Posts By: First Nations Drum

By Lloyd Dolha

He has been described as perhaps the greatest native artist who ever lived – a primal visionary who gave form to the Ojibway legends and myths told to him by his maternal grandfather Moses “Potaon” Nanakangos.

He is Norval Morrisseau, an Ansishnaabe artist of national and international renown; the first aboriginal artist to receive a retrospective of his life’s work in the exhibit Norval Morrisseau: Shaman Artist, which runs from February 3 to April 30, in the Great Hall of the National Gallery of Canada.

The solo exhibition contains 59 works of Morrisseau covering the 1958 to 2002 period of his life. It is viewed by many as an end to the institutional discrimination of First Nations artists by the country’s foremost bastion of Canadian art.

The exhibit features drawings, painted objects and paintings that document Morrisseau’s progression as an artist in a unique style that came to be known as “Woodland” or “legend” painting, which the artist is credited for founding as a school of form.

While the national gallery’s reluctance to embrace Morrisseau’s work is unfortunate, even distasteful, it is perhaps understandable and even forgivable.

Morisseau’s life as an artist was marked by alcoholism, drug use, forays into homosexuality and a brief flirtation with organized crime in the 1970s.

He was often destitute and occasionally on the wrong side of the law. It has been said that in Toronto he was often seen in the company of young men and in Vancouver, he traded his art for bottles of booze.

In 1957, at the age of 26, Morrisseau contracted tuberculosis and was sent to a sanitarium at Fort William, where he claims he had a number of visions and dreams calling him to be a shaman/artist.
The astral plane or what Morrisseau calls the “House of Invention” is the source of his luminous, totemic art.

In works that evoke ancient symbolic etchings on sacred birchbark and pictographic renderings of spiritual creatures, Morrisseau reveals the souls of humans and animals through his use of “ex-ray” style of imaging skeletal and internal organs of the subjects he portrays.

The landmark exhibition is probably the last great tribute to a master of his form and unique contribution to aboriginal art in Canada.
Morrisseau is now in his 70s and is ailing, confined to a nursing home in Nanaimo, British Columbia.

His friend and longtime agent Jack Pollack, the art dealer who discovered Morrisseau in 1962, described him in his memoirs.

“He’s eccentric, mad, brilliant. He’s an extraordinary human being.”

By Lee Waters

Poitras mixes medias to connect with audiences
This year’s Aboriginal Achievement Awards arts winner, Jane Ash Poitras, is considered one of Canada’s finest artists, highly respected from New York to Nunavut. Her work, spanning more than two decades, has been a steady outlet of cultural and social commentary, focusing on her Aboriginal heritage seen through the eyes of a highly educated, worldly and ballsy woman.

Her paintings and mixed media collages explore such issues as the impacts of colonialism, the control over foreign dependencies; acculturation, the effects of contact within different cultures; and ethnobotany, the use of indigenous plants by certain cultures and regions for their healing properties.

In a recent interview Jane expressed the desire to ‘paint for herself’ again, “like back in University,” she said, with no pre-destined goals for the works. A self-purging catharsis, which can be achieved when one does not consider the audience or reactions of another while creating; a well-deserved break for a 20-year-long career of analysis and rebuttal. Her previous paintings do not fit this description of selflessness, one of her notably larger exhibits was titled ‘Who Discovered The America’s?’ a series of paintings and installations commemorating Christopher Columbus’s “discovery” of America from an Aboriginal perspective.

“I can’t always be with my bow and arrow!” Jane laughs, as she explains her present inclination to communicate more progressive and globally conscious ideas through her artworks, using the example of ethnobotany.

Jane’s works have been exhibited such as the Brooklyn Museum in New York, and the National Gallery of Canada. She has won many awards throughout her career. This year, at the Aboriginal Achievement Awards, she was the winner of the Arts and Culture category. “It was different than other awards I’ve won, I just felt so proud and appreciated. It felt good, in fact it felt the best.”

Born in Fort Chipewyan, and growing up near Edmonton, Jane originally studied microbiology, a seemingly false start for the later graduate of a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Alberta. With the support of her professors and faculty, Jane applied to, and was accepted as one of the few Canadians, to Columbia University in New York. While completing her Master’s degree of Fine Arts in Painting and Sculpting, her work was already being exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum, and attracted the attention of Hannah Strong, wife of Maurice Strong Canadian and United Nations icon, who later purchased some of Jane’s work’s prior to her completion of school.

The popularity of her paintings was partially due to what Jane describes as a “universal appeal.” This can be attributed to her high level of technical training and education as well as her intuitive artistic visions. “I’ve always been in the mainstream, accepted by the mainstream,” she comments. When asked if she experienced difficulties regarding her artwork and her identity as a Native artist, she replies. “I’m colorblind and I guess the work was colorblind.”

