By Staff Writers

“He comforted the afflicted and afflicted the comfortable.”
-Georgia Straight Editor Charlie Smith on John Turvey

John Turvey, who died unexpectedly and too soon on October 11, 2006, was honored and remembered at the Ray Cam Co-operative Community Centre (902 East Hastings, Vancouver, BC) on Thursday November 9.

The centre was literally packed with people who had known and respected Turvey over the years. A long line of speakers starting with Charlie Smith, editor of the Georgia Straight, told personal stories and paid tribute to the life and work of this remarkable man.

A video entitled “Turvey Boatrocker” put together by a longtime friend, highlighted Turvey’s articulate interactions with the media at various stages of his long involvement in the issues of the Downtown Eastside.

Those who spoke covered the entire spectrum of friends and colleagues connected to Turvey through love and admiration: judges, police officers, fellow social workers, and colleagues from frontline organizations all remembered his stubbornness when confronted with obstacles to progress in his struggle to reduce the harm happening to people living on the edge.

Margaret Prevost of the Carnegie Centre, Mike Woodsky of DEYAS (Downtown Eastside Youth Activties Society), Lou Desmerais from Vancouver Native Health, and Steve Bouchard and Lorelei Hawkins of the Ray Cam Centre all reflected upon Turvey’s dedication to youth at risk.

Jenny Kwan and Libby Davies were also in attendance. And a number of lesser known individuals who had been touched in some way by Turvey’s energy and commitment. The many personal and professional tributes can perhaps be summed up in Turvey’s own words.

As he said in an interview on CBC radio in 2004, “All I’d like to be remembered as is a person who came from there and struggled with his realities and tried to achieve good things for himself and good things for the community. That’s all.”

Turvey did achieve good things for the community; his legacy includes the organizations he helped to found and led over the years and the very fact that harm reduction is a part of our vocabulary at all. A John Turvey Community Fund has been established and will be administered by the Ray Cam Centre. Funds donated will be used to support programs assisting youth at risk on the Downtown Eastside.

By Staff Writers

Chief Frank, The Chief of Chiefs of the Nisga’a Nation, Frank Calder, died Saturday November 4, in an assisted living home in Victoria at the age of 91. He was born August 3, 1915 at Nass Harbour Cannery and adopted by then Nisga’a Chief Naqua-oon and his wife (Arthur and Louise Calder).

His death reminds us that a generation of pioneering leaders of First Nations are passing, but their legacy lives on in the ever increasing strength of Native communities all over Canada.

Frank Calder in his long and productive life achieved success in many different areas of public life. After being sent at age seven to the Anglican Church’s Coqualeetza residential school at Sardis, he was the first Indian to study at Chilliwak High School and then went on to earn a degree in Theology at UBC.

He then ran successfully as a provincial NDP candidate in the Aitlin riding in 1949, and later when Dave Barrett led the party to power in 1972 by defeating W.A.C. Bennett, Calder became British Columbia’s first aboriginal Cabinet Minister. In his first speech in the legislature (February 1950) Calder called for the establishment of a B.C. Bill of Rights. This turned out to be the opening salvo in his life long fight for ancestral Nisga’a rights and the Nisga’a land claims campaign.

He seemed to have been destined to lead this fight. His father had presented the child to a gathering of elders meeting shortly after he was adopted, and holding him over his head had proclaimed: “This boy is going to learn the laws of the K’umsiiwa (the white people). And when he comes home he’s going to move the mountain.’ That mountain was the pile of seemingly unresolvable obstacles that stood in the way of making progress on the issue of historic land claims.

In 1955, the moribund Nisga’a Land Committee formed in 1909 re-established itself as the Nisga’a Tribal Council and elected Calder president. In 1968 Calder and the Council sued the government and forced the land claims debate into the courts and the public consciousness. Seven Supreme Court judges agreed that natives had once held title but were divided on whether title still existed. That first legal case was lost on a technicality, but it had served to begin to move the mountain.

The Chief of Chiefs (Chief Lisims) is a title designating Calder’s success in uniting the Nisga’a people of all four clans in order to bring the Nisga’a land claims campaign to completion in 2000. He also rose to a position of leadership in the Anglican Church, and was a member of both the Order of Canada and the Order of British Columbia. Calder’s lawyer and friend Ian Izard, law clerk for the B.C. legislative assembly, had this to say about his passing.

“He was always wonderfully inspirational. He always truly believed the Nisga’a would win out in the end.” And indeed on April 13, 2000, the Nisga’a Treaty was finally proclaimed law and the mountain was moved, fulfilling the prophecy made almost a century earlier by Chief Naqua-oon at the gathering of elders to whom he presented his adopted son. This is the legacy of Frank Calder, Chief of Chiefs. A memorial service is to be held at Christ Church Cathedral in Victoria.

An editorial comment written by Reuel S. Amdur

Aboriginals are faced with more than their share of problems. These problems result from various factors, including the fact that many First Nations have been isolated from contact with the general Canadian society, coming into contact in some cases with the least desirable aspects.

