By CLINT BUEHLER

ST. ALBERT, AB – Renowned Metis architect Douglas Cardinal has been given special recognition by St. Albert City Council, as the building he designed here receives municipal historic resource recognition.

At a special council meeting on the front plaza of St. Albert Place attended by council members past and present, provincial representatives and the architect himself, council approved a bylaw to designate the building a municipal historic resource.

Council also designated June 12 as Douglas J. Cardinal Day.

When conceiving St. Albert Place, which opened 25 years ago, Cardinal was faced with the unique challenge of designing a structure that would house community, arts, cultural and governmental components in a confined space tightly situated between a busy downtown street and the river parkland area. The building needed to include Council Chambers, administrative offices, a museum, a performance theatre, a public library, and arts and crafts facilities.

Ultimately, Cardinal incorporated his trademark curvilinear design to create a building that matched the character of the landscape, included all the required components and provided pedestrians with a promenade leading onto trails situated along the river’s edge.

Cardinal is known for designing curved interiors and exteriors reflective of the rolling landscapes around Red Deer, Alberta, where he grew up, evident in the circular foyers and staircases and the winding road leading up to St. Albert Place.

St. Albert Place was the first building in the world designed by computer, and Cardinal chuckled recalling that the computer used was the size of a refrigerator and cost $250,000. The building itself cost just under $20 million.

The computer generated curvilinear design would become the template for such future masterpieces as the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Gatineau, PQ and the American Museum of the American Indian on The Mall in Washington, DC. Among Cardinal’s other designs are St. Mary’s Church in Red Deer, Grande Prairie Regional College in Grande Prairie, AB and the Telus World of Science in Edmonton.

St. Albert Mayor Nolan Crouse says the building has become “the heart of our downtown, a source of pride for our community and is essentially a work of art in itself that so many have come to appreciate—and a great many more will in the years to come.

“It is an iconic building in the region and we must maintain it and preserve it.”

Cardinal, now 75, has received numerous awards and honours throughout his career, including 11 doctorates, the title of World Master of Contemporary Architecture in 2006 and the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Arts Award in 2007. He was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2001.

“I’m very honoured that the City of St. Albert has taken these steps to preserve this building for the community,” Cardinal said. “It’s wonderful to see that today, 25 years after its grand opening, the building has truly become what it was meant to be—a gathering place for the community where residents and government can meet, learn and grow.”

By Richard Wagamese

There’s a mountain to the south and east of us that humps up like a buffalo. From the Paul Lake road heading west from Pinantan it sits there with a bald rock face and a carpet of fir slumped around it so that it looks exactly like a resting bison.

In rain shadow, from the deck of the cabin, it sits solemnly and the roll of it feels like it sits on the land looking outward beyond us. There is an air of safety, of calm, of being watched over, protected like my people say comes from the presence of a Spirit Helper.

There is strength in any mountain but this one is definitely special. Ceremonial, almost, regal, stoic, as though it holds itself in, the stories within it rich and compelling and spoken in the whisper of the wind off its crest and plummet. Standing in the hushed quiet of morning watching the sun ease across its broad back it’s easy to believe we have a sentinel.

Such thinking was strange to me for a long time. I was raised in a concrete Protestant reality, one that said ‘only what’s real is real’. The limits of reality stretched only as far as television or movies. There was no room for imagination, flights of fancy or even the pull of everyday magic like moon shadow or rainbows. There was certainly no place for mystical thinking.

Instead, faith sat in our home like a yardstick, a measuring device I always seemed to fall short of. Second Timothy, where it says something about ‘study to show thyself approved’ was big, so was the whole ‘blood of the Lamb’ righteousness ethic. It meant that to be a Gilkinson, as my name became, I always needed to qualify, to measure up, to prove my worthiness.

I became a Wagamese in 1978. That was the year I reconnected with my native family. To me the name seemed easier to bear, less restrictive and rolling like the Ojibway language I heard around me. There was no Rock of Ages that guided the expression of it, only the spirit of the granite spine of the Canadian Shield that sat underneath our traditional territory.

I heard stories of a life on the land. I heard recollections based on a certain rapids say, or a back country lake, animals, hunts, paddles to far-off fishing lakes and seasons of incredible hardship or plenty. Underneath it all was a feeling of awe, wonder, and the acceptance of magic as a property of living and because of that, a palpable air of humility and gratitude

My reconnection led me to other things. I found ceremony and ritual and through them became more able to see myself as part of the great creative wheel of spiritual energy that I learned exists all around us. Being a Wagamese was all about belonging, fitting, and the name was a relief and a haven, a symbol of my ongoing worthiness.

