Posts By: First Nations Drum

Esquao Awards Honour Alberta Aboriginal Women

By Clint Buehler

EDMONTON – Esquao Awards “honouring the strength and beauty of all Aboriginal women” was presented to 22 deserving recipients at an impressive gala evening here May 12th.

The awards were created by the Institute for the Advancement of Aboriginal Women (IAAW) to “recognize the outstanding work and recognition of women from Aboriginal communities in helping women of all ages.”

Why “Esquao?”

“From the colonists’ inability to pronounce the word ‘esquao,’ the word ‘squaw’ came to be a derogatory term,” says IAAW founder and president Muriel Stanley-Venne. “The IAAW is claiming back the term for all Aboriginal women to stand proud when we hear Esquao applied to us.”

Recipients of the award were selected by their own communities.
More than 350 people from business, government and the Aboriginal community attended the glamorous $150-a-plate event, the IAAW’s only fundraiser used for shortfalls in the institute’s advocacy work and administration, “keeping good staff doing good things,” says Stanley-Venne.

The honour guard for the grand entry was composed of Aboriginal women serving in the RCMP, Calgary and Edmonton police services, the Blood Tribal Police and the Ontario Provincial Police.
Masters of Ceremonies for the event were Alberta Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Minister Pearl Calahasen, herself Metis and a former recipient of both the Esquao Award and the National Aboriginal Achievement Award, among many honors, and Dave Tuccaro, a member of the Mikisew Cree First Nation and the President and CEO of eight successful companies.

Special guests of honour at the gala were Dr. Colleen Klein, IAAW patron, who is Metis, and her husband, Alberta Premier Ralph Klein who, referring to the gala’s theme, “Angels Among Us,” said he has been blessed to have an angel in his life: “My wife, Colleen.”

The premier said the recipients of this award “can be very proud of the positive contributions they have made to improve the quality of life in their local communities and in Alberta as a whole. You are an inspiration to us all and you truly are the ‘Angels Among Us.'”

That angels theme was underscored with the presentation of 16 young girls to Dr. Klein and the audience, this year’s “little angels.”
Edmonton Mayor Stephen Mandel reminded the “little angels” that there were many accomplished women in the room, “women who will gladly share their experiences with you. You are the leaders of tomorrow and we’re all very proud of you.”

“The women being honoured tonight are most deserving of this prestigious award. Through their many impressive accomplishments they stand out as role models for all women.”

Noting that this was the 11th annual awards gala, Stanley-Venne asked the rhetorical question: “Have we made a difference? We have seen positive change in our community as a result of this event and complimentary events happening. One recipient told me that since she received her Esquao Award, the mayor acknowledges her by shaking her hand with a welcoming smile’ The daughter of an elderly recipient said this is the only award that her mom has received despite a long successful career where she overcame almost insurmountable odds.

“Many traditionalists say Aboriginal women are the key to reclaiming and healing our communities. They give us life, nurture us, are always there, and most importantly, they have gifts to share. Their voice, truly listened to, will make a difference to their community and to all of us.

The prestigious Circle of Honour Award went to Chief Rose Laboucan, B.Ed., M.Ed.,, the first woman chief elected by the Driftpile First Nation, and a strong advocate for youth and elders on issues of education, health and community development. She serves on the Assembly of First Nations Education Committee and is their representative for Human Resources and Development. She is also an active member of the Treaty 8 Education Commission and Health Authority.

Other recipients were:
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT
Rose Findlay (Grande Cache) exemplifies the true meaning of the traditional Aboriginal woman. She has been an exceptional educator and a blessing to all who have been fortunate to cross her path. She truly illustrates a positive reflection of the Metis identity and unselfishly lives her life with great pride, dignity and kindness.

Yvonne Sound (Kinuso) is an active member of the Lesser Slave Lake Indian Regional Council and the Swan River First Nation, working and volunteering at many community events. Her loyalty and caring for people has resulted in positive changes in her community. She prepares many meals for local community gatherings, organizes fund-raising events for the seniors and enjoys curling.

Flora Willier (Enilda) is still active at the age of 83 in her community of Sucker Creek. She is a historian of the people, instrumental in developing the first Child Welfare Board for Aboriginal people in Slave Lake. At four, she was sent to the mission to avoid the flu, which claimed five of eight siblings. She maintains her independence and has a positive outlook on life.

BUSINESS
Margaret MacDonald (Fort McMurray) is an active member in the community of Fort McKay and the larger Wood Buffalo Region, where she has lived all her life. She has been instrumental in community development in Fort McKay by supporting local and regional organizations, events and charities. In 1998 she started Fort McKay Expediting & Labourers Inc. with four employees. Today she employs 40 staff.

EDUCATION
Evelyn Brertton (Lamont) is not only modest, but self-assured and confident. She leads by example and has an extensive education portfolio. One of her many attributes is her dedication to the role of women in the Aboriginal culture. She is currently the manager of post secondary studies for Saddle Lake Reserve.

Claudine Cardinal (St. Paul) is a determined and committed individual who has made great strides in the face of adversity. Despite a tragic family loss while pursuing her post-secondary education, she obtained her Bachelor of Education degree. She now teaches at the Kihew Asiniy Education Centre in Saddle Lake.

Marion Dick (Ponoka) exemplifies genuine caring and dedication to her profession in her role as an educator. She provides a positive and creative atmosphere and ensures that all students are treated as individuals and strive to achieve their full potential. She began her teaching career at Driftpile Elementary School where she earned the title of at learning classroom.’ She now teaches Grade 2 in Ponoka.

CULTURE
Taz Johnson-McGillis (Edmonton) has worked in the health and wellness field for fifteen years and is committed to help people make healthier choices for positive change. She is a gifted woman who loves children, singing, writing and promoting Aboriginal culture and traditions. She has been a positive role model and is an inspiration to all.

SOCIAL SERVICES & ADVOCACY
Sophie Cardinal (Slave Lake) is transparent in her dedication to Native culture as an active member of boards and committees in the Slave Lake community. She has been called upon as a Cree interpreter and her respect and caring for Elders has been a priority in her life. She is currently employed by Alberta Child and Family Services and has been a strong advocate on diabetes.

Sandra Flamond (Cold Lake) has focused on her commitment to women and children for more than two decades. Her dedication and loyalty to the community is exemplified by her role with the Dr. Margaret Savage Crisis Centre in Cold Lake where she has worked for the past 19 years. She has shown phenomenal strength to overcome personal obstacles, including her fight against cancer.

Florence Gaucher (St. Albert) has, over the past three decades, been a strong advocate for Metis children, particularly those who have been less fortunate. In her role as a social worker, she ensures that children in the welfare system stay connected to Metis families, community and culture.

Linda Manuel (Edmonton) is a lyal and dedicated employee of the Womens’s Emergency Accommodation Centre of Edmonton, working for more than 25 years as an advocate for homeless women. She works closely with other agencies and government departments to ensure the women receive the services they require. She instantly makes women feel welcome, which is so important in her field.

Peggy McGillis (Fishing Lake) has been a social worker on the Fishing Lake Metis Settlement for the past decade. She returned to school when her youngest child was eight. As a result, she has inspired Aboriginal women in her community to pursue more education.

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
Marcella Cunningham ((Driftpile) has consistently exhibited strong work ethics and a positive lifestyle that has proven her true commitment to First Nations people. She recognizes that children are the future, and has played a strong role in child care in the Swan River First Nation, ensuring that the children receive the highest standard of care. Her focus is on the future of the children.

Audrey Franklin (Ardmore) has dedicated the last two decades of her life to the people of the Fishing Lake Metis Settlement. With courage and conviction she is there to all who find themselves in life’s toughest moments. From seniors with access barriers to those with addictions or requiring spiritual healing, she is always available to help with her respect, love and kindness.

