Posts By: First Nations Drum

Maria Campbell Métis Author & Elder

By Morgan O’Neal

Maria CampbellMaria Campbell is one of the first Aboriginal writers, playwrights, theatre producers and filmmakers in Canada. Her career began in 1973 when she published her autobiography, Halfbreed. The book has become a literary classic and continues to be one of the most widely taught texts in Canadian literature. Since then Campbell has published People of the Buffalo: How the Plains Indians Lived (1976), Riel’s People (1978), The Book of Jessica: A Theatrical Transformation (1982), co-authored with actor/playwright Linda Griffiths, and Stories of the Road Allowance People (1995), which translates oral stories into print. She has also written four children’s books including Little Badger and the Fire Spirit (1977).

Maria Campbell’s first professionally produced stage play, Flight was the first all-Aboriginal theatre production in Canada. Flight brought modern dance, storytelling and drama together with traditional Aboriginal art practices. She went on to write, direct and produce six other plays, some of which toured in Canada and abroad. From 1985 to 1997 she founded and operated her own film and video production company where she wrote and directed seven documentaries and produced the first weekly Aboriginal television series entitled My Partners, My People.
Ms Campbell is finishing an M.A.in Native Studies from the University of Saskatchewan, holds three honorary doctorates and has served as writer in residence at libraries and Universities throughout the prairies for two decades. She speaks four languages and is a sought-after guest speaker in Canada, the U.S. and Australia. She is currently an assistant professor at the University of Saskatchewan and lives near Batoche at Gabriel’s Crossing in Saskatchewan.

Awards she has received include a National Aboriginal Achievement Award, a Chalmers Award for Best New Play (Jessica), a national Dora Mavor Moore Award for play-wrighting and Woman at the Top, City of Saskatoon. Her community work and writing have been recognized with many honours, including the Gabriel Dumont Medal of Merit and honorary doctorates from the University of Regina, York University, and Athabasca University. She has also been inducted into the Saskatchewan Theatre Hall of Fame and has received a Distinguished Canadian Award (established by the Seniors University Group in 1985 to recognize older adults who have made outstanding contributions to Canadian life.) The award is intended to raise public awareness of the dynamic role older adults (aged 55 and over) play in society. Past recipients include Roy Bonisteel, Stephen Lewis, Adrienne Clarkson and former Saskatchewan Premiers T.C. Douglas, Allan Blakeney and Roy Romanow.

In 2004, Campbell was awarded a 50,000 dollar Canada Council for the Arts Molson Prize. Two Molson Prizes are awarded every year to distinguished Canadians, one in the arts and the other in the social sciences or humanities. The prizes recognize the recipients’ outstanding lifetime contribution to the cultural and intellectual life of Canada. In awarding the Molson Prize in the Arts to Maria Campbell, the jury stated: “For her contribution to Canadian and Aboriginal literature and significant impact on the cultural evolution of Canada, the jury was unanimous in its choice of Maria Campbell for the 2004 Molson Prize in the Arts. The brilliance of her breakthrough memoir, Halfbreed, which changed perceptions of the Métis experience forever, has been followed by other significant work, making a profound contribution to Canadian theatre, film, television and radio. Her status as a teacher, mentor and inspiration to Aboriginal people and all Canadians is unparalleled.” Indeed, Campbell sees herself more as a community worker than a writer.

But she is best known for her autobiography, Halfbreed, of which a Victoria Times-Colonist review stated: “You can almost feel this book vibrating in your hands, it is so compelling. You read it with a kind of agonized, heart-in-the-mouth sensation, halfway between laughter and tears…. Truth is stronger than fiction.” And the Canadian magazine Saturday Night called it the “daring account of a strong-willed woman who defeated poverty, racism, alcohol and drug addiction by the age of thirty-three.” The book is a vital account of a young Métis woman’s struggle to come to terms with the joys, sorrows, loves and tragedies of her northern Saskatchewan childhood.

The eldest daughter of seven children born to parents of Scottish, Indian and French descent, she was born.in 1940 in Park Valley, northern Saskatchewan. She lost her mother at the age of twelve and was forced to quit school to take care of her younger siblings. In an attempt to keep her family together, when she was 15 Campbell married an abusive white man who reported her to the welfare authorities and the children were placed in foster homes. After moving to Vancouver, she was deserted by her husband and entered a life of drugs and prostitution. Alone and desperate, she attempted suicide twice and suffered a nervous breakdown. While in the hospital she joined Alcoholics Anonymous and began her life over again.

Campbell says that throughout this suffering she was sustained in spirit by her Cree great-grandmother Cheechum who gave her confidence in herself and in her people, confidence she needed to survive and to thrive. As a child she dealt with discrimination from both whites and full-blooded Indian neighbors because of her Metís, or “half-breed” heritage. Halfbreed recounts the first thirty-three years of her life and depicts the discrimination and racism she and her people endured. In the introduction to that book, Campbell says, “I write this for all of you, to tell you what it is like to be a Halfbreed woman in this country. I want to tell you about the joys and sorrows, the oppressing poverty, the frustrations and the dreams.”

