Topic: NEWS

Join Four Arrows Regional Health Authority at Canad Inns Destination Centre Club Regent Casino Hotel in Winnipeg, Manitoba (March 1-3, 2016) to share and learn about Indigenous cultural food practices and the ceremonies, stories, and traditional languages that honour food. Indigenous food sovereignty is about reconnecting people to their food sources and allowing them to play an active role in providing their own food. “It’s a look back at the food practices our communities have used for centuries while looking forward to reclaim our food identities.”

The industrial food system provides much of the food we eat, but there are concerns over its sustainability for food producers, the environment, and local economies. Manitoba continues to experience family farm bankruptcies, the contamination of Aboriginal food sources, and high rates of poverty and food insecurity. Many communities have poor access to healthy, affordable, and culturally appropriate food. The Manitoba Alternative Food Research Alliance brings people together from across urban, rural, and northern Manitoba to create food justice in their communities. The alliance is made up of citizens developing alternative food systems that provide local, fresh, healthy, culturally appropriate, fairly-produced and affordable food (food security).

Alternative food systems can take many different forms, such as community-supported agriculture farms, community kitchens and gardens, and traditional hunting, trapping, or fishing. Four Arrows RHA has been working with First Nation communities for over ten years through programs that focus on access to local and healthy food, and a resurgence of culture is happening across the country as people go back to the land. Culture connects people to the language, places to our ceremonies, and food to our traditional teachings.

Byron Beardy, Food Security Coordinator at Four Arrows RHA, has travelled all across Turtle Island talking about Indigenous food and has witnessed the peoples’ desire to reconnect with their food systems. Byron feels connected to Mother Earth and has found a definite need for this knowledge within himself. “Too often we hear stories of food insecurity, of people going hungry in Indigenous communities. Those stories are important, but so are the stories of how we are spending time on the land, growing, gathering, hunting, fishing, and trapping.” Byron believes it’s time to share stories that can help “reignite the fire within our communities.”

At the food summit, the Dene, Dakota, Cree, Ojibwe, and Oji-Cree and will share their food stories and insights into their food culture. This gathering is being organized by Indigenous people, for Indigenous people, and with Indigenous people to spark that fire, to share, to laugh and to eat, and to listen with our full hearts.

A gala dinner is scheduled for March 2nd, featuring traditional indigenous food and entertainment by Innu musician Florent Vollant. Registration for IFS Summit 2016 includes all daytime events, lunch, nutrition breaks, and entrance to the Food & Film Night on March 1st. For additional information and registration details, go to [www.localandjust.ca] or call Four Arrows Regional Health Authority toll free (1-866-653-3441).

Climate change means marine creatures are migrating—away from First Nations’ territory.

by Larry Pynn

Seafood has sustained the First Nations of British Columbia for millennia. The annual migration of Pacific salmon, in particular, is lifeblood. Each year, millions of salmon swim and leap their way up major river systems such as the Fraser and Skeena all the way to landlocked communities in the province’s interior. But now, climate change is threatening to strike at the heart of those time-honored connections by pushing marine life farther north in search of cooler waters.

As a new study warns, “unprecedented climate change poses a considerable threat” to First Nations’ food, cultural, and economic values. By 2050, aboriginal catches are expected to decline significantly, depriving indigenous people from 16 coastal communities of up to CAN $12-million annually in commercial fisheries, the study shows.

Warming and changing oxygen concentrations in the ocean, spurred on by anthropogenic climate change, will send marine life swimming northward at an average rate of about 10 to 18 kilometers per decade. For the 98 fish and invertebrate species studied, this will equate to an average drop in annual catches of 4.5 to 11 percent, with the declines being much higher for certain species.

The study shows that two critical species will suffer the greatest declines: salmon by 17 to 29 percent; and their prey, herring, by 28 to 49 percent. Catches of green sea urchin could shrink by as much as 36 percent, flounder and sole by 30 percent, shrimp and prawns by 18 percent, and halibut by 13 percent.