Rachelle McDonald Grande Cache) is known for moving mountains in the Grande Cache area in her work with Aboriginal children and families. Her motivation and compassion have led to programs such as Job Corps, Aboriginal Health Liaison, Kookum’s House and a social housing initiative in her community.

Marlene Arcand (Morinville) is a dedicated mother of eight who has perfected multitasking. She has successfully completed the Health Services Administration Program and has excelled in this field over her career. Her soft spot is children with disabilities, and she is a tireless advocate of their cause. She is currently the Director of Health Services for the Alexander First Nation and continually assist those in need, young and old.

JUSTICE
Roxanne DavisLethbridge) has made contributions to her culture that deserve to be celebrated. Her dedication to her role in the law enforcement profession over the past two decades has been challenging, but she has continually risen to the occasion. She is only one of the few female officers who has been honoured with thev rank of Deputy Chief for the Blood Tribe police force She continues to be a strong advocate of peace in the Native community and across the nation.

Lillian Shirt (High Prairie) is a probation officer who is known for being tough but fair, and holding her clients to a high standard of behavior. She is also a highly respected volunteer who can be found flipping pancakes or hauling boxes for the annual radio auction. In 2005 she was recognized for 25 years of service with the Alberta Solicitor General department.|

LEADERSHIP
Eve McMillian (Calgary), whose strong belief in addictions treatment helped calm initial community apprehension and build government relationships for the development of the Native Addictions Services Residential and Administrative Facility in 2002. She brings fairness, understanding, tenacity and hope to her personal and professional life.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Vie Hunter (Fort McMurray) excels at balancing family commitments, work and community service, which has led to her completion of a systems engineering program. Her strong interpersonal skills and enthusiasm are an asset in her current position as a systems analyst. She is committed to helping others find new and better ways to accomplish tasks through the use of technology and hopes to teach in the future.

Six Nations Iroquois Protect Haldimand Grant

By Danny Beaton, Turtle Clan Mohawk Nation

In a matter of one hour 16 peaceful native protestors turned into an angry crowd of over 1,000 community members, many young men wearing bandanas over their faces and carrying baseball bats to defend themselves against aggressive Ontario Provincial Police.

Excessive force was used against the peaceful Native protestors. Many were pepper sprayed and shot with tazer guns.

On the morning of Thursday, April 20, 2006, Ontario Provincial Police raided a peaceful protest camp by Native people of the Six Nations Iroquois, Haudenosaunee outside of Brantford, Ontario. Still sleeping in their tents, the assault on the outnumbered 16 Native protestors by police caused a majority of Six Nations, Iroquois Haudenosaunee people to unite and come to the defense of the protestors.

Mothers, fathers, teenagers and grand-parents who were available put down their daily activities at home and at work, and showed up in anger over the arrest of their own. Together they denounced the use of force by police. Community trucks brought loads of gravel, which was dumped on the road where the protest site was located; by the town of Caledonia just outside of the Six Nations Reserve, closing down Highway 6.

Native protestors have been occupying a small housing development on the edge of Caledonia. The territory in dispute was bought by a developer who was building houses for profit. Many Six Nations people felt the land was taken illegally.

The main organizer of the protest, Janie Jamieson, is a spokeswoman for the Hereditary Chiefs of the Six Nations, Iroquois Haudenosaunee. Last October Janie was trying to come up with a way to commemmorate the 221st anniversary of the famous Haldimand Grant.

The Haldimand Grant was 385,000 hectares of the best land in Ontario given to the Six Nations, Iroquois Haudenausawnee for helping the British army during battles against the French in the 1760s and the American Revolution in 1776.

Janie saw the housing project as part of the McGuinty Government’s mismanaged decision to encourage intensive population growth in parts of Southern Ontario. The land is felt by many Six Nations people to be theirs to protect.

“This struggle has brought unity to the community,” said Lehman Gibson, a Mohawk Farmer and Traditional Elder of the Six Nations Territory. “I have never experienced such unity and strength of our people up until now. The elected council is supporting our old traditional government and our Clan Mothers. Everyone has come together for peace here. Everyone has come to defend the protestors and our original territories. Our homeland. We are finally united as a People, as a Nation, for our Sacred Traditional Longhouse values, the Way of the Good Mind, where our Clan Mothers are respected as leaders. At this time we are being respected as a Nation. But who knows for how long… There are 350 police ready at the airport.”

Dr. John Bacher, a spokesperson for the Preservation for Agriculture and Land Society said, “Six Nations are defending their historical homeland against developers and have a blockade, which stands for all of Ontario. The government is dubbing their plan ‘The Places to Grow Act.’ John says the area is really covered heavily in rich Carolina Forests. This is part of the richest Ontario farmland next to the Niagara fruit belt. Are we going to let profit destroy the last of our food supply? Urban sprawl is a destroyer of life and our children’s future.”

Mohawk spiritual leader Tom Porter speaks out for unity and peace:
“The only way we can solve problems of injustice and disrespect is by education of the process and the people too. The people have to do it and they have to believe in it. What their process is. That means they have to study it and re-study it. So they can have ownership of it and feel comfortable with it. Like a new pair of shoes, you never feel comfortable right away until you wear it for a while. That’s the same thing with the Indian Law. Indian Tradition, it has to be worn, it has to be embraced, it has to be used. Once that’s done, then there’s struggle, then Allies can be found in the world. Whoever will become a part of survival. Right now everybody is in disaray.”

“I would say, our own Native People are finding each other. That’s why the trouble is a big trouble – it has been the thing to unite the people – it’s a wonderful feeling. It’s a wonderful thing, but we mustn’t loose that feeling. We mustn’t loose that unity, either. We have to be careful not to divide or get conquered. The people who are repressing us and want to take the land are trying to find ways by which to cause friction and division. So we have to be aware of that and not to let that happen.”

“Put all trivial things aside and stick together until it’s over, resulting in what we want to happen. But probably what is more valuable than the tract of land is the unity that it has caused. With this unity we can fight for the land in the right way. But as far as justice and court, there is no court or justice in Canada or the United States that can be objective and fair to deal with the problems at present. It’s not going to happen that way. The only possible chance that can happen is with an international tribunal or court like the Hague.”

“The only problem with that is that it doesn’t have no army – it doesn’t have no teeth to back it up. It will only be a moral judgement but that’s better than nothing. At least if an international tribunal were to try a case there would be more objectivity to arrive at a decision that’s fair. But I don’t think any province or state in Canada or the United States or Federal Court will be able to make an objective decision. The value system here is not fair. It is owned by an unfair mentality. The way the Indian People think, the way Native values are, will not be entered into the equation of justice. Even the Hague won’t be fair because it’s all European. But at least it’s away from domestic Canada and the domestic United States where the interest is to manipulate justice in their favor. At least that would be minimalized if it was by an international tribunal. But I will emphasize more importantly than anything jail or any of the things there are, is the great unity that people felt.”

“Myself I haven’t been there yet but when I hear the news of all the different Reserves are supporting them, and are willing to do something to support them. That in itself is really great, if nothing else. The feeling that was given to Indians is worth it. But you can’t let that conquer and divide rule come in there. Everybody is together so they should slowly start learning the Great Law and our ways and beliefs, and use that wisdom while they gather to make a stand. Take that time instead of being in fear, not knowing what’s going to happen. Use that time to learn about our Clans and our Law and our Constitution because that will help to unify further. Tomorrow and the next tomorrow. The Law is of Peace, but Peace doesn’t mean you throw in the towel. Peace doesn’t mean you give up neither. Peace doesn’t mean you have to give away the land. Peace represents justice and objectivity and truth. Peace makes us stronger. I myself have nothing but admiration for the people who are standing up over there. That’s what my opinion is.”

