By Clint Buehler

EDMONTON – When Willie Littlechild receives an honorary doctorate at the University of Alberta’s Spring Convocation it will be only the latest of many honours he has received acknowledging his many achievements.
And those achievements are wide ranging, including athletics, politics, law and public service—locally, provincially, nationally and internationally.

If you’re looking for a poster boy to serve as a role model for Aboriginal achievement, you need look no further than Jacob Wilton Littlechild, O.C., Q.C., I.P.C.

His inspiring story begins on his home Ermineskin First Nation at Hobbema, Alberta and his elementary and secondary schooling at Ermineskin School and St. Anthony’s College.
A gifted athlete, Willie would go on to win more than 45 university, national and international competitions, including stellar performances as a member of the U of A hockey and diving teams, plus serving as general manager of the university’s football team. He ultimately earned Bachelor and Masters degrees in Physical Education.

His accomplishments in sports and health earned him both the Alberta Award for Excellence in Athletics and induction into the University of Alberta Sports Hall of Fame. He would later also be inducted into the Saskatchewan First Nations Sports Hall of Fame and the American Indian Athletic Hall of Fame.

A passionate advocate for Aboriginal participation in sport, Willie began organizing an international sporting event for the indigenous peoples of North America, and in 1990 the first North American Indigenous Games was held in Edmonton, with games later taking place in various locations in Canada and the United States in 1993, 1995, 1997 and 2002.

For his contributions to this initiative, he was awarded the International Gold “Medaille d’Excellence” as Lauriette for Sports 1999/2000 in Geneva, Switzerland.

Meanwhile, Willie was pursuing his interest in law, becoming the first Treaty Indian from Alberta to earn a law degree when he graduated in 1976 from the University of Alberta.

That was when—after 24 years spent gaining his education—the Elders called him into a teepee and told him that would be the first day of his “Indian Law School.” The Elders were concerned about violation of their treaties and, because the Ermineskin Treaty (Treaty 6) had been signed by Queen Victoria, they had decided that those violations needed to be dealt with in the international arena.

Littlechild, who had thought he would never have any use for knowing international law, would go from representing his own nation in international legal proceeding to the broader international jurisdiction of the United Nations and its affiliated organizations, with ever increasing responsibilities and influence.
In 1980 and 1981, he was a member of the legal team sent to the British High Courts in London, England as part of a lawsuit to block patriation of the Canadian Constitution until Aboriginal and Treaty rights were protected and included in the Constitution.

He would also successfully venture into partisan publics, elected in his home riding of Wetaskiwin in 1988 and serving five years in Brian Mulroney’s Conservative government where he made a number of significant contributions.

(While some unofficial biographies credit Willie with being the first First Nations person elected to the Canadian Parliament, that achievement goes to Len Marchand of the Okanagan Band, who served as parliamentary secretary to Jean Chretien when he was Indian Affairs minister, and as Minister of State for Small Business, and who was later appointed to the Senate by Chretien. He is credited with significantly advancing the Aboriginal cause during his more than three decades in public life)

As a Member of Parliament he served on several senior committees, including the Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs and the Special Joint Committee on the Constitution, and as a parliamentary delegate to the United Nations. Working at the international level, Willie organized a coalition of indigenous nations that pursued and gained consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations which led to him being appointed to the United Nations Permanent Forum for Indigenous Peoples by the ECOSOC President.

He was the key player in securing a voting seat for Canada’s Aboriginal peoples at the International Labour Organization, and was a founder of the International Organization of Indigenous Resource Development, and a founding member of the Indigenous Initiative for Peace. He is currently one of 16 members on the United Nation’s Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

He is also the current Alberta regional chief of the Assembly of First Nations.

For those and many other achievements, Willie Littlechild’s contributions have been acknowledged in many different ways.
He is acknowledged by the law profession as Queen’s Counsel and Indigenous Peoples’ Counsel, and is a member of the Order of Canada.

Reflecting on the motivation for his activism, he has written: “Our ancestors in some areas have secured our traditional ways and food systems in Treaties. These international agreements were signed ‘for so long as the grass grows, the rivers flow and the sun shines.’ For sharing our lands, we were to maintain our ‘vocations of hunting, fishing, trapping’ and gathering through certain tracts. We were to be able to do these for food at all seasons of the year. In others, we were to be assisted by Treaty ‘to be engaged in cultivating the soil’ as a right to development. There are other principles in international covenants which state that ‘Peoples’ may not be denied ‘their own means of subsistence.’”

By Caroline Lauder

Up Close and Personal with Lucie Idlout and Tamara Podemski was an intimate concert sponsored by “Native Women in the Arts” at the infamous Bar Italia in downtown Toronto on March 31, 2007.

The night kicked off with Tamara Podemski’s wonderful eclectic mix of gentle and traditional folk sounds that captivated the audience right from the beginning. Her highly-trained and unique style is at times reminiscent of an Alanis Morrisette sound yet manages to stay very original. Tamara uses her spirituality and political views as the forefront for her lyrics in songs to captivate her audience with well-known songs such as; So Damn Beautiful” “She Knows Better” “Ignore” “ “Meegwetch” “Standing Strong” and “All My Relations”. Her enthusiasm spread and engaged the audience throughout the entire performance, which explains why she was nominated for 4 Aboriginal Music Awards: Best Female Artist, Best Songwriter, Best Song/Single (Meegwetch), Best Music Video.