Aboriginal groups located in British Columbia’s more southerly waters are expected to suffer the greatest catch losses: up to 27 percent for the Tsawwassen First Nation near the Canada-United States border, compared with 6.6 percent for the Haida First Nation off the province’s north coast.

The study projections are shocking to First Nations people such as Tracy Winbush, an executive member of the First Nations Fisheries Council of BC. “It’s a fearful thought, it really is. Climate change is such a big issue,” she says.

Traditional marine foodstuffs of the Haida people, including dried and smoked salmon, seaweed, dried halibut, olican grease, dried clams, and a dish called “kaaw,” made of dried herring eggs on kelp. Photo by Dewitt Jones/Corbis

Traditional marine foodstuffs of the Haida people, including dried and smoked salmon, seaweed, dried halibut, olican grease, dried clams, and a dish called “kaaw,” made of dried herring eggs on kelp.

Annual salmon runs are critical to many of BC’s aboriginals. Frozen whole, canned, smoked, or dried on wind-blown racks such as those in the semi-arid Fraser Canyon, they provide an economic and nutritional food source lasting all winter. With less salmon, indigenous communities may have to resort to more expensive and less healthy store-bought foods or turn to other wild foods such as deer with unknown consequences on those populations.

While the study looked at the effects of declining catches on coastal First Nations, interior peoples reliant on migrating salmon (salmon left after communities farther downriver have taken their share) also stand to suffer greatly.

Winbush is typical of aboriginal people living in Merritt who drive to the Fraser Canyon to harvest salmon because of already diminished stocks in the local Nicola River system. She laments a century of human-caused impacts that have harmed the fish, starting with the Hell’s Gate rockslide during railway construction in 1913, along with poorly regulated and toxic industrial developments, and large-scale commercial fishing. Yet the latest projected declines from climate change may be the most challenging threat of all.

Dick Beamish, an emeritus federal fisheries researcher, says the results are consistent with other related findings on climate change. But he cautions that one of the underlying assumptions of the research is that current fish distributions are based on water temperature, when they may actually be influenced by food availability or ocean currents. He notes that the cascading effects on the ecosystem from the loss of key species will also affect a long list of marine predators. And, he cautions natural climate trends may temper or amplify the effects of anthropogenic warming.

Potential solutions to the looming crisis include global commitments to reduce greenhouse gases under the 2015 Paris Climate Conference, joint management of key marine resources with First Nations, reduced fishing pressure on species at greatest risk, and restoration and enhancement of existing habitats.

“It can’t just be First Nations doing their best,” Winbush concludes. “It’s all of us—everyone will be affected by the loss of these fish and the economics they bring in.”

Environmentalists and First Nations commend the federal government’s decision to ban crude oil tanker traffic along British Columbia’s north coast, considering it the beginning of the end for the Enbridge Pipeline. On November 13th, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau instructed his incoming Minister of Transport, Fisheries, Natural Fesources, and Environment to formalize a moratorium that experts say will block the highly controversial Northern Gateway project from continuing. Karen Mahon, ForestEthics Advocacy director, explains, “This ban ends the dangerous Northern Gateway pipeline proposal. Without tankers crude oil has no place to go, that means no pipelines, no oil trains moving tar sands to the northern BC coast.”

AFN National Chief Perry Bellegarde presents Prime Minister Justin Trudeau with a blanket in December 2015. (Picture courtesy of Adrian Wyld / THE CANADIAN PRESS via www.ctvnews.ca)

In 2010, the House of Commons passed a non-binding motion which would put the Dixon Entrance, Hecate Strait, and Queen Charlotte Sound off limits to tanker traffic. The moratorium solidifies the government’s attempt to protect important ecological areas. Former prime minister Stephen Harper was the only one to oppose the ban since it was introduced. Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau worked with an MP from British Columbia more than four decades ago to pass a ban involving the coastal waters of Vancouver Island.