Halfbreed was Maria Campbell’s way of telling everyone the story of the realities of poverty, pain and hopelessness. Her story is a moving one, which at times reduces the reader to tears, and at other times makes you want to laugh. The underlying current in Halfbreed is, however, a serious one. Campbell says, “I am not bitter. I have passed that stage. I only want to say: this is what it was like, this is what it is still like” Her portrayal of how hard it was to grow up a Metis half a century ago and how unfairly she was treated by both whites and Indians, still strikes a chord.

In 1973, the year that Halfbreed was published, the author and her Métis community were not considered, under the Indian Act, to be aboriginal people in Canada. Yet discussion of contemporary Canadian aboriginal literature usually begins with this seminal work. Ojibway critic, Kateri Damm argues that Campbell presents “an alterNative perspective of the history of Canada…[to] affirm and preserve Native views, Native realities and Native forms of telling, while actively challenging and redefining dominant concepts of history, truth and fact”. Janice Acoose contends that “many contemporary Indigenous women …look to Maria Campbell’s text as the one which encouraged them to speak out, name their oppressors, and re-claim their selves”.

As Agnes Grant has observed, “Until she [Campbell] wrote the book, ‘halfbreed’ was nothing but a common derogatory term; now it means a person living between two cultures.” Her role as a political activist for Native American rights is still something Maria Campbell takes very seriously. And the growing strength of the Metis Nation in Canada is due in no small part to her life-long dedication to the cause. Campbell begins her first chapter with the Red River Rebellion and the continuous Halfbreed struggle to claim land they had lived on for years.
Rather than start her autobiography with her birth or even the meeting of her parents, Campbell looks back to the 1880’s, to remind her readers of the Halfbreeds’ historic but dishonoured claim for land. She retells the Battle of Duck Lake and the beginning of the Riel Rebellion, making certain to emphasize the eventual split within the Halfbreed ranks intentionally created by the federal government who issued land scrip to only “a chosen few.” She also takes care to point out that more than 8000 troops were deployed to stop Riel, Dumont and only 150 Halfbreeds.
It is with this information clearly laid out, that she states baldly at the end of the chapter, in a one sentence paragraph: “The history books say that the Halfbreeds were defeated at Batoche in 1884.” By contrast, in chapter two, Campbell describes her family almost sixty years later, when the Halfbreeds are “squatters,” literally living on the margins of society as the “Road Allowance People”, swindled out of what was rightfully theirs by the federal government. It is as though Campbell finally has the opportunity to rewrite the history books and she forces in as much information as she can from the Halfbreed “point of view.”

Just as Campbell describes the marginalized position of her people when she was a child, she records the painful dissolution of her own family and community as they are separated and struggle to survive. Campbell ends the book with the death of her great-grandmother, who was a niece of Gabriel Dumont: “My Cheechum never surrendered at Batoche; she only accepted what she considered a dishonourable truce.” It is fitting that her great-granddaughter never surrendered, either, to the numerous battles in her life but rather found promise in writing, in political activism and in renewed pride as Métis.

Highway of Tears Chapter One

By Morgan O’Neal

One can only imagine what might have been different if government authorities had responded with the same rapidity and energy to the investigation into the disappearance of young women along the so-called ‘Highway of Tears’ (Highway 16 between Prince Rupert and Prince George) as they did just last month to the complaints from irate motorists whose windshields and paintjobs were chipped by loose gravel and asphalt on the ‘Highway of Flying Rocks’ (Highway 18 to Lake Cowichan on Vancouver Island). The government immediately set up a temporary office to deal with insurance claims, sent machinery and workers to sweep the road clean, and dispatched pilot cars to monitor traffic in an effort to protect the precious wheels of two car families. The wife and kids in the Mini-van, the husband close behind in the Sport Utility Vehicle, together guzzling enough gas on one trip to the Mall to keep an entire Inuit village warm for the winter. Meanwhile, young Native women will continue to disappear because people in rural Native communities have no choice but to hitchhike from one place to the other in the absence of adequate public transportation.
It seems bureaucracy can and will respond efficiently and effectively when the mere ’things’ of material property are at issue. But when the lives of marginalized young Native women and their grieving families are at stake the response was nowhere near as quick. Since 1974, there have been at least nine unsolved deaths or disappearances of young women along Highway 16 between Prince George and Prince Rupert. Highway of Tears victims now include: Ramona Wilson, 15, Lana Derrick, 19, Roxanne Thiara, 15, Alishia Germaine, 15, Alberta Williams, 27, Delphine Nikal, 16, Nicole Hoar, 25, Tamara Chipman, 22 and Monica Ignas, 15.

Meanwhile, on November 16 of last year Paul Russell Deleno Felker was charged by Dawson Creek RCMP with the murder 16 years ago of Cindy Burk, a young First Nations woman raised in Regina. She was last seen alive in mid-July 1990 near Fort St. John hitchhiking on a lonely northern highway. While RCMP believe her case is not linked to the Highway of Tears cases, its similarities to the missing and murdered women along Highway 16 cannot be ignored by the victims’ families. Jim Braem, whose 17 year old daughter Deena Lyn was found in September 1999 close to where she was hitchhiking near Quesnel, admits the news of Felker’s charge gives him hope that the RCMP are actually working on these cold cases, but it doesn’t dull the pessimism that has taken him over.
“If I could give them a grade now, I would give them a big failing grade. We haven’t even talked to someone from the RCMP on this for probably over a year,” Braem said. “It started out really, really good. Of course they are going to tell you they’ve got the best people, but apparently they are all so good they’ve gone on to bigger and better things. They have all left the area. The last one left without us even knowing until well after the fact. We’ve probably had 15 people on it here locally, not counting all the others from all over the RCMP. We were told at one point it was the largest investigation going on in Canada. Now, I have no idea who is even on the case, I really don’t.” Braem’s daughter, like Burk, is not considered one of the Highway of Tears cases and therefore he doesn’t have the social action levers available to those between Prince George and Prince Rupert.