But there was more.

My people have a grand tradition of naming. A person can carry many names through the course of a lifetime and each time one is bestowed is an honor time. Elders grant them, the carriers of our traditional and spiritual knowledge. You come to them in humility with an offering of tobacco, cloth and a personal gift and ask for the honor of a name. They pray and meditate for four days and then offer you the name that comes to them from the Spirit World.

The man I went to see sat and talked to me many times over the course of a month. We talked about my disconnectedness, about being taken away as a child, about returning and about the feeling I always carried of the presence of magic in life. When I made my offering and asked for a name he accepted the duty.

He called me Mushkotay Beezheekee Anakwat. It means Buffalo Cloud. It’s a storyteller’s name, he said and he told me that my role in this reality was to be just that, a teller of stories, a communicator, a writer, a keeper of the great oral tradition of my people.

That name changed my life. I became what he instructed. I sought out stories and storytellers. I sat with them and asked questions and learned about the role of storytellers in our tradition and about the principles that guide that role. I learned about the importance of perpetuating the tradition of storytelling into a new time with new tools with new and powerful ways. Then I began to write.

I’ve been a newspaper columnist, radio and television news writer, documentary writer and producer, and a writer of books through the years. I’ve brought the story of my people forward and I’ve been proud and humbled to have the opportunity to do that.

And these days, looking out across the wide expanse of mountain valley that holds the lake and the uplift of mountain that becomes a buffalo in the near distance, I realize how much resides within the names we carry. There’s history there, philosophy, tradition and the ability to recognize and rediscover ourselves in tough times and celebrate ourselves in days of joy.

I am not a Gilkinson. I was never meant to be, was never created to be. I was created to be a male, Ojibway human being. That’s what Creator intended. These days, I am that. These days the expression of my being lives within the context of Creator’s plan and I feel valid, real, honourable.

I stand against the grandeur of this country and say my name to the cosmos as I have been taught to do. Mushkotay Beezheekee Anakwat. Buffalo Cloud. I reintroduce myself to the universe in the traditional way of the Ojibway and this small ceremony is a joining to it all. I’ve come to believe that just as I’ve come to believe that our prayers are always heard, accepted into the flow of the healing, creative energy that flows through all of us. Kitchee Manitou. Great Spirit. Great.

By Clint Buehler

LAC LA BICHE, AB – A British bank has come forward to back an Alberta First Nation’s suit against the Alberta and Canadian government to stop oilsands development on its traditional hunting and fishing grounds.

The Beaver Lake First Nation, near this town 240 kilometres northeast of Edmonton, recently welcomed two representatives from The Cooperative Group, a financial services company based in Manchester, England. They were accompanied by a BBC documentary crew and four British print journalists.

The two guests were drummed in, surrounded by hundreds of dancers, for the grand entry of the annual Beaver Lake Powwow.

The guests, Paul Monaghan, head of social goals and sustainability for the group, and Colin Baines, the group’s ethics adviser, later flew over the oilsands in two helicopters and toured the Cold Lake oilsands operations east of Lac La Biche.

The Beaver Lake suit alleges that 17,000 approved oilsands projects will make hunting and fishing impossible for its 920 current members and for future generations, and is based on the 1876 signing of Treaty 6, in which they were given reserve land and the right to hunt and fish in perpetuity on a much larger piece of territory, their traditional hunting territory.

In support of that suit, The Cooperative Group donated $90,000 last March and, during the visit, pledged another $100,000. A third cheque has been promised in August. The Beaver Lake support is part of the group’s “Toxic Fuels” campaign, launched in partnership with the World Wildlife Fund.

After discovering the suit on the internet when he started working on the campaign, Baines decided the Beaver Lake Cree Nation’s interests fit perfectly with those of The Cooperative Group. The company flew Beaver Lake Chief Al Lameman and council members to London this spring to rally in Trafalgar Square and meet British members of parliament.

As a result, 164 British MPs from all parties have signed on to an early-day motion to have oil companies disclose carbon liabilities in their financial statements.

For Jack Woodward, based in Victoria, who is an expert on Aboriginal land claims and has won similar cases in British Columbia and is the lead lawyer in the case, “this is the battle of my lifetime.” He and his colleagues were also drummed into powwow.

“The government made a solemn promise that cannot be broken,” he said. “The expansion of the tarsands breaks that promise.”