The Aboriginal heritage, social and cultural themes of Jane’s works are combined with more visionary type imagery, derived from dreams, shamanic and spiritual themes. A sort of “Indian Expressionism” as Jane puts it. Together, her ideas are depicted in intricate collages using a variety of mixed medias including prints, old archival photography, paint, stenciled and handwritten text, newspaper clippings and many other materials. The artworks are potent with strong imagery and kinetic, vivid color.

Interactive collages
Her mixed media collages are meant to connect with the viewer on a variety of levels: the main theme, idea or message of the piece in its entirety, each broken down element of the collage (example: text, symbolism, painted depictions and their placement and overall relationship each other). The use of color and the emotions they evoke, and your own acquired spiritual interpretations. This makes for smart, layered and subjective puzzles, in which the viewer is an active participant.

Cultivating new brains, Jane now lectures at the University of Alberta, on contemporary Native Art and Shamanic Art. She’s also teaches ethnobotany, where her and her class maintain a garden, growing natural herbs and plants like sage and sweet grass. “Think about what the plant is saying to you…,” she instructs her class, referring to the age old analysis of the interactions between people and plants.

With plans in September to open a new collection at the Ceily Fine Arts gallery in Toronto, Poitras remains very inspired by the ideologies and imagery she derives from ethnobotany. Her most recent body of work titled ‘Consecrated Medicine,’ Jane describes as a “comparative celebration, new ideology and natural medicine combined.”

Whether Jane Ash Poitras is painting for herself, or embodying a renegade spokesperson for all of First Nations people, her work has a hard hitting and well defined edge, that retains her position alongside some of the most influential artists of North America.

By Michelle Oleman

Amnesty International has published a follow-up report to last year’s Stolen Sister document, which described “a climate of public indifference, to the welfare and safety of Indigenous women” in Canada. The latest report includes more recommendations made to Canadian officials.

Despite that Indigenous and non-indigenous communities have begun a long and painful journey toward working together to help understand how this problem has developed, nation-wide Indigenous women continue to disappear.

Demanding action, Amnesty International urges all levels of government to work closely with Indigenous Peoples to create plans of action to stop violence against women. Some of the recommendations include:

• Reliable and comprehensive
  statistics are gathered as to the nature and scope of the violence.
• Effective protocols for
  responding to the reports of missing Indigenous women are developed
  and implemented by police forces across Canada.
• Adequate, sustained support
  is provided to organizations providing programs to assist Indigenous
  women and girls escape from harm.
• More is done to address
  the extreme social and economic marginalization that places so many
  Indigenous women in harm’s way.

During the past 30 years it is estimated that more than 500 women have disappeared and are likely the victims of violent acts. A study conducted by its Department of Justice in the United States of America concludes that in 1999 Indigenous women were more than twice likely as white women to be victims of violent crime. They were three times higher than white women to report sexual assault, and that 15 per cent of all violent attacks against Indigenous people in the U.S. and 25 per cent of sexual assaults were reported as being committed by intimates (lovers), and family. Fully 70% of all violent crimes and 90% of sexual assault were reported as being carried out by non-indigenous people, according to this research.

There is no similar Canadian study published despite Amnesty International’s recommendation that such information would serve to help understand the social problems that lead these women into dangerous situations.

Failure to recognize the value of human dignity, particularly in Indigenous women is at the root of the problem. Canada has ratified all of the key Human Rights Treaties, including the right to life, and the right to be protected against torture and ill-treatment; the right to security of the person, and the rights both to sexual and racial equality; all of which together define ‘the inherent dignity and worth of every human being.’

The Stolen Sisters Report and its subsequent panel discussions bring much needed attention to a call for systemic change in Canada. A country which publicly prides itself on freedom that it offers all people to live in prosperity, very privately fails to realize the grave consequences that poverty within its own borders is having on its own Indigenous women.

Sarah DeVries, one of the case studies featured in the report wrote in her journal shortly before her death:

“How does one choose a victim? If I knew that I’d never get snuffed. I have no people. I have no nation and I am alone.”

She lived a high-risk life supporting a drug habit with prostitution. She went missing in April 1998, and her DNA was discovered on the property of Robert Pickton (who will be tried next year in Vancouver, B.C.).

Putting an emphatic face to this entire tragedy is Ernie Crey, who delivers a moving account of his own sister, who also fell into a life of addiction and prostitution. He describes how she is loved and missed by a family who valued her as a woman, beautiful and high-spirited. He also describes how devastated the family is, and how we (people around these women) need to stand up for their rights and ensure their safety.

“There is no housing! There is no employment! There is nothing for the people when they live back home! So they do the inevitable and move to the city, where the poverty is even worse!”