Even with that public platform, Highway of Tears Report implementation officer Lisa Krebs noted that many of the victims’ families are as understandably frustrated as Braem.
It is apparently in response to this frustration that on November 19, 2006 RCMP announced the new computer database that will allow them to make connections beyond the specific cases of deaths and disappearances along the so-called Highway of Tears. RCMP spokesman Sgt. John Ward said police have looked at incorporating all other outstanding homicides from Kamloops northward, but didn’t know how many there were. Eight investigators are now fully dedicated to the Highway of Tears cases. It’s been nearly 33 years since Ignas, the first person on the RCMP list, disappeared. “We have looked at incorporating other homicides from Kamloops, north, all the outstanding files we have,” said provincial RCMP spokesperson Staff Sgt. John Ward. A spokesman for the police said, “The database will make comparisons from file to file, and also to ones in (other jurisdictions) … We are recruiting specialists in each phase of this (new approach) … and we will have eight skilled investigators dedicated to the Highway of Tears cases. This is all they will do. It will be their only job.”

And last year, thanks to news reports from Prince Rupert, a name surfaced that isn’t on the list – Mary Jane Hill from Kincolith. She was 31 when her body was found in 1978 20 miles east of Prince Rupert on Hwy16. “At this time, police suspect foul play but the incident is still under investigation,” a newspaper story at the time stated. Hill’s daughter, Vicki Hill, now 29, was six months old when her mom was found. She wants police to go back and look at the case in light of the other disappearances and deaths. “We’re aware of that and we’re going to wait until the review is completed to see if it fits in,” said police spokesman of the Hill death. Three of the original nine women on the list have since been found dead and police aren’t releasing details as to the circumstances of those deaths. “There’s a reason those names are on the list. If the deaths were for some other reason, they would not be there,” said Ward.
The number of people on the list is therefore wide open to debate and conjecture. Aielah Saric-Auger isn’t on the list. She was 14 and a student at D.P. Todd Secondary School in Prince George when she went missing Feb. 2 of 2006. Her body was found east of Prince George. While not on the RCMP list, the teen is on a list released in June as part of a report prepared by organizers of the Symposium. Also on the symposium list but not on the RCMP one is Cecilia Anne Nikal from the Smithers area. She disappeared in 1989 with the symposium report indicating she was last seen in Smithers. RCMP say she was reported missing in Vancouver.

Some reports have pegged the number of missing at as high as 33, but there has never been a roster of names and circumstances attached to that figure. Ward said people should not get the impression RCMP investigators are focusing all of their resources on their missing list. All of those on the list are from the area between Prince Rupert and Prince George, the stretch of Hwy16 that connects them. That also creates the impression the RCMP is limiting the scope of their investigation, said Ward. “We’re not excluding a whole bunch of other things,” said Ward of work done by investigators.

This news came well after the 2005 Highway of Tears Symposium in Prince George issued a report aiming to prevent more murders and disappearances along this infamous highway. The report included several recommendations to try to cut down on “poverty-related travel” by young aboriginal women. Its suggestions included a call for the RCMP to officially investigate whether as many as 33 people may have gone missing along the 724-kilometre highway between Prince George and Prince Rupert. The report clearly stated that poverty and a lack of opportunities make young aboriginal women more vulnerable, and more prone to hitchhiking.

If the recommendations in the Highway of Tears report turn into actions, these would result in a new shuttle-bus transport service between communities; an expansion of Greyhound’s “free ride” program for people who can’t afford to pay; for police and Greyhound bus drivers to pick up any young women hitchhiking between Prince George and Prince Rupert; for government employees who drive the highway as part of their work to alert authorities about female hitchhikers, and that a network of safe houses be established. We will have to wait and see.
In a first step toward practical application, more than 150 people attended a forum in Smithers, many of them family and friends of the missing or murdered women, to watch the film documentary “Highway of Tears” by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy. International audiences have since met the faces crying the highway of tears. “The fact the first documentary on the Highway of Tears was done by a Pakistani Canadian from Toronto who only moved from New York in 2005 is quite appalling,” she told the Prince George Citizen at the time. “It has been covered extensively in print, which is where I got the story, but I scanned the film coverage of it and it has not been done.” Chinoy brought a camera crew to the B.C. Central Interior and began talking to families of the many victims of the rural highway between Prince George and Prince Rupert. She also spoke to police.

Rather than asking the question ‘who is to blame for these monstrous things?’ the film instead asks ‘who are these girls and their families?’ “I didn’t actually know anything about the subject before I went in to do it,” she said. “Because I was neither aboriginal nor Caucasian I didn’t have any prejudices about the story before I arrived there. I wasn’t tainted with common rhetoric. “Many people here in London have absolutely no idea there is even such a thing as an aboriginal Canadian,” she added. “But I wanted the families to be the focus. My film is not overtly political. I wanted to bring these girls back to life, to some extent, and portray the feelings of the families who have to wonder every day, is my child right there in that ditch? And everyone they pass on the street: is this the person who murdered my little girl?”

