By Bernie Bates

It won’t be vary long before the easter bunny will be coming to a WAL -MART near you. Have we forgotten the original fable of easter? Have we replaced that fabrication for a factious rabbit who magically hides chocolate eggs around the house?

It’s said that if a lie is repeated enough times it will one day become a truth. How uncivilized does a person have to be to believe in such a mythical, unplausible piece of clap-trap? Who knows? Maybe one day they’ll build a church to worship Bugs Bunny.

How about that other factious character, Santa Claus. Can you tell me what Santa Claus has to do with the birth of a little boy in Bethlehem? Birth, itself, is a factual event that is as certain as death is inevitable and irreversible. But people still pray to old Saint Nicholas. How unsophisticated and misguided is that?

People can be so gullible. You’ve hear of the old adage: “A fool and his money are soon parted.” Unfortunately some poor souls have been conned out of their entire life savings by some despicable evangelist with a sad story and promises of glory. It angers me when other humans pray upon the mentally challenged.

What if I told you that just last night, I had supper with Albert Einstein, Gandhi and Elvis? Would you believe me or would you think that I’d lost touch with reality? Would you have faith in my words if I told you that I built a boat large enough to house two every creature on this planet? Do you think I could make a woman with my bone? Far fetched, you say?

The reason for this column is because I was told that I was sinner for not believing in god. And, traditionally speaking, where do sinners go? So basically this man was telling me to go to hell.

I would like to think that I’m a good person. I don’t harm anyone, steal or propagate lies. But I know who does. Righteous leaders have fought deadly wars in the name of their particular gods. They’ve taken money from the poor and built golden temples. They also advertise everlasting salvation for the low, low price of just $19.99.

These holy people have tried to silence people like Galileo Galilei, who had the audacity to say that the Earth revolved around the sun. Charles Darwin, was ostracized for scientifically proving the existence of evolution.

All religions claim to be the only path to love, peace and eternal life. Yet they’ll destroy anyone who doesn’t bow down before their alter. They make promises that they can’t possibly keep; from condemning your ass to hell or granting you admittance to their version of heaven. It’s all about control.

So just how do these leaders keep their sheep from flocking off? They threaten them with something awful. And what could be more horrifying than the unknown – a dark place of endless torture. But in order to keep their cult members happy and calm they must also promise them a reward of some sort. But it can’t be something as tangible as a gold coin. So they promise them a magical place were all their wishes will come true?

The only problem with making a promise like that is; you can’t have a disciple returning from this mythical place and reporting to the rest of your flock that your promise is a crock.

There is only one way they can ensure rule over their kingdom. What is the only place that no one has ever returned from? Did you guess death? You’re right. Give yourself a gold coin.

I’m not anyone’s pawn nor soldier in servitude. I also know that I’m not alone when it comes to this taboo subject. A lot of people are losing their fate in our overlords. And this trend is as evident as the empty pews in churches everywhere. The masses are finally waking up to a new world of enlightenment.

So if a person wants to blindly believe in an unseen, wrathful, holy ghost – that’s their business. But, in the name of god, don’t come knocking on my door and ask me for twenty bucks.

THE END

By Richard Wagamese

In the distance, across the span of lake, clouds form above the water. Here in the mountains the division between rock and sky exists more as suggestion than hard delineation and clouds on the water have become as familiar as birds. Standing on the rock that anchors the boat landing you almost feel like a cloud yourself, floating over it all, free, wispy inside.

You tell yourself that you know the skin of this lake like your lover’s skin; a known territory, inhabited, rich and redolent with secrets. So you close your eyes and breathe it into you, the fecund promise of it thrust upward from the reeds and algae, life hard against your senses.

When you open them again there are birds sudden as a thought. They emerge from the reeds quietly, tiny skimming vessels, everywhere swimming. Two pair of geese with eleven goslings between them, grebes and mallards and perched impossibly on tips that should not hold their weight, red winged blackbirds like commas punctuating the stillness with their song.

It always amazes you how hard it is to learn to see things as they are, the secrets, as your people say, hidden in every leaf and rock. Even things as familiar as this waterside have mysteries you need discipline to learn to see.

When I was twenty-one I craved vision. It was 1976 and in the southern city where I lived the charcoal dimness of winter trapped me. Life was a drab slog of warehouse work and a small room above an alley with yellowed peeling walls and a radio for company. I was lonely and the slush of winter permeated me and everywhere was chill.