Through his political work Crey knows all too well the ill fate of the younger generation of Indigenous women. In Canada, young people, especially women, are considered lucky to survive past the age of 30. He also knows that poverty, racial inequality, and sexual and psychological barriers have yet to be overcome before we can begin to see an end to these horrible acts committed against our stolen sisters.

As one member of the Native Youth Movement, Honey DesJarlais (single mother of two) said: “We need to stand together and make sure that our sisters don’t go out alone, so they will not be hurt!”

The Stolen Sisters Report can be read at Amnesty’s web site or you can contact the Amnesty International office in Vancouver at 604-294-5160.

By Lloyd Dolha

BC’s former conflict-of-interest commissioner Ted Hughes will single-handedly review the province’s child protection system after the provincial government announced that 713 child death reviews were never properly completed.

The provincial Liberals revealed that 713 child death files were transferred to the BC Coroner’s Service in 2002, after the Liberals abolished the Children’s Commission. But the files were never physically transferred to the service and were left to languish in a Victoria warehouse.

Former blue ribbon panel members Chief Coroner Terry Smith and youth officer Jane Morley, along with former child advocate Joyce Preston and Grand Chief Ed John of the First Nations Summit were dropped from the panel. Now, they will serve in an advisory capacity only along with Justice Thomas Gove.

Children and Family Development Minister Stan Hagen announced the move in a news release stating: “This change is being made in light of recent events concerning the management of child death reviews.”

Morley wrote the review that recommended abolishing the children’s commission and shifting child death reviews to the coroner’s service. Smith then set up a child death review unit to handle the new responsibility.

Hughes said he always had misgivings that some panel members would be viewed as having “vested interests.”

“I expressed that view on a number of occasions and I think ultimately the government came to the conclusion I had a point,” said Hughes.

Morley said either she nor Smith have vested interests, but said she’s been suggesting that Hughes review it alone because of the difficulties scheduling meetings with all of the panelists, as well as her already heavy workload.

“I’ve got a very, very high regard for Ted Hughes and his fairness and I think it’s important that he feels unfettered,” she said. “He’s got limited time too and I think there’s some level of urgency here.”

The ex-panel members will now serve in an advisory capacity, while Maureen Nicholls will assist with research and administrative work.
Hughes said Nicholls comes to the table “like myself, with a completely open mind.”

It’s the second major change to the panel before it held a single meeting.

The government earlier appointed Justice Thomas Gove, but retracted that when he was unable to get leave from the provincial court.

Gove was the provincial court judge who was commissioner of the Gove Inquiry into Child Protection ten years ago. The 1995 Gove Inquiry led to the establishment of a new office called the Children’s Commissioner which was dismantled in budget cuts by the Liberals in 2002.

The independent panel had been appointed to examine British Columbia’s system of child and youth protection in the wake of the recent controversy regarding the deaths of 19 month-old Nuu Chah Nulth child Sherry Charlie in 2002; and three-year-old Carrier toddler Savannah Hall in 2001, who died while in non-native foster care.

By Lloyd Dolha

It’s a new era for the Metis people of British Columbia, says Keith Henry, executive director of the newly reborn Metis organization. “Because we’ve moved institutions of government forward.”

At their annual general meeting in late September at Fort St. John, the Metis Provincial Council of British Columbia formally announced the successful implementation of a Metis Nation Governing Assembly, a Metis Nation Senate and the ratification of a Metis Nation Citizenship Act through legislative acts completing its transformative change from a non-profit society to a true provincial Metis Nation governance structure.

“Now we’ve given ourselves institutions to give ourselves legislative law-making powers over the Metis community that can help define what our role is here in BC,” said Mr. Henry.

The Metis reached this transformative change after two years of exhaustive meetings and 59 community consultations throughout the seven regions that comprised the old Metis Provincial Council of BC. Those consultations followed the ratification of a MPCBC constitution in 2003.

Through these governing institutions, the Metis Nation BC will pursue ratification of an Electoral and Natural Resource Act in 2006 as well as other acts pertaining to social sectors such as a Metis Children and Family Act.

The Metis Nation BC is also pursuing strategic connections to clarify their relationship with the province’s First Nations in light of a recent BC provincial court ruling in R v. Willison that upheld a Metis right to hunt in the Thompson/ Okanagan area of the province.

In Willison, the trial judge found that there was a historic Metis community in the “environs of Falkland” that included a geographic area that was part of the historic fur trade Brigade Trail that went from Fort Kamloops, where the North Thompson and the Thompson River confluence, to Fort Okanagan, now in the northwest United States.

Metis fur trade pioneers
This was a historic route of fur traders in the first half of the 19th century and the Metis were the people who transported the furs in the brigade system which flourished for about 40-50 years.