However, there are many in Lac La Biche and surrounding communities who are less than enthusiastic about the Beaver Lake action.

Oilsands development has brought a new level of prosperity to the hundreds of residents who are employed in that development and associated services, and to the businesses that serve them from grocers and hardware stores, to home builders and car and truck dealers, to recreational vehicle companies.

With that prosperity threatened by the Beaver Lake action, and while they may not have the moxy or resources to challenge it, you can be sure that they will enthusiastically support those who do—the provincial and federal governments and the multi-national oil companies who not only have the most to lose, but have the resources to hire the finest lawyers to defend their positions.

By Clint Buehler

EDMONTON – Alberta’s eight Metis Settlements will have enhanced policing as a result of a new agreement that is part of the Alberta government’s Safe Communities Initiative.

Five RCMP community police officers will begin working with the settlements under a new enhanced policing agreement announced June 22 by the Government of Alberta and the Metis Settlements General Council (MSGC).

As in other Alberta communities, enhanced policing will provide the Metis Settlements with on-site uniformed RCMP officers to address community issues such as crime prevention, traffic enforcement or acting as school resource officers. Those specialized duties will be in addition to regular law enforcement by the RCMP as Alberta’s provincial police service.

“Enhancing safety and security is an important step toward concluding a long-term governance and funding agreement with and for Metis Settlements as mandated to me by the premier,” said Gene Zwozdesky, Alberta Minister of Aboriginal Relations.

Under a typical RCMP enhanced policing agreement, communities agree to pay 70 per cent of the cost and the federal government contributes the remaining 30 per cent. However, in this agreement, the Government of Alberta is covering the Settlements’ cost. The $1.77 million in provincial funding over three years is being provided through the Alberta Safe Communities Initiative.

“This three-year pilot will allow the five RCMP officers to provide a more comprehensive police presence and help develop a long-term policing vision and strategy for the Metis Settlements,” said Fred Lindsay, Alberta Solicitor General and Minister of Public Security.

While each community will be able to direct the officers to address local concerns, monitoring of the program will rest with the MSGC, the legislative body for the Metis Settlements.

“The Metis Settlements General Council is pleased with this agreement,” said Gerald Cunningham, President of the MSGC. “Increasing police presence on Metis Settlements has been a huge concern for us.”

“Our main focus is the continued safety of Metis Settlement members and families,” said Susan Cardinal Lamouche, the MSGC’s elected Secretary.

The Safe Communities Initiative is a partnership of nine Alberta government ministries working closely with police, community groups, municipalities, businesses and social agencies to find meaningful, long-term solutions that address the impact crime is having on Alberta communities.

By Lloyd Dolha

On June 24th UNICEF Canada marked the 20th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child with the release of a report called Aboriginal Children’s Health: Leaving No Child Behind. “The health of Canada’s Aboriginal children is a bellwether of the health of our nation,” said Margo Greenwood, Academic Leader of the National Collaborating Centre on Aboriginal Health (NCCAH). “Their health status is not a product of biological determinants, but of social conditions and access to societal resources.” UNICEF Canada partnered with the NCCAH to produce the report, which examines the health of Aboriginal children in Canada through the perspectives of national experts and analysis of existing data. The report concludes that health disparities between First Nations, Inuit, and Métis children relative to national averages is one of the most significant children’s rights challenges facing Canada.

The virus affects a disproportionate number of Aboriginal people. Roughly half of all confirmed cases are First Nations residents and two-thirds of patients on respirators are of First Nations descent. Cramped living conditions, lack of running water, and high incidence of chronic illness are thought to be factors in the spread of disease on reserves. In St. Theresa Point, Manitoba, hundreds of people began showing flu-like symptoms in May 2009. The first confirmed case of swine flu on the reserve was detected in June, and it soon spread to neighbouring Garden Hill First Nation. Both are remote fly-in communities about 600 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg. While the majority of H1N1 cases have so far been mild, the World Health Organization has warned that H1N1 could reappear in the fall and cause more severe illness.

Manitoba’s First Nations chiefs have declared a state of emergency and are urging the provincial and federal governments to do the same—a move intended to speed up efforts to stop the spread of the virus on reserves. Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Grand Chief Ron Evans said he and his fellow chiefs want to ensure government officials are fully aware of the devastating impact of the H1N1 virus in their communities. “The governments need to step up,” Evans said at a news conference in Winnipeg. “There is no plan in place. Nobody wants to accept responsibility for First Nations. There is very little combating the H1N1 pandemic. Our people are sick.” The call for action came as the province announced an additional 163 confirmed swine-flu cases in Manitoba, bringing the total to 458. The assembly said there is a “rising sense of worry” about the looming fall flu season.