In the library one day I stumbled on a large oversized book left strewn open on the carrel where I often sat. My books were books of words and this one held photographic plates of paintings. At first I shoved it aside to make room for the handful of books I’d brought to study that day, Rimbaud’s poetry, a play by Eugene O’Neill, essays by Susan Sontag and the biography of Willie Mays.

But it held me. There was color there and it felt like a great wash of warmth against the grim working class tiredness I carried. It was huge and heavy and when I opened it, it felt like a great door thrown open on a new and exciting world. Color. Hues and tones of it I had never known before, combinations and textures that compelled the eye and I was snared in it.

It was a book about an artist named Gustav Klimt. He was a rebel and in the world of the late 1800s he was criticized for his work. I couldn’t see why. Page after page presented a vision that was startling in its genius and I found myself awed by his ability to see feeling in common things, to paint them, leave them there like messages to us all.

Then I found The Kiss. It was painted around 1907 and he’d used gold in it like he had with a number of other works around that same time. There was a man and a woman wrapped in gold sheath with shapes and suggestions of detail that gave a two dimensional quality to it. He’d used the paint to create an ancient feel, Byzantine, hieroglyphic almost. It was stunning and even though it was just a photograph of a painting, it drew me in nonetheless.

Maybe it was the loneliness I lived in then, or maybe it was the longing I carried for the warmth of arms or even the quiet desperation born of hanging on from pay check to pay check in a small room in a gray world, but The Kiss captivated me. You couldn’t see the man’s face, only the back of his head and there was only a partial view of the woman’s but the suggestion of deep and soaring passion was powerfully rendered.

The art in the homes I’d grown up with was the functional domestic art of the late 60s and if there were paintings at all they were amateur oils of landscapes, dull in their tight representational accuracy. But this was a world I had never seen, never imagined and I sunk myself into it, luxuriated in the blunt fervor of vision poured outward onto canvas.

Finding Klimt led me to the art galleries of the city. I’d passed them by but had always been too embarrassed by my poverty and lack of acumen to venture in. Now, armed with an elemental way of seeing and the consumption of a few dozen art books, I felt confident about visiting. What I found was a spectacular world, a parallel dimension to my own.

I found the expressionism of Wassily Kandinsky, the impressionism of Mary Cassat, pointillism by Paul Seurat and the pop art of Roy Lichtenstein. All of them led me to seeing the world in wild, unexpected and triumphant ways. I bought art posters I couldn’t afford and changed the dull walls of my room into a pastiche of jubilation. Winter melted into spring and everything was brighter somehow.

Later, when I discovered the art of my people, those vibrant works allowed me to inhabit it more fully, to glean meaning and intent from brush stroke, form and perspective, to find the expression of myself in it, to make it my own. There was no translation necessary then. I’d learned the lingo from the masters.

I learned how easily we come to take things for granted, how susceptible we are to the protection of the expected, the known, the predictable, the boringly normal. I learned how seeing, this tremendous gift that brings us the world, can become limited, tired, uninventive and drained by lack of use.

As I traveled I began to discover the art in common things, learned to see people as walking paintings, the compelling countries of their beings. It took some doing but they became like clouds on water, life and art, a freeing, compelling duality.

By Clint Buehler

An Edmonton MP is facing a firestorm of criticism after distributing a newsletter in which he called revered Metis leader Louis Riel a villain.

Conservative Edmonton East MP Peter Goldring was reacting to a proposal from the New Democrats that Riel be recognized as a Father of Confederation and that the conviction for treason that led to his hanging in 1885 be overturned.

In November, NDP MP Pat Martin (Winnipeg Centre) introduced the private member’s bill. “To paint him as a traitor is to compound a historical injustice,” Martin said.

“Riel was fighting for minority rights within Confederation and Canada should right that historical injustice in much the same way as it did when the federal government apologized to Aboriginal residential school survivors,” Martin said.

“To paint him as a traitor is to compound a historical injustice that is crying out to be remedied. Some redneck hillbilly in Alberta is not going to derail that project.”

“Riel didn’t father Confederation,” Goldring wrote. “He fought those who did.”

The Prime Minister’s Office was quick to condemn Goldring’s comments. A statement from the PMO said “this document is absolutely not an initiative of our government or our party. This is a personal initiative of MP Goldring which we strongly disapprove of.

“Louis Riel is a historical and controversial figure. But he played an important role in the development of Canada and in the protection of the rights and culture of the Metis and francophones in Canada.”