Additionally, they have a fairly recent history of cultural genocide, in which a deliberate program was put in place to rob them of language and culture. It is not surprising, then, that aboriginal communities have lower educational attainment, more poverty, more substance abuse, poorer health, and shorter life expectancy. Natives have the right to expect the Canadian government to address these problems. Unfortunately, the current government seems to be moving in reverse.

The health problems of native peoples cover a rage of issues: lack of safe drinking water on some reserves, poor housing, poverty, inadequate health care, and abuse of alcohol, drugs, and tobacco. Native life expectancy is seven years less than the national average. The recently announced government cuts to programs affect two areas of health, smoking and HIV-AIDS.

Smoking is a difficult issue for native communities. For one thing, some First Nations peoples use tobacco ceremonially, in peace pipes and medicine bundles. So it is necessary to be clear that ceremonial use does not justify more general use. Drinking wine at communion does not mean that it is okay to become an alcoholic. Another central factor is the easy availability of tobacco on reserves.

In Canadian society generally, one way in which tobacco use is discouraged is by high taxes, making it expensive to smoke. Tax-free cigarettes on reserves undermine that strategy. As well, with limited sources of livelihood available, some people open makeshift shops to sell cheap cigarettes to white people in nearby communities.

Clearly, coming to grips with the tobacco problem is many-faceted. Assembly of First Nations Grand Chief Phil Fontaine points out that 60% of natives smoke. To help curtail the problem a number of measures will be needed. Some attention will need to be given to the issue of price. As well, chiefs and elders need to become non-smoking role models.

One of the programs that the Harper Tories are choosing to kill is a program to develop strategies to curb smoking among aboriginals. Destroying this program will put another $10.8 million into the federal coffers. One hesitates to call this a saving.

HIV-AIDS is another challenge to aboriginals. The condition is spreading rapidly among aboriginals, not just among Two-Spirit people but also among intravenous drug users. In 2001, 3.3% of Canadians were aboriginals. Yet, over 12% of AIDS cases are aboriginals, and more than a quarter of HIV positive Canadians are native.

At some stage of the illness, there are sufferers who experience severe pain. As well, some react to the cocktail of medicines that they take by loss of appetite. Some have found pain relief and restoration of appetite by using marihuana. The Harper government has chosen to end research into the use of medical marihuana, ending a program that was to cost $4 million.

Kevin Barlow, Executive Director of the Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network, charges that the Tories are simply anti-drug, that they “treat medical marihuana as if it is like using heroin or cocaine.” They are, he said, “blind to the reality that HIV positive people are facing”. While there are a number of areas where research is needed, he pointed to one: the quality of marihuana provided by the government to licensed users is “very poor”.

Not only health-related programs were cut by the government. They also cut an important literacy program. $17.7 million from Human Resources and Social Development Canada is to be slashed from literacy funding. The pain will be felt across the country. The Yukon Literacy Coalition appears ready to close its doors shortly, putting an end to a number of programs including those aimed at First Nations. The North West Territories Literacy Council will lose a third of its budget and will need to halt its community outreach program. Among the provinces, British Columbia’s training and development of literacy workers will likely have to go. Alberta is similarly imperiled. The Saskatchewan Literacy Network may simply have to throw in the towel. Ontario efforts with aboriginal people will be threatened. And so it goes.

Adult education for literacy is important for several reasons. It helps participants to be more productive and more able to improve their standard of living. It improves national productive capacity. And, when an adult goes to the effort to learn, it sets an important example for the children to remain in school and to value education.

Why is the Harper government cutting these programs, programs whose cost is relatively small in the broader picture? It plans to pare these programs and others to save $1 billion to pay down the debt. But last year we already had a surplus of $13.2 billion. Yes, we have a national debt, but we also have serious unmet needs. This government is not facing up to our social deficit, and needs of aboriginals in health, education, housing, employment, and income support are part of that social deficit. The social deficit which the Tories are ignoring becomes a social debt, a millstone around the neck of all Canadians.

By Staff Writers

Random acts of violence among Manitoba’s native youth has prompted calls for changes in federal legislation that would see children under the age of 12 face charges for criminal acts, especially in light of recent cases among native youth in Winnipeg’s inner city.

“When there are very, very serious crimes like this, we need to look at how it is that we can provide meaningful, but measured consequence,” said Conservative justice critic Kelvin Goetzen.

“And I don’t think it’s a positive thing to talk about putting people under 12 in facilities, incarcerated facilities. I think there’s better ways to send messages. But a message has to be sent and there is no message being sent now.”

On Saturday October 14th, a group of four Winnipeg native children aged 7 to 11 forced a disabled 14 year-old boy into a playground wood shed in a housing complex, locked the boy in, and set it on fire. The children fled the scene, but three others remained and tried to pry the door. Dennis Bird 39, was visiting his girlfriend a few houses away and heard the children yelling. He managed to pry the door open and pulled the boy to safety from the smoke-filled shed.

A few weeks earlier, a 12 year-old boy from the Chemawawin Cree Nation of central Manitoba was charged by the RCMP after taking part in a dangerous game that ended with severe burns to an 11 year-old girl.

The boys doused the girl with bug spray and set her on fire as part of the game, said staff Sgt. Steve Sauders.

“There were a group of kids playing with bug spray. They would spray it on themselves, light it, and then put it out,” said Saunders.