According to the Citizen, it became clear to Chinoy how close to the surface racism is in the hearts of everyday local people. She was asked on more than one occasion why she thought the missing and murdered girls were worth bothering a film crew about? She heard that most victims were hitchhiking prostitutes and drug addicts so they were asking for a violent death. “Would they say the same thing if 10 or 12 local white girls were raped or murdered or disappeared on the same road?,” she said. “That is the question that needs to be put to Canadian audiences. It broke my heart to learn that a country upheld by the rest of the world as a model for human rights does that to its own citizens. For the most part I don’t see Canadians as racists, I do believe most Canadians believe in the ideals of Canadian culture that project out to the international community, but that is why I felt even more shocked by this treatment of aboriginal people and women in particular.”

Lucy Glaim, a youth justice worker for the Wet’sewet’en Unlocking Aboriginal Justice program based in Smithers, was a primary organizer of the forum at which the film was viewed. Her sister Delphine Nikal and cousin Cecilia Nikal are both among the missing. “There were a lot of suggestions about how to breathe life into the recommendations that came out of the Highway of Tears symposium last spring in Prince George,” Glaim said. According to Lisa Krebs, the co-ordinator recently hired to implement the recommendations, four discussion areas were keyed on: prevention; emergency planning and team response; victims’ family counseling and support, and community development.

The action plan will try to use existing tools as much as possible. For example, Glaim noted that the murder of Ramona Wilson in 1994 resulted in a transit bus being established in Smithers that ran for about a year to minimize the need for young girls (or anyone) to expose themselves to the risks of hitchhiking. It eventually ran out of funding, but Glaim believes many useful lessons came out of that endeavour, and the bus could be reactivated for the Bulkley Valley at least. She pointed out another example: posters that one local regional district made to warn the public against hitchhiking. Those posters could be reproduced in enough quantities that the whole highway could be covered by the same message. “There was an expressed need from the victims’ families for counselling,” Glaim said. “They spoke about unhealthy coping skills resulting in drug and alcohol abuse, even some family members cutting themselves off from other family members, living in denial, that roller-coaster of emotions. (These cases) affect not only the victims and the victims’ immediate families, but now it is affecting the grandchildren, and the whole community.” Other meetings were to be held in affected Highway of Tears communities to develop the action plan around a larger pool of grassroots input.
At least in Western Canada, the ongoing investigations are linked to yet another horror story unfolding in and around Edmonton where (many people conclude) another serial killer is at work targeting young women often of Native origin and sometimes involved in the sex trade in the provincial capitol. Coincidentally, Edmonton is connected to Prince George as the other end of the same infamous Highway down which far too many young women were last seen hitchhiking before they vanished into thin air. RCMP have offered a $100,000 reward and released a profile that suggests the killer or killers in the Highway of Tears murders drive a truck or SUV that is cleaned at unusual hours, may be a hunter, fisherman or camper, is comfortable driving on country roads and is likely connected to towns south of Edmonton.

What is going on here? How can so many young women just drop off the face of the earth? What sort of discrimination is at work that determines on the basis of race and economic status what a human life is worth? In these cases it is all too obvious that before full-scale police resources were applied to the investigations, far too much time had gone by. Contrast this time lag with the instantaneous response to the fact that the automobiles of middle class white people were being damaged by flying asphalt on Highway 18 to Lake Cowichan on Vancouver Island. The government sprang into action and immediately set up a temporary insurance claims office and swept the road clean, dispatching pilot cars to monitor traffic. The problem was front page news for a few days. Perhaps police should scan for connections between SUV insurance claims and gas receipts along Highway 16.

Supreme Court recognizes treaty right to hunt at night

By Lloyd Dolha

At a press conference just before Christmas, representatives of the Tsartlip First Nation and the Union of BC Indian Chiefs welcomed a majority ruling by the Supreme Court of Canada which upheld a Tsartlip treaty right to hunt at night, as set out in one of the pre-confederation Douglas treaties.

“The evidence in this case showed that the Tsartlip people are a people who harvest many resources at night,” said lawyer Ardith Walkem, legal counsel to the Tsartlip First Nation. “Night hunting and harvesting resources at night is a really important part of who the Tsartlip people are.”

The ruling of the Supreme Court is the first time a Canadian court has acknowledged that the provisions of the North Sannich Treaty of 1852, are paramount over provincial laws of general application which ban the practice in the interest of public safety.
Ivan Wayne Morris, one of the two Tsartlip hunters charged with night hunting which gave rise to the Supreme Court ruling, said the decision is a victory for future generations of their people.
“These rights are supposed to protected for me and our people, as well as our children and our grandchildren,” said Morris. “It’s not a case for Ivan Wayne Morris or Carl Wilson. It’s for our people. It’s for the right. That’s what we were looking for and today is a victory for all of us in the sense that our rights are now protected.”

