. And it is a time of great opportunity. It is a time that we are witnessing changes happening around the world,” Courchene said in his speech and prayer explaining the spiritual nature of the gathering and its relevance to the material world. “Our people foresaw all of these things,” he said. “We consider today very historical to be able to come together and to reflect on the original instructions that we were all given as human beings. And that was to bring peace and love into this world.” The sentiment was acknowledged privately, before the opening ceremony, when Prime Minister Stephen Harper presented the three elders—Courchene, Bertha Commanda and Barney Williams Jr.—with tobacco. Then on behalf of the three dlders, Courchene presented him with a scroll, while Barney presented one to Assembly of First Nations National Chief Shawn A-in-chut Atleo. The scroll highlights Ogitchi Tibakonigaywin—the Great Binding Law of the Kizhay Manito (the Creator) and the Seven Teachings. Later, in his speech and opening prayer, Courchene emphasized the importance of putting children and mothers back into the center of our lives, calling on participants to remember the “original instructions” that all were given by the Higher Power to bring peace and love into the world. He emphasized everyone’s connection to Mother Earth. “As independent and free peoples, we come together,” Courchene said, urging a spirit of cooperation for the meeting. “We gather reflecting the spirit of our hearts and belief as a people. We must find that courage to be able to do the right thing.” A traditional ceremony opened the event, after which Governor General David Johnston, Harper and Atleo ceremonially launched the sessions on how to improve the relationship between the Crown and First Nations peoples, as well as how to strengthen First Nations economies. A drumming circle accompanied the procession for the grand entry, led by a Canadian flag and the Assembly of First Nations flag. An elder smudged the leaders with sweet grass and a feather before the traditional gift exchange. Atleo presented Johnston with a Covenant Chain belt to represent one of the earliest treaties between the Crown and First Nations peoples. The belt shows that the Crown is linked by a chain to the First Nations peoples of this land, according to the AFN’s description. The three links of the chain represent a covenant of friendship, good minds and peace. The silver it is made of symbolizes the occasional polishing the relationship will require to keep it from tarnishing. Johnston gave Atleo a reproduction of a painting of the Battle of Queenstown Heights, depicting the cooperation of aboriginal and non-aboriginal soldiers in the War of 1812. Then the real work began. “I call upon the drum to call us to order,” Courchene said, explaining to the various cultures assembled that the drum represents the heartbeat. “I call upon the drum to carry these words that the elders continue to speak about, that we will find that courage to be able to do the right thing,” he said. “There are many many ways to do the wrong things. But there’s only one way to do the right thing. And it’s written in our hearts. All we need to do is find the courage to listen to the voice of the heart that speaks to all of us. Because we are all within the human family.”

B. Other First Nation Stories of Interest

1- First nations don’t have a pipeline veto, but they do have options

Tom Flanagan, Globe and Mail, Feb 21 - The Conservative government has shown that it favours Enbridge’s proposed Northern Gateway pipeline to carry bitumen from Alberta’s oil sands to the B.C. deepwater port of Kitimat. Despite this open support, there’s a risk that the Northern Gateway proposal could go the way of the Mackenzie Valley pipeline – ultimately approved in principle but held up so long it never gets built, because the market has found alternative options. About 50 first nations lie in Northern Gateway’s path. Consultation with these first nations will be critical, so let’s look at the legal framework. In the 1997 Delgamuukw case, the Supreme Court of Canada held that aboriginal title still exists across British Columbia where treaties have never been signed. That includes most of the province except for the northeast, where Treaty 8 was negotiated in 1899-1900. The court ruled that aboriginal title had not been extinguished by B.C.’s course of dealing with indigenous people, even though the government had assigned them to reserves and granted to others the lands on which they used to live. The court, however, did not designate aboriginal title to specific tracts of land; that remains to be worked out in the B.C. treaty process. The first nations, meantime, have a right to be consulted about economic development projects that might affect the value of their claims to aboriginal title. The government can’t authorize trees to be cut, fish to be caught, and minerals to be dug, then say, “Okay, it’s your land now.” Consultations must be full and thorough, accommodation to first nations’ concerns must be made where possible, and compensation must be paid where interests are damaged. But – and this is a crucial point for Northern Gateway – first nations do not have a veto. The court was very clear in Delgamuukw that “the building of infrastructure … can justify the infringement of aboriginal title.” Consultation, accommodation, compensation? Yes. Veto? No. Treaty 8 first nations are in a situation that is different in law but similar in practical effect. They surrendered their aboriginal title, but Treaty 8 gave them the right to continue hunting, fishing and trapping on Crown land until the government took up such lands for other purposes. The Supreme Court decided in Mikisew (2005) that the government had to consult Treaty 8 nations before approving infrastructure that might affect their wildlife harvesting rights, even off reserve. Again, consultation, accommodation and compensation are involved but not a right of veto. Enbridge has been discussing Northern Gateway with first nations for at least five years. It has offered them an equity stake in the pipeline plus other benefits, and has also made cash grants to some first nations to finance their participation in the consultations. Another level of consultation is now being carried out by the Northern Gateway joint review panel, appointed by the National Energy Board and the Minister of the Environment to consider business and environmental issues at the same time. It will sit for almost two years and hear from thousands of intervenors, including first nations that choose to appear, and it can recommend various forms of mitigation, accommodation and compensation in its report to the federal government. This may sound like a lot of consultation, but the ensuing litigation is likely to be even more protracted. Although Supreme Court decisions have denied a first nations veto, they have not laid down clear criteria for assessing the adequacy of consultation. Thus the door is open for any and all first nations to seek judicial review, and that could mean a tsunami of litigation. For pipeline proponents, the risk is not so much failure to gain official approval as subsequent delays in court that might render the project uneconomic.