Assembly of First Nations (AFN) National Chief Phil Fontaine said the UNICEF report provides further evidence that First Nations are especially vulnerable to viruses like H1N1 (swine flu). “Today’s report by UNICEF demonstrates that the inequities in health services for First Nations, compounded by the poor social conditions found in too many of our communities, contributes to our poorer health status even in the best of times,” he said. “This is why First Nations are particularly vulnerable to H1N1. The World Health Organization already has pointed out that there is a link between the severity of H1N1 cases and poor living conditions, over-crowded housing, poor-quality drinking water, pre-existing chronic diseases, and sub-standard healthcare. It is time for action to improve the conditions that make us the most vulnerable segment of the population.”

The AFN has called on governments to take urgent measures to improve the response to pandemic outbreaks of H1N1 in First Nations communities. Suggested improvements include an independent study of recent outbreaks in Ontario and Manitoba, recommendations to develop national guidelines for service to First Nations, and providing investments that will allow every First Nation to develop a pandemic plan. “It should be clear to all Canadians at this point that the problem is not simply confined to the current H1N1 crisis,” said AFN Manitoba Regional Chief Bill Traverse. “We do need immediate action on that front, but even with that our communities will still be vulnerable and our people will still be living in conditions that would not be tolerated elsewhere in Canada. We need a government-wide response that involves working with First Nations to create a real, coordinated plan that will foster healthier communities and healthier citizens. We should all support this goal because strong First Nations make a stronger Canada.”

The UNICEF Canada report found that Aboriginal children suffer from a much greater burden of poor health. Specifically, Aboriginal children fare at least two or more times worse than the national averages for non-Aboriginal children in almost all health status indicators (measures of child health, such as diabetes and suicide rates) and in the determinants of health and well-being (influences such as poverty and access to clean water). Despite improvements in recent years, inequalities persist in higher infant mortality rates, lower child immunization rates, poorer nutritional status, and endemic rates of obesity, diabetes, and other chronic diseases.

The report also revealed that federal investments in First Nations health services have not mirrored population growth, and that a number of services routinely provided to other Canadians are under-funded or denied. Experts suggest that the root of health problems experienced by Canada’s Aboriginal children stems from the legacy of policies such as residential schooling, which severed the last few generations of families from their children and resulted in family and community breakdown. “The chronic under-investment in health is unacceptable, but it is not unique,” said AFN Ontario Regional Chief Angus Toulouse. “In fact, as we have seen in report after report and study after study, First Nations are under-funded across the board, and this is reflected in the poverty and poor conditions in too many of our communities. First Nations want to build their economies and ensure their people and communities are healthy, but making this a reality means putting an end to this fiscal discrimination.”

Hundreds of Aboriginal children are caught in government disagreements about where responsibility lies, with the survival and best interests of the child a distant consideration. The report calls for funding the same level of services for all children in Canada and passing both federal and provincial legislation to implement “Jordan’s Principle” that no Aboriginal child languishes during disputes about who will provide or pay for services that other Canadian children receive without question.

Recently, the Canadian Imperial Bank of Canada has donated $10,000 to the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs to support current efforts related to controlling the virus in First Nations communities in Manitoba. “The H1N1 virus is hitting the Aboriginal community in Manitoba especially hard,” said Rob Bennett, CIBC’s market vice-president of retail markets in the prairies. “We hope that this donation will help reduce the impact of the virus in First Nations communities.”

By Lloyd Dolha

The Union of BC Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) says the provincial NDP’s proposal for a select committee to tour the province consulting British Columbians about the proposed Recognition and Reconciliation Act is premature. “Without the availability of the draft legislation to substantially discuss, it is premature for a legislative committee to trek through the province asking input to a discussion paper,” said UBCIC president Chief Stewart Phillip in a July 6th press release. “Our fear is that an ill-defined, ill-instructed committee will only serve to polarize the issue of reconciliation and act as an open invitation for those who oppose the recognition of our [Aboriginal] title and rights.”

The First Nations Leadership Council, composed of the UBCIC First Nations Summit and the BC wing of the Assembly of First Nations, have been hosting regional discussions with First Nations across the province. Discussion of the legislation will continue through summer. At the end of August, a summary report of First Nations concerns will be raised at an all-chiefs assembly.