Conclusion
Injustice and mismanagement have been some of the idiosyncrasies of Western Culture since first contact 500 years ago. The ideas of commerce, ownership, profit and control have been brought to the Americas from Kings, Queens, Mama Dukes, Papa Dukes to a present catastrophe by Rothmans, Trumps, Rockefellers, Bushes, etc. The spiritual leaders, people and life-forms have been subjected to exploitation, manipulation, coercion, rape and colonization. We the People, we call ourselves real human beings – Onkehonweh – are faced with the problems of 500 years of colonization. Can we solve the problems of injustice and disrespect to the Natural World, to the Natural Forces that support all life?

We the people are faced with contamination of our rivers, lakes, streams, mountains, valleys, plants and children. We the people are now facing all of the consequences of factory farming and a chemical, manufactured food supply. Heart disease, diabetes, obesity, prostate and breast cancer are killing natives and non-natives. Our ancestors lived by the Good Mind and our way of life was one of respect and harmony with the Natural Law. Our government of Respect, Peace, Righteousness, Unity and Equality was adopted by the U.S. Constitution.

We the People can solve the problems all life face, but there has to be unity and respect. Our Spiritual Elders maintain the Good Mind even through turbulence. The Good Mind is a Way of Life that must be practiced and is a discipline with the Natural World and Natural Forces. It is the Good Way to do things. The Good Mind is the Way of Healing not Hurting. It is hard work to maintain the Good Mind. The Good Mind means doing things in a Good Way. The Way our Ancestors did Good Things. The Good Mind means to do Good Things throughout the Day throughout our lives, with Good Thoughts of positive thinking.

The Good Mind is about having Good Thoughts with Good Action, Creativity and Thanksgiving. The Good Mind is Peace, Righteousness, Unity, Harmony and Power. The Good Mind can be used for Healing, for Creativity, for Health and for Solving Problems. It has to be practised by walking on our Sacred Mother Earth, with Love of Life and Peace and Justice for All Creation. We the People can show our Way of Life with the Good Mind over and over until all humanity learns how to walk on Mother Earth.

I write these words with Respect to my Elders and Ancestors for the Good Life, the Good Mind and Sacred Ceremonies to Heal with, and give thanks for All they have taught us. I write these words that our Brothers and Sisters in Parliament listen with open hearts and minds the way our minds and hearts were open when their ancestors arrived sick and starving on the Mayflower, Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria.

Our Ancestors healed their Ancestors and healed the first Europeans to arrive because our Hearts and Minds were open to the Universe when they arrived. Our Ancestors taught them how to survive here and they considered us Honest and Noble when they arrived, but changed their minds once they out numbered us. The Mohawk Nation has supported the British Military in the past and Canada has benefited beyond recognition from Mohawk Loyalty.

We must put our minds together as One Mind and ask the Four Protectors to protect us from further injustice and disrespect so that our future generations will have a place to put their little feet and have a better place to wonder about.

Young Hearts, Young Lives Profiles of the Highway of Tears’ missing girls

By Michelle Oleman

Aielah Saric-Auger, was an aboriginal girl just 14 years old when she disappeared on February 2 of this year. She is the youngest and most recent of the young women to go missing along what is now known as the Highway of Tears (a stretch of highway in remote northern B.C.) which serves many aboriginal communities.

Aielah attended D.P. Todd High School, and lived at home with her family. She had left her home with her sister and brother for a day at the mall. Her mother describes the awful feeling when your child leaves home and a nagging feeling tells you to ask her to stay home today. As Aielah and her siblings left the home Mrs. Audrey Saric-Auger describes how beautiful she was, and telling her that she loves her very much, and to hurry home as soon as she’s done; and finally blowing her a kiss. One final kiss, which represents all the love that has been lost for many of the Highway of Tears victims and their families for the Saric-Auger family its tragic.

Tragic for a mother who was called to identify the body of her young daughter 10 days later, the loss of such a young girl is tremendous. “She was not a hooker, she wasn’t even hitchhiking! She just wanted to hang out with her friends at the mall, why did you have to pick my baby girl!!” is how Mrs. Saric-Auger expresses her anguish toward the perpetrator(s). Aielah’s small body was found, and identifiable, but so much of it was missing that the family had to have a closed casket funeral. This case of a missing girl only lasted 10 days, but the outcome of the search, which was delayed at Mrs. Saric-Auger’s own request, is the worst-case scenario for every family.

Tamara Chipman, 22, was last seen hitchhiking along highway 16 just outside of Prince George, in September 2001. She is an aboriginal woman who is spunky, fun-loving and very fond of her 6- year-old son Jayden. This behavior of not calling home to check in, like many other missing women, is not normal behavior for her.

Her aunt Lorna Brown pleads to the public to keep an eye out for her missing loved one. “Lord I pray that she’s found and that anybody who comes across her since September 21 (2005) would come forward to the RCMP. This is a girl who is loved by her mother, her stepfather, and her (entire) family…”

Tamara is described as being 5’10” tall, and a slight 130 pounds, with brown eyes and short brown hair. She is prone to wearing a variety of wigs, including blonde, red, and brunette. Police describe her lifestyle as highrisk, as she was known to hitchhike along the highway. She is one of the most recent women to go missing and not be found along the Yellowhead highway.

Nicole Hoar, 25 at the time of her disappearance, was a bubbly, vivacious young caucasian woman who worked as a tree planter in the Nothern B.C. region for a few years. Nicole hails from Red Deer, Alta., and had made plans to surprise her sister in Smithers B.C., she left Prince George on June 21, 2002, in hopes of showing up on her sister’s doorstep “out of the blue.”

The Hoar family had the swiftest and most impressive response of all the cases of missing women on the highway thus far, the Hoars are the only non-aboriginal family to have reported a missing loved one along this lonely stretch of road. Of the tragedy and the subsequent response Jack Hoar thanks the community for their tremendous support and the officials for their efforts in the search for his daughter. A massive police search has failed to find her.

Lana Derrick, aged 19, from Thornhill B.C., disappeared October 7, 1995 from a local gas station. She was enrolled in forestry studies at Northwest Community College in Prince George and was only home for the weekend. Lana’s friend Tania says of her ” I know in my heart that there is no hope to bring Lana Derrick home safe, but maybe your (publications) can help to solve this case so that Lana’s remains can be brought home and buried properly,” bleak words for remembering a young woman who had a bright future and friends and family who loved her.

Ramona Wilson was 15 when she vanished on June 11,1994. She was hitchhiking along the highway to meet friends in nearby Smithers. Ramona was also a high school student who lived with her family. She was a bright student, full of life, friendly high-school student who hoped to attend the University of Victoria. She had made a phone call to let her family know that she was heading home and was expected a short 10-30 minutes after that phone call. Her remains were found almost a year later, April 1995 near the Smithers Airport. She had been strangled and the police told the family that the murder had been sexually motivated.

Monica Ingas went missing some years prior to this December 13, 1974. Speculations are that she may have been one of the first victims. She was also a high school student who sometimes hitched a ride to and from school. Living with her family in Thornhill, just outside of Terrace promoted this activity for some of the young students who may have practiced extra-curricular activities in school or in town, which would involve missing a school bus.

Janet Hulkrans, an area resident recalls Monica had been near the age of her own children who were in school and seeing her hitchhiking along the highway. “Maybe she was the first (to disappear). She wasn’t much older than my kids and I had picked her up once and driven her to school, so she is forever in my memory. She was a nice girl and doesn’t deserve to be forgotten.”.
On April 6th, 1975 Monica’s partially nude body was found. Six kilometers from Terrace B.C., in a gravel pit, yet another grisly discovery after a short 4- month search for a missing loved one.