The recognition of the right has been over ten years in the making since Morris and Wilson were charged with night hunting with the aid of an illuminating device on November 28, 1996 within their traditional territory on Vancouver Island.
The pair were set up in a sting operation by conservation officers after members of a local rod and gun club complained of the practice in the interests of public safety.

Over the course of ten years, up through every court in the judicial system, judges recognized the legitimacy of the right to hunt as formerly specified by the treaty (the Tsartlip historically used pitch torches and lamps), but upheld charges in the interest of public safety.

Co-counsel Louise Mandell noted the decision affirmed the ancient treaty relationship between the Crown and First Nations and allows the future of the province to arise from an acknowledged past. Mandell said the decision sends a clear message to Victoria that the province can no longer pass laws and wrap themselves in government policy without understanding the harvesting right and ensuring its proper implementation.

UBCIC president Chief Stewart Phillip said the Supreme Court recognized the intent of the Douglas treaty to protect and preserve the Tsartlip peoples’ way of life.
“There is a need in this country and province to shift the attitude and mindset of government legislators to understand what the Supreme Court is saying, time and time again, needs to be translated into a significant transformation of existing legislation and policies that do impact blatantly on our aboriginal rights and title.”

In rendering their decision, the majority concluded the blanket ban on night hunting is not necessarily dangerous.
“British Columbia is a very large province, and it cannot plausibly be said that a night hunt with illumination is unsafe everywhere and in all circumstances, even within the treaty area at issue in this case. … We believe that it would be possible to identify uninhabited areas where hunting at night would not jeopardize safety,” wrote the majority.

What is ironic about the decision is that the number one concern of public safety was defeated by the method in which the sting operation was conducted in the first place. As explained by Mandell, the very fact that the conservation officers set their trap in a remote area, with public safety in mind, demonstrated the area could be used for night hunting.

“In other words, the province’s own method of trying to entrap the hunters was itself proof that there could be safe hunting at night in this location,” said Mandell. She explained further that the treaty right to hunt at night is specified as taking place only on unoccupied lands, so there’s already a safety component build into the treaty itself.

Morris said he didn’t expect the general public to understand their practice of night hunting.

He said his elders told him, “We moved the days.”
Still, people like Wilf Pfleiderer, president of the BC Wildlife Federation (BCWF) remain unconvinced.

“We need to sit down with the First Nations leadership and determine how we can deal with the conflict between the treaty right of the Tsartlip and the public’s right to use Crown land safely,” he said.

He said the First Nation’s right to harvest for cultural, ceremonial and sustenance needs is respected by the federation, but the “use of modern technology carries with it the accountability to abide by the common sense rules and penalties for its misuse that must be applicable to everyone.”

He said the Supreme Court ruling “defies common sense.”
“We must realize the public safety risk this has created,” said Pfeiderer. “The recognized safety issues and conservation concerns have evolved regulations that do not support night hunting in light of the evolution of the equipment used for hunting and the increased loss of animals through wounding it has created.”

Traditional Ceremony To Apologize

By Jackie Humber

Chief Henry Robertson (Ga-ba-baawk) from Kemano/Kitlope is an acclaimed carver and artist.
Twelve years ago, he honoured Sir William MacDonald Elementary School with a 12-foot wide cedar eagle carving that he had created. The carving was set above the main entranceway of the school. This past August a movie crew requested the removal of the eagle carving for a movie shoot. Unaware that this was a dishonour to Chief Robertson, school Principal, Brian Anderson allowed the carving to be removed. Since being informed of his error, Anderson arranged a ceremony on Dec.1st to re-place the eagle carving back above the entranceway and to apologize to Chief Robertson. The student body along with local MLA Libby Davies, members from the Squamish Nation and members of neighboring nations joined together outside the school to witness the carving being hoisted back into place. Chief Ian Campbell of the Squamish Nation addressed the crowd in his language and then in English. “When Ga-ba-baawk (Chief Robertson) did this beautiful carving of this eagle it was blessed by my late uncle, Simon Baker, 12 years ago who did the same work we are doing today. Honouring the beautiful spirit of this eagle that will help protect our children from any harm,” said Chief Campbell. He then spoke to the crowd about the significance of the eagle. “The eagles are very special as they gather along our rivers every year, this time of year. There are thousands of them up and down our rivers. So today we here to celebrate,” said Chief Campbell. Chief Robertson also believes in honouring the eagle because it showed the people that the salmon is good to eat.

As the eagle carving was beginning to be hoisted back into place, everyone looked skyward as an eagle flew gently by. Chief Robertson had earlier looked up as if waiting for the eagle to appear. “ It gave me a good feeling when the eagle flew by,” he said. “He came by to say hello”. As the eagle carving was secured atop of the school entranceway, Vern Bolton of the Kitlope Nation spoke about the protocol of the young native children. The crowd became silent as his voice carried across the gathering. “ When someone is speaking you must listen. Your responsibility my dear little ones is to listen,” said Bolton. The rest of the celebration continued inside the school auditorium with more drumming, dancing and singing. A feast of salmon, rice and sandwiches was served to all. Principal Anderson addressed Chief Robertson and all in attendance. “ In summer I made a mistake. I told a movie crew they could take the eagle carving down. Then Derek Wilson and Vern helped me learn what that meant. Today I am able to apologize for this insult I have caused. This is my opportunity to apologize to Ga-ba-baawk. I’ve learnt so much about what is the right way. I want to say thank you to Chief Robertson and his family. So thank you very much,” said Anderson.