The Metis came to the Thompson/Okanagan in around 1810-1811 and established families in the area. The Metis were “indispensable” members of the fur trade, but by the 1860’s became largely invisible with the demise of the fur trade. They continued as a community in and around Kamloops.

The judge, Justice Stanfield, said it was apparent that the Metis sought each other out and that there purpose in “seeking each other out is to enhance their survival as a distinct community and to practices that were historically important features of Metis communities.”

It included the Falkland area where Mr. Willison was hunting and the trial judge was satisfied that a community of Metis people existed during these years and it was a rights-bearing community.

As in the landmark 2003 Supreme Court of Canada ruling on Metis rights in Powley, the trial judge noted there was evidence of the Metis culture going “underground ” due in part to discrimination.

Stanfield J. further stated that provided persons meet the membership criteria set out in Powley he did not believe it necessary to establish every member of the local Metis community demonstrate a personal ancestral connection to the particular Metis persons who formed the ancestral community in BC.

In Powley, to prove membership an individual must: self-identify as a Metis; have an ancestral connection to an historic Metis community; and, be accepted as a member by this community.
Mr. Willison has that connection and, based on that, Stanfield J. was satisfied that Mr. Willison was a rights-bearing member of the local contemporary Metis community.

While the judgment in Willison applies strictly to the Metis community in the “environs of Falkland,” it can be taken as a precedent for the existence of other contemporary rights-bearing Metis communities in other areas of the province.

BC Metis-rich province
And there are a lot of Metis in British Columbia.

According to the Metis Nation BC, there are more than 44,000 Metis in the seven regions of the province that forms the basis of their governing structures.

In seeking this strategic alliance with First Nations, the Metis Nation BC has developed protocol agreements that respect aboriginal and treaty right while allowing the Metis to advance and develop their community and culture in the province both socially and politically.

“We want First Nations to know we’re partners within the aboriginal community. We’re not here to compete for treaty or territorial rights. We’re here to work with them,” said Mr. Henry.

The Metis Nation BC is currently negotiating protocol agreements with the Shuswap Nation Tribal Council, Treaty 8 Tribal Council and the Nicola Tribal Association. They are also seeking to establish protocol agreements with the First Nations Summit and the Union of BC Indian Chiefs.

Henry said that since the Powley decision, many in the BC Metis community believe they have a Metis right to harvest. In light of that, the Metis Nation BC has developed a harvesting management structure and is carrying on academic research to prove the existence of other Metis communities outside of the Thompson/Okanagan area.

“Our approach to this is to try to work with stakeholders such as First Nations, the provincial government and organizations such as the BC Wildlife Federation and say, ‘Here’s what the courts have said in the Powley decision, here’s what we saw in the Willison decision. How can we work together to protect the sustainability of the harvesting resource?” said Henry.

“We want to make sure that the conservation and safety aspects are met with stakeholders like the BC Wildlife Federation and to the provincial government to say ‘Let’s not end up in the courts debating this. Let’s try to figure this out and what it means around BC.'”he said.

Decision court’s first
The Powley decision marked the first time the Supreme Court had addressed and affirmed whether Section 35 of the Canadian constitution protects the aboriginal rights of Metis to hunt for food.

The case confirmed the existence of the Metis as a distinct aboriginal people and the constitutional protection of their existing aboriginal rights.

Since the Powley decision, the federal, provincial and territorial governments, along with Metis organizations and other stakeholders, have held discussions to clarify the long-term implications of the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision and work toward a common understanding of the issues involved. Various consultations and initiatives are currently underway, including the Canada-Aboriginal Peoples Roundtable.

The Crown’s appeal of the Willison case is set to take place between December 12 -14, 2005 in Vernon, BC.

At appeal, the court will deal with part 3, the issue of justification.

Was Mr. Willison, as a contemporary rights-bearing Metis person justified in shooting the deer for sustenance purposes in the “environs of Falkland”?

Interim president and Director of Natural Resources for the Thompson/Okanagan region David Hodgson, gave his take on the Willison harvesting rights case.

“It proves the point that the Metis are in the province of British Columbia. We do hunt and fish in the province of British Columbia and we are entitled to the same rights as all aboriginal people.”

By Lloyd Dolha

Backed by AFN National Chief Phil Fontaine, UBCIC President Stewart Phillip, Grand Chief Ed John of the First Nations Summit and Chief Fabian Alexis met with federal Indian Affairs Minister Andy Scott and BC Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation Minister Tom Christianson to discuss the status of the first nation’s historical Commonage Reserve specific claim.

“It was a definite study in contrasts,” said Chief Alexis. “Our Friday afternoon meeting with provincial minister Tom Christianson was short and decisive while our Friday evening meeting with federal minister Andy Scott was lengthy and inconclusive.”

“Minister Christianson was quick to state British Columbia’s clear intention to remain at the bargaining table,” commented Chief Alexis.