Alberta Williams, 24 and only 5’2″ tall weighing 115 pounds was reported missing August 26, 1989. She had moved with her sister Claudia Williams to work at a local fishing company earlier that summer and as the season came to an end the two went out for a night on the town with two other women (cousins) and one man (one of the ladies’ boyfriend).

Once she was reported missing the family searched for days. Her father commented that, “It makes me sad to see my children searching through bushes…” for the remains of their own sibling.

Several weeks later, mid September, hikers found the remains 37 kilometres outside of Prince Rupert, at a place called the Tyee Overpass.

Alberta’s sister provides a clear description of her personality in this simple, and sad but true statement, “She was just so kind, so tiny and so kind. Out of all my sisters she’s the best. I really think she’s be around today if she weren’t that friendly person that she was.”

Alberta’s body was flown to Vancouver B.C., for an autopsy, but 17 years later the family still has no answers and her body has not yet been laid to rest.

Delphine Nikal, aged 15, disappeared from Smithers B.C. on June 14, 1990 hitchhiking east along highway 16. Her home was in nearby Telkwa B.C., and her family describes her as a peaceful, fun-loving, spirited young girl who loves life and would never leave without explanation.

Roxanne Thiara, also 15 years old, went missing from Prince George in 1994. She had been out with a friend, and is the first to have anyone mention that she worked as a prosititute. She had mentioned to her friend that she was going to see a “customer” and disappeared around the side of a building in Prince George and was never heard from again. She disappeared the July long weekend, and was found two weeks later August 17, 1994. Sixteen kilometers outside of Burns Lake her body was found in the brush alongside deadly highway 16.

Leah Alishia Germaine, aged 15, was the second one who had reports of previously working in the sex trade. Her body was found by three teen-aged boys behind a Prince George elementary school, she had been stabbed to death. Leah’s family was aware of some of her activities, and her friend’s swear that she had left the lifestyle for a couple of weeks prior to her disappearance. Eleven years later, there’s still no closure for a family who clearly loved their little girl, and still miss her.

Leah’s (Alishia) aunt Connie puts it very simply in words of memory, “When Leah was young I had the pleasure of her living with my family and I… she was so full of life always smiling…she loved kisses, her kitty Pookie, but especially her Mom, and Dad, Ken Pirie.”

Her brother, Jonah Cunningham states on the Highway of Tears Website, “If more attention is brought to the many mysteries that have lived and lie along this lonesome stretch of road- and the communities that live along it- perhaps it will bring a long overdue spotlight to this part of our province…,” wraps it up very nicely for all the families who have had loved ones gone missing and/or murdered along the notorious Highway of Tears.

Conference Tackles Missing Women Crisis

By Michelle Oleman

The Highway of Tears Symposium was a two-day event focusing on how the First Nations girls went missing, the hitch-hiking dilemma and finding strategies to improve conditions along highway 16, otherwise known as the Yellowhead highway which leads to Alaska and stretches through all of Northern B.C.

To date, there have been 38 young women reported missing along this corridor. 9 have been found. All but one victim was of aboriginal descent, and all 9 were found dead. Driving conditions along this route are perfectly fine; it is the focus of some 250-300 participants at this two day event to find solutions to keeping our young people safe along this long and lonely road, which at night becomes very dark very quickly.

In the words of the chairman for the event, Dan George: “Regardless of what kind of activity a woman has been engaging in it never justifies for her to be murdered.”

His opening statement reflects back to the missing and murdered women in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, B.C., where “First Nations feel as though they are part of a group that is being targeted by violent criminals.” He carefully adds that we are here to find meaningful solutions to the problems that face us. Mary Teegee, co-chair, states that this is a symposium of hope, love, and fellowship.

“We need to come up with a practical action plan honoring the ones we have lost and the courageous families that are here to speak,” she says. The entire room is eager to get on with business, the business of saving lives. Mary’s closing words are simple:”We have strengths; in numbers, in our traditions, in our culture, and in knowledge.”

Families speak wisdom
Families of the nine murder victims found along this highway corridor speak to the issues that face the people of the Pacific Northwest. The question put to them here is, “What could have helped you?”

Matilda Wilson, whose daughter Ramona Wilson was a 16-year-old high school student when she went missing in 1993, is the person who began the walk from Terrace B.C. along the highway to Prince George and who also inspired the Symposium. Her pain is still evident as she explains that her daughter had left nearby Telqua for what amounts to a 10 minute drive to Smithers B.C., after a phone call home the family never heard from or saw her until 10 months later.

Ramona was found dead, asphyxiated, the police described it to the family as sexually motivated, 12 years later this murder remains unsolved. She demands one minute of silence, for all of those who are missing loved ones, and all those who have gone missing, not only in this part of the country, but all over the world.

Brenda Wilson, Ramona’s sister, drives an idea home. She says: “In our communities, there is nothing (in terms of victim response), you have to make people believe that your child is lost!” She speaks to the lack of response from authorities once the initial report has been made. “If you’re looking for answers, the only way to make our communities safe is to make them aware.”

One prime example of this sense of unawareness is the Nikal family, who in 1989 reported Cecilia Anne Nikal missing, but her cousin Roberta Cecilia Nikal was found murdered. The family didn’t even know that Roberta was missing. Not much long after that a third member of the family went missing, Delphine Nikal.

In answer to the question “What could have helped us?” Lucy Nikal speaks to the lack of victim support workers to accompany responding officers, and a response team to help speed up the search.

“What can we do now?” she asks; community support being the only answer. Of course other things help to support this outcome, such as community healing and grief counseling. “Grief manifests, the outcomes are devastating!! We end up with depression, drug addiction, and ultimately violence!” she shouts.

Another touching account comes from the Chipman family. Tommy Chipman, father of Tamara Chipman, whose is still missing, explains that “Pain goes very deep, it’s an on-going thing that is happening and it is not a coincidence.”

People have got to watch out for each other and know where your loved ones are while they are in transit is one concern that surfaces time and again throughout the symposium. Tamara’s mother, sobbing simply says “Just when you think you can’t cry anymore tears, they just keep coming.”

Many issues surface during the conference and presentations, the main question being “Why are our girls hitchhiking to begin with?” and “What can we do to prevent this?”

Some simple answers to the first part of this question are lack of transportation, lack of cash, and lack of knowledge of the dangers that arise from the act of hitchhiking. An activity that at one time posed little threat to anybody choosing to engage in it.

Increased population, distances between communities, increased traffic, and lack of community knowledge and response have all contributed to the increasing dangers of hitchhiking. Contrary to popular belief, it is close to impossible for families to monitor and “control” every action that our young people take up.

Some simple answers to the latter part of this question are that we should have some specialized help, more resources for the R.C.M.P., set up for immediate response to missing persons reports, and to listen to the families when the first cry is heard. All of these are addressed to the justice system and the ministries involved in aiding the families.

Jack Hoar, father of Nicole Hoar, the only known Caucasian girl to go missing along this corridor explains: “Healing is a forever thing, our daughter had tree planted in this community for many years, and we were lucky to get the response when we needed it.”

He explains that what is needed here is for victim services to step up formal healing such as psychologists, and social workers to help the families heal once the official search has ended.

In light of victim rights verses perpetrators rights, we need to formally appeal and have these response and search efforts extended so that we may find more missing persons while they are still living. “A protocol for missing persons has been developed recently, and we need to take steps to bring this to fruition,” Mr. Hoar continues.

National sources lend support
Beverly Jacobs, president of the Native Women’s Association of Canada, points to issues of facts versus fiction. “We need to gather the stories, study the trends and find out why women are treated like garbage. We cannot have this any more.”