Mahon sees recent events as part of a bigger change. “We are living the tipping point on climate disruption. President Obama killed the Keystone XL pipeline; now Prime Minister Trudeau killed the Enbridge pipeline. This is the beginning of the end for the dirtiest crude oil on Earth.”

According to the Calgary Herald, spokesman Graham White stated, “Today, Enbridge reduced its workforce by 5%, representing approximately 500 people at all levels across our operations and 100 unfilled positions.” However, Enbridge remains positive; a spokesman for Northern Gateway said the company remains committed to ”essential” infrastructure. Ivan Giesbrecht stated that staff look forward to updating Trudeau on the project. He noted a tanker ban has a potential economic impact on First Nations and Métis communities in the region, according to DeSmog Canada. He said, ‘‘We share the vision of the Trudeau government that energy projects must incorporate world-leading environmental standards and First Nations and Métis ownership.”

The $7-billion Northern Gateway project received government approval in June 2014, contingent on 209 conditions and review by the National Energy Board. The Federal Court of Appeal is currently considering whether to overturn the approval after a court challenge by First Nations and environmental groups.

Leaders are pushing for a more assertive approach to energy strategies. “There are probably community leaders and First Nations and people all across the northwest waking up this morning with a sense of relief that that particular pipeline is no longer looming over our heads,” Smithers Mayor Taylor Bachrach told DeSmog Canada. “It’s been a long road and it’s brought people together, but it will be nice to move on to other conversations about the future of our region.”

Terry Teegee, tribal chief for the Carrier-Sekani Tribal Council said, “We really are testing our rights and title, we’re testing our mettle as people. It really helped us develop relationships beyond our asserted title.” He explained, “Asserting our rights and title collectively, we can really determine our own future, we can determine how development happens in our territory, we can determine what happens on a national scale. It would really send a message to oil and gas companies that it’s not ‘business as usual.’ You really need consent of First Nations.”

Teegee believes the Northern Gateway issue created the perfect time for a more proactive, productive approach to energy. “The next step is to keep the momentum going and start really discussing our issues. I think we need to have a real talk about energy and having an energy strategy for our people,” he told DeSmog Canada. While the battle is not over, there may be real hope in Canada’s new government protecting its precious environment, and the tanker ban may renew faith that communities can come together and stand up for their rights to make a real difference.

The strongest platforms for indigenous people are the ones we create ourselves. Since the beginning of November, Siksika Nation’s spiritual leaders have created a blockade in order to bring attention to inconsistencies within the community’s Chief and Council.

“We need to let the truth come out. We are hiding behind lies, but the people deserve the truth,” states Ben Crow Chief, initiator and voice of the blockade. In search of the truth, Crow Chief decided to inquire to Siksika’s governance in order to gain and share information about the 44 home development projects the Alberta Government has granted the reserve. Unfortunately, he and many others have received no clear information. Chief and Council have remained almost unanimously silent about the topic, thickening the communication barrier between the people and their supposed leadership.

“Enough is enough,” voices Ben Crow Chief. And so, up went the blockade.

Ben Crow Chief and others initiated the blockade to urge their chief to be honest and open with the people of Siksika.

It isn’t your normal blockade, either. When First Nation’s Drum arrived, there was no sign of a set-up resorting to mindless protest, spectacle, or violence. Instead, what they had set up was a large white tipi bearing the flag of Siksika at its top. The shades of an overcast sunset edged towards the dark of night, and there was nothing but mindfulness exuding out of the people that were there. There was no anger. No radical attitudes. Not one sign of violence.

We were greeted by elder Wayne Leather. “We need the media to let everyone know what is really going on here,” he insisted, inviting us to warm ourselves inside the tipi.

We enter, finding a fire burning at its heart. A handful of community members are sitting inside in full respect to a story being told by Brian Little Chief. And so we sat, watching the fire, listening.

Instead of politics or overbearing opinions, truths of existence and ignitions towards purpose filled the storyline. Within traditional tales, Little Chief would repeat the importance of the connection we have with our culture. We are all here to regain what the western-inclined world that surrounds us has taken from us.