There were give-aways to encourage people to feel even better before the beautiful and talented Lucie Idlout was to perform.
Once the prizes were all given away, Lucie Idlout hit the stage with her intense, alternative; rock n’ roll style belting out one heart felt song after the other. Hailing from all the way from the Territory of Nunavut, her uniqueness of character will grab you even though you may find similarities to that of Shirley Manson of Garbage and Annie Di Franco. If you like those singers then these particular songs will completely grab you: Whiskey Breath”, “Berlin” and “Sorry”. Her no-nonsense, tell it like it is way of getting her message in your face is one you will clearly enjoy. Lucie Idlout maybe a full-out rocker from beginning to end but her vocal style and lyrical messages are so damn unique that is at times a bit haunting. She manages to inject dark, bluesy style that also manages to be highly feminine at the same time as it can be heard in the song “E5-770: My Mothers Name”. If you don’t know the situation behind this then you should as the title refers to the government’s registration of the Inuit by number rather than Inuktitut names, which explains Lucy’s pain and rage in her music. Lucie Idlout is one powerful songwriter/singer who can wake you up, and make you pay attention. Lucie Idlout has the kind of power to knock you off your seat and then hand you a drink to quench your musical thirst. She is definitely an experience you will not want to miss.

Although both acts were very different in style, the performances were all well-received by full house of grateful well-rounded music lovers. If it did anything, it definitely left you wanting more. I would have to thank “Native women in the Arts” for putting on such a wonderful evening and allowing music lovers such diversity and talent.

“Native Women in the Arts” is a non-for-profit organization for First Nations, Inuit and Métis women of diverse artistic disciplines who share a common interest in culture, art, community and the advancement of Indigenous people. They are just all-round wonderful people too.

By Trevor Greyeyes

With the opening of their new industrial training center, Neeginan Institute of Applied Technology (NIAT) is serving notice to businesses in Winnipeg that they’re open for business.
Recent graduates from the aboriginal technical program were rubbing shoulders with government bureaucrats, aboriginal programmers and the media at the newly opened Neeginan Technical Centre. It’s located beside the Aboriginal Centre of Winnipeg.

The new technical centre allows NIAT to have their students train in a number of situations with standard industry equipment.
For Kelly Spence, 35, participating in the NIAT has been nothing more than a miraculous transformation of her life. The single mother of a 16-year-old girl now finds herself employed at a career she loves.

“Applying has been a life altering decision,” said Spence. “It was the best career choice I ever made.”

She now works for Standard Aero where her career began as an aircraft mechanic. After working in that position for a year, she is now training for a new position as a Details Inspector. Spence said it involves looking at engine parts and deciding if they’re good or bad and if the parts are good enough to be used in an aircraft engine.

While she was being trained by NIAT, it became necessary for the college to book space at other facilities that had the equipment they needed to be trained on.

Spence said the addition of the new building and the equipment will really help out the next batch of students ready to enter their training programs.

For Rhonda McCorriston, NAIT director, it’s about bringing real jobs to honest hard working people.

“The jobs we train people for aren’t simple labour jobs,” said McCorriston. “Our training needs to reflect where they’re working.”

And for her that not only means training her students on the proper equipment but also training them, for example, in the afternoon if they are going to be hired working the afternoon shift.

As well, NIAT only trains people for jobs that their industry partners have already identified as an area where they need people.

NIAT current industry partners include: Avion Services Corporation, Boeing Canada Technology, Border Glass and Aluminum, Carlson Engineering Composites Ltd., Custom Steel Manufacturing Limited, Manitoba Aerospace Human Resources Coordination Committee, Manitoba Hydro and Standard Aerospace Ltd.

McCorriston said, “More of our graduates would’ve been here but unfortunately they’re all working. And those here are attending because their employers have let them off early to be here.”

Ricky Lawrence, Standard Aerospace Director of Training and Development, said the partnership has served everyone involved really well.

“This is good for us,” said Lawrence. “Lucky enough, we know the people in the training process.”

So far, they’ve hired all the graduates from earlier programs with NIAT.

Garry Swampy, 21, from Sagkeeng First Nation located 100 km northwest of Winnipeg, is a young man who feels it’s a great opportunity to start his career working at Boeing Canada. Though he’s not married yet, he does have a girlfriend; he said it would give him a chance to really provide for a family when he starts one. Although, he is in no hurry to start a family right now.
“The pay is great,” said a beaming Swampy. “Once you’re in the company, you can go anywhere. In terms of, you know, if you want to keep on working in production or go into management.”
Herman Hansen, Boeing’s Manager of Training and Development in Winnipeg, said with part of the 707 contract (a
government contract to buy planes) coming to the city that there is a need for skilled workers at the Boeing plant.

Hansen said, “Our staffing requirements have increased significantly. We’re trying to hire as many qualified people as we can and this program is consistent with Boeing’s diversity growth.”

Boeing has been working with NIAT for the last six months and has had 10 Aboriginal students to date.

“Rhonda McCorriston is focused on providing us with the best possible candidates. We’re really looking forward to the partnership,” said Hansen.

Roy Mahon has been with NIAT for the last six months as the manager of Technological and Industrial Partnerships and is responsible for retrofitting the building that became the technical centre and working with the trades programs.

“We bought the best equipment and materials to get the best jobs,” said Mahon of his work with NIAT.

The building was purchased from an autobody shop that had been located next to the Aboriginal Centre of Winnipeg since it first opened its doors. Mahon described looking at the building and wondering if the project could be done but he had faith.
With about $600,000 (most of that federal money), he fixed the roof, cleaned up the interior, painted the walls and bought the equipment for training.