The Sisters in Spirit Initiative looks at studying sexualized and racialized violence, and is led by the families of the missing and murdered aboriginal women, through the NWAC organization.

“Who is ultimately responsible? We are all responsible,” she explains. From police forces and ministries keeping these cases low profile, and the media largely misrepresenting the facts and the statistics of such cases, to communities not bringing awareness to their members Jacobs is absolutely correct in this statement.

John Les, BC Solicitor General expresses frustration that no perpetrators have been found, and that we must try to move forward in order to prevent future tragedies from happening. Solutions need to come from the community level; Les is here to listen to the families and the communities. His ministry donates $25,000 seed money toward developing community support and bridging the gaps between the ministries, the justice system and the communities.

Representatives from the police and RCMP task forces explain that in the academy each officer learns that “No greater responsibility has been put to you (officers) than the responsibility to investigate for those who cannot speak for themselves.”

They are establishing new ways to solving these cases, the first step is to collect all inventory files and forward them to Vancouver, then they will move on to starting a review. A team of eight skilled cold-case investigators will examine and work on finding the perpetrator(s). Chief Superintendent Bent states: “No one wants to find the persons responsible more than the police.”

Indeed we need to see a united commitment, from ministries, police, communities, and national organizations in order to learn what has happened to our missing loved ones in order to see justice done.

Stan Hagan, of the Ministry of Children and Families promises that: “We will work in partnership with communities to lend a hand in anything we can do in order to create the best place for children to grow up.”

This ministry donates $20,000 toward the symposium itself, and further $25,000 seed money toward developing solutions.

Plans for Further Action
Day two of the symposium consists largely of action planning, brainstorming on community response and support systems. The attendees break out into 4 main groups, each searching out a means to an end. Four goals are: 1. Emergency Readiness Team, 2. Counseling and Support Strategy, 3. Community Development Strategy, and 4. Prevention.

A full report is forthcoming once the facilitators have compiled and referenced the information.

Some highlights from the facilitator recaps include that many people feel that we need to embrace our traditional forms of counseling and healing. We also need to learn how to use resources that are already in existence, teach our children when they are young about all of the dangers in our society, and to identify our own safe homes in each community all along the highway.

Specific recommendations coming out of the groups include establishing a Red Amber Alert; installing a hitchhiker tracking system which involves cameras at known pick up spots for hikers, youth mentoring and team response liaison where teens feel more responsive to other teens, and encouraging people to phone in to the tip lines when they see some suspicious activity. One very interesting suggestion involves ringing of church bells to immediately alert a community that somebody has gone missing.

In the solemn words of Sitting Bull, “Let us put our hearts and our minds together to see what we can do for our children.” Chief Stewart Phillip reminds us of the gravity of the situation. This symposium provides an opportunity for this type of work to develop and to continue into the future, which Rena Zortowski, head co-coordinator of the entire event promises a 2nd annual symposium to address this matter. These young women, in their tragic passing have left a legacy. A legacy to remind us to keep our loved ones near and dear, and to help us fight the good fight that too often remains forgotten, “you have all taken personal responsibility,” Chief Phillip puts out to us. One final challenge falls from his lips, “RCMP, hear the pain, the anger, and recognize.”

This symposium is a first step toward healing, to understanding, and to providing safety for our children that they so richly deserve. We need to stand up and let these predators know that we will not fall silently, and that our children and women will be missed, and that we will seek justice. It is also a nation-wide wake up call to all people in all communities. Hitchhiking is not a dilemma which only tiny rural Northwestern BC communities face, missing and murdered women, though prominent in First Nations communities across the nation, happen in every corner of the globe.

Search begins for Edmonton serial killer

By Clint Buehler

EDMONTON – The search is still on for the one or more serial killers suspected of murdering more than 20 women since 1983, their bodies found in the Edmonton area.

In that time, only five cases have been solved. Dozens more are still missing in the Edmonton area and across western Canada.
Many of the women were Aboriginal, and most of them were sex trade workers.

A reward of $100,000 has been offered for information leading to the arrest of the person(s) responsible.

The search for the killer or killers has become a joint effort of the Edmonton Police Service and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, dubbed Project KARE.

The RCMP’s Behavioural Science Branch has issued a profile of the killer, based on information gathered in investigations and provided by informants:
· Drives a reliable, high-mileage truck, van or sport utility vehicle, and is comfortable driving in rural areas.
· Likes to hunt, fish, camp or participate in other outdoor activities.
· Has a past or present connection to the area south of Edmonton, including Leduc, Camrose and New Sarepta.
· May clean his vehicle at odd times of the day.

Police say they took the unusual step of releasing that information because they believe there are those who know the murderer and are suspicious of his activity.

They say at least eight of the murders have enough in common the lead them to suspect they were committed by the same person.
For the second year, a special commemoration for the murdered and missing women will be held on National Aboriginal Day, June 21st, organized by the School of Native Studies (SNS) at the University of Alberta (U of A) and the Institute of for the Advancement of Native Women. (IAAW).

The event will consist of an all night vigil on a quad on the U of A campus, and speakers from various advocacy groups, community service organizations, scholars and professionals. There will be moments for silent reflection, candlelight marches and other activities
Often categorized and dismissed as “sex trade” workers, says vigil organizer Kristy Leman, “these are women who must not be forgotten; these women are sisters, mothers, daughters and friends.”

Says IAAW Founder and President Muriel Stanley Venne, “we’ve cried enough. It is now time for action. On behalf of Aboriginal women, we ask Canadians to join hands with us to create positive change in our city and society.”

Adds Dr. Ellen Bielawski, SNS Dean, “I feel very strongly that those of us at the university need to work with the larger community to stop violence against women. The School of Native Studies teaches about the historical and social conditions that allow these women to disappear. I tell my students: ‘This not only history; poverty, racism and risk exist today.’ We need to change the aspects of society that allow this to happen.”

“With this project,” Leman says, “we want to facilitate awareness, education and action to make our city a safer place for women and their families.”

Here is a list of women who have been found under similar circumstances since 1983:

Oct. 20, 2005
Edmonton police announce they suspect Delores Brower, who had been reported missing five months earlier, may have been a victim of foul play.

May 6, 2005
The body of sex trade worker Ellie May Meyer, 33, is found near Sherwood Park, just east of Edmonton.

April 18, 2005
RCMP in Alberta identify the body of Charlene Gauld, 20, who burned remains were found near Camrose, 70 km. southeast of Edmonton.

Jan. 25, 2005
The body of 19-year-old Samantha Tayleen Berg is discovered under snow in a parking lot on Edmonton’s North Side. The teenager worked in the sex trade.

June 11, 2004
The body of 19-year-old Rachel Quinney is found in a wooded area near Sherwood Park.

July 7, 2003
The body of 40-year-old Katie Sylvia Ballentyne, who worked in the sex trade, is found in Leduc County, about 20 km south of Edmonton. She is the fourth female found in a field outside Edmonton in 2003, the fifth in 10 months.

April 12, 2003
The skull and remains of 29-year-old Debbie Lake, a former prostitute, are found near Miquelon Lake Provincial Park, approximately 70 km southeast of Edmonton.

Jan. 12, 2003
20-year-old Melissa Munch is found dead in a stand of trees on a farmer’s field in Strathcona County, bordering east Edmonton. The discovery is made four days after the body of Monique Pitre was found less than 10 kilometres away.

Jan. 8, 2003
The frozen body of Monique Pitre, 30, is found in a field south of Fort Saskatchewan, a few minutes northeast of Edmonton.. There is trauma to her entire body.

Sept. 23, 2002
The burned body of 28-year-old Edna Bernard is found in a field east of Leduc, half an hour south of Edmonton.

