First Nations

Monday, January 21, 2013

Monday, January 21, 2013By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Monday, January 21, 2013

The demonizing and destabilization of Shawn Atleo

As he rode to a meeting with Prime Minister Stephen Harper last Friday, Shawn Atleo’s Blackberry buzzed.

“Since you have decided to betray me, all I ask of you now is to help carry my cold dead body off this island,’’ the text message said.

It was sent in the name of Chief Theresa Spence, but those who saw the text believe it came from someone else in her circle on Victoria Island.

But they were certain about one thing — the timing, moments before he went into one of the most important meetings of his life, was meant to destabilize the National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations and undermine his efforts at a meeting which many in his organization fiercely opposed.

The missive distilled two vicious strains coursing through the internal fighting at the AFN — the threats and intimidation under which its leadership is functioning, and the growing sense from some that the Attawapiskat chief, now entering day 38 of a liquid diet with the temperature dipping to -27C here, is being used as a pawn in an internal political struggle.

To attend last week’s meeting Atleo already had to leave his Ottawa office from a back door to get out of a building with angry chiefs trying to blockade him inside.

He would have to enter the Langevin Block for the meeting through a back door for the same reason.

There have been no shortage of charges, countercharges and denials within the organization over the past weeks and the truth in this saga is often elusive. (Source: Toronto Star)

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Thursday, January 10, 2013By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday, January 10, 2013

Attawapiskat chief slams audit leak as ‘distraction’

A newly released audit of the federal funding spent by the Attawapiskat First Nation has found significant documentation lacking for the $104 million transferred to the band between 2005 and 2011.

Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence responded Monday in a news release, which dismissed the timing of the leaked audit as a distraction from the “true issues” and claimed it was designed to discredit her.

“I remain steadfast on my journey and will not allow any distractions at this time to [waver from] the goal set forth,” Spence said.

The chief is on the 28th day of a hunger strike amid national Idle No More protests.

The audit was requested by the federal government to ensure that the approximately $104 million it provided to Attawapiskat between April 2005 and November 2011 was spent as it should have been. The accounting firm Deloitte was engaged to perform the audit in December 2011.

The funding was intended for housing, infrastructure, education and other services. CBC News obtained a copy of the audit before it was made public.

In a letter dated Aug. 28, 2012, that was written by Deloitte to Chief Spence and copied to the Department of Aboriginal Affairs, the auditing firm says that of 505 transactions reviewed, more than 400 lacked proper documentation. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Tuesday, January 8, 2013By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Idle no More meets Idle no More

It almost looks like a toy. The agreement between the NHL and its players’ union that ended a painful and unnecessarily long lockout has been met with far more skepticism and bitterness than any rejoicing. Many fans, and even sportswriters, are calling for boycotts of games and of NHL merchandise, the belief being that the league cares only about money and hitting it in the pocketbook will be the retaliatory gesture that hurts it the most. But is it really such a shock that a professional sports league, along with its owners and players, would focus on the bottom line? The most sensible things to do is be thankful the entire season wasn’t lost and just get back to enjoying the game.

Not that there aren’t things to be miffed about. The intermittent and half-hearted negotiations came across as a grudge match between two factions that put pride before everything else. The final deal amounts to little more than the moving around of a few numbers and does nothing to solve the long-term problems facing the league. The most obvious of these problems is the continued existence of bankrupt teams in southern United States cities, such as Phoenix, Arizona. Why Canadian fans will be forced to continue to subsidize this failed experiment through revenue-sharing remains a mystery.

As the aboriginal movement, Idle No More protests continue to grow, comparisons are being made to the grassroots Occupy Wall Street movements that sprang up across the globe in 2011 and helped fuel public discourse on the issue of economic inequality.

But while that issue, if not the Occupy movement itself, found a receptive audience among many, including many Canadians, it is not clear that a protest dedicated solely to aboriginal issues will have a similar impact or spur any kind of change. (Source: CBC News)

Tuesday June 19, 2012

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Tuesday June 19, 2012

First Nations role in the War of 1812 ‘critical’

The Shawnee chief Tecumseh had gathered 10,000 warriors in what is now southern Ontario in 1812, hoping to unify First Nations peoples into a confederacy with their own land and government.

With Americans pushing aboriginal people off their lands to the south, Tecumseh and his supporters agreed to join the British and Canadian side during the War of 1812. British troops in North America were stretched and the participation of native warriors was a key to defending the country that would later be Canada.

“There’s no question that the role of native warriors in the southwest corner of Upper Canada, at Queenston Heights and throughout the War of 1812 is absolutely critical. They were indispensible,” says James Laxer, a political science professor at York University.

As Canada marks 200 years since the conflict, there are efforts underway to draw attention to First Nations involvement, which is too often ignored, CBC’s Deana Sumanac reports.

At Fort York, the garrison used to defend the tiny town of York, which later became Toronto, an art installation is telling the stories of natives involved with the war. The Encampment gathered 200 stories of people of all backgrounds and stations in life who were affected by the war and asked artists to create installations based on those stories.

Each exhibit is installed in a tent and the tents fill the grounds of the old fort. More than 30 stories are about aboriginal men and women.

Contributing artist Sarena Johnson, who is of Cree and Ojibway background, devoted her tent to the story of Tecumseh’s second in command, Stiahta, also known as Roundhead. (Source: CBC News) 

 

Wednesday January 25, 2012

Chiefs air old grievances at Summit

The Crown-First Nations gathering in Ottawa was a classic example of a failure to communicate.

Both Prime Minister Stephen Harper and National Chief Shawn Atleo recognized the history of Canada’s relations with its First Nations as a register of crimes and misfortunes. Both paid lip-service to the idea of unlocking the potential of aboriginal Canadians.

But they talked past each other when it came to moving forward.

The Prime Minister said he has learned from the past but wants to focus on the future. Mr. Atleo spent most of his speech re-fighting old battles by pointing out how Canada has failed to live up to its treaty obligations.

Mr. Harper is likely the most pragmatic leader this country has seen since Sir John A. Macdonald, and his interest is in practical solutions that can have impact on the ground.

He has little interest in being diverted into what he called the “talk shop” that has bogged down governance issues for decades.

“Our goal is self-sufficient citizens and self-governing communities,” he said. He offered no “grand schemes” to achieve those ends, but promised “practical, incremental and real change” by introducing new legislation and procedures.

“To move forward, to reset the relationship, [we must] learn from the past but focus on the future,” he said. (Source: National Post)