“We have to go back to the way we think,” Little Chief stresses. “A lot of these non-Natives, they don’t know—they don’t see—the patterns and the themes that we live in. And so, even our Chief and Council, they forget about the people.”

This is why the community is at odds with their leadership. They are not getting the solutions they need from their Chief, Council has not been taking matters seriously, and all the while, flood victims are still without a place to call home.

“You know, they listen to [western-minded] people who say ‘if you go this way, it is much cheaper’,” informs Little Chief. The $93 million settlement for flood repair is going towards housing developments for those without homes. Instead of asking for the input of the people, though, corners have been cut to satisfy capitalistic interest.

“You can’t just be building communities here. There’s elders that know; you should go to them and ask, ‘is it’s okay to build here?’ They’ll say ‘no, there’s burial grounds from way back.’ They don’t do any consulting, these people.” Absolutely no consultation. The reserve’s Chief and Council decided to make the decisions themselves. Now the building plans are nothing but a single blueprint for a single spot of land. In order to cut costs, there will be no variation, and forty-four of the exact same blueprint will be developed on a piece of land convenient to finances.

“In the past, our families lived close together. But because of the influence of non-Natives to our leadership on Chief and Council, and some of our Chief and Council not being raised in this traditional way, they get influenced,” continues Little Chief. “It may work out in mainstream society, but for us people we have a culture, we have our spiritual ways, and the reason families live apart is because it keeps everything calm and respectful.”

First Nations Drum tried contacting Chief & Council for comment (the secretary to tribal manager, Romeo Crow Chief), but with no luck for comment by press time.

The blockade will persist as long as the line of communication remains nonexistent between Siksika’s community and their leaders. Ben Crow Chief and many others will continue to urge their chief to be honest and open with the people of Siksika. Until then, animosity hangs in the air.

“To them, they think money is what is going to make Siksika thrive,”Ben Crow Chief shakes his head. “It’s the people that’s going to make Siksika thrive. It’s the community that’s going to make Siksika thrive. But all they see is dollar signs, ‘how much is Siksika gonna make?’” he pauses. “It’s the people that makes Siksika rich.”

The election of 2015 will be remembered for the large number of Aboriginal voters who turned up at the polls and for the record number of Aboriginal candidates elected across Canada. In total, 54 candidates ran and ten candidates were elected.

The Liberal Party had eight Indigenous candidates elected: Jody Wilson-Raybould, Michael McLeod, Vance Badawey, Robert Falcon Ouelette, Don Rusnak, Hunter Tootoo, Dan Vandal, and Yvonee Jones. The NDP had 22 candidates Indigenous candidates in 2015, but only Georgina Jolibois and Romeo Saganash were successful. The Conservative Party had only two candidates; both were defeated. The the Green Party had 10 Indigenous candidates, but no winners.

The Red Wave or the Liberal landslide saw a record number of Aboriginal candidates elected. The new Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has selected a new cabinet that includes three newly elected Aboriginal MP’s.

Victorious! Historical 2015 Victory for Ten Indigenous MPs

Jody Wilson-Raybould is Justice Minister. She is a member of the We Wai Kai Nation. Jody’s father Bill Wilson is a lawyer and political activist and was the second First Nations lawyer to graduate from UBC. Alfred Scow, Bill’s cousin was the first lawyer to graduate and was also the first Native judge to be appointed in BC. Jody’s mother Sandra is a teacher. “Dad encouraged us to be critical thinkers and to look at the world from all different perspectives. Law school seemed like the most appropriate pace to be,” Jody told the CBC.

In 2000, Jody became crown prosecutor in Vancouver. “As a former prosecutor at the criminal court in Vancouver at Main Street, I witnessed a disproportionate number of Indigenous people in the justice system.” In 200, she started working for the BC Treaty commission and eventually became commissioner. She was elected as regional Chief of the BC Assembly of First Nations in 2009 and was re-elected in 2013.