The technical centre will offer aboriginal adults the chance to learn skills like welding, aircraft maintenance and bench work.
As invited guests moved through the sparkling recently retrofitted building, they looked at stations that had welding machines, drill presses of all kinds, steel lathes and a few curious onlookers wondering what certain large machines actually did.
Harvey Bostrum, Manitoba deputy minister of Aboriginal and Northern Affairs said the technical centre is part of a longer term process that has seen a group of aboriginal organizations come together to buy the former CP Station in Winnipeg and transform it into the Aboriginal Centre of Winnipeg in the early 90’s.
Now, the Aboriginal Centre houses programs that run the gamut from early childhood to post-secondary education.

Bostrum said, “When these people came forward and bought the building many thought it would be a white elephant.”

For training and education, the Aboriginal Centre has become a one-stop service centre with many of the organizations complementing each other.

The Centre for Aboriginal Human Resource Development (CAHRD) is the organization responsible for starting and administering NIAT. CAHRD has served the aboriginal community for the last 35 years. Combined with NIAT and its other programs, CAHRD has been training about 400 to 500 people a year and finding jobs for 1200.

For instance, McCorriston pointed out that a person coming into the building goes to CAHRD to find a job. There are a number of programs that is offered including job search skills, resume workshops and career counseling. An individual can also be tested to determine their skill and education level.

If it’s below a certain point, there is the literacy program that can give students the skills to take high school courses, also offered at the Aboriginal Centre through the Aboriginal Community Campus. After finishing their high school training, the student can then be streamed into one of the post-secondary courses offered through Neeginan Institute of Applied Technology.

Courses are offered as demands in different skilled areas change. Currently, NIAT offers courses in carpentry, aerospace technology, nursing and welding.

For students with children, there is a daycare. For health needs, there is the Aboriginal Health and Wellness organization that can offer anything from elder counseling to doctor check-ups.
Now, the various aboriginal groups at the Aboriginal Centre own property that stretches over several acres in the heart of Winnipeg stretching from Main and Higgins to the former site of Manitoba Cold Storage several city blocks south of the main building.

McCorriston said they are planning to build housing for aboriginal students attending school. It should be completed by Dec. 31, 2007.

“We are all about trying to get people jobs and breaking the cycle of poverty,” said McCorriston.

By Lloyd Dolha

The largest First Nations community at the centre of the booming oil sands development in the Fort McMurray area has withdrawn from the organization set up to protect the environment from too much development.

Government and industry are not taking the protection of the environment seriously, said Sherwin Sheh, spokesperson for the Mikisew Cree of Fort Chipewyan.

The provincial and federal governments created the Cumulative Environmental Management Association (CEMA) to watch over oil sands development and determine how many mines and upgrading plants can be allowed before the environment is permanently affected.

CEMA was supposed to have answered that question two years ago, but despite seven years of meetings and studies, it still hasn’t made that determination.

There is no point in sitting around talking about big environmental issues while oil sands projects are constantly approved by the Alberta Energy and utilities Board, Sheh said.

“CEMA is a parking lot where everything, all the major issues, are placed there,” said Sheh. “Meanwhile, approvals are given.”
Sheh said staying at the table gives CEMA legitimacy as an organization actually doing something to protect the environment.

He hopes withdrawing from the association will force governments to consult directly with First Nations on environmental issues.

The First Nation is the scond to pull out of CEMA, following the lead of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation (ACFN), of Fort McMurray.

Elders from the ACFN, the Mikisew Cree and the Pembina Institute, have already declared Alberta’s approach to water management of the Athabasca River a failure. The Water Management Framework, released March 1st, allows the oil sands industry to withdraw water from the Athabasca River, one of North America’s longest undamned rivers, even when its at risk of significant ecological impacts due to low water flows.

“We’re talking about the survival of the Athabasca River, but more than this is the survival of our people,” said Pat Marcel, chair of the ACFN Denesuline Traditional Environmental Knowledge Elders Committee. “The governments of Alberta and Canada are failing us and need to be held accountable.”
During the winter months, the Athabasca River’s flows are naturally lower, but oil sands water withdrawals push down flows to levels that severely impact the river’s fish populations.
First Nations groups continue to use the Athabasca river’s fishery for both subsistence and commercial fishing, and are demanding that the fishery be protected.

The Alberta government’s framework uses a graduated approach to managing water withdrawals based on flows in the river. Of most importance is the “red zone,” in which river flows are at their lowest and industry withdrawals threaten the ecological sustainability of the river. The framework still allows industry to collectively withdraw between 8 and 15 cubic metres of water per second.

The use of water by the oil sand developments already accounts for 65 per cent of withdrawals from the river and are licensed to withdraw about 349 million cubic metres of water per year, more than twice the volume required from the Bow River for the city of Calgary’s domestic use.

“The government’s framework misleads Albertans and Canadians because it does not require industry to turn off its pumps when the river hits the red zone,” says Dan Woynillowicz, of the Pembina Institute.

The framework pledges to continue to conduct scientific research and monitoring and a review of its findings by September 2010. It identifies CEMA as the likely organization to undertake this work, despite widespread acknowledgment that CEMA is a largely ineffective organization that has continually failed to meet its deadlines.

“The Mikisew Cree First Nation rejects the new framework because it follows the exact same management approach we rejected in July 2006,” said Melody Lepine, director of the Mikisew Cree First Nation/Industry Relations Corporation. “We expressed our concerns on the framework in three major Alberta Energy and Utilities Board (AEUB), hearings last year, and still the government has failed to meet our expectations for protecting the Athabasca River. Our First Nation has left CEMA because it is so dysfunctional. We don’t see how the government can rely on CEMA to get the job done given its poor track record.”
All three groups are calling on the Alberta government to immediately establish a limit that forces the industry to stop withdrawing water when the river is threatened, and are exploring legal and other actions.