Calling Riel a “villain,” Goldring said he was responsible for all those who died during the Northwest and Red River “rebellions.” (The Metis and their supporters call them “resistances.”).

“Riel clearly chose to lead; he also clearly chose to instigate uprisings that caused many to die,” Goldring wrote. “As the leader of these uprisings, Riel is responsible for each and every death occurring as a consequence of his actions.”

“It’s a sad state of Canadian historical affairs when so many historically ill-informed persons busy themselves giving praise to Riel,” Goldring wrote, “ giving praise to Riel, naming new highways after him . . . the villain who caused 80 to die while General Middleton and his veteran Canadian soldiers are insulted, ignored and marginalized.”

Riel was a dedicated politician who fought for Metis rights in the 1800s. He created the Provisional Government at Fort Garry that became the foundation for the creation of the Province of Manitoba, and ultimately his recognition as Father of Manitoba. Elected to the House of Commons three times, he never took his seat in Ottawa because of threats against his life.

In exile in Montana, he was persuaded by Gabriel Dumont to return to Canada to provide inspiration to the Metis and their supporters in the Resistance of 1885 that ended at the Battle of Batoche.

Golding wrote in his newsletter that “to un-hang Louis Riel and to mount a statue to him on Parliament Hill would elevate anarchy and civil disobedience to that of democratic statesmanship.”

Ironically, just prior to this controversy—on February 18—Louis Riel Day was celebrated in Manitoba. It is also ironic that this should occur early in what the Metis National Council has proclaimed the Year of the Metis, the 125th anniversary of the hanging of Riel.

It was not only the PMO that levelled criticism. MPs of all parties—and, of course, Metis leaders and citizens—weighed in as well.

Manitoba Conservative MPs Shelly Glover and Rod Bruinooge, both Metis, said that while Goldring is entitled to his opinion, they don’t agree with him, nor does his party.”

Another Conservative MP, Edmonton Centre’s Lawrie Hawn, told CTV “I think it’s a little over the top. Louis Riel is a name that’s very highly thought of by many Canadians.”

Winnipeg Liberal Anita Neville said the Conservative party should apologize to the Metis for w2hat she called a “smear campaign” against the founder of Manitoba.

Metis leaders were not so soft in their criticism:

“We believed we had moved past that,” said Audrey Poitras, president of the Metis Nation of Alberta. “It’s really sad that we still have leadership of Canada who don’t understand the history of Canada, are either ignorant of the facts of that or are racist.”

Goldring’s views show a complete ignorance of history, according to David Chartrand, vice-president of the Metis National Council and head of the Manitoba Metis Federation. “Riel not only protected the rights of the Metis, but he also defended the West against raids from the United States.”

By Cam Martin

The group of seven (G7) leaders met this month in Iqaluit, Nunavut. This meeting is very unique as it is the first international leaders meeting to be held in the Nunavut capital.

Nunavut MP Leona Aglukkaq stresses that this meeting with have serious discussions and decision making about the state of the world economy. Yet, in spite of assurances that this meeting will address important issues to the fledgling territory, some financial observers say that the conference carried little weight because of its different approach from past meetings. Federal officials have said the Iqaluit G7 gathering is informal, and leaders did not issue the communiqué that is traditionally prepared at the end of such meetings. Some argue that the group of seven meetings are meant to be informal, whereas the G20 leaders are now formulating global economic policies. Aglukkaq stresses that the meeting is, “a huge undertaking” and that these “working conferences are ones that are very important.”

One of the unexpected difficulties of having a international meeting in such a unique setting as Iqaluit is that there was a lack of room for all the representatives and their entourages. Unfortunately, some of the non governmental agencies have said that they were discouraged from coming to the conferences as many of the city’s hotels were completely booked months ahead of time. “We’ve been discouraged to come up to Iqaluit because of the nature of the location,” said Ken Georgetti, president of the Canadian Labour Congress. Aglukkaq said nobody was told not to attend the G7 meeting, but added that it’s been clear that a lot of people will be converging on the Nunavut capital.

One of the topics that activists wanted to be a top priority at this conference is poverty. Dennis Howlett, national coordinator of the group Make Poverty History Canada, says G7 countries should discuss bringing in a global tax on banks for transactions involving stocks, bonds and foreign exchange. He says the money collected could help poor, developing nations. There is the feeling that although Canada struggles with poverty, we are more fortunate than many developing nations and we should take responsibility for the current financial crisis.