As Justice Minister, Jody’s first project will be implementing an inquiry on missing Aboriginal women, and she will also have to deal with the Liberal promise of legalizing marijuana. However, her main reason for entering politics was to implement the suggestions from the Truth and Reconciliation report. “Our highest courts have told us that we must do this, must reconcile through processes developed between the Crown and Aboriginal peoples. To paraphrase the late Nelson Mandela, beyond the important and the necessary work of truth telling and of healing, reconciliation actually requires laws to change and policies to be rewritten, where the legitimate political institutions of Aboriginal peoples are recognized and empowered and the laws they make enforceable.”

Hunter Tootoo the Nunavut MP was appointed minister of Fisheries and Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard. Tootoo defeated Leona Aglukkaq to become the second Inuk ever to be named cabinet minister. Tootoo worked within the Nunavut legislative assembly from 1999 to 2013, but he realizes Ottawa will be a big adjustment for him. “Being an MP is a big learning curve,” Tootoo told the media. “Being a minister is almost a colossal learning curve. Suddenly you’re in charge of usually a large government department; you’re schedule is immediately overtaken; a huge number of people want your time and attention, so it’s really a double learning curve for rookie MPs.”

Liberal Robert-Falcon Ouelette, winner in Winnipeg Centre told the CBC, “The goal of this campaign was never, never just to win. The goal of this campaign was to see your values reflected in Ottawa, to see your values reflected in our Parliament.”

This sentiment was shared by all Indigenous candidates, including Don Rusnak who defeated John Rafferty in Thunder Bay. “We canvassed the First Nations here in the riding, and we were hearing a different story, that much like all the people in the riding, they saw Justin Trudeau and the plan as a positive plan for change.”

Yvonne Jones was re-elected in Labrador. “I’m very excited. I’m so proud of the people of Labrador,” Jones told the media. ” They want to see hope; they want people working hard; they want people who are honest, have great integrity, and they saw that in our campaign, and they certainly saw that in our leader, and they came out in spades to vote for us.”

To be, or not to be? This is a question we constantly face within this society that surrounds us. Living in this world, existing as actors on its stage, we are encouraged to play a role that is anything but ourselves. “I should do this or that in order to appear to be like this or that” some might say. “If I don’t have this or that, I won’t ever amount to this or that.” And we worry, and we stress, and we strain.

We are told what success should look like, yet our standards of success are hardly based on our own perspectives. These standards are instead based on societal illusions that whirl around us, and our true selves dissolve, blurring within the peripherals of our vision. Instead, all we see is our society, and it always seems to work against our ability to be ourselves by forcing us to be that which we ourselves are not.

And when we realize this, we desire freedom. We desire to escape it, to rid ourselves of it. Yet, we cannot. And it grabs a hold of us tightly in its grip because it is what we were born into. It is what we have known our entire lives. It is convenient to remain within the mould. And so we are stuck, for the collective need for this and that and the desire for more and more hinders our ability to be free. It does not have to be like this, though.

Last month, solutions regarding straying from your identity, especially amongst indigenous people, were brought to light during the very first REDx Talks at Calgary’s Mount Royal University. Through it’s duration, some of Alberta’s indigenous leaders, academics, and creative thinkers discussed the beauty of their identity.

Existing in the same vein as TEDx Talks, REDx Talks, organized and curated by Cowboy Smithx, is a not-for-profit intellectual discussion which is meant to enlighten, inspire, and instill ideas within the minds of those who attend.

“I’ve spoken at TEDx Talks before,” says Ashley Callingbull-Burnham, current Mrs. Universe and one of this year’s speakers at REDx Talks. “They restrict you to things you can and cannot say. But with REDx Talks—and I really thank you, Cowboy—it lets us have this time to be very open and share as much as we possibly can! It is important for indigenous people to share their stories, and this is a great beginning to something that I think is going to be huge.”

From elder Dr. Leroy Little Bear, who deconstructed what a true nation is, to Chris Hsiung, who delved into the constructs of his documentary Elder In The Making, the conversation that transgressed through the afternoon (and well into the night) uncovered truths of the past and hopes for the future.