Jan. 27, 2001
24-year-old Kelly Dawn Reilly is found dead behind a gravel operation near Villeneuve., half an hour north of Edmonton.

Sept. 1, 1997
22-year-old Cara King is found in a canola field in Sherwood Park.

June 14, 1997
The body of 24-year-old Jessica Cardinal is found in an alley behind a commercial building at 9325-111th Avenue. Her body is discovered behind a discarded shelving unit. Edmonton police have no suspect in her death.

Oct. 19, 1997
The body of Joyce Hewitt is found in Sherwood Park. She had a “high-risk lifestyle.” The circumstances of her death were not available.

Dec. 25, 1996
24-year-old Joanne Ghostkeeper is found strangled in her Edmonton apartment. Police have no suspect in her death.

Feb. 11, 1993
The partially decomposed body of 25-year-old Elaine Ross is found stuffed under a bed in a motel room in west Edmonton. Autopsy results were inconclusive and a cause of death is unknown, but police are treating it as a homicide.

Dec. 21, 1990
Lorraine Wray, a 46-year-old masseuse and mother of one, is found strangled in the bathroom of her west Edmonton business. According to Edmonton police spokesperson Dean Parthenis, several autopsies were performed, leading investigators to determine “manual strangulation” as the cause of death.

Oct. 25, 1990
29-year-old Mavis Mason is found stabbed to death on a rural road west of Edmonton.

Oct. 25, 1989
Bernadette Ahenakew, a 22-year-old mother of three, is found dead in a ditch alongside a rural road near Sherwood Park.

Sept. 13, 1988
The body of 20-year-old Georgette Flint is found in Elk Island National Park, just west of Edmonton. An exact cause of death is not determined.

Sept. 21, 1986
The body of 21-year-old Melodie Joy Riegel is found on a hotel-room bed. She was last seen entering the hotel with a client.

1983
The skeletal remains of 21-year-old Gail Cardinal are found 10 kilometres south of Fort Saskatchewan. RCMP spokesperson Roxanne Beaubien says Cardinal had a “high-risk lifestyle.” No cause was determined in her death.

Solved Murders
· 1993: Linda Giles (circumstances unavailable)
· 1996: Charmaine Pidlesny (circumstances unavailable)
· 1999: Sherry Ann Upright (circumstances unavailable)
· 1999: Catherine Ann Burrell (circumstances unavailable)

· April 26, 2001: Ginger Lee Bellerose is found in the courtyard area of Edmonton’s International Hotel (since razed). The 26-year-old mother had been beaten to death.
The murder was solved March 14, 2003 and 52-year-old Medicine Hat resident Richard David Douglas was charged with second-degree murder. Edmonton police do not suspect this murder was connected with the others.

Edmonton City Police are also reopening old case files involving missing women to see if there is any connection to the most recent crimes.

The magnitude of the situation led to a gathering of experts from across North America in Edmonton in late January to exchange information and strategies. Details of their deliberations were not released, but the conclusion was that the cases will be solved with dogged determination and a combination of the latest techniques and good old-fashioned police work.

Edmonton suspect charged in murder

By Clint Buehler

EDMONTON – An Edmonton man has been charged after allegedly killing a prostitute, stuffing her body in a hockey bag and transporting it the 750 km. from High Level, in extreme northern Alberta, to Fort Saskatchewan, near Edmonton.

The victim was identified as 36-year-old Theresa Innes, a mother of two and one of the many sex trade workers who ply their trade in the northern Alberta communities experiencing a boom in oil and gas exploration activity, and a demand for the women’s services.

Police have been unable to determine exactly when she died and our seeking information from those who may have seen hr since the last known sighting September 5, 2005. They have put out a call for anyone who may have seen her since that date.

Thomas George Svekla, 38, has been charged with second-degree murder, and interfering with human remains after Innes’s body was found in a house in Fort Saskatchewan following an anonymous tip to police.

Svekla caused some consternation when he mugged for the media, smiling, winking and winking for the media as he made his first court appearance in Fort Saskatchewan. He was more subdued the next day when he appeared in court in Edmonton.

The suspect was identified as a “person of interest” in the murder of 19-year-old Rachel Quinney, an Aboriginal prostitute whose body was found in a field just veast vof Edmonton in late 2004.

Mike Innes, brother of Theresa Innes, was critical of police for not posting Theresa as a missing person for months, not until her mother filed a missing persons report, despite repeated pleas for information about her whereabouts.

He admitted that he had evicted her from his home in August 2004 because she was using crack cocaine and had not heard from her since.

Police have neither confirmed nor denied that Svekla is suspected as the serial killer believed responsible for the death of numerous sex trade workers whose bodies have been found in the area around Edmonton.

Alberta Band Joins Oils Business

By Staff Writers

Fort McKay First Nation, home to 500 people of Cree and Dene ancestry, is forming a private oil sands company that will be run as a division within the Fort McKay Group of Companies. Located 65 kilometers northwest of the oil sands hub of Fort McMurray, Alberta, it is the first aboriginal community to join the oil sands booming business as a producer, with plans to develop a $1 billion mining project with Shell Canada Limited.

The Fort McKay Group of Companies is a conglomerate of seven businesses, owned 100% by the Band. The Companies have successfully supported nearby oil sands development for the past ten years. It generated $50 million in revenue in 2005, through land-reclamation services, hauling ore, transportation and camp catering.

On April 19, 2006, Shell Canada Limited and Fort McKay First Nation announced that they have entered into an agreement that outlines an exchange of options to acquire oil sands leases, specifically Shell’s Lease 90 and Fort McKay oil sands lands received as part of its land claim and resources rights settlement with Ottawa in 2003. The 8200 acres of prime oil sands territory could hold 500 million barrels of bitumen.

This innovative agreement recognizes the right and interest of Fort McKay First Nation to commercialize land received under its treaty land claim settlement by leasing it to Shell for potential incorporation into the Athabasca Oil Sands Project, and receiving royalty payments on production. At the same time the agreement facilitates the First Nation’s entry into the oil sands business through an option to acquire and work with Shell on the development of Lease 90.

The Athabasca Oil Sands Project is a joint venture among Shell Canada Limited. (60%); Chevron Canada Limited (20%); and Western Oil Sands L.P. (20%). With the current mine designed to produce 155,000 barrels of bitumen a day, Shell has announced long-term plans to increase the total Athabasca Oil Sands Project production to more than 500 000 barrels a day.

Fort McKay Chief Jim Boucher said in an interview “In terms of a small community like Fort McKay, there’s never been anything seen of this nature anywhere in Canada, in terms of ownership of natural resources and the economic opportunities that will arise from developing this project.”

The enterprising First Nation, once a fur trading and trapping hub, was able to move forward with its plans after royal assent was given late last November to Bill C-71, the First Nations Commercial and Industrial Development Act. Chief Boucher played a prominent role designing the legislation, which in part created a regulatory framework for large scale Aboriginal- backed endeavours, such as this.

“A lease of Fort McKay First Nation’s land will be an excellent addition to our long-term business plan,” said Clive Mather, Shell Canada’s President and CEO. “While additional work with government must yet be done to move forward, this agreement has the potential to return tremendous value to both Shell and Fort McKay for many years to come.”

“As an owner of oil sands lands and several oil sands service businesses, Fort McKay has a strong position in the oil sands today,” said Chief Jim Boucher. “We are currently evaluating our options to participate with Shell in the development of Lease 90, and have agreed to grant Shell an option to lease part of our treaty land for development. We are excited about the possibility of becoming an oil sands developer in our own right and in our own way for the benefit of our community.”