“That game progressed to the point that a group of them took an 11 year-old girl, were spraying her, and the top of the can came off or the can malfunctioned to the point that the bug spray poured over the girl. They lit it on fire and she suffered burns and was subsequently taken to the Health Sciences Centre.”

The incident took place on September 30, the accused boy’s 12th birthday. The girl remains in Winnipeg hospital where she was treated for burns to her face, neck, and one arm. She is in stable condition.

The 12 year-old boy faces several charges including aggravated assault, assault with a weapon and mischief endangering life.

Two other 11 year-olds who participated were deemed too young to be charged, said Saunders.

The Chemawawin Cree Nation is located in Easterville, southeast of The Pas. The reserve has about 1,200 residents.

“It’s disturbing when you have kids that do that in your community and you have to deal with it,” said Chief Clarence Easter.
Easter said that the band is sending family members to Winnipeg to be with the girl. The community is also working with the offenders with the help of the RCMP, counsellors and the band school, he said.

More recently, three teens and a 12- year-old girl were charged with second degree murder in what Winnipeg police are calling a random act of violence.

Police charged the youths – the 12 year old girl, two 14 year-old girls and a 15 year-old boy- in connection with the beating death of 34 year-old Daphne Cooper in the early morning of Saturday October 21st.

Cooper was found in front of a residence in the 500 block of Spence Street, suffering from life-threatening injuries. She later died in hospital.

“There is no indication that these youths knew her whatsoever,” Sgt. Kelly Dennison said. “It seems to be a random act of violence.”
Police say Cooper had been confronted by the group, then kicked and punched around the head and upper body.

Also on that Saturday morning, a 12 year-old girl was stabbed in the back during a fight with several other girls at a north end party. The girl was taken to hospital, where she was reported to be in stable condition. Winnipeg police are still searching for a suspect in regards to that incident.

In response to the string of violent acts, the federal government is trying to put more money into programs to keep youth-at-risk out of the justice system, said federal justice minister Vic Toews,
“We cannot change youth simply by incarcerating youth. We need to have appropriate programming. But the two need to go hand in glove,” said Toews.

Spence Neighbourhood Association director Inonge Aliaga, said unless more money is put into restorative justice programs, the city of Winnipeg would be facing a crime wave in the near future.

“We have to find a way to make these kids responsible for their actions,” she said.

By Trevor Greyeyes

For Percy Tuesday, the struggle to battling his demons has been an internal and external struggle for twenty years.

Tuesday, 64, now works for his community – Big Grassy River Ojibwa First Nation – in Northwestern Ontario as an addictions counselor.

“I sobered up twenty years ago,” said Percy. “And I’ve been doing this work ever since.”

He’s been working as a National Native Alcohol and Drug Awareness Program (NNADAP) for much of his sobriety and still struggles with his own addictions.

NNADAP began in the mid-1970′s as a pilot project to address alcohol and drug abuse in the aboriginal community. There are treatment centres set up throughout Canada to address the issue of addictions.

The funding comes through the First Nations and Inuit Health Branch that is a part of Health Canada – a federal department.
Now, Tuesday works out of Big Grassy’s Health Centre where he meets with people and refers them to programs that he feels could help them out. Also, he counsels people on an individual basis and does presentations when asked.

“I use the Medicine Wheel in my work,” said Tuesday. “I don’t use books or any hypothetical situations. It’s real life situations that I’ve experienced myself.”

In the past, Tuesday has been the chief of his community in addition to being known as one “The Rev” in Winnipeg’s music community. He used to play the honky tonk bars that used to line Winnipeg’s Main Street back in the 70′s.

Tuesday grows quiet and talks about those days. He said that there was a time when he went years without being sober. His family suffered because of his music and his drinking but said that’s something he’s got to realize and accept is a part of him.

It’s a realization that he’s tried to share with other people struggling with addictions over the years.

He said that you must look at all areas of a person’s life to understand where their addiction comes from and what may be the best course of action. It’s not just about abstaining from your addiction but coming to grips with the reason and overcoming those reasons.

He said part of recovery is allowing yourself to live with transgressions that you may have done to other people close to you.

“That’s what is so important. You got to forgive yourself first and that’s not as easy as it sounds,” said Tuesday.

Getting balance
Following the Medicine Wheel is about finding a balance between the four directions expressed in it that includes: healthy minds (east), strong inner spirits (south), inner peace (west) and strong bodies (north). There are also medicines, elements and weather associated with each direction.

For instance, while a person might be sober, they could be ignoring their family with too much work that throws their life off balance. It’s a philosophy of balance between all things in life.

“I consider myself an educator. I only make people realize that the solutions to their problems are in them,” said Tuesday.

The Medicine Wheel was taught to Tuesday by an elder while he was struggling with alcoholism more than 20 years ago. It’s a knowledge he shares with people who seek his counseling and does one for every person seeking his help.

When Tuesday learned the Medicine Wheel he had been sober for seven years but realized he was just abstaining and not getting at the root cause of his alcoholism.

Tuesday said, “I don’t claim to be an elder. Although, I am recognized as one but I’m not a healer, pipe carrier, don’t conduct ceremonies or lead in a sweat.”