By Clint Buehler

EDMONTON – Four Aboriginal recipients were among 14 selected to receive 2007 Alberta Business Awards of Distinction from the Alberta Chambers of Commerce.

The awards were presented here recently at a gala featuring a champagne reception and gourmet dinner attended by more than 600 guests, including Premier Ed Stelmach. The master of ceremonies was George Arcand Jr., regional director general for Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, Alberta Region.
brendaThe Aboriginal Woman Entrepreneur Award of Distinction, sponsored by Alberta International, Intergovernmental and Aboriginal Relations, was presented to Brenda Holder, president of Mahikan Trails Inc. of Canmore.

The award recognizes outstanding achievement by an Aboriginal woman entrepreneur who exemplifies effective leadership, innovation, and a commitment to enhancing the wellbeing of the larger Aboriginal community.

Mahikan Trails, with seven employees, is an Aboriginal guiding company offering “soft adventure” and cultural activities. Soft adventure activities include cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, ice treks, hiking, dog sledding and caving. Cultural activities include survival skills, bushcraft and team building programs based around the fur trade era, along with fun programs like Nature CSI.

The Aboriginal Youth Entrepreneur Award of Distinction, sponsored by Syncrude Canada Inc., was presented to Scott Ward of Scott Ward Inc. of Edmonton.

It is awarded to a young Aboriginal entrepreneur who best exemplifies the qualiies of effective leadership, innovatively applied know-how, and excellent potential for growth, and who shows a level of social, cultural and environmental awareness.
Ward, a stage hypnotist and motivational speaker, appears at more than 50 events a year. With a bachelor of education degree in drama and Native American education, and certification as a hypnotist, he is committed to assisting communities and conferences with educational and entertainment needs.
Known throughout Canada as the “Aboriginal Hypnotist,” and throughout the United States as the “Native Hypnotist,” Ward specializes in doing comedy hypnosis shows and speaking engagements full time.

He is primarily booked by Aboriginal organizations looking for unique, uplifting and hilarious entertainment, as well as workshops geared mainly to Aboriginal youth, and is quickly becoming one of Canada’s busiest stage hypnotists.
In 2005 he was the recipient of an Aboriginal Youth Achievement Award for his history of volunteer service to this community.

The Eagle Feather Business Award of Distinction, sponsored for the seventh year by Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, was presented to Bigstone Ventures Ltd. of Wabasca, co-owned by the Bigstone Cree Nation and Petrocare Services Ltd.
This award goes to a First Nation-owned business that demonstrates outstanding achievement in business and has incorporated entrepreneurial and cultural concepts into its operation for long term success.

Bigstone Ventures has become the largest supplier of oil and gas operators, and maintenance and construction crews in the Wabasca region. Over the past three years, annual sales have increased an average of 34 per cent. Fully 88 percent of the company’s more than 130 employees are Bigstone Cree Nation members.

The Aboriginal Relations – Best Practice Award of Distinction, also sponsored by Indian and Northern Affairs Canada for the seventh year, was presented to EnCana Corporation of Calgary, which has 3,200 employees.

The award is presented to a non-Aboriginal business that demonstrates outstanding achievement in Aboriginal relations, including economic development, employment and training, and Aboriginal community support.

Since 1973, EnCana’s approach has been to increase the level of Aboriginal participation in its activities b creating opportunities in business and economic development, providing employment and training, as well as reducing environmental and social concerns and impacts. EnCana constantly strives to improve its own guidelines and programs through training and communications to ensure all staff are aware of Aboriginal issues.

By Morgan O’Neal

The woman known as the poet laureate of the Mi’kmaq nation died on Teusday, March 20. Rita’s work as a poet and spokesperson for First Nations peoples has been recognized by her appointment to the Order of Canada in 1990, and an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Dalhousie University in 1993. Over the years, she published seven books, including five poetry anthologies and an autobiography, The Song of Rita Joe. The author of numerous articles, and an active speaker in schools, on university campuses, and in government forums, Rita remained active to the end of her life despite the increasing debilitation brought on by Parkinson’s disease. Her poetry and activism made her a symbol of native pride.

Rita Joe was born in 1932, in Wycocomagh (a reserve on Cape Breton Island) living in foster homes after her mother’s death in 1937, when she was sent to the Shubenacadie Indian Residential School, which she attended until the eighth grade. Of her experience in this infamous system, she stated bluntly: “I was brainwashed. ‘You’re no good,’ I was told every day at Shubie.” She married Frank Joe in 1954 and they had eight children and adopted two more. She did not begin to write poetry until the late 1960’s; her first book was not published until 1978, but her poems immediately struck a chord, as she gently presented Aboriginal experience within Canada, and advocated love and understanding between peoples. Rita wrote one of many popular poems, “Five Hundred Years” in 1993, the International Year of Aboriginal Peoples. Her many books include The Poems of Rita Joe, Songs of Eskasoni: More Poems of Rita Joe, Lnu and Indians We’re Called and The Mi’kmaq Anthology (1997) co-written with Lesley Choyce.

A long-time activist who wrote numerous articles about native issues, Joe also served on the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada, one of the few non-politicians ever to do so. She was given the Order of Canada in 1990 and also won the Nova Scotia Writers Federation Prize. She naturally gravitated to acting as an ambassador for native arts and culture throughout Canada.. This always proud but humble woman told CBC in a recent interview that she was quite amazed by all the accolades she had received. “I accepted on behalf of my people every time I was given an award,” she said. “They helped, everybody helped in their own way.”