Fort McKay’s Lease 90 development plans will be based on project economics and integration with the existing Muskeg River Mine. SNC Lavalin has been contracted to conduct initial front-end engineering work on which a cost estimate can be made for the mining project, a number Chief Boucher said could be about $1 billion. Lease development models under consideration range from Fort McKay providing mining services, to the First Nation owning Lease 90 and managing the oil sands process from mining, through to bitumen extraction and land reclamation.

“We take a balanced view of development and know the effects development has on the land, and our traditional way of life,” said Chief Boucher. “However, development is occurring and from the mining phase, through the life cycle of the project and environmental reclamation, this is our opportunity to participate fully and build a long term economic vision for Fort McKay.”

Chevron Canada Limited and Western Oil Sands L.P. each have the option to participate with Shell in the development of its Athabasca oil sands leases. This option would extend to Shell’s lease agreement with Fort McKay.

The 8200 acres of oil sands owned by Fort McKay is surrounded by larger companies with larger stakes: Petro Canada’s proposed Fort Hills oil sands mine is to the west; the enormous Muskeg River Mine owned by Shell, Chevron and Western Oil Sands is to the east; and Syncrude Canada’s Aurora mine borders the southeastern edge.

Bee in the Bonnet: A buck, with bucks!

By B.H. Bates

Wampum, payola, buckskins … whatever you call it, money talks! The meaning of the golden rule has changed since I was a kid. It was: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

Today’s translation: “Whom ever has the gold, makes the rules.” In other words, do’um, before they do you!

What would you do if you had a million buckskins? What’s the first thing you’d do with that kind of Wampum? Buy a big fancy house, a shiny purple Cadillac or maybe even a perky new boob job?

It’s nice to dream of how life would change for the better … if only. But how’s a Rez Bro or Sis, going to get their hands on that kind of money? Working for minimum wage – you’d have to work 8 hours a day, five day a week, for one hundred years to earn a cool million. Then you’d have to pay income tax, unemployment insurance, not to mention the irony of contributing to an old age pension fund. There has to be a better way.

You could make it the old fashioned way – become an renegade! You could sell drugs to children, whack people for the mob or maybe you could steal from the rich and give to an off-shore bank account. But, like most illegal get rich quick schemes, the only thing you’ll get to spend, is time, in jail, fighting off some guy named Bubba, for your virginity!

The only other option left to the average Native, who dreams of financial independence, is owning a successful business. But we all know that’ll never happen. And I’ll tell you why you should just give up any dreams of ‘making big bucks’ on the ol’ Rez. It’s the Native people themselves – the back-stabbing, the jealousy, the communist mentality of ‘all for one and one for all.’ How in the name of the Great Spirit, can the entrepreneurial spirit survive with a hatchet in it’s back?

Let’s say you have a piece of land on the ol’ Rez, that you want to develop. One of the first things you’ll need is investment capital, and where do you go to get that start up cash? Your band office? If your Chief and council are anything like the ones I know, you’re in for one long and drawn out process. You’re asking for quick and helpful answers from a group of people who couldn’t agree on pizza toppings, if their lives depended upon it.

And you can forget about the banks, they won’t touch anything on the Rez, because of the political uncertainty and instability of the aforementioned pizza-heads! So, unless you have a rich Grandfather, who’s planning a trip to the happy hunting grounds, the only other avenue left to you is the good ol’ boys in government. And as we all know, the only thing that moves slower than a band office employee is the huge, lethargic, bureaucratic machine of government.

If you look at successful reservations across this great land, the one thing that most of them have in common: is that they’re lead by smart and wealthy Chiefs. These individuals have taken the buffalo by the horns and welcomed business onto their reservations. But why is it … only the Chiefs are rich? And therein lays the answer: “It’s good to be Chief!”

So why can’t the rest of us non-Chief types get into business too? Why can’t we control our own destiny? You could, if you had something called a ‘certificate of position'(CP). This small piece of paper is the only thing that stands between you and a shot at the ‘Big Bucks!’ But, you, as a regular every day Injun, have no chance of ever getting a CP in your life time … and why, you ask? I could tell you, but I think I’ll let you go and ask your elected Chief, why you can’t own your ‘own’ land!

I will give you two hints; One – They (Pizza-heads) have a very low opinion of your intelligence! Two – It’s all about control!

So unless you get voted into the big tepee (Chief), you’re up the creek without a paddle. But, hey, you’re an Indian, you’re used to that. But not to worry, not all is hopeless … because I like you, and because you’re a loyal reader of my column – I’m going to let you in on a little secret. But first, you must swear to the Great Spirit, that you’ll never reveal my secret retirement plan, I call it: “A BUCK, WITH BUCKS!”

Here goes … and the winning numbers are; 3, 12, 19, 22, 52, 55!

Dear reader,
Iif you have a bee in your bonnet about Bee in the Bonnet column, or suggestions for future articles please feel free to contact B. H. Bates at: beeinthebonnet@shaw.ca

Bee in the Bonnet: To rez, or not to rez?

By B.H. Bates

A native without a home, is like a dog without a bone. A native, whether they live on or off of the reservation, needs a patch of Earth to call their own … “Where everyone knows your name, and they’re always glad you came. Cheers!”

Everyone needs a special place where they can feel at ease, a little corner of the World to hide away – a comfort zone. And that place, for most natives, is the Rez. It’s no wonder the elders used banishment as a form of punishment.

The reason I’ve chosen to write about ‘on or off the Rez,’ is because of an Email I received from a reader who commented: “I didn’t know what I was talking about!” This person assumed I had no idea of what went on in the ‘real World.’ They pictured your’s truly, hidden away on some reservation, living a sheltered existence. And, like most (ninety-nine percent) of the Emails I get – ‘they’ just want something to bitch about.

But, like every Email I get, it made me reexamine my thoughts. In this case: “What is the difference between living on or off of the reservation?”

For myself and many others it’s a matter of opportunities and ‘what ifs.’ What if I was allowed to start the business I wanted to? What if I’d quit drinking (back then)? What if I’d knocked-up the right girl … who knows?

Most native Bros and Sisters have to make a choice; either pack a lunch and work off the Rez or just pack up and leave for greener grass’. I know if I’d stayed, things would’ve been a lot different, I would’ve become a different person. I’d never have seen or done the things I have, both good and bad. As they say: “Every path you choose on life’s journey leads you to where you stand right now.”

I wish there was a native tradition, where every teenager had to go out and discover the World, beyond the next horizon. Live and learn of things away from their comfort zone, then, if they chose, return to their reservations with new ideas, experiences and wisdom. I think it would help us grow as a people.

You can recognize an ‘off-ie’ from an ‘on-ie.’ As sure as you can tell an in-ie from an out-ie. An off-ie is more comfortable in social situations, where non-natives are involved. An off-ie will look you in the eye, whereas an on-ie will look around, act shy and talk softly to their feet.

I’ve been back to my home Rez a few times. And, as the old song goes: “The ol’ home town looks the same as I step down from the train.” And there to greet me was the same old gang. Some were even sitting on the same damn bar stools they were sitting on, when I left thirty years ago!

Their eyes lit up when I walked into the bar – I was new meat, someone new to talk to. And every last one of them had one thing in common, all their stories started out the same way: “Remember when we …!” And when I asked them, “What’s new with you?” They looked at their feet and softly said: “Ah, not too much.” Sad.

I’ve talked to people off of the reservation, that I never would’ve met, if I’d stayed home. I’ve shaken hands with people who’ve shook the World, I’ve shared drink from a poor man’s cup. I’ve climbed that mountain and crashed on the other side. And I could’ve never done any of those things from the comfort of a reservation couch!