Although, he says getting in touch with your animal spirit can help – his is the Lynx.

Choose Elders carefully
He said there are a lot of great teachers out there but that you have to search for them. Tuesday also recommends not talking to too many elders because elders can have different opinions and that advice may conflict with each other.

Tuesday said he only goes to see two elders for advice these days.
“That’s an option I always give people,” said Tuesday. “I say if you’re not comfortable with me and that’s ok.”

In those instances, Tuesday will refer them to someone else.
It is a calling that sees him drive four hours from Winnipeg, where he keeps his principle residence, to Grassy River.

Again, Tuesday’s voice is barely above a whisper as he talks about how draining working with people in the throes of addiction can be. However, he sees there is no other way of life for him – he’ll do it until he’s dead he vows.

Tuesday said that he’s seen a shift over the years in the kinds of addictions that have plagued the aboriginal community.

Now, there is gambling, crack and crystal meth have been added to a list – alcohol, inhalants and prescription drugs – already too long that afflict too many communities across the country.

“I personally haven’t seen it in our community but I know crystal meth is out there,” said Tuesday.

As part of his on-going training, Tuesday recently completed a seminar in crystal meth addiction. It’s a drug that he said can rot you from the inside out.

As well, Tuesday has come to recognize the ills of gambling addiction.

He came to realize that after a gambling workshop in Kenora put on by the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba that he too was addicted to gambling.

Tuesday said, “I like to think that I’ve been able to do what I do because I’ve been there.”

He also share opinions that some might think are controversial for someone in his position.

For instance, he doesn’t believe in dry reserves.

“It’s like prohibition in the states,” said Tuesday. “You can’t stop it and it only gives someone else a chance to get rich.”

His voice grows loud and angry as he lays the blame for much of the problems at the feet of residential school.

“We (girls and boys) were separated from each other in those schools,” said Tuesday. “Even if you had a sister in another grade, you couldn’t talk to each other because that would be a sin.”

He talks about the separation of families and how that has affected generations of First Nations people to this day.

Also, he vents at systems – like the justice system, Indian Affairs and family services – where non-aboriginal people are working because of the misery of the people. He said many people would be out of work if one day the people in crisis found themselves healed and happy.

As for himself, Tuesday ponders his future. “I don’t know if I’ll ever drink again but I am at peace with myself.”

NNADAP Treatment Centres by Regions

Pacific Region
Carrier Sekani Family Services (Najeh Bayou)
Haisla Support and Recovery Centre
Ktunaxa / Kinbasket Wellness Center
Namgis Treatment Center
Nenqayni Treatment Center: Alcohol and Drug Program
Round Lake Treatment Center
North Wind Healing Centre (Treaty 8 Healing Center)
Tsow-Tun Le Lum Treatment Centre
Wilp Si’ Satxw House of Purification
Nenqayni Treatment Center Society

Alberta Region
Beaver Lake Wah Pow Detox and Treatment Centre
Family Wellness Centre (Hobbema)
Kapown Treatment Centre
Mark Amy Centre for Healing Addiction
Stoney Adolescent Treatment Ranch
St. Paul’s Treatment Centre
Tsuu T’ina Nation Healing Lodge
White Swan Treatment Centres

Saskatchewan Region
Athabasca Alcohol and Drug Project
Clearwater Dené Treatment Centre
Cree Nation Treatment Centre
Ekweskeet Healing Lodge
Mistahey Musqua Treatment Centre
New Dawn Valley Treatment Centre
Sakwatamo Lodge
Saulteaux Healing and Wellness Centre Inc.
Eagle’s Path Youth Solvent Abuse Centre
White Buffalo Youth Inhalant Treatment Centre

Manitoba Region
Native Addiction Council of Manitoba
Nelson House Medicine Lodge
Peguis Al-Care Centre
Whiskey Jack Treatment Centre

Ontario Region
Anishnabe Naadmaagi Gamig Substance Abuse Centre
Dilico Child and Family Services
Migisi Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment Centre
Native Horizons Treatment Centre
Ngwaagan Gamig Recovery Centre Inc.
Oh Shki Be Te Ze Win, Inc.
Reverend Tommy Beardy Memorial and Wee. Che. He Wayo. Gamik
Sagashtawao Healing Lodge
Nimkee Nupi Gawagan Healing Centre
Ka-Na-Chi-Hih Solvent Abuse Treatment Centre

Quebec Region
Centre de réadaptation Miam Uapukun Inc. (Malioténam)
Centre de réadaptation Wapan
Mawiomi Treatment Services
Onen’to: Kon Treatment Centre
Wanaki Centre
Walgwan Centre – First Nations Youth Rehabilitation Centre

Atlantic Region
Eagle’s Nest Recovery House
Kingsclear First Nations Outpatient Program
Lone Eagle Treatment Centre
Mi’kmaw Lodge Treatment Centre
Rising Sun Rehabilitation Treatment Centre
Saputjivik (Care Centre)
Tobique Alcohol and Drug Treatment Centre
Charles J. Andrew Restoration Centre

By Lloyd Dolha

It’s the first of it’s kind in Canada and an internationally proven model that has demonstrated their worth in the struggling subsistence economies of eastern Europe and the war-ravaged villages of continental Africa.