Ken Georgetti, president of the Canadian Labour Congress, and his group is called on the G7 nations to consider a international financial transaction tax. The proposed international levy on banks has already been discussed at recent G7 and G20 as a way to offset the cost of bank bailouts. Although these topics were addressed, the G7 felt no pressure to issue a statement as they have done away with the communiqué issued at the end of the conference.

In addition to the serious discussions regarding global policy, the G7 leaders were treated to a display of traditional Inuit food and dancing, games and even a snowmobile parade. This meeting and its setting was important for Nunavut as it places the First Nations culture of northern Canada in the forefront of global policy, assuring our place in international politics.

Review by Morgan O’Neal

Through Black Spruce is the sequel to Joseph Boyden’s award-winning bestselling first novel Three Day Road, part of a projected trilogy in which two fictional James Bay Cree families (the Birds and the Whiskeyjacks) work out the complex intertwined histories of several generations. Through Black Spruce also took home a fistful of awards, including the Giller Prize, the Canadian Authors Association MOSAID Technologies Inc. Award for Fiction, the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, CBA Fiction Book of the Year, and the McNally Robinson Aboriginal Book of the Year, and it was short-listed for the Governor General’s Award for Fiction. The Giller Prize is one of the richest awards in Canada, and Joseph Boyden hopes to use part of the prize money to establish an Aboriginal Student Scholarship Fund. These are, after all, their stories—the stories of their ancestors.

Through Black Spruce takes us to the island of Manhattan, far from the woodlands of the first novel. “It’s my first venture with a novel into the contemporary world, and it’s actually about the grandchildren of characters in the first novel,” Boyden explains. “It’s about a family struggling with another family up in James Bay, and the search for a disappeared family member. The older sister goes looking for her younger sister, who’s disappeared, while the uncle of the two girls stays at home and tries to deal with the fallout from that. It’s all about identity, too, just as the first novel is a lot about identity and how you can lose yourself. That’s one of the recurring themes I’ve been exploring.”

As with Three Day Road, Boyden is in a good position to address contemporary First Nation issues. “I’ve always felt that I’ve got one foot firmly placed in my white roots and one in my Métis roots,” he says. “It allows me to act almost like a bridge between the two, in some ways.” He understands the people he is writing about. “I know these characters so well that I just let them go, and they travel, sometimes to places I didn’t expect.”

The collapse of culture and traditional ways of life is often a backdrop to stories by and about First Nations people. The Cree inhabitants of the community of Moosonee have gone from living off the land, hunting, trapping, and trading to worrying about booze, drug addiction, and suicides. In short, they have been “civilized.” The Netmakers, a local family, bring cocaine and crystal meth into town using biker connections. At the outset of the novel, Annie’s younger sister Suzanne has run off with Gus, youngest of the Netmaker clan. Will Bird, the main protagonist and one of the book’s narrators, flies to a remote island after shooting Cree crime boss Marius Netmaker. Meanwhile, Will’s niece Annie (the second narrator) searches for her sister, a quest that becomes a study in cultural politics and the formation of identity. As Annie slips into the stereotypical role of Indian Princess, her uncle Will struggles with tragic memories that threaten to destroy him.

Unfortunately, Annie’s adventures take her to a New York City that is patently unreal. Boyden, as good a writer as he is, makes the lives of so-called supermodels Kenya and Soleil seem glitteringly artificial. The novel becomes as boring as the lives of these women (one black, one white), and no attempt to turn the novel into crime fiction can save it. Will Bird contemplates his next move, while his relationship with a local bear he is feeding becomes more profound and dangerously intimate. The following passage is a hint of things to come:

“A smooth operator, me. I fixed another drink and went back outside to mull it all over. The ham still sat lonely on the light’s edge. Tomorrow was another day. I considered turning on the tube to watch one of those crime shows. Those things are nice. Always the same. You always know what you’re going to get. Usually a murder and only a few clues, but detectives, they’re resilient. They won’t let things slide. They always work hard and figure it out and the criminal is brought to justice in the last few minutes. Those Americans got it all figured out. Nice and neat. Perfect.”