Living off Rez has been a wonderful experience and I highly recommend it, but, do you want to hear a little irony? Living ‘off Rez,’ has made me miss and treasure my ol’ Rez more than ever … the river where I fished and swam, the woods where I rode my horse, and, of course, my friends and family. Whenever I smell the smoke from someone’s fireplace – it triggers memories of the elders setting fires in the hay fields in the springtime. I sometimes get so homesick I get an empty feeling in the pit of my stomach.

But, I’m not so sure I could go back. I’ve been asked by a few old friends: “Why don’t you come home and run for Chief?” I just don’t think I’d be comfortable wearing a tomahawk-proof vest, because, one thing I know for sure about living on the ol’ Rez: “In native politics, there’s always a lot of back stabbing!”

Who knows … What if, I were to start a business? … What if, I were to be elected Chief? I just might, possibly, think about going home. Email me if you know where I can buy a tomahawk-proof vest with fancy beadwork on it.

Dear reader,
Iif you have a bee in your bonnet about Bee in the Bonnet column, or suggestions for future articles please feel free to contact B. H. Bates at: beeinthebonnet@shaw.ca

Museum Rescues Rare Indian Artifacts

By Clint Buehler

EDMONTON – The Royal Alberta Museum has successfully rescued the bulk of a collection of rare Indian artifacts gathered by an eccentric Scottish earl, the 9th Earl of Southesk.

The success of the RAM’s curatorial staff’s mission was made possible by the solid support and fast action of Aboriginal leaders, other Canadian museums and federal and provincial funding agencies.

Rather than going to private collectors where it was feared they would be scattered to different destinations and inaccessible, most of those artifacts will now b e available for viewing and research at the museum.

Metis and First Nations leaders and Canadian museums staff were aghast at the potential loss of access to the rare collection if it went to private collectors.

When word of the sale first surfaced, opposition and concern was swift in coming.

American Indian Movement spokesperson Vernon Bellcourt compared the sale to “selling gold teeth from Auschwitz,” and vowed to have the artifacts returned to the appropriate tribes of the Northern Plains of Canada and the U.S.

He said that during those times, “many collectors would follow in the wake of the cavalry who massacred old people, women and children. They committed genocide and there was a brisk trade in Indian art by the collectors who followed and swarmed over the corpses.”

The RAM first became aware that Sotheby’s was selling the collection about two weeks prior to the auction, says RAM Curator Susan Berry. RAM staff immediately sprang into action.

They contacted other museums to ensure they wouldn’t compete in the bidding, and for letters of support to funders. They contacted Aboriginal leaders for letters of support. They contacted funding agencies to secure funding in time for the auction. All responded immediately and positively.

At stake was a distinctive collection of rare artifacts from the mid-19th century, an era which was not represented in the RAM collection. Sotheby’s, which conducted the May 8 sale in New York, called the collection “the most historically significant group of American Indian art ever to be offered at auction.”

The artifacts had been gathered by James Carnegie, the 9th Earl of Southesk on a tour of western Canada, beginning in 1859. The journey is chronicled in his book, “Saskatchewan and the Rocky Mountains.”

Only 32 when he made the journey, and in ill heath from mourning the loss of his young wife, he made the trip, as he wrote later, to “travel in some part of the world where good sport could be met with among the larger animals and where, at the same time, I might recruit my health by an active open-air life in a healthy climate.”

His choice was what was the Rupert’s Land and traveled through southern Manitoba and Saskatchewan, spent a week at Fort Edmonton, then headed up the Athabasca River and down to the Kootney Plains and the Bow River near what is now Calgary and Banff.

Dubbed by some as the “first tourist” to visit Western Canada, not being an explorer, trader or surveyor like those who had come before him.

He didn’t exactly rough it. Although he dressed like a frontiersman in buckskin, his entourage included a gamekeeper from his Scottish estate and an Iroquois cook, as well as guides and porters. He even traveled with a rubber bathtub.

As he wrote in his journal, “I was in the act of washing myself in my India rubber bath, when suddenly the door flew open, and two splendidly dressed Indians Indians walked into the room as if the whole place belonged to them, but on seeing me they stopped, and stared with all their might. We stared at one another for a moment, then a radiant smile came over their faces, and there was a general laugh after which I continued my sponging, to their evident wonder and amazement.”

The earl didn’t always see the Indians in so positive a light, dismissing some as “bloated, disgusting savages” while praising the Metis as “tall, straight and well proportioned.”

The earl, like other tourists, gathered souvenirs as he travelled, purchasing or commissioning dozens of pieces from Metis, Cree, Nakoda. Blood and Blackfoot artists and craftspeople, including shirta, dresses, moccasin, mittes, purses, pipes, knives, sheaths, and saddle pads. In some instances he had items such as slippers made specifically for his four young children at home.

The collection had been languishing in the ancestral castle in Scotland for the past 150 years, many in pristine condition, with intricate beadwork fully intact, porcupine quill work that has retained its brilliant colours and silk ribbons that remain unfrayed.
The collection was not unknown here, according to Berry.

Dr. Sherry Farrell Racette of the University of Saskatchewan had seen and studied the collection in Scotland, as has Dr. Pat McCormack of the University of Alberta’s School of Native Studies and researchers from the Canadian Museum of Civilization.

The RAM staff expected the bidding to be fierce. Jack Brink, RAM curator of archeology, says items such as those in the Southesk collection, are especially in demand from private collectors in the Unted States.

Now, says Berry, some of the pieces in the collection will be available because the RAM successfully bid for them against other bidders in the United States and elsewhere, possibly making them unavailable for viewing and research in Alberta, and maybe anywhere else.

The RAM’s success in acquiring the items has a double benefit, says Berry, rescuing First Nations and Metis artifacts of great cultural and historical significance, and a big step for the RAM to become one of Canada’s great museums.

“If people are coming to the Royal Alberta Museum from around the world,” says RAM director Bruce McGillivray, “this is the kind of collection they expect to see.”

The RAM was unable to bid successfully for every item in the collection, but did acquire 29 of the 39 pieces being offered for a little less than $1.1 million Canadian, thanks to a cultural properties grant from the Canadian Heritage Emergency Program, and grants from the Alberta Heritage Research Foundation and Alberta Aboriginal Affairs.

Unfortunately, Berry says, Sotheby’s would not reveal the identity of the private collectors who purchased the other 10 items, including the item that went for the highest price. That was an elaborately beaded Blackfoot man’s shirt that sold to a private collector for $800,000 U.S.

The RAM scored its own coup, however, successfully bidding $497,600 U.S. for a Kainai (Blood) dress which the earl described in his journal as “a beautiful specimen of a Blood Indian women’s dress, made from prepared skins of the mountain sheep and richly embroidered with blue and white beads. Such dresses are now seldom to be seen.”

According to the earl’s journal, was bought from an Indian for a bottle of rum, the woman’s husband stripping it off her on the spot to make the trade. Belcourt says that account of how he obtained the dress, reprinted in Sotheby’s catalogue of the collection, “fortifies every ignorant stereotype of Aboriginal North Americans. That’s totally outrageous. It would be like somebody who had a collection of artifacts-clothing, eyeglasses, gold teeth and diamond rings-from the Holocaust.”

Before this purchase the RAM had no artifacts from the 1850s in its collection, with most remaining in European collections.

Berry says the time from when the availability of the collection was discovered until the auction was over was extremely stressful for everyone involved, and that stress will continue until the collection actually arrives at the museum.

“Then I’ll probably burst into tears.”

But she emphasizes that the acquisition is not about her and the RAM team. “It’s really about the collection, the people who made the objects and how they were made.

Museum staff is still sorting out the logistics of preparing the purchases for shipping-maybe under the supervision of a RAM staffer-and ensuring that it arrives at the museum safely.

Once it has arrived and been prepared for exhibition at the RAM, there will be a “welcoming event” to celebrate the acquisition, Berry says.