Tom Flanagan is a professor of political science at the University of Calgary. He has managed campaigns for the Conservative Party of Canada and the Wildrose Party of Alberta. He is co-author of Beyond the Indian Act: Restoring Aboriginal Property Rights.

2- First Nations want to keep language alive

Matthew Gauk, Daily News, February 20 - The enshrinement of indigenous languages under Canadian law might be just what's needed to keep them alive, according to the Snuneymuxw First Nation's cultural co-ordinator. Last week, news reports revealed that documents obtained through access to information legislation suggested the federal government has been preparing to defend against a possible lawsuit to get aboriginal languages recognized alongside English and French. A briefing note in July 2010 to Heritage Minister James Moore, who also oversees the Official Languages Act, said the Assembly of First Nations was considering legal action to make an unspecified number of indigenous languages "official," although the AFN has stated it is not involved in any such lawsuit. But Geraldine Manson, a former band councillor who has held the post of cultural coordinator for more than 16 years, said the change should have been made long ago. It has been a significant fight for many First Nations communities to uphold the use of their traditional languages, Manson said. She reasoned that official recognition of languages like Hul'q'umi'num', historically spoken by aboriginal people from the Malahat to Nanoose Bay, could go a long ways to securing funding for programs that would ensure their survival. "We promote our language individually as communities, teaching it, (and) it goes into the school district to a certain point. But it's not recognized as a language that should automatically be taught in schools," said Manson. Hul'q'umi'num' is currently taught in daycare and at the Qwam Qwum Stalicut School, Bayview Elementary and at John Barsby Community School, she said. "After that, there's nothing. So everybody after that doesn't pursue it, they forget it," Manson said. Even the effect of these basic lessons is dulled when the young children go home and their parents don't understand the language, Manson said. Government recognition could support a full Hul'q'umi'num' program in the First Nations Studies department at Vancou-ver Island University, she suggested. There are already two young Snuneymuxw people who are at the forefront of carrying on the language, but they have had to make a great effort to seek out the teachings, she said. "We've been applying for small grants where we have two of the teachers at John Barsby that are looking at putting the language into songs, into prayers, into curriculum for our band school," said Manson. "But it's a struggle, you can only do a phase at a time. Once that funding ends you have to go seek more funding to continue it."