“I told the audience that no matter from what circumstances you come from, and no matter from what culture, or how poor you are, everybody can do this,” she said after receiving an Aboriginal Achievement Award in 1997. “If you write in a positive way, or think in a positive way about your culture,” she told CBC Radio in February, “… it will come back positive.” The Aboriginal Achievement Foundation emphasized, in granting her award, that Joe had worked throughout her life to counter native stereotypes, and her poems and songs reflected both pain and hope.

Her energetic productive life can best be summed up in her words. “I am,” she said, “a daughter or grandmother to everyone in Eskasoni. Who can ask for more? I want to be an exceptional writer, a memory I want to leave behind, an orphan child, picking herself off the misery of being a nobody, moving little grains of sand about the nation of the land…. Representing my people gives me a good feeling, a natural high, just reading from the book or singing an Indian song with a drum. I wish more of my people would write beautiful stories I hear them tell. The Micmac are good storytellers.” (Joe 1993).

Her recently published Usmiani, included her now well-known “Oka Song,” written following the 1990 Oka crisis in Quebec. When the poem was first heard it led to an association among Rita Joe and two academics, Kevin Alstrup and Gordon Smith. Field research conducted in the summer of 1992 in Eskasoni on the Bras d’Or Lakes near Sydney on Cape Breton Island, resulted in a musical transcription of the “Oka Song.” This ground-breaking transcription was published in the Canadian Journal for Traditional Music (1995).

In describing collaborating on the “Oka Song,,” Rita Joe stated with characteristic humility, “I was a songwriter before I became a poet. From the time I was a little girl I was what you would call a hummer. Melodies would roll around in my head… not knowing if I picked them up as hymn songs, the roll of an incoming wave, or wind sounds. I am a shy native so the songs were put away and I sang only when I was speaking at a school or a gathering. . . ..The Oka song became a popular, often-requested melody, so I thought I had better find someone who would transcribe it: “I asked Elizabeth Cremo, the daughter of the famous fiddle champ, Lee Cremo, from Eskasoni. She told Professor Gordon Smith of Queen’s University. . . . He took my song on a cassette tape and the typed words, and returned in a day or so with the transcribed song sheets.”

Gordon Smith transcribed the Oka Song. “first in a literal, note-for-note, word-for-word fashion. The text was especially moving, given the recent events at Oka it described, as well as the theme of gentle protest that is present in much of Rita’s poetry. The text was ominous for [Smith , a non-native, and the experience of participating in this work took on an extraordinary kind of honour”

The two academics summed up their appreciation of Rita Joe’s work in the following words: “After discussions with Rita about presenting and publishing the songs, it became clear that her intention is educational: she wants the songs to be sung by children and adults from any ethnic background who are interested in First Nations culture. Rita’s goal, and subsequently ours, is to make the songs accessible to a broad, inclusive audience.”

The three worked closely together to satisfying what Rita Joe, the creator, had wanted most passionately:definitive versions of the songs that would be accessible to as many people as possible, or in her plain, poetic terms, “nothing fancy.” The Academics had “to maintain a respect for the words, since [they] knew that Rita’s message (educational intent) would be conveyed inevitably through the song texts. Smith discovered Rita Joe’s innate sense of rhythm, phrase, and melodic shape. “Often, I saw the intimate connection of the rhythmic values to her poetic text metre. From a variety of musical influences she ha[d] learned certain melodic styles, melodic chordal structures, and cadential formulas.. Some songs maintained a distinct country-and-western feel. . . . Others derive[d] from the Roman Catholic chant and hymn-singing tradition, which is often changed and, indeed, enriched, with the addition of the Micmac language”

During their stay in Eskasoni, the songs were often performed. Normally, the poetry was accompanied by traditional Micmac drumming and dancing, Cape Breton fiddling, and step dancing. One such performance was in Halifax for the Society for Canadian Artists of Native Ancestry (SCANA), and another took place in the Provincial Legislature at a televised ceremony marking Treaty Day. The performers gathered on the floor of the legislature with the Micmac Grand Council behind them, and some three hundred people in the audience witnessing the historic meeting.

At every performance of this sublim mixture of indigenous creation and rigorous scholarship the material us positively received, often overwhelming the audience. Rita Joe nearly always ended her speaking engagements with a song, usually accompanying herself on a hand drum, and each event was an important and generous extension of the ancient Micmac tradition of storytelling.

The now famous “Oka Song,” for example, has since been translated into Mohawk and sung in Quebec communities on several occasions. Other poems, such as the Christmas song, “And Then We Heard a Baby Cry,” have been performed at Midnight Massess in the church at Eskasoni, and performed in arrangement by the Cape Breton Chorale at its Annual Christmas Concert in Sydney. The “community” in this context therefore extends well beyond the Micmac reserve to other First Nations groups, and to people from other ethnic backgrounds living in Cape Breton and elsewhere.

Rita Joe’s death at the age of 75, after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease, deprives this nation and indeed the North American continent of one of those rare individuals who seem naturally to do good in the world, and to work tirelessly and selflessly toward enhancing communication between the peoples of the earth and building a genuinely better more loving, peaceful and prosperous world in which all human beings may aspire to their best. Her simple effective philosophy had been to search out and to discover the beauty in every place or circumstance and to communicate that beauty to others so as to enhance their experience of life. As Rita Joe expressed it, “You just have to put your effort into it and be positive. Don’t try to work on the negative stuff.” A one eulogy on an an Internet website dedicated to expressions of sadness and respect. One typical short not, by Jason Murphy from Toronto, read as follows: “An inspiring and unique Canadian voice has been lost.”