Boyden’s got it all figured out. The novel plays itself out, nice and neat and perfect. It is a shame that he resorts to such formulaic escapes from the truth in order to resolve the plot twists that have paved the way for major characters to come back to Moosonee. Boyden is a great writer, nevertheless. His story progresses with confident ease until it runs out of steam and coasts to a full stop. Boyden has what it takes to do better. Perhaps the hoopla and hype around his debut novel were too much. Boyden grew up among the people he writes about. He has Irish, Scottish and Métis roots. He owes it to that community and to himself to redeem his reputation for energetic truth-telling fiction and beautiful plain style with a third novel that completes the trilogy in style.

Joseph Boyden has traveled widely in the American South, and has worked at a number of different jobs. He was a band roadie, gravedigger and groundskeeper at a cemetery, a tutor, dishwasher, waiter, and bartender. While living in New Orleans, he received his MFA degree and met his wife, Amanda, a trapeze artist, contortionist, and writer. Following his degree and his marriage, he taught Aboriginal programs on James Bay in the far north. He is also the author of Born with a Tooth, a collection of short stories shortlisted for the Upper Canada Writer’s Craft Award. He now teaches creative writing at the University of New Orleans.

By Frank Larue

During his lifetime, Aboriginal painter Norval Morrisseau had to fight his own demons in order to create the masterpieces that established him as one of the genius painters of his generation. The master of Woodland Native American art was a friend of our own Danny Beaton who wrote an obituary for Norval: “He had died leaving a legacy no other artist has left since Pablo Picasso. His ability to bring spirit to canvas obliterated art dealers around the world… His art reflected his country and people in their magnificence. He demonstrated a world of healing with nature, and healing with the spirit world, and the life of his people.”

Unfortunately, Norval Morrisseau’s body of work is now being defamed by painters of low character attempting to cash in on his reputation by selling paintings that are fakes. Norval’s death has opened the door for a group of frauds who are producing forgeries done in Norval’s style and selling them as originals. To complicate matters, the Norval Morrisseau Family Foundation has been certifying paintings that may be forgeries. Norval had dismissed the foundation in 2007, saying, “The foundation does not have my authority or consent to authenticate my art or to otherwise hold itself out as representing me or my interests in any manner whatsoever.” The Norval Morrisseau Heritage Society, an association responsible for putting the stamp of authenticity on Norval’s work, has issued warnings about the Morrisseau forgeries popping up everywhere. The Art Dealers Association of Canada has stopped issuing certificates of authenticity for any paintings credited to Norval Morrisseau.

In January, the conflict came to a head when Bryant Ross of the Aldegrove Coghlan Art Store slashed a large red cross on a fake Morrisseau painting. “It’s very hard to prove the authenticity of a painting or the non-authenticity,” Ross told the Katie Mercer from The Vancouver Province. “This painting is a lie. Someone put Norval’s name on it: Copper Thunderbird. They made this painting a lie; it’s not truth. It’s not just art that can be discredited but the artist himself.”

It is possible that Norval himself might have helped spread the forgeries. When he arrived in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, he was addicted to cocaine and was still dealing with alcoholism. Norval sometimes traded his paintings to feed his addictions and was also known to sign certificates of authenticity for paintings he did not do in exchange for cash.

John O’Brian, professor of Fine Arts at UBC, doesn’t see the controversy ending soon. “There are too many forgeries and the problem has become too wide spread.” The number of forgeries emerging now threatens not only to damage the reputation of the artist but also to jeopardize his legacy.

By Frank Larue

The Stó:lo Nation is not happy with the treaty signed between the Yale First Nation and the BC Government. The core issue is salmon fishing in the Fraser Canyon. The Stó:lo have been fishing the area for decades and are outraged that the government would deal directly with the Yale First Nation and not the Tribal Council. The Stó:lo maintain that the Yale Band is part of the Stó:lo Nation, but the Yale Band denies such a claim.

Stó:lo Grand Chief Clarence Pennier expressed the Tribal Council’s anger in a press release, saying, “The ministers need to understand that Aboriginal title and fishing rights in the Fraser Canyon belong to all 24 Stó:lo First Nations, not just the Yale Indian Band alone.”

The treaty signed on February 5th, gave the 150 Member Yale First Nation $12.9 million to improve their economy and land compensation. The Stó:lo tribal council will launch legal action to dissolve the treaty since the Campbell government chose not to deal with the Tribal Council. They feel betrayed that negotiations weren’t held with all parties involved. The treaty was negotiated without the Tribal Council’s input and signed before they could express their opposition to its contents.