The Aboriginal Mother Centre of Vancouver provides a wide range of services to young single aboriginal mothers giving hope to these young moms and the chance to climb up the social ladder out of the dependency and societal ills of the downtown eastside to a brighter tomorrow.

“When people are empowered, it starts to build self esteem and confidence. It’s amazing what happens,” says Penelope Irons, executive director of the Aboriginal Mother Centre. “We’ve got women who were on welfare who are now in university or now have jobs.”

Irons, a 45 year-old Haida from Masset, said she first heard of the concept of a mother centre while she was working for the Canadian centre for Foreign Policy Development in the federal Department of Foreign Affairs.

The concept of a “mother centre” was established out of a grass roots movement in Germany in 1989. The centers were developed to address the needs of women and children by recreating family and neighborhood structures in communities destroyed by totalitarian systems, war and modernization. The innovative mother centre model creates new channels for female participation and leadership in communities – revitalizing community and neighborhood culture.

The rationale was that “it is cheaper and more far-reaching to invest in preventative policies, than to pay the high costs when family socialization has already become dysfunctional.”

Today, there are over 1,000 mother centres operating in seven countries worldwide. They can be found in the countries of the Czech and Slovak Republics as well as Africa and North America.
Indeed, the Aboriginal Mother Centre is a member of the Mother Centers International Network of Empowerment or MINE. MINE, incidentally, was awarded the United Nation’s prestigious Dubia International Award for best practices to improve the living environment in 2002.

Returning to Vancouver in 1999, Irons began to cultivate the concept of a mother centre to meet the needs of the growing population single, unwed aboriginal mothers in the downtown eastside and in February 2002, was incorporated as a non-profit society called the Aboriginal Mother Centre Society or AMCS.

Native moms at high risk of violence
Through her research, Irons discovered that there are few preventative programs that serve an extremely high-risk group like aboriginal single mothers. Young, single aboriginal mothers are most notably the poorest marginalized group in Canada. Some forty-five per cent (45%) of aboriginal children live in single parent families in urban centres in British Columbia, more than twice the general population. Aboriginal families are younger with teen births thirteen (13) times higher than the mainstream population in Canada. These young mothers are at high risk of being involved in family violence, substance abuse, sex trade and long-term welfare dependency.
According to its literature, the AMCS is an “innovative adaptation of the mother centre model primarily serving aboriginal women, children and their families.”

It’s a place where women can feel safe to bring their children to access integrated community-based services that meet their basic needs as single moms.

At the AMCS, mothers and their children can drop in daily and organize their lives around practical day-to-day issues in a family-friendly environment where concerns around child or elder care can be addressed. The young moms can also receive life skills counseling and skill development to help gain self-esteem in a mentor friendly environment.

The centre is open daily from 10:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. They employ 11 full time staff and have over 70 volunteers who receive small incentive stipends for their involvement. Each day, hot meals are served for anyone on an open-door policy. An early childhood development programs is also available to assist young moms in raising healthy happy children. The centre is working towards developing a day-care centre and is currently seeking funding.

There’s also a working group developing a program for sex trade workers with an exit strategy to help them off the street.
The AMCS is also working towards self-sufficiency through small business development. They currently own and operate Mama’s Wall St. Studio- Knit Wear, which has four mechanical weaving machines making wool blankets, scarves, toques and conference bags.

Mama’s Wall St. Knit Wear Studio won a contract for 7,000 environmentally-friendly conference delegate bags made of hemp for the World Urban Forum conference held in Vancouver in June.
That contract employed 50 people for two months. People employed were young moms on social assistance, disabled and elders. Mama’s Wall St. Studio has since won smaller contracts for conference bags with the exposure from the World Urban Forum.

The centre also has plans to purchase jewelry and craft business from internationally reknowned aboriginal artist Richard Krentz. The business specializes in the creation of miniature bentwood boxes with ongoing guaranteed contracts of $100,000 to the centre with final sale to be completed within three months. There are also plans for a courier service business.

“Right from the beginning I had that social enterprise concept because the centre is based on best practices. So it’s all about sustainability – sustainability of the neighbor hood. I thought ‘what an amazing concept,’ we wouldn’t have to rely on government funding.

“If we could start a couple of businesses eventually we could become sustainable. We could actually do what we know works to move women off welfare to work using an empowerment approach, empowering women rather than forcing them into programs that just don’t work,” said Irons.

For Christmas, one of the local Anglican churches will be hosting a fundraising dinner with an auction selling 100 tickets. The details of that initiative fundraiser have yet to be announced.

But in the meantime, the bulk of the centre’s funding comes from a variety of sources to meet their program and service needs. These include: Vancouver Aboriginal Child And Family Services Society; Vancouver Coastal Health Authority; First Nations Employment Society; Lu’ma Native Housing; and the Ministry of Community, Aboriginal and Women’s Services.

Irons laments the huge amount of time she spends writing proposals rather than advocating for families at risk.

“We’re writing proposal after proposal; they’re all project-based. There is no core funding. If we had just one or two funding sources we could actually do a lot more because my time is used up writing proposals.