“He even went so far to say that he would personally contact federal Minister Scott in order to strongly encourage Canada to do likewise.”

The high-level meeting between Minister Christianson and Scott and the aboriginal leadership took place in Kelowna on November 25 in the closing hours of the historic First Minster’s Meeting.

The chief noted that the meaningful consultation endorsed by the province was preferable to lengthy litigation and confrontation that may arise from Canada’s position on their historical grievance.

“In contrast,” continued the Okanagan chief, “while Minister Scott acknowledged our sense of frustration and betrayal, and stated his desire to regain our trust, he did not commit to stay at the negotiation table.”

Okanagan claim 130 years old
The Commonage Reserve specific claim involves the outright theft of 28,000 acres of prime Okanagan ranch and waterfront property that was originally set aside for Okanagan Indian band some 130 years ago.

The Okanagan Commonage Reserve was set apart for the Okanagan Indian band in 1877 by the federal/provincial Joint Reserve Commission. Soon after the Commonage Reserve was created, local white settlers lobbied the commission for the removal of the 28,000 acres of prime reserve land from the band in the interests of the settlement community.

Following secret clandestine meetings between Premier William Smithe and Prime Minister Sir John A. MacDonald, Canada purported to “relinquish” the band’s interest in the valuable reserve land.

The federal and provincial governments of-the-day purposely kept the Okanagan band in the dark about the unscrupulous negotiations and to this day, the Okanagan Indian band has never been compensated for the loss of the reserve land.

The Okanagan Indian band leadership was angered in late October when negotiators for the federal government withdrew from the specific claim negotiations.

Chief Alexis met with federal negotiators who explained the position Canada adopted in light of a recent Supreme Court of Canada ruling regarding when reserves were created in British Columbia, as well as the legal limitations of claims against the federal government.

In Wewaykum, the Supreme Court found that reserves in the province were not legally created until 1938, whereas the usurping of valuable Commonage Reserve lands took place in the late 1800s.
Federal negotiators confirmed that a letter terminating negotiations had not yet seen the letter and was not aware of its contents.

The Okanagan Indian band leadership is further incensed by the fact that five years ago, they met with then Indian Affairs minister Robert Nault, accepted their claim for negotiation and apologized for taking 11 years to review their specific claim.

Province’s largest claim
The band’s Commonage Reserve claim is believed to be the largest claim submitted under Canada’s specific claim process in the history of the province. Conservative, order-of-magnitude estimates value the claim at close to three-quarters of a billion dollars.

“The one positive thing we did get from Minister Scott was a commitment ‘not to sign off’ on any recommendations from his staff to end negotiations on the Commonage claim,” said Chief Alexis.

The Okanagan Indian band has the support of all First Nations in the pro.

The First Nation still has the option of suing the federal government over the loss of the lands in a test case, but the Okanagan band prefers a negotiated solution.

“The test case is an option we will be pursuing,” said Chief Alexis.

“But the prospect of having our negotiations put on hold while Ottawa does yet another policy review is worrisome and we need to be clear we have very little patience for further delays.”

“The Commonage, which is Indian Reserve #9, was taken from us without our knowledge or consent. We were never compensated. We have been waiting a very long time, 130 years, to have our claim resolved. We are determined to negotiate a full and fair restitution for the loss of this land.”

By B.H. Bates

Ask any of the friends I grew up with, concerning, me, marriage and a white picket fence – and they’ll all say the same thing: “Him? Never!” Well, never say never!

After twenty-two years of living in blissful sin, my lady love and I headed to Las Vegas, to tie the knot, seal the deal and do the deed!

On the eve of the wedding, I laid in bed, staring at the ceiling, thinking of what marriage really meant. Phrases like these, started to pop up in my head: institution of marriage, committed for life and the ‘biggie’ – “Until death do you part!” They sounded a lot like something a judge might say to a man, who’s about to face twenty-five to life!

Needless to say, my feet became quite itchy and a shiver ran down my spine. I think I may now know how a man on death row might feel. A few months ago it was all fun and games: “Oh, I know! Let’s fly away to Las Vegas and get married by an Elvis impersonator!”

But as I lay on that bed in Vegas, which, by the way, is the gambling capital of the World, I couldn’t sleep, so I had plenty of time to let my mind run wild.

My native forefathers and theirs before them never stood before a man in black, as he read words like: obey, eternal and the ‘biggie – fidelity!

Our ancestors took their cues from nature.

Some looked to the majestic gander, who picks the goose he’d goose for life. While others thought that the rutting Buck, with his many, many does was more to their liking. And still others observed two dogs (males) banging uglies, and they thought to themselves: “Hmm, that’s interesting.”

And not one of those Bros, stood before a preacher man and said: “Me do’um!”