By B.H. Bates

He, his wife and mistress all live in the lap of luxury, they fly around in private jets, own several mansions, drive the newest bullet-proof cars and eat the finest foods that their chefs can create. And what about the little old lady who has sent him her last few dollars? I’d like you to imagine her sitting patiently, waiting for him to deliver the miracle that she has prayed and paid for. Unfortunately, there she’ll sit, in her hot little mobile home, until death mercifully brings her relief.

Ask yourself this: Does he even know or care about her? You know the deplorable answer to this question: don’t you? This so called, righteous communicator (who supposedly talks to the lord almighty), himself, couldn’t possibly believe in a heavenly afterlife. If he did, and if there really was such an all powerful and vengeful god – the preacher would know that this unscrupulous behavior would condemn his unrepentant soul to an eternity of fire and brimstone.

If you, personally, want proof of this misleading minister; tune in next Sunday, send him a hundred bucks and ask him to ask the lord for something silly: like a donkey. Then set your ass down by the phone and wait.

The surprise is – I guarantee you’ll get a phone call! It’ll go something like this: “Hello, my dear friend … this a pre-recorded message from the man in white. He wants you to know that you are now being blessed, even as you listen. And because he truly loves you, he wants you to know; He’s got Jesus for sale – $19.95 on CD, $29.99 for DVD. And for a limited time, if you act now, you’ll receive an autographed T-shirt that reads: “Go to hell! I’m going to heaven!”

Speaking of: Where in the hell is heaven? For that matter, where in the name of heaven is hell? Up? Down? In? Out? You tell me, or better yet – let me tell you. As an uninformed youth I watched in horror as NASA shot their rockets through the clouds. “Holy smokes!” I was worried, that they might hit god by mistake! A dumb and foolish kid? No, dumb adults, who teach their children that heaven is in a cloud. (Scientific fact: clouds are suspended water molecules. Which can weigh thousands of tons!)

Hell, as everyone knows is: When you find yourself sitting on a toilet, staring at an empty toilet paper roll, while you’re a guest in someone’s house and bathroom smells like a shit bomb has just gone off! That’s ‘hell!’ It’s either that or war.
And just who do you think has started most of the wars? Dictators? Not really, they live and die like flies. If you guessed ‘religion,’ give yourself a gold star. Yes, the very ones who exult peace and purity are the first ones who’ll throw you to your knees and cut off your heretic head, then bless the remaining body parts! It’s no wonder that a lot of Natives, these days, are re-exploring their heritage and rediscovering their own Great Spirit.

Finally, the final solution, to all those idiots who want to rule the World through the fear of damnation. The solution to brain pollution is a simple thing: just unburden your minds by using them. Use your god given (just kidding) common sense! The theologians have been in charge for far too long.

They’ve repressed some of World’s greatest thinkers and branded them as heretics or worse. In some cases, the so called moral majority, has even put people to death for expressing their thoughts and theories. For example; The Earth is round and not flat. Women are equals and the big one … “God, is nothing more than a bogeyman, who’s used to scare the feeble-minded into submission!”

Science will one day be proven to be the actual savior of mankind. Take for instance stem-cell research. The road map to our genetic codes is right at our finger tips, but, the church is holding the scientists back. Cures for a multitude of illness’ and deformities is just over the horizon, yet scientists aren’t allowed to go there, because the prevailing theologians theorize that they’ll sail right off the edge!

If you think it’s just a matter of time before people come to the realization: “Hey, wait a minute, I can think for myself.” If you believe that the ‘dark ages’ are nearly over – you’re the one who’s in the dark. Never underestimate the power of stupid. The German people, who are World renowned engineers, are so clever they could make a watch out of gum wrappers and a compass. Yet, Hitler, turned them into blood thirsty savages with only a few promises of glory.

“The future is written in sand, easily changed by the winds and whims of man.” Let me look into the mystical flames of a campfire, like my native ancestors once did, and I’ll see if I too can predict the future!

I Foresee: The land will heal itself, if left alone. The Spirit of the North American Native will once again return. Somewhere, in some little corner of the World, a group of godless heathens will use their scientific knowledge to discover vital medicines (I can only hope they’ll be benevolent enough to share them). And religions will one day give up the ghost. These predictions are closer to a wish list, a dream and an educated guess, than they are a profound prophecy.

I know that most of you bible thumpers and Islam-ohlics out there will disagree with my hopes and dreams of peaceful Earth, but, please just realize that all I’m doing is warning you of the inevitable. So please don’t condemn these few paragraphs as ‘satanic verses’ and put a price on my head! You know god damned well, if you do, it’ll only make the people want to read them all the more. And that will only bring me more fame and more money …. hmm!

My name is B.H. Bates, you, you …. divinely dim-witted dodos!

THE END

Dear reader: Please feel free to contact, B. H. Bates at: beeinthebonnet@shaw.ca

By Morgan O’Neal

Don Freed was born in New Westminster, B.C. in 1949, and raised in Saskatoon where he began writing at age seven, performing original songs in coffeehouses in 1966. These numbers add up to forty years in the business of making music. If the recently deceased Rita Joe is the poet-laureate of the Mi’kmaq Nation, then Freed can rightly lay claim to the same title in relation to the Metis Nation. He is, after all, by any definition, first and foremost a poet. Peter Mansbridge of CBC Newsworld called him “a real-life Pied Piper.” Anyone who has seen him in the workshops with children that are now his passion would be hard put to deny it.