“If government was smart, they would put all the funding together to create a demonstration project. There are over a thousand mother centres in the world and ours is the only one in Canada.”

By Lloyd Dolha

Prime Minister Stephen Harper stunned BC aboriginal leaders in early October at a First Nations Summit meeting when he re-affirmed his position in opposing a “race-based” fishery on the West coast.

“To come into our territories and to openly state his racist assertions is an affront to First Nations and a direct challenge to the courts,” said Chief Judith Sayers, executive member of the First Nations Summit.

In reiterating his intentions during his Vancouver visit, the prime minister said federal Fisheries minister Loyola Hearn is working on several initiatives to reintegrate aboriginal and non-aboriginal fisheries. Harper also stated that the constitutional rights of aboriginal people to a food fishery will be respected and stressed that BC First Nations will get a decent share of the commercial salmon fishery through treaties and other arrangements.

Harper had outraged aboriginal leaders nationally in July in a letter to the Calgary Herald where he made his intentions known by stating,” … in the coming months, we will strike a judicial inquiry into the collapse of the Fraser River salmon fishery and oppose racially divided fishery.”

The Aboriginal Fishing Strategy (AFS), the basis of the so-called “race-based” fishery, was initiated in 1992, under the Mulroney Tory government. It was in response to the 1990 Supreme Court of Canada decision in Sparrow, which established the aboriginal right to fish for “food, ceremonial and societal” purposes, second only to the conservation of the resource.

Sparrow had the effect of forcing the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to act with respect to the aboriginal fisheries. A particularly significant sentence from the Pearse-Larkin inquiry report clearly describes how the decision radically altered DFO’s managerial role.

“The Sparrow decision forced the government to respond to a partly-defined and evolving aboriginal right to fish, protected by the Constitution, without prejudicing the ultimate resolution of the issue.
Sparrow did not specifically address the issue of an aboriginal commercial right to sell, but the AFS pilot sales program was developed and released in a time of uncertainty when several court decisions were pending (Gladstone, N.T.C. Smokehouse and Vanderpeet) that dealt specifically with the question of an aboriginal right to the commercial sale of salmon.

Against this background, the department developed the AFS, which it considered the federal government’s response to the need to expand aboriginal peoples role in the fisheries while, at the same time, conserving fish stocks and maintaining a stable environment for resource sharing.

“In Sparrow, the court did not address the issue sales because they said they weren’t asked to. Also, the court did not address the issue of a quota or harvest ceiling,” said Ernie Crey, advisor to the Sto:lo Tribal Council. “Because the court did neither, in the upper reaches of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and amongst the major salmon processors and throughout the salmon fleet, a sense of panic set in.

“In advance of 1992, they put their heads together to come up with a plan to contain and control the aboriginal fishery – to cap any growth in the number of fish taken by the aboriginal community in the province. That plan became the Aboriginal Fishing Strategy,” said Crey.

To accomplish this the department initiated a buy-back program of commercial fishing licenses. Some 75 commercial fishing licenses were retired voluntarily to offset the aboriginal allocation of about 800,000 fish.

Crey said Harper’s call for a judicial inquiry is moot because there have already been three inquiries into the Fraser River sockeye, whose recommendations have yet to be fully implemented.
Those inquiries found any decline in salmon stocks were due to miscalculations in the number of salmon returning to the spawning beds, higher water temperatures and lower levels of water.

“The Sto:lo’s official position is we’re opposed to an judicial inquiry, because, as I said, there have been three previous inquiries,” said Crey. “It will also be very costly. We’re told in excess of $20 million.”

The AFS is also supported in case law. In the most recent decision, June 2006, the BC Court of Appeal decided in Kapp, that allocations for commercial purposes is not discriminatory and represents a legitimate policy decision that is well within the authorities in the fisheries legislation.

“There is little support from First Nations, industry, sports and environmental groups for yet another inquiry of the Fraser River fishery,” said AFN regional chief Cliff Atleo.

“If the Harper government is truly financially accountable, rather than spend millions of dollars on anther inquiry, use those funds to sustain the fishery by enhancing fisheries management, scientific research and recovery efforts of endangered runs such as the Cultus, Early Stuart ands Sakinaw Lake sockeye.”

By Noel Martin

Too bad recovering alcoholic lawyer Jesse Crowchild and his sidekick investigator ex-cop Mike Morningstar are fictional characters. It is precisely the kind of tenacious dedication that these two native protagonists bring to their pursuit of justice that would have come in handy in the early stages of the investigation into the women that went missing over the course of three decades on the Downtown Eastside; and that continue to disappear on the ‘Highway of Tears’ in northern British Columbia. There are no larger than life heroics here though, just the dogged determination of two good people doing the next right thing in order to solve a murder mystery.

Author Frank Larue’s novel, “Innocent Until Proven Indian” turns the idea of legal precedent on its head in order to impress upon readers a fundamental fact of life for Aboriginal people. The burden of proof is on the defense rather the prosecution when the accused is a member of a First Nation. In this straightforward narrative which follows the movements of a colorful cast of characters from Vancouver to Saskatoon, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Hawaii and Pender Island and back, Larue reveals just enough information at just the right time to keep us wondering who did what, and where, and when.