All they needed was love in their hearts and an erect tepee and they were good to go. No piece of paper, no man of the cloth, be it loin or other wise. And definitely no prenuptial agreements to argue over, it was more like: “Me kill’um, you gut’um, we eat’um!” Ahhh … life was so much more simple, back in the days of bow-n-arrow.

Back then things were a lot cheaper too. For instance there was no such thing as a gas-guzzling limo, all they had was a water guzzling horse.

There was no need for an expensive dress, when a beaver pelt was the only thing a groom wanted to see. And the only things that sparkled were the stars in the sky and the twinkle in their eyes.

Another thing that popped into my head was, the ‘D’ word. After we told some people of our impending nuptials, one unpleasant little story a lot of these nay-sayers seemed to regurgitate was: “I knew of these folks who lived together for years and years, and as soon as they got married, they split the sheets (divorced).”

A funny thing about these tales of woe – they never seemed to have any names for that poor couple, either that or they all knew the same unlucky duo. My theory is: it’s just an urban legend, used to frighten happy couples. It’s like when you tell a kid: “Don’t play with that – you’ll grow hair on your palms!” If these stories were true, everyone on the planet would be divorced and very, very hairy.

How did our forefathers handle divorce? Did they run out and hire the best medicine-man money could buy? Did they split all their possessions right down the middle? Half a horse is a dead horse. And half a tepee is just a pee. My guess is, divorce must be some half-witted European invention.

Who else, other than a half-wit, would work half of their lives
accumulating beautiful things, just to lose half of those prized possessions in a messy divorce, then marry a woman half their age, only to die half way through middle age?

As I see it: marriage is something that’s not to be taken lightly. If the
both of you decide to take that leap of love and unite under the sanctified institution of marriage – you should think of it as a life long commitment.

And if you’re dumb enough to get married on a ‘whim’ – you should really be institutionalized and committed, until your IQ is higher than the age on your driver’s licence!

But I don’t want to scare off anyone who’s thinking of making their
relationship permanent. I want you to know, I’m truly a lucky man – I’ve found the love of my life and I can honestly say, I’m a happily married man… that’s what my wife says!

By B.H. Bates

Many, many moons ago, even before your parents were born, and their’s before them – there lived an old native man, whom the children named, SanNan Ta Claws.

His first names meant: One who gives of himself.
And his last name, Claws, was given to him because of his bravery!

A long, long time ago, soon after the Great Spirit met Mother nature, they fell in love and decided to make the seasons – they started with the birth of spring time – a time when things come to life and grow. Then they made the summer time, a time of warm sun and much happiness. Then they made the fall time, a sad time, a time when the light of life must fade away. And to complete the circle of life, they made winter time, a time of mourning.

And it’s during this time of mourning, that the peoples are at their
saddest. The cold north winds blow, the snows cover the ground, the days are short and the mighty Sun Spirit hides behind the clouds, sometimes for days and days on end.

In one small village, up by the North Totem pole, there lived an old elder, with long white whiskers, and he was even sadder than the rest of the peoples. You see, his son went to hunt for the reindeer and had become lost in a winter storm. Everyone was very worried, but nobody wanted to leave the warmth of the campfires to go out and look for him.

Nobody, that is, except for the brave, San Nan Ta. That night he prepared for the dangerous journey. He loaded a buck skin sack with good food, lots of flints to help him make fire and he also wrapped up little bags of sweet summer berries.

The next morning he put on many, many layers of furs to help protect him from the bitter cold. As soon as his woman saw him, she began to laugh: “You look like a big fat bear.”

Then all of a sudden, she stopped laughing. “What if our son sees you dressed like this? He might think you really are a
bear and run away!” She said with a worried look on her face.

Then she had an idea … she ran inside and came out with a basket full of red winter berries and she squished them all over San Nan Ta’s coat.

“What are you doing, you crazy woman?” San Nan Ta asked.

She stood back, and once again, she began to laugh. “There, now when our boy sees you, he’ll think you’re a big red winter berry.”

Then the great San Nan Ta, threw his sack of goodies over his shoulder and headed south to find his boy. That was the last time Mrs. Claws saw him. And she would like to ask all the good little boys and girls to look outside for San Nan Ta Claws, whenever the cold winter winds blow.

San Nan Ta, traveled for many moons – then one night he came upon a tepee buried in the deep snow, all the way up to the top, where the campfire smoke comes out. He poked his head down the dark chimney, and called out: “Ho, Ho, Ho!” (In his language ‘Ho’ means hello.)

San Nan Ta Claws found a cold and hungry native family huddled in the dark. The old father told San Nan Ta that they prayed to the Great Spirit to save them, and if the Great Spirit helped them, they promised that they would be good peoples all year long.

San Nan Ta smiled as he reached into his bag and presented them with flint to start a fire, food to eat and sweet berries for the little ones.