The January 24, 1970 New York Times review of the documentary “Johnny Cash: The Man, His World and His Music,” verified just how early in Freed’s career his unique talents were recognized in the industry. Roger Greenspun described his brief appearance and performance in the film: “The best sequence . . . doesn’t feature Cash, or June Carter or even Mother Maybelle, or the Tennessee Three. Rather it introduces a young man not mentioned in the film’s credits. His name is Don Freed and he auditions two songs for Cash. I think he is extraordinary, and if there were no other attraction [there are many], he would be reason enough for seeing the movie.” This is high praise for a young man from the sticks in a city known for critics cutting to shreds the least little lost chord.

freed 2After a couple of years in New York City, Freed was “laying in bed every night in my west village apartment with the feeling gnawing at me that I was supposed to be doing my work in northern.Saskatchewan, a place I had never been. I actually told people that I was going home to be a bush pilot.” He did go home. You can take the boy out of the Valley of Green and Blue but you can’t take the Valley of Green and Blue out of the boy. Back in Canada Freed moved around a lot, living in a number of locales and performing at clubs and festivals throughout North America. But what was really emerging during this period were the seeds of the creative educational project that has kept him busy for the past decades: the universally praised song-writing workshops with children of isolated communities all over the north of Western Canada.

One of my tasks at the Drum is to profile persons of Native ancestry who, often against great odds, have succeeded in getting themselves a life based in their own cultural histories by managing to reconcile contradictions inherent in being outcasts in their own traditional territories. There is, of course, many such individuals roaming around this continent, although they get precious little coverage in the mainstream press. When it came time to decide upon a profile subject for this issue, I recalled a conversation I’d had with Don Freed years ago, when we were both looking for something more substantial than what was happening at the time: shopping malls, parking lots and the horrid noise of commercial music blaring from the stereo speakers of new two-door hard-tops rolling off the assembly lines in Detroit and Windsor.

At the time, Freed had already begun to research his family past in the Archives at St. Boniface, where he was able to confirm that Gabriel Dumont was actually his own Great Great Uncle. His roots, therefore, were firmly planted in the rich soil of the Red River Valley. Since he began his quest for authentic Metis identity, amassing a wealth of knowledge about Metis history in the process, his work has been focused on making this history accessible to the widest possible audience. This is the primary reason for the children’s song-writing workshops in which the singer and the songs are the vehicle by which Freed transmits information of crucial importance for the development of Metis community. As Freed himself reports with visible delight, “children not yet born when many of these songs were written can now sing them by heart. Over a vast area the songs have been absorbed by a new generation.”

I have yet to muster Freed’s energy in order to research my family’s pedigree, but I do know that I am a Bird and hail from the same Red River Settlement. I can remember going every summer to celebrate near Bird’s Hill where the first Winnipeg Folk Festivals were later held. I’ve known Don for thirty years, so I can make no claim to objective reporting here. I like the person. I respect the artist. But there is much more at stake in Freed’s work now than there was back in the late seventies. We went our separate ways and came into contact only sporadically over the years. When I decided that he would be the perfect subject for a profile, I went to his website and was amazed at what the man had been up to since I had last run across him. After a bit of procrastination, I finally managed to telephone Don in Winnipeg. He was surprised to hear from me. I told him what I wanted to do, and he was agreeable. The interesting thing about the phone call, however, was that he was at that very moment packing in preparation to fly to Vancouver for an audition with the Artstarts Program, a provincial initiative that would allow him to continue his work with children in scattered communities around British Columbia when he makes a permanent move out here in a few months. Manitoba’s loss, in this case, is clearly our gain.

Coincidentally, Freed was also committed to meet with a group of young children–“Les Petits Danseurs Michif” led by Mooshum Bob Kelly’s Dance and Cultural Society–to work his song-writing magic with them on the night of his arrival. I was invited along to the first meeting. Everyone in the room got right down to business. A white board was set up in front of the group of kids gathered around Don; a few different story lines were suggested; words, phrases and rhyming lines were bandied about. Slowly, but surely, a song began to take shape. One of the older girls began to transcribe lyrics in bright jiffy marker colours on the board. The plan was to practice the song in order to give a live performance before Elders organized for the following evening at the Friendship Centre on East Hasting Street. Not a lot of time for fine-tuning, but everything came off without a hitch.

The lyrics and music of this song grew organically, helped along by deft direction from Freed. Out of the confusion of individual thoughts and group discussion, a finely crafted poetic expression of a typically warm relationship between Metis men and women appeared as if by spiritual intervention. And it was largely quite literally written by the kids. A jig was added to follow the first two verses and accelerate the tempo for the final chorus. “Mooshum and Kookum” is the joyful result, and although it may (as Don later noted) need one more verse to be complete, it works mighty well in its present form.

Mooshum’s Moosehide Moccasins wake him up in the morning.

The smokey sweet aroma makes him dance on the hardwood floor.

Kookum puts the kettle on, and then she makes some bannock.
That’s why Mooshum didn’t want to be a bachelor.

Didn’t want to be, didn’t want to be, he didn’t want to be a bachelor!

Mooshum takes her in his arm and then they both start dancing.
He’s so tall, that her feet so small are lifted off the floor.

Though many year’s have come and gone, for her he still is handsome.

And that is why she didn’t want to be a maiden any more.

A maiden anymore, a maiden anymore, she didn’t want to be a maiden any more!