Crowchild and Morningstar come together as a contemporary version of Dashiell Hammett’s Sam Spade as they try to discover the real killer in order to vindicate Jimmy Greyeyes who is accused of murdering the man who raped his sister. As Hammett put it, referring to the work of the private eye, it’s like a “blind man in a dark room hunting for the black hat that wasn’t there.”

In this case the black hat (or the Maltese Falcon) is the murder weapon, an Eskimo carving of the Virgin Mary. And it is on this piece of soapstone that a second layer of meaning leaves its prints. Good and evil are consistently well-defined in this quite conventional detective novel. The native characters come together under the banner of community values and mutual solidarity, while the white men working for the system assume the worst about the first Indian they can pin the crime on.

This novel is more than an interesting mystery in the tradition of detective fiction. “Innocent Until Proven Indian” is about two quite different attitudes to human existence. It is not too farfetched to see the DNA of the Residential Schools on the sculpted Catholic/Anglican icon of religious devotion, and it is made even more ironic because of its creation by an Inuit artist, especially when it is juxtaposed as it is in the narrative progression with another well-known sculpture by the famous Haida artist Bill Reid depicting an entirely different creation story.

The narrative persona does not beat us over the head with statements about social justice and the oppression of Native Peoples. Larue leaves it up to readers to come to their own conclusions about right and wrong. But in the end the sum of parts is larger than the whole. Jesse Crowchild wins because he still has a soul. We understand that the money hungry individualistic materialism of the system represented by the real perpetrators of the rape and the later murder, and the white cops and the prosecution who presume the “Indian’s” guilt on the basis of the logic of revenge, are ultimately no match for the collective force of Native spirituality and community.

Larue has written a novel that is thoroughly grounded in the real life experience of Aboriginal people, and this experience is articulated in authentic dialogue between a cast of characters ranging from drug addicted musicians and sex trade workers to millionaire real estate moguls and their gold-digging girlfriends. In the end, Crowchild and Morningstar and the other native characters (with assistance from unbigoted characters of various backgrounds) triumph over the systemic racism which is the larger crime at issue in the book.

As the narrator says after the final courtroom scene in which the real truth is revealed, “everyone has a fire that sustains the soul, a fire that must be stoked to remain holy, and for Jesse it was . . . defending the oppressed.” Whether we read it for the mystery or the message, this book repays our effort with entertainment value and REAL positive role models in a contemporary world where First Nations peoples are still negatively stereotyped, disproportionately incarcerated and economically oppressed.

By B.H. Bates

San Nan Ta Claws, the brave, from the great north country, was once again preparing for his annual mid-winter trip. As he packed his sack with goodies, for all of the good little boys and girls, he thought to himself how lonely he was. His best friend, Ears Like Fawn (ELF), had moved far, far away and San Nan Ta missed how much fun they used to have at this time of the year.

ELF, used to help him pack his sack with sweet berries and little toys for the children. And they would laugh as they read all of the letters that the boys and girls would write to, San Nan Ta Claws. He remembered one letter that really made them laugh, it was from a little seven year old girl, named Autumn.

She wrote: I’ve been really, really, really, extra good this year and all I want this year is big husband and make him tall enough to reach the cookies at the top of the refrigerator, and good looking like the men on TV and make him rich too – that way he could buy me presents and you would never have to give me any more gifts, ever again. Thank you San Nan Ta Claws, from Autumn, the little native girl, with the gray cat, in the blue house at the end of the Westbank Reservation.

P. S. – I don’t want the husband man for me. I want to give him to mommy, because she has been so sad since daddy went to live with the Great Spirit.

The happy memories of his friend ELF, only made San Nan Ta feel even more alone than ever. He decided that he would go and visit ELF, before he left on his annual mid-winter journey. San Nan Ta was in such a hurry to see his friend ELF, that he forgot his sack of sweet treats and toys at home.

On the way to ELF’s house, a big snow storm blew in and San Nan Ta had to quickly find shelter or he would be frozen in the snow. It was getting darker and darker, when he seen a porch light shining like a star in the distance. He knocked on the door and little girls voice asked: “Who is it?”

“My name is San Nan Ta Claws,” he said, shivering. The little girl quickly replied, “Do you think I’m stupid! There’s no such thing as San Nan Ta Claws, ’cause I wrote to him last year and he didn’t give me what I asked for! So go away.” Just then the door opened and a lady with a big smile said, “I’m so sorry, please come inside, you must be freezing. Hello, I’m Janet, her mother, and I’m sorry for her bad behavior, but she no longer believes in San Nan Ta Claws. But, I must say, you do look a lot like him; with your red coat and long white whiskers.”

San Nan Ta and Janet stayed up most of the night, talking, laughing and drinking hot chocolate. The next day the storm was even worse and it didn’t stop for twenty-three more days. San Nan Ta, became very worried, because tomorrow was the twenty-fifth of December, the Native’s mid-winter celebrations (better know today as Christmas). San Nan Ta finally had to tell Janet: that he really was San Nan Ta Claws and that there was no time left to go and get ELF, so he could help him deliver all the gifts to all of the good little boys and girls. This would be the first year San Nan Ta Claws would miss Christmas, and he was very sad!