Coming to know these, it is only natural to ask how it is possible to thrive within the present? First Nations people have always struggled with never fitting into the mould. The thing is, though, we never were interested in even creating a mould in the first place. We ooze out from being jammed within such constrictions. We end up becoming seekers of truth, endeavouring to find our own purpose in this life. We create our own selves. We form one culture. We exist inside truth. What is more is that because First Nation’s people have cultivated such intricate belief systems, the truths that lie within them still resonates within us today. We are connected, and it is because we have our beliefs to fall back on that we can remain so close to those within our culture.

Ashley Callingbull-Burnham at REDx Talks Calgary, 2015.

“For me, being a First Nation’s woman and coming from the background that I come from, people don’t expect me to succeed,” says Callingbull-Burnham. “People don’t expect me to be in the spotlight. People don’t expect me to be accomplished. I think this is a ridiculous stereotype. I’m going beyond that, though. I don’t care what people say about me. I don’t care what people say about my people. It’s not true. So I’m going to push myself in every direction that I think I want to go in, and I’m going to do well for myself by breaking barriers, breaking stereotypes, and breaking the mould. It’s inspiring other First Nations people to do the same, and so I don’t care what society says. I’m gonna do what I want. I’m going to do it, and I am going to succeed.” And it is this kind of power that is gained from believing in our culture. It is this kind of admirable resistance that sparks change. And, really, all it takes is finding the ability to just be yourself.

Sometimes we think too much. Sometimes we get stuck in our mind, and it feels like we are barely latching on to that which we call ourselves. We have to stay attached, though. The answer First Nations Drum uncovered during REDx Talks is simple: finding the ability to be is not only denying the convenience found in not being, but labouring against the harshest of barriers in order to let others know that it is okay to just be.

In 2012, Chief Shane Gottfriedson of the Tk’emlups te Secwepemc and Chief Glenn Feschuk of the shíshálh Nation launched the Day Scholars Class Action lawsuit. Day scholars were the students who attended residential schools but went home every night. These students never received any compensation for the pain they endured while attending residential school.

The case wanted compensation for the day scholars and declarations regarding Canada’s role in the failure to protect Aboriginal language and culture. The lawsuit also sought compensation for the children of the survivors and the band to which survivors belong. Three years later, on June 3, 2015, one day after the release of the Truth and Reconciliation Report, the federal court in Vancouver certified the class action lawsuit.

In 2012, Chief Shane Gottfriedson (pictured here) of the Tk’emlups te Secwepemc and Chief Garry Feschuk (next photo) of the shíshálh Nation launched the Day Scholars Class Action lawsuit.

“I am very thankful for the bravery and hard work of those band members who put themselves forward to act as representatives in this law suit,” Chief Shane Gottfriedson said, “While the decision today is just one step towards finally receiving justice, it is a very important one. We have much more work to do in the future, but for today we can reflect that the journey towards reconciliation has taken on more significant step.”

Jo-Anne Gottfriedson did a research project to see how many members were affected by the day scholars being left out and investigated impacts within the community. She was at the Federal court on June 3 when the decision was announced. “When we phoned home and told them the news, I mean our plaintiffs were crying.”

In 2008, the Prime Minister apologized to the residential school survivors who lived in the schools and put together a $4 billion dollar compensation package. The day scholars received neither an apology nor a penny in compensation. They had suffered the same sadistic discipline, the spankings, public humiliation, beatings, physical and sexual abuse, and the constant reminder that speaking their own language was a punishable offence. Yet they were left out.

“The day scholars were overlooked during the Residential School negotiations,” Jo-Ann Gottfriedson said. “At first everyone was included at the beginning table. Then both the AFN and Canada agreed to drop and leave the day scholars because we did not ‘live’ at the residences, even though we still endured the same abuses.” Peter Grant, the attorney for the plaintiffs has said that “culture was eradicated in the same way for day scholars as those who lived in school. The harm goes deeper than abuse. As Prime Minister Harper said in the apology, the legacy of the residential schools is one of the loss of entire cultures. Language is no longer spoken; people are broken and unable to celebrate their heritage. These deeper harms affect all Aboriginal children, not just those who were in residence, all of those who were in the schools.”