The celebration concluded with more drumming, dancing and singing. Chief Robertson said he was pleased that the carving had been put back in place. “ It shouldn’t have been taken down in the first place,” he answered.

Alberta First Nations Lead Indian Gaming Expansion

By Clint Buehler

Over the past several years, Indian casinos in the United States have become a $15 to $20 billion source of revenue that, in addition to providing employment opportunities for their members, have enabled First Nations to amass the financial resources to diversify their investments and provide a broader and more secure capital base.

That situation may well become a steadily broadening reality in Canada, and Alberta may well be at the new vanguard of that movement.

Alberta’s first First Nations casino, the $182 million River Cree Casino and Resort on the Enoch reserve on the western outskirts of Edmonton opened late last year. Several more are under construction or in the final stages of approval, including the Tsuu T’ina on the southwestern outskirts of Calgary , Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation northwest of Edmonton, Cold Lake northeast of Edmonton, Stoney Nakoda west of Calgary and the Samson and Louis Bull/Montana First Nations at Hobbema.

The Samson Cree Nation at Hobbema is actively pursuing the opportunities Indian Gaming affords by acquiring a share—in partnership with the Rama Mnjikaning First Nation of Rama, Ontario and the Ktunaxa Nation of Cranbrook, B.C. (the original developers)—of the St. Eugene Resort at Kootenay, B.C.
Of course the Rama Casino on the Rama Reserve , the only First Nations-owned casino in Ontario, has been operating successfully since 1997. Profits are distributed among the 132 First Nations throughout Ontario. Ontario also has the Golden Eagle Charity Casino at Kenora and the Blue Heron Charity Casino at Port Parry.

In Manitoba there are three First Nations casinos: the Brokenhead Ojibway Nations’s South Beach Casino at Scanterbury, 30 minutes north of Winnipeg; the Anesesak Casino north pof The Pas owned by a consortium of six First Nations: Chemawawawin Cree Nation, Grand Rapids First Nation, Mosakahiken Cree Nation, Opaskawayak Cree Nation, Wuskwi Sipihk First Nation, Sapotiwayeyak Cree Nation and Swampy Cree Tribal Council, and the Roseau River First Nation Community Hall operated by the Roseau River Anishinabe First Nation.

But until now, Saskatchewan has been at the forefront of Indian
gaming in Canada.

On June 10, 1995, the FSIN First Nation Gaming Act became a reality and a management body was created to develop, conduct, manage and operate on-reserve casinos. That entity was the Saskatchewan Indian Gaming Authority (SIGA). It was incorporated on January 11, 1996, as a non-profit organization.
Shortly after its creation, SIGA opened the doors to four First Nations casinos in Saskatchewan in 1996: Gold Eagle Casino, North Battleford; Northern Lights Casino, Prince Albert; Bear Claw Casino, White Bear First Nation, and Painted Hand Casino, Yorkton. At least two more Saskatchewan First Nations casinos are on the drawing board.

SIGA is responsible for the daily management and operation of accounting and auditing systems, the conduct of casino activities, the procurement and maintenance of gaming equipment and the casino’s game delivery, in addition to security and surveillance.
Profits generated from SIGA’s operations are distributed to the First Nations Trust (37.5%), which is distributed to Saskatchewan First Nations; the Provincial Government’s general revenue fund (37.5%) and Community Development Corporation (25%).

SIGA’s gaming operations are a revenue source for the Provincial Treasury, Saskatchewan’s First Nations and for Community Development Corporations situated in four casino locations. The CDC’s distribute this money to charitable and not-for-profit community organizations. SIGA is working to maximize profitability in a socially responsible manner, through transparency and accountability.

Alberta First Nations are positioned to challenge Saskatchewan’s dominance.

The Alberta situation highlights a number of issues.
Several Alberta gambling researchers have voiced concerns that , while they will likely still be profitable, casinos located on rural reserves with smaller populations to draw on may be more likely to depend on First Nations members for support and thus be a greater threat of creating gambling addiction and other social problems.

First Nations casinos with larger populations to draw on such as the River Cree Resort and Casino on Edmonton’s outskirts, the Tsuu T’ina Casino on Calgary’s outskirts (and even the Stoney Nakoda casino at Morley, on busy Highway 1 between Calgary and Banff) are projected to not only be more profitable, but to have less negative impact on the populations of those First Nations.

One proposed solution for rural First Nations is to buy casino sites in major centres and have that land designated as an urban reserve, giving First Nations employees of those casinos the same exemption from taxation that they have on any other reserve land. While that approach was proposed in Manitoba and soundly defeated several years ago, the continuing and expanding success of First Nations casinos in both the United States and Canada, and the burgeoning employment and financial benefits they are providing, may have reduced that opposition.

The potential benefits of these casinos is tempered by concerns that they may endanger First Nations members tempted by the ready access to gambling and alcohol, and may increase drug trafficking and crime on these reserves.
This concern has led to individual and organized objections to the development of First Nations casinos. In the case of objections to the Tsuu T’ina casino, that casino had to seek a court ruling to overcome those objections and proceed with the development.