Janet, began to smile. “San Nan Ta,” she said, “I too have a secret! We own some very special reindeer.” They all went out to the barn in the back yard, and as they opened the door – San Nan Ta, couldn’t believe what he was seeing! There where reindeer flying around, up near the ceiling, and one of them even had a very shiny nose, it almost seemed to glow!
Janet put her arm around San Nan Ta, and said, “We’ll tie the reindeer up to our old red sleigh, then you can fly over to ELF’s house and he can help you deliver all the toys, before Christmas morning!” But, San Nan Ta, shook his head and sadly said, “No! There’s not enough time left, by the time I picked up ELF, there wouldn’t enough time to deliver all the toys by morning … it’s too late to save Christmas!”

Autumn, was so sad – then she had an idea. “We could help you San Nan Ta!” So they quickly hooked up the reindeer to the red sleigh and flew off to get the toys for all the good little boys and girls.

The next morning, just as the sun was coming up, they delivered the very last toy on San Nan Ta’s wish list … all except for one little girl’s wish. Autumn’s wish for a new daddy! She began to cry … then she looked up and seen her Mom kissing San Nan Ta! They had fallen in love, and San Nan Ta asked her Mom if she would like to marry him and become, Mrs. San Nan Ta Claws? And She said “Yes!” So they all flew up to the North Totem Pole and lived happily ever after!

By B.H. Bates

“Why do ‘you’ Natives have to put up all of those huge, ugly signs that block our beautiful views?” That was the comment I received from a person, who thought that the billboards along the by-ways and highways of beautiful British Columbia, were an unnecessary eyesore. “Huff!”

The first thing I tried to explain to him was that, I personally, had nothing to do with the roadside advertisements. Speaking of … on a personal note, why do non-native people look at me and ask me why other Natives do ‘this or that?’ It’s almost as if they think that (just because I’m a Native), I’m somehow in control or that I have a direct line to the ‘Big Tepee?’ It’s either that, or they think I must have mystical powers, enabling me to read the minds of other Natives – who knows? I’ve never walked up to an Asian person and asked: “Hey, Chan, do you know Chon?” But I’ve been approached and asked: “You’re Native, right, you must know Johnny?” Go figure … Eh?

But I regress – back to the subject: AS ADVERTISED. Why would we (us Injuns), do such an outrageously, obscene thing? Why would we post-it-notes (billboards), when we’re the first people to stand up and fight for anything to do with the environment? Yet we put up those vulgar signs that hide mother nature’s vistas. It’s all our fault … or is it?

Have you looked at who’s advertising on those monstrosities? It sure in the hell ain’t ‘Injun Joe’s Medicine Show and Taxidermy.’ I wonder if the people who complain about these ‘signs of the times’ have ever bothered to phone the hotels, casinos, wineries, restaurants and car dealerships to say: “I’m not buying it!”

Probably not, in fact the opposite is true – the signs work. They render a useful service; billboards promote businesses, awareness of public issues and provide a reliable source of revenue for the local Reservations. I’ve also noticed that these same people, who voice (declare, convey, express, make known, advertise) their displeasure of these billboards are some of the same folks who bitch (state, impart, communicate, advertise), that we damned Natives shouldn’t be so damned dependant on government hand outs! “Huff!”

I wonder if poor ol’ Jimmy Pattison (British Columbia’s very own billionaire), has to put up with folks walking up to him and saying: “Hey, buster, what the hell is with all those grotesque billboards?” And the reason I’m name dropping – is because if you look at the bottom of most of those offensive billboards you’ll see his company’s name boldly advertised in big letters. And is ol’ Jim-bo (as I like to call him), worried about blocking the views of beautiful BC? Probably not … he’s a frigin’ bizz-illionaire, what does he care of your opinion? Your angry Email has about as much affect on him, as a fart has in a wind storm. Besides, if anyone knows, he knows: advertising pays!

Here are some other people who think that advertising is a good thing; Calvin Klein – he put half naked teens on billboards around the World. And did he get into trouble for it? You bet your ass he did, and what did he do about it? He did it again, and again, and then laughed all the way to the bank … he, he, ha, ha, ho, ho! Good ol’ Calvie-boy (as I like to call him), knows that ‘Sex sells!’

Speaking of sex … how about the moral majority? They’re all for advertising propagation (sex): “Go forth and multiply.” But, as soon as an accident happens and some poor teenager has to pay … they throw up a billboard that reads: “THE RIGHT TO LIFE!” In my opinion, that’s like giving a hungry teenager a big juicy apple, then tell them how good it tastes, then command: “Thou shall not eat it!”

May I suggest to all of those people who think that billboards should be ‘outlawed.’ Get on the phone and call your local Mayor, the Premier … hell, call the Prime Minister and demand that they put a stop to those highway eye-sores! And while you’re at it – tell them to stop putting up those hideous political banners, that you see on every lawn, around election time. And why stop there: Buses and bus stops, how about those huge yellow ‘M’s at McDonald’s and all of those stupid roadside atrocities that welcome you and announce the name of the city about to enter … “Huff!”

The next time you see myself or any other Native person walking down the street, please, don’t stop us and accuse us of: ‘Indecent Public Exposure!’