The Tk’emlup te Secwepemc have 115 day scholars still living. There were 147 Residential schools with students from 200 First Nation Bands across Canada. Without doing a census it is hard to accurately determine the total number of day scholars still living, but an informed guess would be in the thousands. If the trial leads to a settlement, it would benefit all day scholar survivors across Canada.

Chief Garry Feschuk holds the Statement of Claim filed on August 15, 2012.

One can be optimistic about the outcome of the trial, because justice is long overdue and there is national support for the day scholars. “We have received great political support from Native leaders across the country,” Gary Feschuk said, “as well as the National and Regional Chiefs and many of the First Nation political organizations.”

Since the Truth and Reconciliation Report, knowledge about the dark side of residential schools has been made public. “Cultural Genocide” was the term in the report used to describe the damage done by the schools, and non-Native people who weren’t aware of what happened are now seeing the big picture. The judge who certified the lawsuit suggested a mediated settlement. “We will try a court-ordered mediated settlement,” Gary Feschuk said, “and if it doesn’t work, we’ll go to trial. We have anticipated that if this goes to trial, it will take up to 4 years.”

By Randy Richardson

It is with a tear in my eye and the pride of my community, Fort Saskatchewan, AB, that I write you to let you know of the great honour, respect and esteem with which Lance Corporal Henry Louis “Ducky” Norwest is held. As an Associate Member of Branch #27 (Fort Saskatchewan) of the Royal Canadian Legion, I was aware of Mr. Norwest’s reputation in the branch and have heard senior branch members discuss him on several occasions. However, in conducting this research for you, I was deeply moved in learning the details of his life, his military record and his sacrifice.

Henry Louie “Ducky” Norwest 1881-1918

Henry Norwest was born in Fort Saskatchewan on May 1st, 1884, a Metis of Cree descent. Before enlisting in the Canadian Army, Henry lived on the Hobbema Reserve (now known as Maskwacis), approximately 100 km south of Fort Saskatchewan, and was a rodeo performer and ranch-hand. He enlisted in 1915 as a private in the 50th Infantry Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Forces and was deployed to France in August 1916. Promoted in the field to Lance-Corporal, Norwest was the leading Canadian sniper during World War I and is credited with 115 documented fatal shots. Known to have only counted witnessed kills, his actual total can only be higher than 115.

Henry Norwest was awarded the Military Medal in April 1917 for his “great bravery, skill and initiative in sniping the enemy after the capture of the Pimple,” a peak on Vimy Ridge, near Arras in northern France.

Vimy Ridge held a commanding view of the surrounding countryside and had defied all previous attempts at capture, before being assaulted and successfully captured by the CEF, April 9 -12, 1917. All four divisions of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, acting together for the first time in battle, did what the mighty nations of Britain and France could not. They defeated the Germans. The Pimple was captured on the first day, but the battle raged for 3 days more. A costly battle, the CEF lost more than 10,600 troops killed and wounded in those four days, but this was a fraction of the 150,000 casualties suffered by French and British troops in previous efforts to conquer Vimy Ridge. Canadian losses would have been higher but Henry Norwest saved numerous Canadian lives by conducting overwatch sniper operations to eliminate German snipers and machine gun emplacements before they could exact revenge on the victorious Canadians.

According to the webpage “Sharpshooter: Henry Louis Norwest” on the Veteran Affairs Canada website, a Bar was added to his Military Medal in 1918 for accomplishments since lost to history. However, further research uncovered that the Bar was added posthumously “for Gallantry in the Field.” A Bar represents another award of the Military Medal, something that was only achieved by 830 members of the 600,000+ strong Canadian Expeditionary Forces.