Dr. Yale Belanger, with the Department of Naïve American Studies at the University of Lethbridge, considers these and other issues in his about-to-be published book, “Aboriginal Gaming in Canada: An Overview of the Issues Affecting an Industry in its Infancy”—partly funded through a research grant from the Alberta Gaming Research Institute.

According to the Institute’s newsletter, Belanger believes that the relevant academic literature is “missing an overview of the evolution of Aboriginal gaming in Canada and . . . [his book] could assist researchers interested in entering the field by providing them with a solid foundation of ideas, themes, trends and a review of the existing literature.”

The newsletter notes that it is obviously too early to tell whether Aboriginal casino gaming will be the economic panacea that ultimately generates the prosperity that in turn leads to, and perhaps reflects, stronger self-government.
Regardless of the outcome of individual casino projects, Belanger hopes that First Nations leaders in Canada will consider the reality that self-government means dealing with both the good and the bad.

“When looking to casino gaming for an economic boost,” Belanger says, “they may have to take into consideration issues like problem gambling that wouldn’t arise when constructing a large mall or entertainment centre, for instance.”
He cautions that a failed experience could further psychologically scar the very people who are seeking new economic initiatives to help their communities improve.

Carey Price comes home with a Gold Medal

By Frank Larue

On January fifth, Canada won the world junior hockey championship, its first in Europe in a decade. The Canadian juniors won their third straight gold medal with a 4-2 win overRussia and without the blessed Sidney Crosby in the lineup,even though he was eligible. Instead,the team triumphed with a stellar defensive squad anchored by defencemen Luc Bourdon and Marc Staal and goaltender, Carey Price.

In the final minutes of the third period, the Russians had a two man advantage but Price shut the door with spectacular saves as he had done throughout the tournament. ’’He was the difference in this game and in most of the games we’ve played,’’ Marc Staal told TSN. And he wasn’t alone in praising his goalie. Carey was named MVP and top goaltender of the tournament.’’ I couldn’t have done it without my teammates,’’ Carey said. ‘’Playing behind a team like that makes my job easy. We had a lot of first round picks and everyone is drafted.’’

Carey saves

Carey Price grew up in Anahim Lake where his mother Lynda is the chief of the Ulkatcho band. His father Jerry, a former goaltender, was drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers but due to knee injuries never went beyond the minor leagues. ‘’His knowledge was such a big help for me,‘’ Carey told reporters in Sweden. ‘’He knows the ups and downs of hockey and he knows how to deal with it. He’s been through everything I’m going through.’’

The nineteen year old, six foot two, 215 pound goaltender is a draft pick of the Montreal Canadians and has been compared to New Jersey’s Marty Brodeur for his puck handling ability and to Roberto Luongo for his athleticism and uncanny knack for stopping pucks when players in front of him are blocking his view. Canadian head coach Craig Hartsburg said of Price: ‘’He handles the puck well and I think that’s an advantage on the big ice, he is helping us handle the puck below the goal line. He looks big in net and we feel very confident in him.’’

Carey is in his fourth season with the Tri-City Americans where he has become a fan favorite and is well respected by his teammates.

‘’He’s a great goalie,’’ Leland Irving his partner in net states, ‘’and it really showed in the tournament how good he is; not only winning gold but all the other hardware. It’s unbelievable what he has accomplished.‘’

The road to the gold medal wasn’t paved with gold, though. Carey, like Jonathan Chee Choo who scored 56 goals for San Jose in 2006,had many difficulties to overcome to make his dream come true.

He began playing minor hockey at age 10, when the closest teams were in Williams Lake. He and his father Jerry drove 640 kilometres round trip three times a week for practices and games until Jerry bought a small airplane, a four seater Piper Cherokee ‘’It was more a lawnmower with wings.’’

Jerry, who finally moved his family to Williams Lake, remembers the time spent with his son while he was growing up to be a hockey player. ’’The whole time, flying or driving, was a special time because we got to spend a lot of time together. Driving home late at night, we’d listen to hockey games because out in the boonies we could get radio stations from everywhere late at night in the winter. He liked to play and I wanted to give him the chance to play if that’s what he wanted to do because I know how important hockey was to me in my life.’’

Carey Price still has a few hurdles to jump before he puts on a Montreal Canadians sweater. But noone who watched him perform in Sweden, including Canadians manager Bob Gainey, has any doubt that he will join the team and become one of the premier goalies in professional hockey. The accolades are accumulating and Carey still holds on to his original dream. ‘’Play in the NHL. That’s my dream.’’

Bee in the Bonnet: EAST vs. WEST

By B.H. Bates

We’re proud, we’re loud and we’re holding our ground! Boom, boom, boom, bang your drums.” Natives are a proud race of people, who’ve proved to mankind, that it is possible to live in harmony with nature. We cared for the land, so that in turn, it would nurture and sustain us for generations to come …. right?

Wrong! Today, it’s a whole new ball game, from the one our ancestors used to play. Today, our happy hunting grounds are much smaller, thus not as carefree. Many moons ago all it took for ol’ Chief Runs With Deer, to be one happy Injun; was a tepee over his head, a hot campfire at his side and a warm beaver under him.

Over the millenniums, Natives have faced extinction from natural forces such as ice ages and drought to imported diseases, rifles and even the Saturday afternoon matinees that proclaimed: “The only good Injun, is a dead Injun!” We’re nothing, if not adaptable. And that’s what we have to do, if Natives are to see another millennium.