San Nan Ta heard from one elder, that there were other villages who also needed him. And with the a wink of an eye, as if by magic, he was gone, like smoke up the chimney. That night, San Nan Ta Claws visited every tepee and he gave everyone a gift – gifts that warmed their hearts, fed their tummies and made the little ones smile.

And legend has it – even though San Nan Ta Claws visited many, many villages and many, many tepees, his buck skin bag never seemed to become empty. San Nan Ta Claws, always had plenty of presents for all the good little boys and girls.

May the Great Spirit watch over you and yours, this holiday season!

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

By Michelle Oleman

MarchAboriginal War Veterans have long been active in the Canadian Armed Forces in country and overseas. This year they will be celebrated as war heroes by their own communities in Vancouver, British Columbia.

James P. Nahanee volunteered for the Canadian Army in 1943, training at Currie Barrack in Calgary, and went on to serve in England, France, Belgium and Holland. He returned home in 1946 and has received medals including the Canadian Voluntary Service Medal with Clasp, a Civilian Medal, the Canadian Centennial Medal (1967), and an Outstanding Service Medal for working with Native Indian communities in B.C. He will be delivering the opening speech for the march at 9:00 a.m., on this historic day to honor or Aboriginal War Veterans (traditionally known as Warriors).

Robert Nahanee started off in 1960 with the Six Field Squadron of the Royal Canadian Engineers for cadet training. In 1963, at the age of joined the Canadian Army with the 2nd Battalion of the Princess Patricia Canadian Light Infantry (PPLCI) for Basic Training, Leading Infantry Training, and Airborne Training. From there he was transferred to Germany with the 1st Battalion PPLCI Until 1966.

Robert re-enlisted in 1967, stationed in 1967 back with the 1st Battalion; PPLCI then in 1968 was transferred to Cyprus. Fighting with the United Nations Peace Keeping Force.

Peace keeping, he describes as harder work than actual war, because you’re there to keep two warring factions apart from one another, and this war in Cyprus was dubbed the “Corporal’s War.”

Corporals, in the Canadian Armed Forces are mainly Non-Commissioned Officers, thus they usually have no real executive power during battle, but because of the intensity of this war situation the NCO’s were instructed to make those split decisions as they saw fit, and to waste no time waiting for a response from the Home front, Robert was a Corporal at this time.

Six months later he returned to Calgary, where he stayed for two years. Then in 1970 he was sent overseas again with the UN Peace Keeping Forces. Each trip lasted six months, but his final transfer would be back to Calgary, where he remained until 1974 and was discharged.

He comments that much of his training in the army has come in handy throughout his life. For example, in Corporal Training (6 weeks) he learned not only to lead the troops, but also to instruct them. Since his discharge from the army his work has included training people in the community, instructing them through his workshops, and in many aspects leading them through community events, ceremonies and many other wonderful efforts. He also said that when someone trained for war returns home they are never untrained.

The soldiers who return home are not the real heroes. Many veterans will tell us, whether they are decorated or not, that the real heroes never came home, and this is why we celebrate Remembrance Day.

The March
Two generations are represented here. Each have been awarded medals and each are participating in the first ever “Honoring Our Veterans” March on November 8, 2005. Aboriginal Veterans Day will celebrate our heroes who have returned, and honor those who have passed on serving our country to protect our freedom, and our independence.

As Aboriginal Canadians we have responsibility to uphold our values and our traditions, though this may change year by year in ceremony as the generations pass, our Warriors have now been re-titled Veterans, and we must gather to remember them.
Several community organizations have stepped forward in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver to organize the March.

Carnegie Centre has volunteered time and space for the initial Gathering which will begin at 9 am, and proceed to an assembly on the street at Main and Hastings by 9:45 am, followed by a March to Victory Square Cenotaph.

Hereditary Chiefs, Bill Williams and Ian Campbell, of the Squamish Nation will be the opening speakers, followed by mayor Larry Campbell and several other city dignitaries.

At the Cenotaph, several members from BladeRunners, ConcordPacific Group Inc, Urban Native Youth Association, Turtle Island Professional Society, among others have organized equipment and shelter for Traditional as well as Veteran Ceremonies to commence lead us up to the one minute silence at 11:00 am. Followed by Laying of the Wreaths and Poppies, which will be honored by a song from the Red Blanket Singers drum group.

Then on to the “Honoring Our Veterans” Feast at the Vancouver Aboriginal Friendship Center where dinner has been provided through Potluck Café, Squamish Nation and the Tillilcum Restaurant.

This year marks the 60th Anniversary of the end of World War II, and it may prove to be more historic than that in raising awareness to the strength and integrity our First Nations War Heroes have stood in the face of adversity on the home front. From being paid on a scale of 40% less than the average Canadian Veteran, to coming home and finding no respect for themselves and for their families Aboriginal Canadian Veterans have persevered and survived.