Besides being an outstanding marksman, Lance Corporal Norwest was known as an expert in camouflage techniques, and was able to remain motionless for seemingly days at a time. He accomplished most of his kills while stalking through No Man’s Land, the deadly zone between the Allied and German fronts, where anything that moved was a target for snipers and artillery from both sides, and by covertly getting behind enemy lines. He was known to have fearsome eyes that looked like black marble, and he was respected by troops in his battalion for his calm demeanor and kind manner.

In an era when due respect was not bestowed upon native soldiers, Norwest was not initially included on the Branch #27 Cenotaph, despite his legendary sniping record, and his payment of the ultimate sacrifice, death on battlefield, In 2004, members of RCL #27 succeeded in erasing this embarrassment and had Henry Norwest’s name added to the Cenotaph, in the presence of several guests of honour, his descendants.

The Canteen of RCL #27 is officially known as the Henry Norwest Canteen and his picture is proudly displayed within, along with a feather and a beaded wristband, donated by descendants and relatives for the Cenotaph ceremony. In the centre of the Fort Saskatchewan Cemetery, in the Royal Canadian Legion’s Henry Norwest Field Of Honour, two brass plaques pay tribute to Lance Corporal Norwest.

According to German POW’s, Lance Corporal Norwest was known by and feared by German forces. He was killed by an enemy sniper on August 18, 1918, and is buried in Warvillers, Somme, France. Upon his death, Canadian Major-General Arthur Currie ordered every available artillery gun to fire on enemy positions as a tribute to one of the British Empire’s top sharpshooters.

First Nations Drum would like to congratulate Vanessa Stiffarm from the Blood Tribe, the 2016 Calgary Stampede Indian Princess. Vanessa’s Blackfoot name is I’kiwayohtowa (Heard All Over) and comes from the sound of thunder. This name was given to her by her grandmother.

Every year, the Calgary Stampede hosts the annual Indian Princess pageant with contestants from the five Treaty Seven First Nations (Tsuu T’ina, Piikani, Stoney, Blood Tribe, and Siksika Nations). The winner is chosen from a panel of judges representative of the Calgary Stampede, the Treaty 7 Nations, and Calgary Stampede sponsors to be the official representative of the Calgary Stampede and Indian Village, presented by Penn West.

Winner: Vanessa Stiffarm from Blood Tribe (centre). Also pictured: Alicia Maguire from Siksika Nation, Jasmine Crowchief from Siksika/Piikani Nations, Savanna Sparvier from Siksika Nation, and Shay-Lynn Strikes with a Gun from Piikani Nation.

Vanessa is a Ladies Jingle Dress and Fancy Shawl dancer and is working towards her goal of completing her undergrad degree in Biochemistry in order to pursue her lifelong dream to be a pediatrician. Her parents are Evelyn Killsback from the Blood Tribe and John Stiffarm from the A’aniiinin (Gros Ventre Tribe), and her grandparents are Roger and Cathy Hunt, also from the Blood Tribe. All have taught Vanessa about her First Nations culture and traditions and are key supporters to her.

Vanessa is honoured to be a role model for her community and looks forward to encouraging other First Nations women to strive for their life goals while maintaining their traditions and culture. Throughout Vanessa’s reign, she hopes to educate people about her traditions and culture by sharing her experiences of growing up in a Pow Wow family and what she has learned along the Pow Wow trail.

As part of the Official Stampede Royalty program, the 2016 Calgary Stampede Indian Princess will make hundreds of appearances during her reign and will talk to those she meets about the rich, colourful First Nations culture. Vanessa embraces the legacy of the Calgary Stampede Indian Princess title and will wear the crown proudly as she represents the Tribes of Treaty 7, the Indian Village, and the Calgary Stampede.

In 2016, the Indian Village will be moving to a new location along the banks of the Elbow River. This larger Village will have improved facilities, expanded performance areas, and welcoming green space for visitors, tipi holders, performers and Indian Village employees.

The 2016 Calgary Stampede will take place July 8-17, 2016.