The following evening everyone arrived on time dressed in their best, complete with traditional sashes. After a few trial runs Don and the kids joined the Elders and others seated proudly around the room in which a meal had earlier been enjoyed in anticipation of the performance. The Elders immediately joined in and began to sing and clap and stomp their feet to the beat of Freed’s guitar and harmonica and the excited voices of proud children. The feeling in the room was a desire to continue all night. But there was school the next day, and the Centre had to be cleaned. But the result of the event was a jolt of joy I have not felt in quite a while, a lightning bolt of human energy created by a group of kids led by a proud and passionate Metis troubadour.
I realized after I had witnessed this impressive phenomenon that at least one thing had remained consistent over the years: Don Freed continues to compose intelligent lyrics and perform them either solo acoustically or in groups made up of some of the best musicians in Canada. I can still remember the first time Colin James appeared on stage, long before he made it ‘big’ in the business. It was with Don and a small local group of musicians in a basement venue in Saskatoon. I doubt if Colin was old enough to have a driver’s license at the time. Over the last three decades Don Freed has performed at all of Canada’s major folk music festivals and has been featured on many radio and television programs. He’s toured with such diverse performers as Lightnin’ Hopkins and Jane Siberry, was the first to hire Colin James as a recording side man, and co-wrote “Crazy Cries of Love” with Joni Mitchell on her “Taming the Tiger” CD.

Now, however, Freed’s skill and talent, to which working with kids has added the quality of patience, are directed at children, many of whom are in dire need of ways to express their sometimes confused emotions in order to release both the joys and the fears of being a child of Aboriginal ancestry in today’s society. In 1993 he began conducting workshops with Native elementary school children in Northern Saskatchewan. “It seemed that any time you heard about Northern youth there was always tragedy attached to the stories,” he says, “so, I’ve got them to express themselves and their cultures and brought out a positive story.” This ‘positive story’ was seen by the entire country in a documentary produced on his work with First Nations youth that aired on CBC Newsworld in 2001. The film and the project itself were later the subject of a feature article in Billboard Magazine.

Since beginning his work with children Don has accomplished much. In 1990 the lyric to Don’s song, “Mr. Ford and the Petty Thieves” was included in the ACCELERATE Destinations, Prentice-Hall High School curriculum. In 1993, Freed recorded “Young Northern Voices,” songs written in workshops with children in the Northern Lights School Division in Saskatchewan. These songs were performed at the 1993 World Indigenous Peoples Conference on Education in Woolongong, Australia. For 18 months from 1994 to 1996, Don was Writer-in-Residence in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, during which time he initiated the production of a St. Michael School’s student musical, “The West Flat Can,” where students looked at various social problems arising from growing up in the West Flat.
In 1996, “Singing About the Métis” was produced on both cassette and CD. These songs of Métis history and culture were written with the Prince Albert elementary students Don worked with during his residency. In 1997, he produced the “Métis Historical and Cultural Pageant” in St.Louis, Saskatchewan, with Grade 1 – 12 students from St.Louis School. During the month of January spent there, teachers in this small town made the hard decision to cancel hockey in order to facilitate rehearsals (and to everyone’s surprise and relief no one even complained). In 1998, Don started the Inner City Harmony Project, a series of song-writing workshops with nine Saskatoon Community Schools resulting in the recording “A Class Act.” All of the albums recorded with children have been produced by Don and have proven to significantly increase self-esteem in children who have few opportunities to participate in the arts.

In 1999, The Gabriel Dumont Institute produced “Sasquatch Exterminator,” an illustrated children’s book written by Don and students from Cumberland House. A CD of the same name accompanies the book and both are now being widely used for Aboriginal language development and retention with adult and child learners. That same year Saskatchewan Social Services contracted Don to work with young offenders for a month on site at the North Battleford Youth Centre. “Mystery Boyz” features ten songs written by these incarcerated youth. He also produced a show for the Northern Saskatchewan International Children’s Festival that featured the young singers from two of Saskatoon’s Community Schools, and Cumberland House and St. Louis.

Freed finished off eight years of song-writing workshops by producing “Our Very Own Songs,” a double CD of original compositions representing the youth of 28 communities in northern Saskatchewan nominated for Best Children’s Recording at the Prairie Music Awards. A website and songbook were also produced (www.ourveryownsongs.ca). In 2003, Don was contracted by the Edmonton Folk Music Festival to conduct two weeks of workshops in an inner city school. And in the same year performed at the Folk Festivals in Regina, Edmonton and Winnipeg. The fall of 2003 found Don in Deline, Tulita, and Yellowknife in the North West Territories, conducting workshops on behalf of the NWT Literacy Council. And in 2004, Don did a two-week tour of the Yukon as part of Culture Quest, New Music by First Nations Artists, and a concert in Winnipeg celebrating Metis culture which was recorded by the CBC and broadcast nationally.

In 2005, Freed was featured performer at Winnipeg’s Festival Du Voyageur and completed recording the much anticipated “The Valley of Green and Blue – A Metis Saga” which was released in September of the same year.. Included in this CD is the now famous “When This Valley,” a song considered at the grassroots level to be the Metis National Anthem. A film is now in the works documenting the live recording of this song by a Metis choir on June 21 of 2005 in the church at the National Historical Site of Batoche, Saskatchewan. Freed is now preparing to move to British Columbia where he will continue his important contribution to the building of the Metis nation in song. After that he has plans to do the same thing in the East and in Nunavut.

The ultimate objective of this work “is an illustrated song book and recording for use in elementary schools from coast to coast to coast.” .In the meantime, three important future dates deserve attention. In May, he performs with a school choir from North Battleford, Sask. at an international gathering of arts teachers at the University of Regina. At the end of June, he is keynote speaker at a symposium on health concerns and youth in northern communities. And in August he will perform with children from Saskatchewan at the Edmonton Folk Festival. I can think of no better way to end this profile than with the first verse of the Anthem:

When this valley’s no longer a wound that won’t heal
When its story is well understood
May infinity fly where the blue of the sky
Meets the green of the river and gold of the straw
In the valley of old St. Laurent.