The Federal Government has ordered an inquiry to explain the decline of salmon in the Fraser River, and Liberal Chief Justice Bruce Cohen who is in charge of the inquiry may have created a new problem with the treaty. Conservative MP John told The Province, “Mr. Justice Cohen has to investigate the Fraser Canyon fishery and its impact on migrating sockeye. These treaties represent constitutional change, so if Justice Cohen decides changes need to be made in the canyon, then the Yale treaty will tie his hands before his hearing starts.”

All of this makes the treaty with the Yale First Nation a very questionable deal, with shades of the Tsawassen First Nation treaty of 2009 that was signed, sealed, and delivered before all issues were clarified. The Stó:lo Tribal Council are willing to settle in court, which means ratification of the treaty will be on hold until the judicial system decides who is in the right. In the meantime, the lack of salmon in the Fraser River will cast a dark shadow over the proceedings.

By Clint Buehler

Even Monica Pinette will concede that her Olympic sport—women’s modern pentathlon—has a very low profile in the Summer Olympics. But she believes it doesn’t need to be that way.

And, despite that low profile, she has been selected to receive the 2010 National Aboriginal Achievement Award for Sport for her efforts and achievements in the sport.

“I was a bit surprised” to receive the award, she says. “I had been nominated before and hadn’t won so I thought I probably hadn’t done enough community work.

“It is just nice to be recognized. Pentathlon is such a small sport that we fall in the cracks a lot of the time. There have been times when I haven’t been eligible for grants or awards because my pentathlon isn’t big enough—in the media enough—so I am always grateful when someone recognizes an achievement.”

Women’s modern pentathlon, created by the French founder of the modern Olympics, Pierre de Courbertin, in 1912 is a strange mix of events: 20 pistol shots from 10 metres at a 155 mm. diameter target, one-minute fencing matches with every other competitor, a 200-metre freestyle swim, a 350 to 400 metre obstacle course on horseback and a 3,000 metre cross-country run.

Initially a five-day event, in 1996 it was changed so that all the events were crammed into single day.

More recently, the international federation is considering making fencing the opener, followed by the swim and the ride and then a new biathlon-style shooting/running discipline in which competitors would shoot at targets between 1,000-metre run laps.

“Ask anyone who’s really involved in the sport, like the coaches,” she told the Vancouver Sun, “and, unanimously, they say it’s going to be disaster. Apparently, there’s pressure from the International Olympic Committee that we need to improve the vpopularity of triathlon, and this is the answer.

“A lot of us think the problem is in the marketing. It’s a great sport. Anyone who comes to watch it is sold on it. It’s crazy and fun.”

According to the Canadian Olympic Committee biography of Pinette, while growing up she learned to ride horses as a member of the Pony Club. She went on to become part of local swim, gun, fencing and pentathlon clubs in British Columbia. That provided the foundation for her to become a rare pentathlete, strong in three technical events, show jumping, arguably her best event, but with fencing and shooting strong as well.

The feisty Metis from Langley, B.C., now living and training in Switzerland, says this is her final year of competition in the sport. But it isn’t that she’s retiring from the sport that allows her now to be critical of it; she’s been just as outspoken in the past.

Pinette has been recognized as a “true trail blazer” for the sport of modern pentathlon in Canada. In Athens in 2004, shev and Karen Grant became the first Canadian women to compete in the sport at an Olympic Games. Not only that, but Pinette was the only athlete of Aboriginal descent (Metis) to compete that year, her 13th place finish, Canada’s best achievement ever in Olympic modern pentathlon.

She was highly critical after finishing 27th at the 2008 Beijing Olympics—far below what was expected from her because of her previous achievements in the sport. She had been hoping for a top 10 finish after finishing 11th at the 2008 worlds, and blamed herself after finishing 33rd (out of 36) in fencing. But a day after some of the male competitors knocked the quality of the horses supplied by the Chinese, Pinette was even more critical.

“This really sucks today,” she told the Vancouver Sun, commenting on the show jumping and a 3000-metre run at Beijing she called a circus. “They messed it up, actually. The riding was a bit of a disaster. The horses all went lame and they just weren’t prepared properly. They’re not great, talented jumpers. They’re ex-race horses, it looked like.