Of major concern is the proposed plan to reconstitute the province’s 203 First Nations into 30 regional indigenous nations based on tribal groupings. In a letter to the Nanaimo Daily News, minister of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation George Abbott said the idea of reconstituted indigenous nations is a key part of their proposal and said the province “must await the outcome of [First Nations] discussions before any meaningful public consultation can take place.” In a recent update on the initiative, the First Nations Leadership Council said some elements of the discussion paper were completely rejected and others require reconsideration.

The Leadership Council has also set up a legal and policy caucus composed of lawyers and policy advisors to produce their own concept paper for the advancement of recognition of Aboriginal title based on the advice provided by First Nations at regional discussions – a counter proposal to the NDP’s discussion paper. First Nations have also called for a more collaborative and inclusive process regarding the proposed legislation. “If through that process there is agreement to proceed to a legislative proposal, the UBCIC anticipates it will require a significant departure from the proposed model in the discussion paper,” said Chief Phillip.

By Lloyd Dolha

A former amateur middleweight champion from Winnipeg who lost his youth to the toxic Winnipeg gang culture has returned with a vengeance to become Canada’s new light heavyweight champion. Junior “Ralph” Moar (Métis, age 30) defeated Abdullah Ramadan, age 42, of Toronto in the sixth round to claim the title at the River Rock Casino in Richmond on June 19, 2009.

The two were evenly matched, exchanging a series of powerful blows in the opening rounds. Moar went down twice in the fifth round, but managed to get back on his feet. In the end, Ramadan was disqualified for deliberately delivering low blows to the stocky Métis fighter. “I’m backing out. I’m backing out,” Ramadan said to the referee in the sixth round, but then he didn’t back out, choosing instead to bow out through the disqualification. “It’s not the way I wanted to win the belt, but a win’s a win,” said Moar after the fight. “He was obviously looking for a way out.”

When he stepped out of the ring, Moar hugged his father (who had recently suffered a heart attack) and said, “This one’s for you, Dad.” Moar went into the fight with a 6-2 winning record including two KO’s, facing Ramadan’s 15-8 record with nine KO’s. Ramadan was a world-ranked middleweight in the 1990’s who boxed in the Olympics in 1988. He was making a comeback in his forties. The two slugged it out for the 175-pound division championship previously held by Jason Naugler, who moved up to the next weight class.

Moar’s win was the first title bout held in the province in nine years. He has won his last four consecutive fights since relocating to the West Coast in July 2007 from Winnipeg. Moar was the Canadian amateur middleweight champion in 1997, at just 18. He was also the Canadian Amateur Boxing Association boxer of the year. He fell from grace in the boxing world when members of the notorious Zig Zag street gang in Winnipeg started hanging around at the boxing gym where Moar trained. The Métis champion became involved with them, drinking heavily, doing drugs, and even carrying a gun. His bright future became lost to that nether world and came to an abrupt halt when he was arrested on December 12, 1990 for shooting a rival gang member outside his home in Winnipeg. It was lucky for Moar that his intended victim suffered only a minor injury because the bullet’s trajectory was effected by the metal of the car he was in.

With two prior convictions for assault and theft, the court gave him a mandatory four-year sentence at the medium-security Stoney Mountain Institution in Winnipeg. In just six months, Moar went from champion to prison inmate. “I felt like my life was over,” recalled Junior in an interview. “I was so depressed I did nothing… it was horrible. I’d wake up every morning and couldn’t believe I was in jail.” While in jail, some of his former gang buddies from the Zig Zag crew implicated Junior on some new charges. Although the charges didn’t stick, he was placed in solitary confinement for 27 months for his own protection. On July 1, 2001, Junior’s brother Michael died of leukemia, just months after his incarceration. It was a major turning point that made Junior seriously re-evaluate his life. “I honestly prayed to God to give me another chance, and if he did I would resurrect my boxing career,” said Junior in a 2007 interview with the Richmond News.

These days, Junior trains six hours a day at the Burnaby Boxing Club, working out and refining his boxing skills. The champion boxer also works with Aboriginal youth in the downtown eastside, sitting on the board of directors for the Urban Native Youth Association. He has also shared his story with inner-city youth at the Vancouver gang youth squad. His trainer, Manny Sobral, himself a former Canadian Olympic fighter with an impressive record of 130-11 as an amateur before turning pro after the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, Korea. “I think [Junior] has a bright future. He’s been through everything, drugs, alcohol, jail and he’s come full circle. He’s an amazing guy,” said Sobral.

Junior Moar will have his first title defense on September 17th, at the Red Robinson Theatre in Coquitlam.