By Lloyd Dolha

The success of the upcoming historic meeting between the prime minister, provincial premiers and the leading national aboriginal organizations may be in jeopardy due to significant internal divisions in the Assembly of First Nations.

Chiefs representing the 11 numbered treaties, which covers a massive area of Canada from northern Ontario through the Prairies, the territories and part of northern British Columbia, have voted to join forces through the creation of a new political entity called the Treaty Chiefs Council Secretariat. The creation of the new entity has ignited speculation that it could eventually break away from the AFN.

Chief Strater Crowfoot of the First Nation in Alberta, which is part of Treaty 7, said that while he does not support pulling out of the AFN, he believes some in the new secretariat are in favour of such a move.

“Probably, yes [because] they’re being ignored, the treaties that they have are being diluted,” said Chief Crowfoot.

At a rare meeting of all chiefs from Treaty 1 to 11 on September 27 to 29th in Edmonton, the treaty chiefs voted 54-0 to create the Treaty Chiefs Council Secretariat, with four chiefs abstaining.

There is speculation that former AFN national chief Ovide Mercredi, may head up the new organization. Mercredi was elected chief of the Grand Rapids First Nation of Manitoba in June.

A separate resolution by Treat6 6 to 8 chiefs in Alberta criticized the federal government’s “pan-aboriginal” approach to “homogenize First Nations people.” The resolution also says the treaty chiefs from Alberta are demanding a “nation to nation” relationship for discussions on education at the November first ministers meeting.

The chiefs from Quebec are currently debating a motion to pull out of the national body for the purposes of the first ministers meeting. A resolution that has been debated at two meetings of the 40 Quebec chiefs declares that they would not be bound by any deal struck by the AFN at the meeting and the prime minister and the premiers should deal with the Quebec chiefs separately.

Ghislain Picard, the regional chief of Quebec and Labrador, made it clear that he will not meet with Prime Minister Paul Martin and the premiers.

Picard said Canada should be dealing First Nations governments as equals and the provinces should join talks after that.

“I mean it’s up to us to determine when Quebec comes into play and that’s certainly what we want to do,” said the regional chief. “We don’t want to be victims of the multilateral process that is strictly designed by the federal government.”

Although the status of the Quebec chief’s motion remains unclear, the organization drafted a damning report criticizing the AFN’s handling of negotiations with Ottawa heading into the first minister’s meeting in Kelowna, B.C.

The report states the Quebec chiefs have “serious misgivings” about the current process heading into the meeting which “can only turn out to be dangerous for the AFN and the future of First Nations.”
The report further expresses concern that the meeting is being held to close to a federal election.

“The current political circumstances … give rise to slapdash solutions stemming from a slapdash process, into which the First Nations can only feel rushed,” it states.

On the prairies, some chiefs with historic treaties with the Crown say they deserve a seat beside the AFN, not behind it.

Chief BillyJo DeLaRonde of the Pine Creek First Nation in Manitoba sad he appreciates what the AFN is doing, but believes the emphasis should be on treaty rights and therefore he has concerns about the meeting.

Provinces to be given more control
Both the numbered treaty chiefs and the Quebec chiefs have expressed concern that the AFN, led by national chief Phil Fontaine, is about to sign a deal that would see Ottawa offloading many of its responsibilities for aboriginals to the provinces.

These internal divisions could make it more difficult to strike a deal at the meeting which is the culmination of nearly two years of talks aimed at raising the standard of living of all aboriginal people to the Canadian average in ten years.

The federal government is set to announce a major cash injection to lift aboriginal living standards that it has called “shameful.”

Ottawa will commit between $3 and $5 billion over five years to improve aboriginal education, housing, health and economic development programs.

The Assembly of First Nations has urged Ottawa to commit at least $5 billion over the next ten years to fight poverty on reserves.
But Federation of Saskatchewan Indians Nations chief Alphonse Bird said these leaders don’t speak for everyone.

“My people came down from Montreal Lake, Treaty 6 and we’re participating,” said Bird. “Our people have never given us a mandate to stay away and say no to opportunity.”

Fontaine said that no matter who participates in the Kelowna meeting, his job is still to fight for the rights of all First Nations people in Canada.

He assured the treaty chiefs that their rights will be a central part of the AFN’s position. The national chief said he expects strong support from the “vast majority” of chiefs heading into the late November meeting and that internal debate should be expected.
The national chief was in Edmonton to meet the interim spokesperson of the new fledgling organization, Chief Sanford Big Plume.

“You have a minority government, but that doesn’t make the prime minister any less ligitimate when he convenes a first ministers meeting. He speaks for Canada … well, I have a mandate to speak for the First Nations of Canada.”