Given the small reservations that we’re forced into accepting, we must make the best of the situation. Hunting deer for a living just isn’t an option anymore, there are only so many trees to log and with beef prices at an all time low, we can only play ‘Cowboy Indians’ for a short amount of time before the land has to support more than those cow-pie factories.

Natives must look at other viable uses for existing lands and its limited amount of resources. Two old sayings come to mind; “Buy land, young man, because they ain’t making it anymore.” And the real-estate slogan: “The three most important things about any property is, location, location, location!” Now for the good news, my brothers and sisters – Natives have both of these things!

Most of the lands owned by Natives are not being used to their full potential. And a lot of reservations are close to cities and towns that are starving for places to erect everything from another strip-mall to another strip-joint. We are now lucky enough to live in a day and age where we are better educated and located in a market that puts the Native in the drivers seat. With a little vision and organization, I could see a national chain of Native owned and operated gas stations, restaurants, camp-sites, hotels, casinos, golf courses, dude ranches … and of course strip-malls and strip-joints. The only thing that I can see, that’s standing in our way, is ourselves. And by that, I mean, is our tendency to fight among ourselves, all the back-stabbing and our lack of unity from one reservation to another! Our Chiefs have to ‘grow-up’ and act like a big mean-ass Mother: spank the spoiled and encourage the entrepreneur.

Another subject I’d like to direct at Chiefs and the people who vote for them is ‘nepotism and favoritism.’ On most reservations, there are dominant clans (or groups), who control the power over others who may be better qualified. I personally have been in just such a situation and that’s why I looked for opportunities outside of the Rez. I call it reservation brain drain. Look at it this way – If you have someone on your reservation who can hit a running deer with an arrow every damn time and you pick some cross-eyed twit to take the shot instead – don’t be surprised when the tribe goes hungry.

Natives must strike a balance between communism and capitalism. If it’s all for one, then we risk a class warpath and, on the other hand, if Native businesspeople aren’t allowed to keep the bears share: then why work your bear-ass off, if some lazy-assed Rez boy would be entitled to an equal and unfair share?

Statistically speaking, in any given group of people, there will be a certain amount of go-getters, nine to five-ers and the ones who think: ‘the world owes me a living.’ Every group that is except the Native race – sadly, there are far more people with their hands out, begging for help up the ladder of life. There are far too many Native ‘cry-babies’ sitting around on couches and popping out more crying babies than they can support. And they all have one thing in common; some lame-assed excuse why they can’t work!

Let’s imagine that the ‘East Indians’ owned Native reservations? Let’s say they had the non-taxable lands, government grants and access to free educations? Ask yourself, as a Native: “Do you think that they would be more productive (given these advantages) than we’ve been? Be an honest Injun!”

THE END

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

Carrier beauty to compete for Miss Universe Canada

By Lloyd Dolha

Shannon Baker, a Carrier Dene from the Stellat’en First Nation near Fraser Lake is one of 56 finalists to compete for the title of Miss Universe Canada. The stunning 5’9‘ beauty will travel to Montreal at the end of February to compete in the 2007 pageant which will take place on March 5th at the Casino de Montreal. “It feels wonderful. I’m really happy to compete in this event,” said the twenty-three year old.

The Vancouver actor who also manages her own successful modeling career with her twin sister Shauna, has been seen in a number of television shows, films and videos. Recently, she and Shauna made a celebrity guest appearance on “The Tyra Banks Show” and the pair also appeared in a recent episode of “Smallville.” Shannon has also had roles in films such as “Sharp as Marbles,” “Night of Removal,” “Time after Place,” and “Family Portraits” She has also appeared in several music videos and has been featured in Vancouver Magazine and Canadian Living. Her most recent project is a calender called BT Girls (Beautiful and Talented) featuring Native American women who are role models for their people. The calender is due out in 2008.
In her bid for Miss Universe Canada Shannon is being sponsored by Selkin Logging Ltd, of Fraser Lake and the Penticton Indian Band. A recent fundraiser in Penticton raised an additional $15,000 and in her home community of Stellat’en, another $3,000 was raised. The new Miss Universe Canada will go on to compete for the title of Miss Universe in the United States. The exact date and location of that event will be announced in late spring or early summer.

The Miss Universe Canada pageant was created in 2003, with the first winner of the new Canadian competition being Leanne Marie Cecile, who finished in the top fifteen in Miss Universe 2002. Three of the past four Miss Universe Canada winners have placed in the finals of Miss Universe The winner of the Canadian pageant in 2005, Ms.Natalie Glebova, went on to win the title of Miss Universe.

Shannon Baker, who is also pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree and recently completed her third year at Langara College, clearly takes her celebrity seriously. “I believe as a First Nations person, I have a responsibility of continuing to be a good role model,” said Shannon. “I was raised knowing my First Nations values and I believe with hard work and sacrifice, you can be anything you want in life.”

Anyone wishing to assist in Shannon Baker’s bid for Miss Universe Canada can contact her at shannon@thebakertwins.com

John Turvey: Downtown Eastside Crusader Dies

By Staff Writers

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Obituary: Chief of Chiefs Dies at 91

By Staff Writers

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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