3- Opinion: Education can be improved for first nations students

Craig & Marc Kielburger, Special To The Sun, February 20 - Robert Genaille was not a big fan of teachers. His mother would talk about the scars the Kamloops Indian Residential School had left on his grandfather, how he refused to teach her his native language because his own experiences made him fear it would get her hurt. Living on his mothers Stó: lo Nation reserve., Genaille was bused to a public high school in nearby Hope. It was not a happy time. He said the school was not a welcoming place for aboriginal students and their culture. Teachers did nothing to break down the barriers between aboriginal and non-aboriginal students. The courses were devoid of aboriginal culture. History classes touched briefly on Canada's first nations, but only in broad generalities. "It planted aboriginals firmly in the past, and then went right back to talking about explorers such as Champlain. The people who had supposedly 'shaped the country'," Genaille recalled. School is a difficult time for any young person. Imagine on top of that sitting in a class-room hearing your cultural identity dismissed as a figment of the past, or simply ignored completely. "I didn't feel well treated in high school. It wasn't a safe environment to learn," Genaille said. Genaille persevered. He finished high school, earned a bachelor of arts degree and was considering becoming an actor. That's when the chief of his band pulled him aside and gently suggested he consider a different career . as a teacher. The chief was concerned about the failure and drop-out rates among first nations youth. He wanted someone in the school who understood the challenges the kids faced. So it was that Genaille found himself in Hope, facing an English class full of aboriginal youth in a school system that did not reflect their culture or experiences, much like he once had been. Into his class came 16-year-old Mary (not her real name). Genaille had been warned about her. Mary had a reputation with for being confrontational. She was apathetic. Given an essay assignment, she would hand in a page with one line written on it, if she handed anything in at all. Genaille was pretty sure Mary was "on her way out" - close to dropping out of school. How could he engage her and get her interested in learning? Instead of introducing his students to the usual suspects of English literature, Genaille produced a selection of short stories by aboriginal authors such as Sherman Alexie and Eden Robinson. Mary came alive, remembers Genaille. Asked to write a short paragraph describing how the stories reflected their own life experiences, Mary did not hand in one line, or even one paragraph. She wrote a whole page. By giving his students the opportunity to connect with their culture in the classroom, Genaille had made a break-through. When last he heard, Mary had completed high school and enrolled in college. First nations students really seem to step up when they see themselves reflected in what they're learning. The 2006 Census found that 40 per cent of aboriginals between 20 and 24 did not have a high school diploma. The rate among non-aboriginals was 13 per cent. Part of the solution is money. According to a study from the Caledon Institute of Social Policy, on-reserve schools receive on average $2,000 less in annual funding per student than provincial schools. On Feb. 8, the National Panel on First Nation Elementary and Secondary Education released a report calling for an immediate funding increase for first nations education. The other half of the solution has to happen in the classroom, making curriculum more relevant and recruiting aboriginal teachers. "If we don't do some-thing at the classroom level we're wasting our time," says Genaille. British Columbia and Ontario have both made promising starts on education programs that integrate aboriginal culture and history. B.C. has created high school first nations studies and aboriginal-centred English courses, and is experimenting with aboriginal-run schools. Ontario is developing native studies courses for Grades 9-12 and a native languages program that extends from Grades 1 through 8. Beyond the curriculum, our European-styled education system has to recognize that aboriginal cultures often have a very different style. "The whole 30 kids in rows facing the teacher thing, its not the most ideal way to do it. It doesn't feel natural, for first nations students or teachers," Genaille said. Aboriginal cultures place much more emphasis on learning by experience. You aren't given the answers by a lecturer, you find them your-self. If you fail it's not an ending, it's part of the learning process. Aboriginal classrooms incorporate practices such as circles and storytelling. Schools should be flexible by giving students time off to attend ceremonies and engage in traditional activities such as family hunting trips. When the classroom reflects aboriginal culture and experiences, says Genaille, it creates a safe space for aboriginal youth. When kids feel safe, they can learn.

Craig and Marc Kielburger co-founded Free the Children. The goal of the organization is to free children from poverty and exploitation through education.

4- First Nations warn an emergency about to become a catastrophe

BY ÂPIHTAWIKOSISÂN, RABBLE.CA, FEBRUARY 20 - OxyContin is a powerful and potentially addictive painkiller. As has been noted in a number of other news reports, abuse of this drug is a Canada-wide problem.

A crisis is declared

In November of 2009, the Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN), which represents 49 First Nations in northern Ontario (a population of about 45,000 people) declared a "Prescription Drug Abuse State of Emergency." This resolution notes that prescription drug abuse, particularly of opioids like OxyContin, is an escalating crisis and calls upon both levels of government to immediately enhance community-based programming to deal with it. By September of 2011, policing and addictions were stretched to the breaking point in many NAN communities and the response from provincial and federal governments is described by NAN as "minimal." Another First Nations crisis ignored.