By Frank Larue

Everyone seemed in agreement about James Cameron’s epic masterpiece Avatar. The movie has dwarfed all films ever made with revenues of $1.5 billion. Avatar is still showing in theatres all over the world, and the publicity it will receive in the Oscars may well put it over the $2 billion mark, surpassing Titanic. The film has been hailed by critics and fans alike as one of the great movies of all time. Unfortunately, Cree film director Neil Diamond does not agree. In fact, Diamond is disturbed by the portrayal of Aboriginal people in Cameron’s movie, referring to Avatar as “Dances with Pocahontas in Space.”

Diamond admits, “I was dying to see it when it came out, and everyone was talking about how brilliant it was—at least technologically. And it was gorgeous to look at. But it was insulting to think so little had really changed in the myth of the white man and the noble savage. Like, I watched those kinds of westerns growing up as a kid, and they always showed the Native people as these wise, noble, heroic-to-the-point-of-inhuman characters. Either that or a beautiful princess.”

Neil has made his own documentary called Reel Injun, which explores the how Native people have been depicted on the silver screen. “I had the idea for the movie about seven or eight years ago when I was watching TV,” he said. “There was an old western on, and it had a white guy playing a Native guy and I thought, ‘Wow! That’s funny.’” There were no Indians in early silent films, and in most movies made after 1930, Indians were either attacking the wagon train or taking on the U.S. Cavalry. What Diamond came to realize is that with all the cowboy movies, very few of the actors portraying Indians were actually Aboriginal. One of the few exceptions was the Lone Ranger, a popular TV show of the ‘50s in which Jay Silverheels played the part of Tonto, but you would be hard pressed to name another Indian actor of the same time period.

When it comes to Indians on film, Diamond points out, “There’s always the risk with white people, who seem to have this desire to romanticize Natives, that they’re not seeing us as people. We’re just ordinary human beings. We aren’t all in tune with nature. We don’t all speak to spirits and spout words of wisdom. But white people really like to see us that way.”

By Cam Martin

2010 is turning out to be an important year to showcase First Nation cultures. The significant Aboriginal presence during the Winter Olympics in Vancouver is cause for celebration, and Native British Columbians should be very proud. This year is also particularly special for the Métis culture, and the province of Saskatchewan has proclaimed 2010 the year of the Métis.

2010 marks the 125th anniversary of the 1885 Northwest Resistance and the battle of Batoche, making it a fine year to demonstrate the freedom and independence of the Métis people. Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall said, “Long before we were a province, there were Métis here. They have formed a significant, vibrant, and distinct culture across Western Canada. The coming year will be a chance to celebrate that past, as well as being an opportunity to look towards the future.”

Throughout the year, celebrations will recognize the Métis contribution to the uniquely multicultural Canadian tapestry. The celebrations started with the Métis involvement in the 2010 games. Nineteen members of the Métis Nation British Columbia formed a torch relay team called “Keeping it Riel” and ran through Quesnel on January 29th. The First Nations Pavilion in Vancouver will also showcase a series of Métis performers, including Summer Sage (a traditional Métis folk duo entertaining with music and storytelling) and the Asham Stompers (a dance group preserving Métis history in the Red River Jig and other traditional dances).

In addition to involvement in the 2010 Olympics, Saskatchewan is having a “Back To Batoche” celebration in July. The final stand off between Louis Riel and General Frederick Middleton took place in Batoche in 1885. The eight-day festival will be held July 18-25 in Batoche, about 90km southwest of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. For a unique “settler style” experience, visitors can camp in traditional tipis or opt for a campsite with electricity. The festival week begins with a Sunday procession on July 18th to the mass gravesite of fallen Métis fighters who gave their lives during the Riel resistance. This traditional march allows visitors and members of the Métis Nation to retrace the steps of the famous battle—an emotional and educational journey for all.

The Back To Batoche festival is a chance to for the Saskatchewan Métis to show off their culture, and it promises to be a really good time. Of course, there will be Red River Jog music, fiddling and jigging contests, and sizzling bannock baking, as well as a slow pitch baseball tournament, chuck wagon and chariot races, and educational events for kids. Don’t miss the “Métis Idol” singing contest with a final presentation on the main stage.

Saskatchewan Métis Nation President Robert Doucette called the announcement of the Year of the Métis an historic proclamation. “Never before has there been recognition like this given to the Métis citizens of Saskatchewan,” he said. “I am deeply honoured and proud to be a part of [this] celebration, as it marks another chapter in the future of this great province.” This year, take the opportunity to explore the rich culture of our Métis brothers and sisters, and support the recognition and preservation of Aboriginal cultures throughout Canada.