Responsibility for health-care services

In Canada, most people access health-care services through provincial programs and infrastructure. Status Indians and "recognized" Inuit are a federal responsibility when it comes to health care. Health Canada provides First Nations and Inuit with "a limited range of medically necessary health-related goods and services to which these individuals are not entitled through other plans and programs." Under this Non-Insured Health Benefits (NIHB) program, certain prescription and over-the-counter drugs are covered (paid for) if the patient does not have private insurance. Only drugs on the NIHB Drug Benefits List are eligible for this coverage.

No oxycodones for First Nations/Inuit

On February 15 this year, Health Canada announced that all "long-acting oxycodones" such as OxyContin have been removed from the NIHB Drug Benefit List. Only those currently being prescribed OxyContin will be switched to OxyNEO (via a grandfathering clause), but no new prescriptions will be written outside of exceptional and case-by-case situations. Thus legal sources of OxyContin will become unavailable to all Status Indians and recognized Inuit across Canada through the NIHB. Those who legitimately need this medication will not be able to receive it in the future.

Still available to non-Natives

In most of the rest of the country, OxyContin or its replacement, OxyNEO (a supposedly more difficult drug to "tamper with"), will continue to be available to those who need it. There are some provincial exceptions. PEI has recently instituted similar measures as those taken by the NIHB, pending a review of treatment with oxycodones compared to other drugs. Newfoundland heavily restricts access to OxyContin, but allows at least 15 other oxycodone drugs under its public drug plan. More worrisome is the example of Manitoba, where access to OxyContin was restricted last year, reserved for patients with specific ailments only. Fears of this leading to a surge in crime was quickly confirmed as desperate people with untreated OxyContin addictions turned to armed robbery. This in a urban centre with considerably more addictions resources than isolated First Nations or Inuit communities.

A dam about to burst

The situation in many Nishnawbe Aski Nation communities has been bad enough to warrant the declaration of a State of Emergency. Now the NAN is warning of even worse: "Without OxyContin available, individuals will experience withdrawal. Symptoms may range in severity from stomach upset, muscle and bone pain, anxiety, restlessness, increased heart rate and blood pressure to depression and suicidal ideation. 'In the absence of any regular treatment, a public health catastrophe is imminent, as there are thousands of addicted individuals with rapidly shrinking supplies -- likely leading to massive increases in black market prices, use of other drugs, needle use/sharing, and crime,' said Dr. Benedikt Fischer, a senior scientist at the Centre for Addictions and Mental Health." Health Canada acknowledges that most people in NAN communities are not getting the drug through legal prescriptions funded by the government. How withdrawing OxyContin from the Drug Benefit List will in any way address abuse is unclear. Despite a stated willingness by Health Canada to fund drugs used to treat opioid dependence such as methadone (which is not available in most remote communities) and suboxone (but only on a case-by-case basis), no mention is made of what addictions programming will be put into place to deal with the worsening situation. In short, the resources are not there to help deal with what is about to be a flood of people with addictions going through serious withdrawal in these communities.

From emergency to catastrophe

Action needs to be taken now to ensure that adequate resources are provided to communities struggling with such severe addictions problems and lack of treatment programs. It is unacceptable that an emergency gone unheeded should be allowed to turn into a catastrophe, yet again.

5- Time to scrap act

Dave Greyeyes, The StarPhoenix, February 21 - Many are unaware of why Indian people place such emphasis on treaties and treaty rights. Briefly, when the British and French were at war in the process of colonizing North America, they dealt with the First Nations as equals in forming alliances. The British eventually won, but the French surrender terms concerned in part the Indian people. Furthermore, the Royal Proclamation of 1763 made it clear that Indian lands couldn't be taken away without consent - hence, the treaties. The Indian Act was subsequently enacted as a mechanism of control. The reason why the treaties were so liberal with some promises - medicine, $5 a year, etc. - was because it was believed that Indians were a dying race. From the millions who were here when the Europeans arrived, their numbers dwindled to mere hundreds of thousands. However, the Indian people did not disappear, and today their population is increasing. Assimilation was tried via residential schools, and we all know the result. Even today people wonder why the federal government gives billions of dollars and huge tracts of land to peoples of B.C., the Northwest Territories, and Nunavut. These people never signed treaties, unlike the plains Indians, and these tracts of land were never Canada's to give away. Over the years I've heard many Indian people, including Doug Cuthand, bemoan the Indian Act. FSIN is among Indian organizations that have described the act as worse than apartheid. Yet, now when someone wants to repeal it, they say, not yet. It has been more than 100 years. I think it's time.